The Influence of Accumulation Area and the Length of Pedestrian Route on Functioning of Roundabouts with Traffic Signals

Abstract

The paper presents issues related to the functioning of storage areas on roundabouts with traffic signals with high and very high traffic volumes. This kind of intersection is commonly used in the centres of Polish cities on multilane roads and fairly common in the case of tram lines running through a central island. The increase of traffic flow volumes on left turn and U-turn has made this type of roundabout difficult to operate. Small storage areas around central islands are critical places that significantly influence the capacity of this kind of intersection. The use of multiphase traffic signals causes major lengthening of crossing time for pedestrians which results in pedestrian delays at this kind of intersection. During the conducted analyses, microscopic models carried out in Transyt program, were used. They enabled the reconstruction of the traffic conditions and a few other important issues while assessing their capacity.