Melody A.

Causes of Road Transportation Bottlenecks

Bottlenecks are major impediments to the free flow of traffic and occur under specific
circumstances, mostly when nearing capacity. Under such circumstances, a small bottleneck can have
important consequences, leading to an accumulation of delays. Four major causes can be identified:

Traffic interruption

By far the most common cause and include traffic lights, stop signs, tolls and railway crossings. When
traffic lights are not well synchronized with the direction and flow of traffic, significant delays may occur
while traffic accumulates in one direction. Tolls can also be a major bottleneck, especially in urban areas,
as significant time can be spend waiting to pay the manually collected fare. The emergence of electronic
toll systems has partially alleviated this issue.

Lane reduction

The merging required when the number of lanes is reduced can easily become a bottleneck,
especially if the capacity on the segment becomes lower than the traffic on the previous segment. The
unmet demand thus becomes traffic delays.

Merging

Although highways are designed to provide an uninterrupted flow to traffic, merging can be a
cause for bottlenecks as cars are slowing down and changing lanes. This is notably the case at the
intersection of two major highways where a large amount of traffic shifts from one highway to another.

Distraction

This type of bottleneck is created by a psychological reaction of drivers to an unusual event that, although
does not directly influence the capacity, is distracting the traffic and causing a slowdown. This is often
known as "rubber necking". Distractions can often be as trivial as a car that was pulled over by the police.
Accidents on an highway often results in a bottleneck on the opposite lane as drivers slow down out of
curiosity. Glare during sunrises and sunsets is also known to create bottlenecks over specific

Why Remove Freeway Bottleneck?

 One bottleneck in a corridor can create severe congestion for the entire corridor
  There are also environmental and safety effects of bottlenecks
o Vehicles operating in congested sections of freeways emit more hydrocarbons and carbon
monoxide into the atmosphere.
o Vehicles caught in stop-and-go traffic consume more fuel.
o Accidents and vehicle breakdowns (with associated safety impacts) tend to increase in
freeway sections with severe congestion.
o In addition, motorists make erratic maneuvers in attempts to bypass congestion and save
time, causing further hazard

What are the steps in Freeway Bottleneck removal?

1. DETECTIVE WORK: WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?
The first step in attempting to remove freeway bottlenecks is to determine the cause.

Four different data collection efforts are necessary at a suspected bottleneck site:

1. Peak-period traffic volume counts by 15-min periods

It is recommended that traffic volumes be collected in the peak direction by 15-min time
intervals. The small time increment allows detection of patterns in the volume profiles; for
instance, capacity may be reached in one 15-min period and then followed by a drop in volume
from stop-and-go operations that result from over-capacity conditions.

2. Peak-period travel time runs (every 15 min)

Peak-period travel times along a section of freeway can give considerably more
information about the impacts of a bottleneck.

3. Traffic demand patterns (if weaving is involved)

Often important to understanding the causes of a freeway bottleneck are the origins and
destinations of the vehicles in the traffic stream. If the problem is a weaving section that is over
capacity, the entire freeway upstream can experience congested conditions. Even major capacity
improvements may be ineffective if the problem lies in excessive weaving volumes.

4. Videotaping of freeway operations (at the bottleneck and drive-through).

Unusual traffic patterns that may be contributing to, or even causing, bottlenecks cannot
be detected by simply examining the traffic volumes and travel speeds. Field observations and
videotaping are essential in discovering traffic patterns.

2. FOUND CAPACITY: THE LOGICAL SOLUTION

Once a bottleneck has been identified and its causes have been determined, solutions
within the given right-of-way should be sought. Ideally, a bottleneck improvement will be a
Iowcost improvement designed to provide more capacity to a freeway section temporarily until
some permanent capacity addition to the freeway can be constructed. Because the improvement
is temporary in nature, minimum design standards may need to be considered.
 Some solutions in Texas are:
1. Use a short section of shoulder as an additional lane,
2. Restripe merge and diverge areas to balance capacity and demand
3. Modify weaving areas,
4. Add lanes for short segments, and
5. Use peak-period ramp metering or ramp closures.

3. BENEFITS AND COSTS: WHAT'S THE PAY-OFF?

First, the most obvious benefits from removing bottlenecks are the increased peak-period
speeds and the reduced delay to motorists. These benefits can considerably outweigh the cost of
bottleneck improvements.