Engineering Commons^™

Operational Characteristics Of Lane Drops, Don L. Cornette

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Traffic behavior studies were conducted at seven lane-drop locations, representing four lane-drop classes. These studies were composed of conflict observations (consisting of both erratic movement and brakelight applications), spot-speed observations, and lane volume counts. Such a study was made before and after each different traffic control device installation in an attempt to determine which device was the most effective in minimizing conflicts at existing lane drops. A study of conflict deviations indicates that no single type of traffic control device studied was significantly effective in reducing erratic movement and brakelight rates at all seven lane-drop locations. Rather, it appears that …