To effectively develop road networks under budgetary and time constraints, high-standard arterial expressways in Japan incorporate dual four-lane roads with provisional two-way two-lane (TWTL) sections in areas of low traffic demand. In the majority of TWTL sections, rubber poles are used to partially separate inbound and outbound lanes, but safety risks, including head-on collisions resulting from lane departures into an opposite-direction lane, are considered problematic. To urgently address this situation, wire ropes were installed along some road sections nationwide to verify their effectiveness in preventing head-on collisions. This paper presents a multifaceted evaluation study of the effectiveness of wire ropes on TWTL sections, including drivability, maintainability, and effectiveness in accident prevention.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Japan Road Association. Notes and Operation of Government Order on Road Design Standards. Maruzen Publishing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, June2015.
van AsS. C.van NiekerkA.The Operational Analysis of Two-Lane Rural Highways. Proc., 23rd Southern African Transport Conference (SATC 2004), Pretoria, South Africa, 2004.
4.
Al-KaisyA.FreedmanZ.Empirical Examination of Passing Lane Operational Benefits on Rural Two-Lane Highways. Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Vol. 49, No. 3, 2010, pp. 53–68.
5.
LuttinenR. T.Level of Service on Finnish Two-Lane Highways. Proc., Transportation Research Circular E-C018: 4th International Symposium on Highway Capacity, Maui, HI, 2000, pp. 175–187.
6.
MorenoA. T.LlorcaC.GarcíaA.Operational Impact of Horizontal and Vertical Alignment of Two-Lane Highways. Transportation Research Procedia, Volume 15, 2016, pp. 319–330.
7.
ShawkyM.HashimI.Impact of Horizontal Alignment on Traffic Performance at Rural Two-Lane Highways. Proc., 4th International Symposium on Highway Geometric Design, Valencia, Spain, 2010.
8.
BerghT.RemgårdM.CarlssonA.OlstamJ.StrömgrenP.2+1-roads Recent Swedish Capacity and Level-of-Service Experience. Transportation Research Procedia, Volume 15, 2016, pp. 331–345.
9.
NCHRP Research Results Digest No. 275: Application of European 2+1 Roadway Designs. Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, April2003.
10.
YoshikawaR.NagahamaK.XingJ.YoshiiT.KitamuraR.A Study on Bottleneck Capacity on Divided Two-Lane Expressways, Infrastructure Planning Review, Vol. 22, 2005, pp. 839–845.
11.
YoshikawaR.MizukamiH.XingJ.YoshiiT.KitamuraR.A Study on Bottleneck Capacity on Divided Two-Lane Expressways. Proc., 5th International Symposium on Highway Capacity and Quality of Service, Yokohama, Japan, 2006.
12.
NakamuraH.KobayashiM.CatbaganJ. L.A Study on Implementation Policy of Auxiliary Lanes on Two-Way Two-Lane Highways Considering Follower Density. Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) Series. D3 (Infrastructure Planning and Management Vol. 34), Vol. 67, No. 3, 2011, pp. 270–282.
13.
NarushimaS.KasaiM.XingJ.GotoH.TsujiM.Analysis of Vehicle Speeds on Two-Way Two-Lane Expressways with ETC2.0 Data. Journal of Japan Society of Traffic Engineers (JSTE), Vol. 3, 2017, pp. A_125–A_134.
14.
KasaiM.XingJ.NarushimaS.GotoH.TsujiM.A Discussion on Measure of Effectiveness of Two-Way Two-Lane Expressways. Journal of Japan Society of Traffic Engineers (JSTE), Vol. 3, 2017, pp. A_135–A_144.
15.
KaiS.HiraiS.XingJ.NarushimaS.HoriguchiR.Analysis of Accident Rates Classified by Traffic Flow State for Safety Evaluation of an Expressway Network Traffic Simulation Model. Proceedings of Infrastructure Planning, Vol. 53, 2016, pp. 2603–2607.
16.
BerghT.CarlssonA.2+1-Roads with and without Cable Barriers: Speed Performance. Proc., Transportation Research Circular E-C018: 4th International Symposium on Highway Capacity, Maui, HI, 2000, pp. 188–199.
17.
CarlssonA.Evaluation of 2+1 Roads with Cable Barriers. Final Report, VTI Rapport 636A. Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI), LinkÎping, Sweden, 2009.
18.
MarshF.PilgrimM.Evaluation of Narrow Median Wire Rope Barrier Installation on Centennial Highway, New Zealand. Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety, Vol. 21, No. 2, 2010. pp. 34–41.
19.
HirasawaaM.TakadabT.IshidaT.Development and Effective Use of a Wire Rope Guardrail System for Two-Lane Roads in Japan. Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 11, 2015, pp. 2209–2226.
20.
MuramatsuT.HirasawaT.Overview of Wire Ropes Suitable for Two-Way Two-Lane Expressways. Automobile and Expressway, Vol. 60, No. 9, 2017, pp. 38–41.
