01088320

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2023-13

http://scholar.google.com...azzi&publication_year=2007

Three on-ramp sites with moderate to high volumes of through and merge traffic along I-35 within the greater Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri, metropolitan area were selected for investigation of the distribution patterns of the merge lengths of ramp vehicles. On the basis of the observed merging behaviors, merge vehicles were categorized into three types: free merge (FM), challenged merge (CM), and platoon merge (PM). The field data were analyzed with specifically developed software. The results show that (a) FM vehicles merge onto a freeway at arbitrary locations, (b) CM vehicles require traveling a longer distance before a safe merge, and (c) PM vehicles follow a natural smooth path and force themselves onto the mainline traffic within a certain area of a merge lane. The 85th-percentile merge length of all ramp vehicles was further observed to be related to the CM volume, the PM volume, and the average speed of the freeway right-hand first lane. Finally, the potential applications of these findings were discussed, with an example illustrating how to use the 85th-percentile merge length to determine the minimum merge lane length for an urban freeway on-ramp.

01088318

English

pp 120-129

2007

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309104500

Print

Figures; Photos; References (14) ; Tables (4)

Freeways; Length; Merging area; On ramps; Urban areas

Field data

Kansas City Metropolitan Area

Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I73: Traffic Control

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 20 2008 7:20PM

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