The solid line prohibiting lane changing to improve traffic efficiency in the on-ramp merging area

Abstract

When on-ramp bottlenecks are activated, road capacity on the mainline drops sharply. This paper presents a method of adding white solid lines between lanes of the mainline in the on-ramp area to prohibit lane-changing behaviour. The interference of on-ramp vehicles on mainline vehicles can be reduced, to improve traffic efficiency. By 2D-IDM car-following model and MOBIL lane-changing model, the simulation scene of an on-ramp bottleneck is built. In the case of a high inflow rate on the mainline, a solid line between the second and third lanes upstream of the merging area can reduce the travel time. Compared to no solid line, the density of the first and second lanes is lower, the speed is higher, and the frequency of stop-and-go waves decreases. An extra solid line between the first and second lanes cannot further improve traffic efficiency.