Microsimulation Analysis of Traffic Operations at Two Diamond Interchange Types

• Main Authors: Rui Yue, Guangchuan Yang, Zong Tian, Hao Xu, Dongmei Lin, Aobo Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi-Wiley 2019-01-01
• Series: Journal of Advanced Transportation
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/6863480
• ISSN: 0197-6729; 2042-3195

The operational performance of standard Single Point Urban Interchange (SPUI) and Tight Diamond Interchange (TDI) has already been widely studied. In general, SPUI is more efficient than a TDI in terms of increased capacity and decreased traffic delays even though building a SPUI generally incurs a higher cost. However, due to right-of-way constraints, a standard SPUI may not be implementable at locations with restricted land use; thus, the variations of SPUI are usually considered. Currently, there is no established methodology or guideline available on the performance evaluation of variations of SPUI. This paper aims to investigate the operational efficiency of SPUI with frontage roads (SPUI-F, a variation of SPUI). Based on a field case, the performance of SPUI-F was investigated using microsimulation. An analytical model for capacity estimation, which considered early return and discharge flow rate, was also established and validated based on microsimulation. Multiple traffic scenarios were analyzed and their performance measures were compared against the equivalent TDI design. Simulation results revealed that TDI outperformed SPUI-F in terms of average delay, speed, and queue length, and the proposed analytical model can be used for reliable capacity and delay estimation. The findings from this study can aid the decision-makers choosing an appropriate interchange type for achieving the best benefit-cost ratio.