Unconventional Intersection Designs for Improving Through Traffic along the Arterial Road

• Other Authors: Hildebrand, Thomas E. (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Civil engineering; Environmental engineering
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-4052

With an increase in demand on the current roadway system, intersections are beginning to fail before the end of the design period. Generally, an intersection is formed when two roadways cross. One of the roads usually services higher traffic volume than the other. This roadway is designated as the major or arterial road. The second road, which services a lower traffic volume, is called the minor or collector road. The purpose of the major road at the intersection is to provide a high level of service for the through traffic. When the level of service of an intersection has reached an unacceptable level, the typical treatment to increase both the capacity and level of service is to add another through lane. Unfortunately, this treatment does not add as much time to the life cycle of the intersection as it did in the past. In an attempt to improve the performance of an intersection and to increase the life cycle, several unconventional intersections have been designed. The unconventional designs examined during this study include the bowtie, continuous flow intersection, jughandle, median U-turn, and superstreet. These designs remove exclusive left turn lanes from the major road at the intersection in order to provide a longer green phase for the through traffic. The unconventional designs as well as the conventional designs were examined based on area required, traffic simulation, and estimated cost of construction. After reviewing and analyzing the data obtained during this study, it can be concluded that the continuous flow intersection and median U-turn designs provide the highest level of service. However, the estimated construction cost of the continuous flow intersection is approximately 50% more than the conventional solution and the construction cost of the median U-turn is approximately 35% more than the conventional solution. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. === Fall Semester, 2007. === November 1, 2007. === Intersection Designs, Improving Traffic Flow, Traffic Simulation === Includes bibliographical references. === Ren Moses, Professor Directing Thesis; John Sobanjo, Committee Member; W. Virgil Ping, Committee Member.