Evaluation of the dispersion effect in through movement bicycles at signalized intersection via cellular automata simulation

Abstract

At signalized intersection areas, bicycle traffic presents a dispersion feature which may influence the movements of vehicles during peak period. The primary objective of this study is to simulate the dispersion effect in through-movement bicycle traffic at intersection areas and evaluate its influence on through-movement traffic. A cellular automata (CA) model is developed and validated to simulate the operations of through-movement bicycle traffic departing from two types of intersection approaches. Simulation results show that bicycles benefit from the dispersion effect when they depart from the approach with an exclusive right-turn vehicle lane. But when bicycles travel from the approach with a shared right-turn and through vehicle lane, the dispersion effect will result in friction interference and block interference on through-movement vehicles. Bicycle interferences reduce the vehicle speed and increase the delay of through-movement vehicles. The policy implications in regard to the dispersion effect from two types of approaches are discussed to improve the performance of through-movement traffic operations at signalized intersections.