Driveway Access Research Articles

Driveway Access Spacing Considerations for Rural Highways with High Truck Volumes

Increased traffic and heavy truck percentages associated with energy exploration in West Texas have placed unprecedented demands on the region’s highway network as well as driveway access to and from that network. Access management principles have proven to be effective in improving operations and safety in numerous locations, but many of those locations have been in urban or suburban locations where land uses and traffic patterns are different from those typically found in rural West Texas, so guidelines for driveway spacing and other access management treatments in rural, high-speed areas are not as commonplace. This paper describes the study of a corridor with high volumes, high truck percentages, high speeds, high turning volumes, and high demand for access. The study team reviewed the applicable guidelines and policies for driveway spacing in Texas, as well as relevant findings from other guidelines and research, to develop a set of recommended driveway spacing values for cars and for trucks on high-speed rural roads.

Enhancing traffic safety at school zones by operation and engineering countermeasures: A microscopic simulation approach

Safety issues at school zones have been an important topic in the traffic safety field. This study assesses the safety effects of different roadway countermeasure at school zones. Although several studies have evaluated the effectiveness of various traffic control devices (e.g., sign, flashing beacon), there is lack of studies proposing innovative operation and engineering countermeasures, which might have significant improvement of safety at school zones. In this study, the most crash-prone school zone is identified based on crash rates in Orange and Seminole Counties in Florida. Afterward, a microsimulation network is built to evaluate different safety countermeasures. Three different countermeasures i.e., two-step speed reduction, decreasing the number of driveways, and replacing the two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL) with raised median are implemented in the microsimulation. Multiple surrogate safety measures are utilized as indicators for safety evaluation. The results show that both two-step speed reduction and decreasing driveway access significantly reduce crash risks compared with the base condition. Moreover, the combination of these two countermeasures outperforms their individual effectiveness. On the other hand, for TWLTL to the raised median, the crash risk is higher than the base condition. The results of this study could help transportation planners and decision makers to understand the effect of these countermeasures prior to implementing them in the real field.

Pal Beach Tourism Development in Marinsow Village, North Minahasa Regency

This study aims to identify the potential of Pal Beach tourism attraction, identify individual infrastructure and attraction facilities of Pal Beach, and reviewing tourism development of Pal Beach. This research was conducted in the village of Marinsouw, North Minahasa Regency for six months from April to October 2016. This study used a qualitative description. The results on the development of Pal beach tourism object showed that 1). Accessibility (affordability); driveway access to the Pal coastal resorts is damaged and needs to be repaired by resurfacing and widening the road. 2). Attraction; in this case is the cultural attraction that is religious tourism such as Tulude culture which is a tradition of rural communities of Marinsouw on every January 31 st should be developed and packaged in a tour package to attract foreign or domestic tourists to more frequently come to the village of Marinsouw and the Pal beach. 3) Amenities (facilities/comfort); there is a needs to build an inn or a cottage accommodation in Pal coastal region, tourism information facilities are necessary to hold art and culture of Marinsouw rural communities, souvenir shops, restaurants, sanitation of toilet, and recreation attraction for entertainment. 4). Ancillary Services (institutional services and promotions); need to be made marketing and promotional information systems of Pal beach tourism with the full support of the Government in promoting Pal beach attraction. Recommendation of this study, the first for North Minahasa Regency Tourism Office is: a). North Minahasa Regency Government through the Department of Tourism and Cultural needs to make a MoU with the state-owned enterprises to build Pal beach attraction. It is a pity if the potential of Pal beach is not developed and promoted as a tourism destination area; b). Need to restructure and mapping the Pal coastal tourist area unit. c). Attract investors to build tourism supporting facilities such as accommodation, tourism information center, souvenir shops, special attraction; d). Prepare human resources in the field of hospitality and tourism attractions to manage Pal beach; e). Increase counseling and training in preparing resources for the development of Pal beach tourism object; and the second for Marinsouw Rural Community is: a). Preserving cultural customs Tulude as a tourist attraction to be promoted; b. Make Masamper dance attractions on certain days in Pal coastal resort; c). Manage local products such as Goroho banana chips, cassava chips, skills for making plastic flower stalks as typical souvenir from Marinsouw village to raise the family economy; d). Raise awareness in maintaining the security and cleanliness around Pal coastal resorts. Keywords : Attractions, Development, Pal Beach.

Operational analysis of a connected vehicle‐supported access control on urban arterials

Urban arterials are characterised by high traffic volume, and driveway densities which cause congestion and crashes. In urban arterials, safety and operational issues can be improved by access management strategies. One such strategy is to restrict traffic entering the urban arterial to ‘right-in–right-out’ through implementing a raised median. While past research has shown the operational benefits of this strategy, it has not been evaluated in the context of dynamic access control. This study investigates the effectiveness of the connected vehicle (CV)-supported dynamic access control. The analysis is applied to an urban corridor under four scenarios: (i) the existing condition with direct left turns (DLTs) permitted at all driveways, (ii) a raised median restricting all driveway traffic to right-in–right-out and U-turns permitted at signallised intersections, (iii) a peak-hour DLT restriction at all driveways, and (iv) dynamic restriction (i.e. a restriction enforced during the time intervals in which traffic flow rates exceed given thresholds) of driveways to right-in–right-out in a CV environment. On the basis of the simulation analysis, it was found that converting driveway access from fully open to right-in–right-out based on prevailing traffic conditions in a CV environment can improve traffic operations.

Prioritizing of Access Management Rebuild Research — Taking the National Highway G205 Jiangsu Section as an Example

With the rapid economic development on both sides of the National Highway of G205, Jiang Su, China, traffic volume and congestion continually increase. As the safety and performance of these roads is a major concern, transportation system should be evaluated on an ongoing basis to ensure that people and goods can be moved as efficiently and safely as possible. In all kinds of security measures, access management techniques have been proved the most successful in improving the safety and efficiency of arterial roads. To determine which roads of the National Highway of G205 can most benefit by the implementation of access management techniques, a prioritization process was developed to guide decision makers in the implementation process. Recommendations were given in the form of decision steps distinguish existing or future road segments between access densities, signal intersection spacing, traffic accidents, access environments and other criteria. The objective of this paper is to document the steps followed to develop a performance index based prioritization process to target arterial roads that would benefit from the implementation of access management techniques. Utilizing the results of the research, decision makers can better determine which sections of roadway could benefit from controlling and rebuilding of driveway access.

Limiting Driveway Access at Intersections

Transportation agencies are faced with unclear decisions when choosing among competing proposed research ideas. Research projects on the effectiveness of safety improvement treatments typically enhance the practice by yielding better information about where and when the treatment of interest should be implemented, if at all. This information is intended to reduce the frequency of incorrect decisions, including the decisions to treat when the cost is not justified or not to treat when the cost is justified. However, with limited resources for both research and treatment and with project evaluation criteria that may be subjective, identifying the best allocation of research funding is often difficult. A method called the value-of-research (VOR) evaluation has been documented as a way to quantify potential benefits of a proposed safety research project. The method accounts for considerations such as the number of analysis units (e.g., intersections or roadway segments) in existence that might be treated, frequency and cost of crashes targeted by the treatment of interest, effectiveness of the treatment, and knowledge about treatment effectiveness that could be gained through additional research. By collecting and analyzing these types of macroscopic data, decision makers can make more-informed decisions about the potential benefit of competing proposed research projects. The VOR evaluation method is demonstrated for the example treatment of removing major-street driveway access to corner businesses at signalized intersections.

Performance Analysis of Parallel Flow Intersection and Displaced Left-Turn Intersection Designs

The displaced left-turn (DLT) design, also known as the continuous flow intersection, has proved to be a superior alternative to the conventional intersection in terms of handling heavy volumes during peak periods. In locations where the availability of additional right-of-way and driveway access is not a major concern, the DLT design is a cost-effective and time-saving option compared with the expensive option of grade-separated interchanges. Recently, a new nontraditional intersection design called the parallel flow intersection (PFI) has been proposed. The PFI is also an at-grade design and operates with the same number of signal phases as a DLT. This research compares the operational performance of DLT and PFI designs based on the maximum through and left-turn movement throughputs for three different high-volume scenarios using traffic simulation. The results indicate that maximum throughput values of through movement in the PFI were very close to the values obtained for the DLT. The designs produced similar results, mainly because both operate as two-phase signals (at the main intersection) with equal green times for through movements. The left-turn movement throughputs in the PFI were found to be lower than those in the DLT. For two study cases, the DLT was able to process 180 and 80 more vehicles per hour per lane than the PFI. This is attributable to left-turning vehicles experiencing a greater number of stops, on average, in a PFI than they would in a DLT.

Predicting Arrival Flow Profiles and Platoon Dispersion for Urban Street Segments

This paper describes the development of a procedure for predicting the arrival flow profile for an intersection approach. This profile describes the variation in flow rate during the average signal cycle as it would be measured at a specified point downstream of a signalized intersection. Research indicates that platoon decay (due to midsegment driveway access and egress) tends to have a more significant impact on the arrival flow profile than platoon dispersion. Platoon dispersion reflects drivers' desire to increase their headway, while platoon decay reflects vehicles departing the platoon at midsegment access points. The procedure is recommended for inclusion in the Urban Street Segments chapter of the forthcoming 2010 Highway Capacity Manual.

Prioritizing Access Management Implementation

Traffic volumes and congestion continue to increase on arterial roads. Safety and performance on those roads are continual concerns. Transportation systems must be evaluated on an ongoing basis to ensure that people and goods can be moved as efficiently and safely as possible. Safety and performance indices provide a method to numerically measure given data about a system so that comparisons and rankings on safety and performance can be made as objectively as possible. One of the sets of tools that have proved successful in improving the safety and efficiency of arterial roads are access management techniques. To determine which roads can most benefit from access management techniques, a prioritization process was developed to guide decision makers in the implementation process. Recommendations were given in the form of a decision tree classifying existing or future road segments into subcategories based on volume, signal spacing, adjacent land use, and other criteria. The objective of this paper is to document the steps followed to develop a performance index-based prioritization process to target arterial roads that would benefit from the implementation of access management techniques. Using the results of the research, decision makers can better determine which sections of roadway may benefit from controlling driveway access, installing raised medians, providing future planning, or looking to a solution other than access management.

Operational and Safety Effects of U-Turns at Signalized Intersections

In an effort to balance vehicular safety, mobility, and access, many transportation officials favor the use of raised median cross sections on highways. However, this decision leads to much controversy from those opposed to the resulting lack of direct driveway access. One of the issues in this controversy is the effect of increased U-turns at adjacent intersections. The purpose of this research was to determine the operational and safety effects of U-turns at signalized intersections. The operational analysis involved measurements of vehicle headways in exclusive left-turn lanes at 14 signalized intersections. Regression analysis of saturation flow data showed a 1.8% saturation flow rate loss in the left-turn lane for every 10% increase in U-turn percentage and an additional 1.5% loss for every 10% U-turns if the U-turning movement was opposed by protected right-turn overlap from the cross street. The safety analysis involved a set of 78 intersections. Fifty-four sites were chosen randomly, and 24 sites were selected on the basis of their reputation as U-turn problem sites. Although the group of study sites was biased toward sites with high U-turn percentages, the study found that 65 of the 78 sites did not have any collisions involving U-turns in the 3-year study period. U-turn collisions at the remaining 13 sites ranged from 0.33 to 3.0 collisions per year. Sites with double left-turn lanes, protected right-turn overlap, or high left-turn and conflicting right-turn traffic volumes were found to have a significantly greater number of U-turn collisions.

Operational and Safety Effects of U-Turns at Signalized Intersections

In an effort to balance vehicular safety, mobility, and access, many transportation officials favor the use of raised median cross sections on highways. However, this decision leads to much controversy from those opposed to the resulting lack of direct driveway access. One of the issues in this controversy is the effect of increased U-turns at adjacent intersections. The purpose of this research was to determine the operational and safety effects of U-turns at signalized intersections. The operational analysis involved measurements of vehicle headways in exclusive left-turn lanes at 14 signalized intersections. Regression analysis of saturation flow data showed a 1.8% saturation flow rate loss in the left-turn lane for every 10% increase in U-turn percentage and an additional 1.5% loss for every 10% U-turns if the U-turning movement was opposed by protected right-turn overlap from the cross street. The safety analysis involved a set of 78 intersections. Fifty-four sites were chosen randomly, and 24 sites were selected on the basis of their reputation as U-turn problem sites. Although the group of study sites was biased toward sites with high U-turn percentages, the study found that 65 of the 78 sites did not have any collisions involving U-turns in the 3-year study period. U-turn collisions at the remaining 13 sites ranged from 0.33 to 3.0 collisions per year. Sites with double left-turn lanes, protected right-turn overlap, or high left-turn and conflicting right-turn traffic volumes were found to have a significantly greater number of U-turn collisions.

Building Energy Reductions: Windbreak Optimization

Wind tunnel model studies of houses are used to determine how one can best reduce the surface pressure variations from wind and the associated air infiltration, emphasizing the correct placement of suitably modeled coniferous trees. The trees are shown to have energy-saving potential by converting directed kinetic energy of the approaching wind into random turbulent energy by passing the air through tortuous paths in the tree crowns. This reduces the pressure gradients on the windward walls which are a prime region for air infiltration. The most cost- and energy-effective windbreaks are those that selectively protect against the prevailing winter winds, use as few trees as possible, and are placed at least two tree heights upstream. Underpruning and poorly designed openings through the trees, such as driveway access, were shown to enhance air infiltration effects. Using as few as three trees, 3% fuel savings were estimated. When a planting pattern affording general protection was analyzed, it was estimated to achieve higher than 10% savings in energy for heating.