Guideline Development for Minimizing Operating Speed Variance of Multilane Highways by Controlling Access Design

• Authored by:  Jian Lu

Lu, Jian. Guideline Development for Minimizing Operating Speed Variance of Multilane Highways by Controlling Access Design, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., Southeastern Transportation Center, University of Tennessee (in progress, end date noted as August 2011)

      This research is seeking to identify possible factors that could influence speed variance on multilane roadways, particularly as it relates to access design factors. Statistical models are being used to summarize these relationships. Data collection is performed for modeling, including speed data, geometry data, traffic data, control data and etc. Radar guns and a roadway video log surveillance system (RVLS) will be used to collect speed data, and other necessary data will be obtained from the Florida Inventory Database. Traffic micro-simulation is being used in addition to field data analysis to obtain models that specify the impacts of access management treatments and geometric design on traffic operational speed distributions. Finally, a guideline will be developed summarizing relationship between all contributing factors and speed variance, in order to improve safety performance.