It is interesting that despite its long-term and widespread use in China, relatively little is known about the operational characteristics of a variable approach lane (VAL) in real world. Using one month of inductive-loop detector data at ten dynamic approaches (intersection approaches with dynamic lane assignment) from different intersections in Hangzhou, China, this paper presents the results of a study materializing the flow characteristics of variable approach lanes by comparing them with adjacent normal-flow lanes under various operating conditions. The effectiveness of the results was examined in a case-control analysis by integrating 12 fixed approaches (without variable lane) as benchmark. It was found that the difference or similarity of flow rate between the variable lane and the normally-flowing lane differs under a variety of traffic volume, time-of-day, mode-of-operation, and overhead lane-use guidance sign (OHS) location conditions. The study also revealed that while naturally there may be a difference in the flow rates between referencing lanes at fixed approaches, the flow difference percentage (FDP) at dynamic approaches is significantly higher.


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    Title :

    Empirical analysis of traffic flow characteristics at variable approach lanes


    Contributors:
    Adjé Jérémie Alagbé (author) / Rujie Wang (author) / Cheng Xu (author) / Sheng Jin (author)


    Publication date :

    2024




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    Unknown




    Empirical analysis of traffic flow characteristics at variable approach lanes

    Alagbé, Adjé Jérémie / Wang, Rujie / Xu, Cheng et al. | Elsevier | 2024

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