Original Research Paper
Macroscopic and microscopic analyses of managed lanes on freeway facilities in South Florida

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.12.002Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Speed-flow models and key freeway segments performance measures such as pre-breakdown capacity, queue discharge flow, percent drop in capacity after the breakdown, and free flow speed were surveyed from two sites in South Florida representing one-lane and two-lane managed lane facilities.

  • Two microsimulation models were developed, calibrated, and validated utilizing South Florida managed lanes traffic data.

  • The built-in VISSIM car-following model of Wiedemann 99 was calibrated effectively to demonstrate key performance measures such as pre-breakdown capacity, queue discharge flow, and free flow speed.

Abstract

As congestion grows in metropolitan areas, agencies tend to utilize managed lanes on their freeway systems. Managed lanes have several forms and names, such as high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, express lanes, and bus-only lanes. Although managed lanes have received significant attention as they increased the overall throughput and improved mobility without adding more lanes, little has been known about their operational capabilities. In addition, calibrating managed lane facilities can be challenging as they do not necessarily follow the same behavior with general purpose freeway lanes.

This paper presents an operational analysis of two HOT lane segments located in South Florida. The sites are one-lane and two-lane segments separated by flexible pylons (FPs). The paper includes a macroscopic capacity analysis, and a microscopic calibration of the two sites using VISSIM microsimulation. The research findings assist in determining the capacity and speed-flow relationship of these segments, and also provide guidance for microsimulation model calibration for practitioners.

The results of the study indicate that the percent drop in capacity for the one-lane FP site is 7.6% while the flow did not substantially change after the breakdown in the two-lane FP site. The research findings also include guidelines for simulating the breakdown events and calibrating one-lane and two-lane managed lane facilities in VISSIM microsimulation software. The Wiedemann car-following parameters (CC0 = 3.9 ft, CC1 = 1.9 s, CC2 = 26.25 ft, CC4 = −0.35, and CC5 = 0.35) provided the best fit for the one-lane FP site, while the combination (CC0 = 4.92 ft, CC1 = 1.9 s, CC2 = 39.37 ft, CC4 = −0.7, and CC5 = 0.7) parameters is recommended for the two-lane FP site.

Keywords

Managed lane
VISSIM
Microsimulation
Calibration
Car-following
Freeway facility

Cited by (0)

Dr. Soheil Sajjadi received his PhD from North Carolina State University and was a postdoctoral researcher at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Sajjadi is an associate engineer at PTV Group. He has been the lead trainer of the PTV Group in the North America and has conducted multiple workshops in more than 20 public and private agencies in the U.S. He has also been involved in multiple research projects, which have led to more than 20 journal papers, peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and research reports. His research interests are in traffic flow theory, optimization, driver behavior, multi-resolution modeling, traffic operations, and intelligent transportation systems.

Dr. Alexandra Kondyli is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Kansas. She received her PhD in Transportation Engineering from the University of Florida, where she also worked as a postdoctoral researcher. Dr. Kondyli has authored and co-authored more than 50 journal publications, presentations, and research reports. Her research interests include traffic engineering operations, traffic flow theory, driver behavior, microsimulation, and highway capacity.

Peer review under responsibility of Periodical Offices of Chang'an University.