Title: Analysis of Lane-Changing Distribution within Merging and Weaving Sections of Freeways
Abstract: The lane-change behavior usually consists of discretionary lane-change and mandatory lane-change types. For the first type, drivers change lanes selectively to maintain their own driving condition and the second type is the case that the drivers must change the current lane, which can occur in recurrent congestion sections like merging and weaving sections. The mandatory lane-change behavior have a great effect on the operation condition of freeway. In this paper, we first generate data such as traffic volumes, speeds, densities, and the number of lane-change within the merging and weaving sections using the data of individual vehicle collected from time-lapse aerial photography. And then, the data is divided into the stable and congested flow by analyzing the speed variation pattern of individual vehicles. In addition, the number of lane-changing from ramp to mainline within every 30-meter interval is investigated before and after traffic congestion at study sites and the distribution of lane-changing at each 30-meter point is analyzed to identify the variation of lane-changing ratio depending on the stable and congested flows. To recognize the effect of mainline flow influenced by ramp flow, this study also analyzes the characteristics of the lane-changing distributions within the lanes of mainline. The purpose of this paper is to present the basic theory to be used in developing a lane-changing model at the merging and weaving sections on freeways.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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