Modeling and Analysis of Impacts of Right-Tum Lane Lengths

Abstract

Turn lanes have been studied for several decades, with focus being on left-tum lanes and for urban areas. The need for right-turn lanes has been studied using the impact of such turn lanes on both safety and operational efficiency. However, the impacts of different right-turn 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-turn 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®).