THE PHENOMENON OF BOTTLENECKS ON EXPRESSWAYS AND CORRECTIVE MEASURES THEREOF

Four-lane expressways in Japan suffer a 25 percent loss of original function due to two-lane bottleneck sections. The bottleneck phenomenon can be explained as follows: As congestion on an expressway approaches the limits of the free stream, 60 percent of all traffic amasses in the passing lane. When a bottleneck is reached in this state, headways disproportionately large compared to the speed at that time arise, causing volume in excess of capacity to develop under the pressure from upstream traffic demand. The effect spills over to the nearside lane and eventually the vehicles become stagnant on the expressway. To prevent this phenomenon from occurring, it is essential that the geometric design of roads be reviewed. However, the improvement of driver behavior has recently been recognized as another important aspect. Efforts have been initiated to devise feasible measures. As similar phenomena are frequently noted even on six-lane expressways, the implementation of effective measures is a matter of great urgency. To solve this problem, the development of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technology is essential. In this paper, the bottleneck phenomenon is discussed, with emphasis on the relationship between the phenomenon and ITS.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Five volumes of papers and one volume of abstracts comprise the published set of conference materials.
• Corporate Authors:

  VERTIS

  TORANOMOM 34 MORI BUILDING 1-25-5
  TORANOMON, MINATOKU, TOKYO 105  Japan 
• Authors:
  • Kurihara, K
  • Hayama, A
  • Tomitaka, H
• Conference:
  • Steps Forward. Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress
  • Location: Yokohama, Japan
  • Date: 1995-11-9 to 1995-11-11
• Publication Date: 1995-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 316

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Bottlenecks; Drivers; Geometric design; Highway traffic control; Intelligent transportation systems; Traffic congestion; Traffic volume
• Uncontrolled Terms: Capacity
• Geographic Terms: Japan
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00721093
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Volume 1
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 21 1996 12:00AM