Road Transition Zones between the Rural and Urban Environment: Evaluation of Speed and Traffic Performance Using a Microsimulation Approach

Abstract

A microsimulation approach is presented for evaluating the effectiveness of a transition zone connecting the rural to the urban environment using speeds computed in simulation for showing whether drivers slow down far enough below the imposed speed limit before entering the small urbanized area. The proposed approach was also applied to prove whether, both within the transition zone and on the rural roads approaching this zone, acceptable values of the traffic performance measures expressed in terms of delay time and queue length were ensured. Five design alternatives based on the horizontal deflection were tested. The results showed that the simulated mean speeds were lower than the