CONTINUOUS FLOW INTERSECTIONS

To alleviate traffic congestion via better traffic flow, the authors propose the use of continuous flow intersections (CFI). The CFI design allows left-turning vehicles to load a left-turn bay that is placed to the left of oncoming traffic and that is accessed by the creation of a midblock, signalized intersection. This article reports on a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the CFI concept using the TRAF-NETSIM microscopic simulation model. Performance of traffic at CFI designs were compared to the performance of traffic at intersections of conventional design. The performance of traffic was quantified by executing the validated TRAF-NETSIM simulation model for both intersection designs over a range of traffic conditions. Results suggest that CFIs offer many advantages; although, the cost of constructing CFIs is two to three times that of conventional intersections. New York City Department of Transportation has evaluated CFIs and is implementing a CFI in the borough of Staten Island. Detailed analysis of the Staten Island model will follow.