Highway Truck Lane Restrictions Simulation Model

Highways, as a kind of modernized fundamental traffic constructers, are designed to serve the mixed traffic flow consists of passenger cars, trucks, buses, recreational vehicles, etc. The fact that the impacts of these different types of vehicles are not uniform creates some problems in highway operations and safety. A common approach to reduce the impacts of truck traffic on freeways is to restrict trucks to certain lane(s), which can minimize the interaction between trucks and other vehicles and compensate for their differences in operational characteristics.The performance of different truck lane restriction alternatives differs under different traffic and geometric conditions. Thus, an appropriate estimate of the operational performance of different truck lane restriction alternatives under prevailing conditions is required, which can help making informed decisions on various truck lane restriction alternatives. A set of operational performance models is proposed to help identifying the most operationally efficient truck lane restriction alternative on a freeway under prevailing conditions. The operational performance measures examined in this study include average speed, throughput, speed difference, and lane changes. Prevailing conditions include number of lanes, interchange density, free-flow speeds, volumes, truck percentages, and ramp volumes.