Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3469-6283

Date Available

12-7-2017

Year of Publication

2017

Degree Name

Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Agriculture; Engineering

Department/School/Program

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Nikiforos Stamatiadis

Abstract

Left-turning maneuvers are considered to be the highest risk movements at intersections and two-thirds of the crashes associated with left-turns are reported at signalized intersections. Left-turning vehicles typically encounter conflicts from opposing through traffic. To separate conflicting movements, transportation agencies use a protected-only phase at signalized intersections where each movement is allowed to move alone. However, this could create delays and thus the concept of a protected-permissive phase has been introduced to balance safety and delays. However, the permissive part of this phasing scheme retains the safety concerns and could increase the possibility of conflicts resulting in crashes. This research developed a model that can predict the number of crashes for protected-permissive left-turn phasing, based on traffic volumes and calculated conflicts. A total of 103 intersections with permissive-protected left-turn phasing in Kentucky were simulated and their left-turn related conflicts were obtained from post processing vehicle trajectories through the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM). Factors that could affect crash propensity were identified through the Principal Component Analysis in Negative Binomial Regression. Nomographs were developed from the models which can be used by traffic engineers in left-turn phasing decisions with enhanced safety considerations.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2017.469

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