Research on the Value of the Acceleration Lane Length in the Merge Area of the Ramp

In the expressway merging area, the traffic efficiency in the weaving area is reduced, due to the difference in vehicle speeds, with the ramp vehicles accelerating and the main line vehicles slowing down or changing lanes. Setting a reasonable length of the acceleration lane is an important method to solve the low traffic efficiency. In this paper, the SUMO simulation platform is used, the travel delay is used as an indicator, and the combination of different main lines and ramp traffic flows is fully considered to obtain the optimal acceleration lane length. The results show that when the main line is low density, the optimal acceleration lane length is 160−180 m; when the main line is medium density, the length range is 160−200 m; and when the main line is high density, the length range is 160−220 m.