IN T R O D U C T IO N A passing lane is an added lane provided in one or both directions of travel on a conventional tw o-lane highw ay to im prove passing oppo r­ tunities. T his definition includes passing lanes in level or rolling terra in , clim bing lanes on grades, and short four-lane sections. T he length of the added lane can vary from 1,000 feet as m uch as 3 miles. Figure 1 illustrate...

Roads can fragment animal populations, which can lead to decreased gene flow between populations. This causes increased genetic differentiation and decreased genetic diversity between and among populations. These affects are well documented in studies focusing upon the effects of urbanization on salamander populations, however, little is known about the effects of rural roads on fragmented popu...

Low level of driver’s situation awareness (SA) and high level of cognitive load are considered as reasons of vehicle accidents. Cognitive load is higher when driving abroad because of unfamiliarity with differences in international traffic rules or vehicle configurations. This paper aims to objectively assess the driver’s SA when performing lane changing tasks under unfamiliar driving condition...

This study has three main objectives: 1 to develop new, theory-based, queuing relationships for the quality of flow on two-lane rural highways; 2 to estimate the relationships both from the empirical data that were collected on 15 two-lane rural highways and from the queuing models that were developed; and 3 to propose a new level-of-service variable that measures the quality of the flow both i...

This thesis is conducted to compare a crash-level severity model with an occupantlevel severity model for single-vehicle crashes on rural, two-lane roads. A multinomial logit model is used to identify and quantify the main contributing factors to the severity of rural, two-lane highway, single-vehicle crashes including human, roadway, and environmental factors. A comprehensive analysis of 5 yea...

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of various studies which have been made concerning lateral placement of vehicles on rural roads. The term “lateral placement,” as it is used throughout this report, is construed to mean the position of the vehicle on the road in relation to either the right edge of the pavement or to the centerline of the road. Only two-lane roads will be cons...

We investigate the effect of lane kilometers of roads on vehicle-kilometers traveled (VKT) in US cities. VKT increases proportionately to roadway lane kilometers for interstate highways and probably slightly less rapidly for other types of roads. The sources for this extra VKT are increases in driving by current residents, increases in commercial traffic, and migration. Increasing lane kilomete...