Operation of 2+1 Road with High Shares of Heavy Vehicles

Abstract

The author investigated traffic flow quality on a new 2+1 long road bypass with an exceptionally high share of heavy vehicles in order to assess rational limits of heavy vehicle shares in traffic flow, dependent on the length of the 2+1 road and the number of passing segments in each direction. This paper presents the results of traffic flow quality analyses through the use of empirical and simulation methods for a single 2+1 road segment with additional passing lanes, as well as for the study of the entire section of the bypass -2+1 road. Variables include analysis of travel speed distribution, platoon traffic, and amount of passing maneuvers. Results show that large passing demands lead to very high speeds (over 100 km/h) on segments with additional passing lanes. The conclusions include remarks related to the use and operation of 2+1 cross-sections with high shares of heavy vehicles.

Safety and Mobility Performance Comparison of Two-Plus-One and Two-Lane Two-Way Roads: A Simulation Study

“…In addition, they provided, with other researchers, a method for determining passing lanes' operational efficiency in terms of enhanced service [14,15]. Kieć (2017) simulated the effect of heavy vehicles (HVs) shares (up to 20%) in the traffic stream of a 2+1 long road bypass, using PTV VISSIM [16], and found that the 2+1 system appears to be reasonably effective when compared to the TLTW bypass for traffic volumes up to an average annual daily traffic (AADT) of 22,000 [17]. Furthermore, Kirby et al (2014) recommended that speed limits for the 2+1 design be between 80 and 100 km/h [9].…”

Archives of Civil Engineering

“…The application of microsimulation conflicts is considered as one of the methods that are based on surrogate safety measures, which permit the estimation of the number of conflicts for different road and traffic configurations [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]. Such an approach is much more popular when analyzing intersections and, although simulation modelling of road sections with additional lanes has been described in the literature, these studies mainly discuss modelling in the context of evaluating operation and traffic performance [11], [12], [13].…”