Project Summary
The objective of this research is to understand stationary and dynamic bottleneck effects of lane-changing traffic from a macroscopic point of view. It is well known that disruptive lane-changes in merging and weaving areas can cause substantial capacity reduction and drop. In this research we attempt to develop a coherent theory for such critical bottleneck effects with the help of a new fundamental diagram and corresponding kinematic wave models. With NGSIM data, we first establish lane-changing intensity as a function of road geometry, proportion of lane-changing traffic, and other lane-changing behavior characteristics and then derive a fundamental diagram of lane-changing traffic flow, from which we analyze how the number of lanes and proportion of lane-changing traffic would impact capacity reduction in a lane-changing area. This research can improve our understandings of fundamental properties of lane-changing bottlenecks and their impacts on traffic congestion and environments. Insights obtained from the research could help improve lane-management, variable speed limits, ramp metering, and other management and control strategies.