Safety-Based Volume Warrants for Right-Turn Lanes at Unsignalized Intersections and Driveways on Two-Lane Roadways
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VIEW THE ORIGINAL ARTICLEPublication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 12
Abstract
Safety-based volume warrants for right-turn lanes (RTLs) at uncontrolled major-road approaches to intersections and driveways on two-lane roadways were developed based on traffic crash and conflict analyses. Crash analysis was carried out based on statewide historical data of traffic crashes reported on Minnesota’s two-lane trunk highways. Conflict analysis was carried out using field data and twelve individual VISSIM models involving 350 scenarios to simulate the conflicts caused by right turns for a wide range of conditions. Each scenario involved twenty simulation runs, and each run used a different random seed. Model calibrations involved replication of spot-speed and time-headway distributions observed at field, whereas the model validations involved comparisons between simulated and observed conflicts. Crash-conflict relationships were developed in terms of crash-conflict ratios (CCRs) and crash estimation factors (CEFs). The estimated mean CCRs were and at approaches without and with RTLs, respectively. The values of CEFs, determined as a ratio of CCR to the probability of rear-end/same-direction-sideswipe crashes caused by right-turning vehicles, were between at approaches with RTLs and at approaches without RTLs. The warrant guidelines, in terms of volume thresholds, were established for intersection and driveway approaches separately through benefit-cost analysis. The thresholds for driveway approaches were 10 to 26% lower.
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Acknowledgments
This study was sponsored in part by Mn/DOT, for which the authors are thankful. However, the authors are solely responsible for the research and findings presented in this paper. The authors acknowledge Scott Hagel, Pavan Chevuri, Kubar Hussin, and Joseph Membah for their help with field data collection.
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Oct 31, 2013
Accepted: May 28, 2014
Published online: Jul 16, 2014
Published in print: Dec 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Dec 16, 2014
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