A surrogate safety analysis at sharp gore areas of diverging freeway ramps using micro simulation under congested traffic conditions
Abstract Safety at the gore areas near diverging ramps is very crucial during planning and implementation of highway safety improvement programs. Limited research has been conducted on safety at the gore areas on arterial roads. This study aims at investigating the impact of improving a sharp gore a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-12-01
|
| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-49728-4 |
| _version_ | 1797377045160787968 |
|---|---|
| author | Abdulaziz H. Alshehri Muhammad Umer Farooq Abdul Farhan Ahmed M. Yosri Fayez Alanazi Ahmed Farouk Deifallah Mohamed Ahmed Okail |
| author_facet | Abdulaziz H. Alshehri Muhammad Umer Farooq Abdul Farhan Ahmed M. Yosri Fayez Alanazi Ahmed Farouk Deifallah Mohamed Ahmed Okail |
| author_sort | Abdulaziz H. Alshehri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Safety at the gore areas near diverging ramps is very crucial during planning and implementation of highway safety improvement programs. Limited research has been conducted on safety at the gore areas on arterial roads. This study aims at investigating the impact of improving a sharp gore area in Lincoln, Nebraska by performing a micro simulation before-and-after study with respect to its underlying state of safety and congestion. Data on travel times and traffic volumes for peak hours are incorporated after successful calibration to find out how a geometric intervention can decrease mobility issues as well as the likelihood of crash involvement. This study has utilized VISSIM software package to run the simulation however, to perform safety analysis, Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM) is used which is developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). During the model calibration, custom driving behaviors are created to represent driving tendencies of familiar drivers. The simulation results indicated that by adding an auxiliary lane near the gore area, the mobility issues such as bottle necks, lane changing dilemmas and queue lengths are substantially decreased. However, geometric interventions such as provision of a separate lane, increasing ramp spacing, nose spacing, deceleration area and queue storage area considerably reduced the likelihood of rear-end and lane changing crashes. Surrogate safety assessment in diverging ramps, particularly for sharp gores, has not previously been studied, and this study can serve as a primary footmark for future research on ramp-gores safety. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T19:48:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5de375ce655f4310bc4954237e17887a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T19:48:18Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-5de375ce655f4310bc4954237e17887a2023-12-24T12:14:19ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-12-0113111410.1038/s41598-023-49728-4A surrogate safety analysis at sharp gore areas of diverging freeway ramps using micro simulation under congested traffic conditionsAbdulaziz H. Alshehri0Muhammad Umer Farooq1Abdul Farhan2Ahmed M. Yosri3Fayez Alanazi4Ahmed Farouk Deifallah5Mohamed Ahmed Okail6Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Najran UniversityCivil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Nebraska – LincolnCivil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Nebraska – LincolnCivil Engineering Department, Delta University for Science and TechnologyCivil Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Jouf UniversityStructural Engineering and Construction Managment Department, Future University in EgyptFaculty of Engineering and Technology, Badr University in Cairo (BUC)Abstract Safety at the gore areas near diverging ramps is very crucial during planning and implementation of highway safety improvement programs. Limited research has been conducted on safety at the gore areas on arterial roads. This study aims at investigating the impact of improving a sharp gore area in Lincoln, Nebraska by performing a micro simulation before-and-after study with respect to its underlying state of safety and congestion. Data on travel times and traffic volumes for peak hours are incorporated after successful calibration to find out how a geometric intervention can decrease mobility issues as well as the likelihood of crash involvement. This study has utilized VISSIM software package to run the simulation however, to perform safety analysis, Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM) is used which is developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). During the model calibration, custom driving behaviors are created to represent driving tendencies of familiar drivers. The simulation results indicated that by adding an auxiliary lane near the gore area, the mobility issues such as bottle necks, lane changing dilemmas and queue lengths are substantially decreased. However, geometric interventions such as provision of a separate lane, increasing ramp spacing, nose spacing, deceleration area and queue storage area considerably reduced the likelihood of rear-end and lane changing crashes. Surrogate safety assessment in diverging ramps, particularly for sharp gores, has not previously been studied, and this study can serve as a primary footmark for future research on ramp-gores safety.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-49728-4 |
| spellingShingle | Abdulaziz H. Alshehri Muhammad Umer Farooq Abdul Farhan Ahmed M. Yosri Fayez Alanazi Ahmed Farouk Deifallah Mohamed Ahmed Okail A surrogate safety analysis at sharp gore areas of diverging freeway ramps using micro simulation under congested traffic conditions Scientific Reports |
| title | A surrogate safety analysis at sharp gore areas of diverging freeway ramps using micro simulation under congested traffic conditions |
| title_full | A surrogate safety analysis at sharp gore areas of diverging freeway ramps using micro simulation under congested traffic conditions |
| title_fullStr | A surrogate safety analysis at sharp gore areas of diverging freeway ramps using micro simulation under congested traffic conditions |
| title_full_unstemmed | A surrogate safety analysis at sharp gore areas of diverging freeway ramps using micro simulation under congested traffic conditions |
| title_short | A surrogate safety analysis at sharp gore areas of diverging freeway ramps using micro simulation under congested traffic conditions |
| title_sort | surrogate safety analysis at sharp gore areas of diverging freeway ramps using micro simulation under congested traffic conditions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-49728-4 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT abdulazizhalshehri asurrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT muhammadumerfarooq asurrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT abdulfarhan asurrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT ahmedmyosri asurrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT fayezalanazi asurrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT ahmedfaroukdeifallah asurrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT mohamedahmedokail asurrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT abdulazizhalshehri surrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT muhammadumerfarooq surrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT abdulfarhan surrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT ahmedmyosri surrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT fayezalanazi surrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT ahmedfaroukdeifallah surrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions AT mohamedahmedokail surrogatesafetyanalysisatsharpgoreareasofdivergingfreewayrampsusingmicrosimulationundercongestedtrafficconditions |