Abstract

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Title:: Impact of left-turn waiting areas on the capacity of left-turn lane in signalized intersection

Author(s):: CHEN Yi-xin; HE Yu-long; SUN Xiao-duan; MA Xiao-long; Beijing Key Laboratory of Traffic Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China

Keywords:: traffic engineering; signalized intersection; left-turn waiting area; left-turn lane; capacity

Abstract:: Left-turn waiting areas can increase the capacity of the left-turn lane in signalized intersection. Firstly, based on the investigation data of the vehicles of the left-turn with waiting area in signalized intersection, this paper analyzed their characteristics of the acceleration, speed, and distance from the start to leave the intersection. Then, it established an approach which can calculate the capacity of the left turn lane with waiting area based on the formula of left-turn lane without waiting area and carried out example verification. The results show that the vehicles start successively after the left-turn phase turning green, and its acceleration has a undulant linear relationship with time. Also, the waiting area of the left-turn lane can improve the actual capacity significantly, the signal phase and the length of the waiting area affect the proportion, and the waiting area of the left-turn lane improved the capacity by 10%~20% in the surveyed signalized intersection.