Lane-Changing gap acceptance model for freeway merging in simulation

Abstract

Existing techniques for microscopic simulation of lane changes utilize a single critical gap for a single vehicle. Freeway merging areas have been among the most difficult aspects of simulations due to the wide variety of merging behaviors in these areas. This paper proposes a gap acceptance model developed to update the size of the critical trailing gap for a merging vehicle during simulation based on the location of the vehicle in an acceleration lane. It also considers the relative speed and critical leading gap. Sets of critical trailing gap values for various situations are computed. The outputs from the microscopic simulations utilizing the proposed model were compared with field data, producing strong statistical evidence that the simulation results and field data were significantly comparable.