Behaviour of channelized section spillover: a numerical simulation study

ABSTRACTA typical arterial consists of two sections: an upstream section (U-section) and a channelized section (C-section). When vehicles queue beyond the interface of the two sections, channelized section spillovers (CSSs) occur. This research investigates the dynamic behaviours of CSSs under various traffic scenarios, by utilizing an enhanced lane queuing model. The model is able to explicitly capture the queue profiles at signalized intersections when CSSs occur, and also reflect the influences of road geometry and first-in-first-out behaviour on CSSs. The major findings include: (1) CSSs may be ‘created’ by exiting CSSs; (2) CSSs may be either ‘erased’ or delayed by earlier CSSs; (3) due to the interactions among different CSSs, queues generally need time to stabilize, even when demand and supply are fixed. These uncovered characteristics of CSSs necessitate the re-modelling of delay, travel time and capacity at signalized intersections, under a more dynamic framework.