Modeling and Analysis of Impacts of Right-Tum Lane Lengths
Abstract
Tum lanes have been studied for several decades, with focus being on left-tum
lanes and for urban areas. The need for right-tum lanes has been studied using the impact
of such tum lanes on both safety and operational efficiency. However, the impacts of
different right-tum lane lengths have not been studied well. The determinations of righttum lane lengths have been based primarily on the deceleration of the right-turning
vehicles, which happens to be one of the many factors that should influence such decisions.
In this study the impacts of the right-tum lanes on two-lane roads with no controls on
major roads have been modeled and analyzed. In particular, the impacts on the space mean
speed and the delays have been studied using both the analysis of field data from several
intersections around Minnesota and the analysis of the results from simulation models
developed using CORridor SIMulation (CORSIM®)