Integrating Roundabouts with Freight Roadway Networks

Ranjit Prasad Godavarthy¹, Eugene R. Russell²

¹Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University, Fargo, USA.
²Department of Civil Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/sgre.2015.610024                

Abstract

The demand for freight transportation in the United States has grown rapidly in the past couple of decades; the rate at which the highway capacity is growing is not able to meet the freight-trans- portation needs, resulting in congestion and delay, ultimately affecting the users and the public with increased prices for the goods delivered, unreliable delivery times, and air-pollution concerns. Freight bottlenecks are a major cause of recurring congestion which accounts for about 40% of total vehicle hours of delay in the United States. Intersections for urban freight-roadway networks are one of the major freight bottlenecks and are considered to be a significant contributor for congestion and delay. Improving the efficiency at urban intersections with high truck traffic can address the freight-traffic congestion, leading to optimized goods movement as well as decreased delays, congestion, and emissions, thus enhancing the air quality in and around the communities. With the roundabout intersection control being proven as a safe, operationally efficient, and environment-friendly control treatment, a greater use of roundabouts with urban freight- roadway networks and their feasibility is analyzed in this study. The control for most urban intersections is a signalized treatment; a performance analysis is conducted for selected signalized intersections in urban freight-roadway networks, comparing the intersections by adapting a roundabout control theoretically using SIDRA (signalized and un-signalized intersection design and research aid) Intersection software. Various parameters, such as the intersection’s level of service, the effective intersection capacity, the average control delay, vehicular emissions [carbon dioxide (CO₂), hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxides (NO_x)], the intersection’s annual delay, and the intersection’s annual cost, are selected for comparison.

Keywords

Congestion on Roads and Highways, Modern Roundabouts, Truck and Vehicular Emissions

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Cambridge Systematics and Battelle Memorial Institute (2005) An Initial Assessment of Freight Bottlenecks on Highways, Federal Highway Administration.
[2]	Office of Freight Management and Operations (2009) Freight Facts and Figures, Federal Highway Administration.
[3]	Cambridge Systematics and Texas Transportation Institute (2004) Traffic Congestion and Reliability: Linking Solutions to Problems, Federal Highway Administration.
[4]	Rodegerdts, L., Bansen, J., Tiesler, C., Knudsen, J., Myers, E., Johnson, M., Moule, M., Persaud, B., Lyon, C., Hallmark, S., Isebrands, H., Crown, R.B., Guichet, B. and O’Brien, A. (2010) Roundabouts: An Informational Guide— Second Edition. NCHRP Report 672, Transportation Research Board of the National Academics, Washington DC.
[5]	Russell, E.R., Luttrell, G. and Rys, M. (2002) Roundabout Studies in Kansas. 4th Transportation Specialty Conference of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Canada.
[6]	Russell, E.R., Mandavilli, S. and Rys, M. (2005) Operational Performance of Kansas Roundabouts: Phase II. Report No: K-TRAN: KSU-02-4.
[7]	Gingrich, M. and Waddell, E. (2008) Accommodating Trucks in Single and Multilane Roundabouts. Transportation Research Board, National Roundabout Conference, Kansas City, 12-18 May 2008.
[8]	Godavarthy, R.P. (2012) Network and Design Concepts for Accommodating Large Trucks at Roundabouts. Ph.D. Dissertation, Kansas State University.
[9]	Godavarthy, R.P., Russell, E.R. and Landman, D. (2012) Accommodating Oversize/Overweight Vehicles at Roundabouts: Survey Results and Preliminary Designs. Research in Agricultural & Applied Economics.
[10]	Godavarthy, R. and Russell, E. (2015) Low-Clearance Truck’s Vertical Requirements at Roundabouts. Journal of Transportation Technologies, 5, 214-222. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jtts.2015.54020
[11]	Russell, E.R., Landman, D. and Godavarthy, R.P. (2013) A Study of Accommodating Oversize Overweight Vehicles (OSOW) at Roundabouts. Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting: Compendium of Papers, Washington DC.
[12]	Russell, E.R., Landman, D. and Godavarthy, R.P. (2013) Accommodating Oversize Overweight Vehicles at Roundabouts. Report No. K-TRAN: KSU-10-1, Kansas Department of Transportation.
[13]	Russell, E.R., Landman, D. and Godavarthy, R.P. (2013) Key Findings and Conclusions from the Study: Accommodating Oversize/Overweight Vehicles at Roundabouts. 2013 Conference and Exhibition of the Transportation Association of Canada—Transportation: Better-Faster-Safer.
[14]	Mandavalli, S., Rys, M.J. and Russell, E.R. (2008) Environmental Impact of Modern Roundabouts. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 38, 135-142. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2006.11.003
[15]	United States Environmental Protection Agency (2008) Idling Vehicle Emissions for Passenger Cars, Light-Duty Trucks, and Heavy Duty Trucks, EPA420-F-08-025.
[16]	SIDRA INTERSECTION 5.1 Version Software (2012) SIDRA INTERSECTION User Guide. http://www.sidrasolutions.com/downloads/SIDRAINTERSECTION_UserGuide.pdf
[17]	Russell, E.R., Landman, D. and Godavarthy, R.P. (2012) A Study of the Impact of Roundabouts on Traffic Flows and Business. Report No. K-TRAN: KSU-09-10, Kansas Department of Transportation.
[18]	Kuehl, R.O. (1994) Statistical Principles of Research Design and Analysis. Duxbury Press.