Relationships between access and operating speed on suburban arterials

Abstract

Driver behavior is affected by many roadway factors. This project investigated which geometric, roadside, and traffic control device variables have an effect on driver behavior on major suburban arterials. In particular, the effects of access on operating speed were examined and compared with effects by other variables. Regression techniques were used to determine how selected variables affect speed at the midpoints of study tangents. When all variables are considered, the only significant variable for tangent sections was posted speed limit. Because 85th percentile speed is frequently used to set the posted speed limit, one may expect that one value would be able to predict the other as is shown in this analysis. Another series of analyses were performed without using posted speed limit so as to provide information on predicting operating speed when not considering posted speed limit. Without speed limit, only lane width is a significant variable.