Abstract
With the ever-increasing demand to add roadway capacity in a safe and efficient manner, the application of auxiliary through lanes (ATLs) at intersections has increased in recent years. Despite the potential capacity-related benefits, ATLs also introduce the potential for unique driver operation tactics, leading to challenging merge scenarios downstream of signalized intersections. Furthermore, the benefits of increasing capacity are only realized when drivers are making decisions that balance the utilization of the ATL and the adjacent continuous through lane. Moreover, balancing lane utilization upstream of an ATL signalized intersection may introduce an improvement in safety and operations in merging conflicts downstream. Previous research investigated the effectiveness of ATLs through microsimulation and field studies. This research employed two full-immersion driving simulation studies. The initial experiment was conducted using simulation technology to evaluate aspects of driver behavior associated with lane utilization at ATLs. Lane utilization of the ATL significantly increased when the driver was informed of the fundamental design concept, ultimately improving capacity. The second experiment was based upon the results of the initial experiment, coupled with ongoing research evaluating alternative merge signage. Specifically, the second experiment aimed to evaluate downstream merge signage that could mitigate some of the behaviors resulting from the less than optimal lane utilization for ATLs. With an emphasis on improving intersection performance, the results from this paper suggest that the implementation of alternative merging signage may lead to improved merging behavior.
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