Speed Control for Traffic on Freeway Exit Deceleration Lanes

Abstract

Exiting traffic needs to decelerate speeds on the deceleration lanes of freeway and the speed on deceleration lanes is different from the speed on exit ramps. Thus, different post speed limits should be used for deceleration lanes and exit ramps, respectively. To decide a reasonable post speed limit on a deceleration lane segment, many factors should be considered and analyzed, such as exit ramp types, vehicle composition, traffic safe decelerating rate, traffic volume, etc. The significance of the contributing factors needs to be analyzed. With such an analysis, the models to predict safe operational speed on decelerating lane segments will be developed and the post speed limit on each deceleration lane segment will be obtained. In addition, a simulation model will be developed to evaluate the effectiveness and impacts of the developed post speed limits on traffic movements.