Estimation of Capacity Drop in Highway Merging Sections

Abstract

Capacity drop, which is defined as discharge flow drop after bottleneck activation, has been frequently observed on urban highways, especially in merging sections. Maintaining high capacity on roadways is a main concern for traffic operators, theorists, and transportation modelers. Accordingly, many researchers have investigated capacity drop, yet highway capacity and discharge flow measurement methods vary, and results are not comparable. A systematic methodology is introduced for finding capacity drops by using detector data to estimate roadway capacity and discharge flow. The impact of the number of lanes on capacity drops at merging sections on highways is investigated. Results show that capacity drop is negatively related to the number of lanes. Detailed information is analyzed for individual lanes and off-ramp effect on capacity drop. Individual lane analysis supports the negative relationship between the amount of capacity drop and the number of lanes. A decrease in capacity drop is observed when the flow ratio of the off-ramp increases.