Abstract
There is a body of literature on the influence range and traffic risk of fixed work zones. However, relatively few studies have examined the effect of ubiquitous moving operating vehicles, such as road cleaners, on urban roads. The influence of low speed moving work zones on road traffic flow and traffic risk is still unclear. In this work, we used simulations to establish an urban expressway three lanes VISSIM model, and selected the road traffic volume and speed of the moving work zone as the independent variables. We analyzed the range of influence of the moving work zone on the rear vehicles in the left, middle and right lanes of the urban expressway and the traffic risk variation law caused by the moving work zone. The results show that the left lane was indirectly affected by the moving work zone when the traffic volume reached 2000 pcu/h. The influence of the moving work zone on the middle lane was controlled by the traffic volume and the speed of the moving work zone. Both the left and middle lanes were mainly impacted by vehicles changing lane from the right lane. Regardless of the traffic volume and the speed of the moving work zone change, the vehicles 200 m behind a moving work zone will be directly affected in the right lane. Furthermore, the average traffic risk is the highest within 50 m of the moving work zone in the right lane. When the traffic volume decreases and the speed of the moving work zone increases, the average traffic risk decreases gradually. These results provide a scientific basis for the operation and management of moving working vehicles on urban roads.
Highlights
With the continued development and expansion of cities worldwide, service requirements for urban traffic are continuously increasing
The results show that the middle lane and left lane are indirectly affected by moving work zones, mainly owing to the lane change of vehicles in the right lane, which is consistent with expectations
Through the simulation analysis of the urban expressway mobile operation area, this paper draws the following conclusions: (1) The left lane is only indirectly affected by the mobile work zone, which is in the right lane, when the traffic volume reaches 2000 pcu/h, and the influence range from behind the moving work zone extended to around 180 m
Summary
With the continued development and expansion of cities worldwide, service requirements for urban traffic are continuously increasing. Sustainability 2021, 13, 4196 of traffic safety, work zone areas remain hazardous zones, as they represent an unexpected change to the usual driving environment [10]. We studied moving work zones on urban roads, and the influence range of moving work zones and variation of traffic risk under different working conditions were analyzed using a simulation in order to provide theoretical support for the management of operating vehicles on urban roads.
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