How Merging Vehicles Choose and Approach Their Desired Merge Position in Congested Merge Area

1 The lane change process is a tactical process. However, the transitions among important tactical 2 nodes are largely ignored in the existing microscopic lane change models. Prior to the lane 3 change maneuver, the merging vehicles need to reach the feasible lane change location (the 4 desired merge position), which is right after the target gap selection. This study explores how the 5 merging vehicle choose and approach the desired merge position in a congested merge area, 6 which may trigger the understanding of the complex lane change behavior and help microscopic 7 traffic flow modeling. 8 This paper reports a fundamental work by classifying the merging vehicles into “targeting 9 original gap” type and “targeting forward gap” type. The statistical analysis results indicate that 10 these two types of merging vehicles have different selection behavior of desired merge location. 11 The gap distance between putative leader (PL) and putative follower (PF), the vehicle type of PL 12 and speed difference between merging vehicle and vehicles surrounding it have influence on the 13 desired merge location selection of merging vehicles. 14 To investigate how the merging vehicles approach their desired merge position, the speed 15 synchronization and the acceleration behavior of merging vehicles are analyzed in the 16 approaching process. The results illustrate the acceleration behavior of the “taking forward gap” 17 type merging vehicles should be staged modeled depending on their location. Findings from this 18 study could shed light on the interpretation of complex lane changing. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 TRB 2014 Annual Meeting Paper revised from original submittal.