Traffic Simulation Analysis of Bicycle Highways in Urban Areas

Abstract

The ongoing increase of bicycle traffic in urban areas forces transport authorities to reconsider the space allocation for different transport modes. Transport policies favor the introduction of high-quality bicycle infrastructure along urban corridors to improve the traffic quality and safety for bicyclists but more importantly to increase the attractiveness of bicycling and over vehicular modes. Especially in urban areas with an already established high and steadily increasing share of bicyclists, the introduction of bicycle highways is considered to further alleviate saturated interurban public transport and motor vehicle connections and increase the average traveled distance by non-motorized modes. Due to the expensive implementation costs and the space restrictions in already built-up urban environments, there should be an extensive planning phase for defining the expected changes in traffic efficiency and safety. However, the effects of urban bicycle highways on traffic performance metrics of bicyclists as well as other road users are not thoroughly studied. This paper aims to quantify and assess the potential effects of urban bicycle highway on road users. The study considers a possible inner-city pilot route in the city of Munich, where the present bicycle infrastructure is planned to be upgraded to a bicycle highway. A simulation model is designed using traffic data from field observations and future estimates for the traffic composition. Through microscopic traffic simulation, the potential effects of the introduced infrastructure on road users are determined for different study scenarios. Results show that traffic quality thresholds for bicycle highways, as defined in official guidelines, can only be fulfilled through the implementation of special bicycle traffic control measures such as bicycle coordination or bicycle passage time extension. Finally, unidirectional bicycle highways together with bicycle passage time extension provided the best overall traffic performance for bicycle traffic and motor vehicle traffic.

Analisis Tingkat Pepuasan Pesepeda yang menggunakan Fasilitas Lajur Khusus Sepeda pada Kawasan Perkotaan Jl. Veteran – Jl. Pemuda Kabupaten Klaten

“…Saat pihak berwenang menyadari potensi bersepeda dan potensi keuntungannya dalam meningkatkan kualitas hidup dan transportasi di daerah perkotaan, kebijakan transportasi khusus dirancang dan diperkenalkan di daerah perkotaan di seluruh dunia dalam upaya meningkatkan daya tarik sepeda sebagai moda transportasi. Kebijakan transportasi semacam itu seringkali mengandalkan pengenalan bentuk-bentuk baru infrastruktur sepeda untuk meningkatkan keselamatan lalu lintas dan kualitas lalu lintas bagi pengendara sepeda serta mengalokasikan lebih banyak ruang untuk lalu lintas sepeda di jaringan jalan perkotaan (Grigoropoulos et al, 2021). Selain menjadi solusi efektif untuk menghindari angkutan umum yang padat, bersepeda juga dapat memperbaiki fisik dan ramah lingkungan.…”

Calibrating the Wiedemann 99 Car-Following Model for Bicycle Traffic

“…This parameter describes the time headway that a road user maintains while following another road user in addition to the time buffer provided by the standstill distance. According to [19], it can be derived from Equation (7).…”

“…The headway time CC1 is estimated for each observed following/passing events by defining Sa f ety distance = ∆X min during the following phase (blue in Figure 2) and the speed of the simulator study participant at that point. CC0 was set at 0.8 m based on the findings of [6]. The resulting cumulative density function of CC1 is shown in Figure 3.…”

“…Microsimulation approaches for vulnerable road users show promising insights into understanding traffic efficiency [5][6][7].…”

Análisis de la funcionalidad del tráfico en carreteras convencionales con presencia de ciclistas

“…Otro estudio que utilizó la microsimulación del tráfico fue el realizado por Grigoropoulos et al (2021), quienes analizaron el efecto de la inclusión de una vía para ciclistas en un entorno urbano sobre las funcionalidad del tráfico ciclista y sobre el resto de usuarios utilizando el microsimulador de tráfico SUMO. El estudio consideró una posible ruta piloto en el centro de la ciudad de Múnich, donde actualmente existe una infraestructura para ciclistas que pretende ser actualizada a una autovía para bicicletas.…”