Performance Analysis of Restricted U-Turn Vehicles at Median Openings Using Microscopic Traffic Simulation

Abstract

A median opening with restricted U-Turn vehicles (or a median U-turn separating between motorcycles and cars) is a new median opening design that has been paid attention and gradually applied on the main road to address traffic and safety problems. The objective of this paper was to analyze the performance of the median openings with restricted U-Turn vehicles and comparing the operational efficiency of the various patterns of median openings including (1) median opening without storage U-turn lane; (2) median opening with storage U-turn lane; (3) median opening with separate motorcycle U-turn  opening; and (4) median opening with separate motorcycle U-turn opening and signal control. This paper applied the microscopic traffic simulation model to analyze the performance in terms of queue length, travel time, and level of service to the median opening with restricted U-Turn vehicles on the National Highway Number 101 at km 364+356 in Nan Province. The simulation results presented the performance of individual median opening and the traffic condition for which median opening is suitable. The simulation can be used as a tool to recommend highway engineers the suitable type of median opening in different current and future circumstances.