Safety Effects of Using Narrow Lanes and Shoulder-Use Lanes to Increase the Capacity of Urban Freeways

Details

• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Research, Development, and Technology
• Contributors:
  Tan, Carol
• Corporate Contributors:
  Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Traffic volume
  • Highway capacity
  • Freeways
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-HRT-05-001
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Research, Development, and Technology
• Abstract:
  As traffic volumes grow on urban freeways, highway agencies face an ongoing challenge to maintain efficient traffic operations and acceptable levels of service. Increasing the capacity of a freeway by adding a lane can be difficult and expensive if it involves widening the existing roadbed, regrading roadside areas, and/or acquiring additional right-of-way. A number of highway agencies, however, have implemented projects in which a travel lane is added on an urban freeway by restriping the traveled way with narrower lanes, converting all or part of the shoulder to a travel lane, or a combination of both. The traffic operational benefits of such conversions are immediate and obvious, but the safety effects are uncertain. This study addresses these safety effects.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/40568/dot_40568_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 145.84 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Federal Highway Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8b6dfffaa165a6a433de150eef50d1773c0d3d18447efed8553c5133ce1e664f68af4ba88d7bd9eac29f983d536555092b67943c047bdff0f6cca982a6df2ea7