An Analysis of Merging Maneuvers at Urban Expressway Merging Sections

This study analyzed merging maneuvers namely merging speed and merging position by using video data collected at two merging sections on Nagoya Urban Expressway, Japan. The analysis demonstrated that the longer acceleration lane length is associated with further merging positions. Furthermore, the traffic conditions do not significantly affect the means of merging positions but their variations. The variations of merging positions become significant when the density of mainline is higher. A similar tendency can be observed if acceleration lane length becomes longer. Regarding merging speed, it is found that mainline traffic conditions significantly affect merging speeds. They decrease as traffic conditions become denser. To generalize the results of analysis, a normal distribution was adopted to fit the models of merging position and speed. The results of model estimation and sensitivity analysis indicate that the models give consistent results with the analysis.