dc.contributor.author	Paydar, Ali
dc.date.accessioned	2024-08-21T14:27:30Z
dc.date.available	2024-08-21T14:27:30Z
dc.date.issued	2015
dc.description	Thesis (PhD. (Civil Engineering)
dc.description.abstract	Midblock median opening facilities are constructed on multilane highways in Malaysia solely for the purpose of facilitating U-turn movements along multilane highways. Traffic conflicts at multilane highway intersections forced the road authority to invest in midblock median opening facilities as traffic conflict reduction mechanism. Although the road authority succeeded in reducing traffic conflicts at intersections, the installation of midblock median opening facilities has created new problems that include reduction in quality of service in their vicinity. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of quality of service reduction induced by midblock median opening facilities. The objectives are, to determine and evaluate traffic flow and speed for road sections of without and with midblock median opening; and also develop an assessment procedure mindful of considerations of indicators for both road providers and users’ perception that can be used to determine quality of service. Vehicle types, traffic composition, traffic volumes and vehicles speeds were collected at each direction of the four surveyed sites and their results were analyzed and compared. A novel quality of highway service approach was developed to determine service quality at without and with midblock median opening segments. Assessment criteria table was developed based on travel speed and flow relationship and used to determine ensuing quality of service at midblock median opening facilities. The quality of highway service was taken as the degree to which multilane highway promotes road users and providers satisfaction. Road providers often use traffic volume and speed relationship to assess the service quality provided. However, it can be argued that road users would perceive quality of highway service differently from road providers. Travel time was assumed as an indicator of road users’ perception of highway service quality at road segments. Consequently, travel time was used in conjunction with traffic volume and speed as measures of effectiveness to determine the service quality of multilane highway. A quantitative approach that hinges on fundamental diagram of traffic volume, speed and density was used to derive traffic volume and speed relationship. Based on the circumstances prevalent at the time of survey, it was assumed that traffic density was a resultant of speed and traffic volume hence not directly affected by midblock median openings. It implies that traffic volume reduction was fully the result of speed changes. Findings showed that on average, service quality at the midblock median opening zones were reduced from grade C and D to D or E. Estimated average travel times were increased by eight percent and average travel speed reduced by nine km/h. The study concluded that midblock median opening facilities will cause reduction in multilane highway quality of service
dc.description.sponsorship	Faculty of Civil Engineering
dc.identifier.uri	https://openscience.utm.my/handle/123456789/1277
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
dc.subject	Roads—Design and construction
dc.subject	Median strips
dc.subject	Traffic flow
dc.title	Influence of midblock median opening on quality of multilane highway service
dc.type	Thesis
dc.type	Dataset

Influence of midblock median opening on quality of multilane highway service

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