ABSTRACT
The implementation of ‘vehicles yielding to pedestrians and bicycles’ in China has enhanced intersection safety but reduces the capacity of right-turn lanes, which leads to an argument against vehicle yielding behavior. In this regard, we analyzed the yielding behavior affects the right-of-way as well as the capacity of right-turn lanes by implementing a protected intersection design (PID) and an unprotected intersection design (UID). The capacity calculation models of exclusive right-turn lanes (ERTLs) and shared right-turn lanes (SRTLs) were then proposed based on the gap acceptance theory and probability theory. The parameters were calibrated considering conflicting volumes, conflicting angles, right-turn radius, yielding rates, and right-turn proportion. Next, the proposed model was verified by measured data of six intersections in Suzhou and Jinzhou. The average error of the model is 6.0%, much smaller than that of HCM and DJG0896. Finally, we compared how the capacity of the right-turn lanes under the PID and the UID differs. The result shows that the PID can improve the right-turn lane capacity under a vehicle yielding behavior.
