When choosing the location and design for a particular bus stop, several alternatives are available. These alternatives include near-side, farside, or midblock locations, and curbside or bus bay designs. Several studies have focused on choosing the optimum location of a bus stop for given situations; however, few have investigated the effects of bus stop design. The objective is to use computer simulation to determine how bus stop design influences traffic operations around a bus stop. Bus stop designs analyzed included curbside, bus bay, open bus bay, and queue jumper. The results can be used to aid in the selection of a preferred bus stop design for a given location and traffic volume. The analysis was divided into two separate studies: curbside versus bus bay/open bus bay, and queue jumper versus no queue jumper. The analysis consisted of investigating the relationships between variables such as travel time, speed, and traffic volume for given bus stop designs and locations. The bus stop locations investigated in the curbside-bus bay/open bus bay study included midblock and far-side. Results indicated that the bus bay design provided the greatest benefit at traffic volumes of approximately 350 vehicles per hour per lane (vphpl) and above; however, notable advantages in vehicle speeds were also observed at 250 vphpl. Results from the queue jumper study revealed that the queue jumper design provided significant benefits at volumes above approximately 250 vphpl.

To evaluate the use of zero-length vertical curves with respect to Texas Department of Transportation design practice, construction results, and vehicle dynamics, and to compare zero-length vertical curves with minimum-length design vertical curves, 20 zero-length vertical curves and 15 minimum-length vertical curves were evaluated. Evaluations performed included examinations of sight distance for zero-length vertical curves, surveying roadway profiles, and measuring vertical accelerations. Sight distance criteria were found to be generally inapplicable below 2 percent for sag vertical curves. For crest vertical curves, sight distance criteria were inapplicable below 1 percent for design speeds of 90 km/h or less and inapplicable below 0.5 percent for design speeds of 100 to 120 km/h. The results of vertical acceleration testing showed that, below 0.5 percent grade change, no practical difference was found between zero-length and minimum-design-length vertical curves. Between 1.0 and 0.5 percent grade change, significantly higher accelerations were measured for high-speed tests on zero-length vertical curves. Finally, it was found that zero-length vertical curves were more likely to meet drainage grade requirements than minimum-design-length vertical curves were.