Abstract
Truck platooning is a truck operation system in which one or more trucks closely follow a lead truck. The system is advantageous for road freight and promises to contribute to developing the next generation of road transportation due to its many benefits, including reduced fuel consumption and emissions and improved traffic flow. However, truck platooning also has some potential disadvantages, such as the occlusion of post-mounted road signs. In this study, a VisSim simulation model was used to evaluate truck platooning’s impact on road sign occlusion on four-lane and six-lane freeways. A regression model was then used to investigate road signs’ occlusion by conventional trucks and platooned trucks. The regression model found that sign occlusion increases with increasing the number of lanes on the highway, headway within a truck platoon, traffic demand (), truck percentage, and platooning penetration (%). Conversely, a higher number of trucks in a platoon (platoon length) decreases sign occlusion because it reduces the overall number of truck platoons, including individual trucks. A 100% truck platoon penetration particularly caused sign occlusion for up to 82.3% of other vehicles under certain conditions. This study’s findings demonstrate the need for transportation agencies to include countermeasures for mitigating sign occlusion before deploying truck platooning.
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Data Availability Statement
The simulated data used in the study were modeled using VisSim. A sample of this simulated data and R codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 147 • Issue 9 • September 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 12, 2020
Accepted: Mar 18, 2021
Published online: Jun 28, 2021
Published in print: Sep 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Nov 28, 2021
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