Critical Gap Comparison between One-, Two-, and Three-Lane Roundabouts in Qatar

Khaled Shaaban and Hassan Hamad
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Khaled Shaaban: Department of Civil Engineering/Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Hassan Hamad: Dept. of Civil, Geological, and Environmental Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: A critical gap value of a roundabout is mainly affected by the interactions between the circulating vehicles and vehicles entering the roundabout. These interactions are impacted by many factors, including the number of circulating lanes, the aggressiveness of local drivers, vehicle types, and the number of approaching lanes. Therefore, it is essential to locally investigate critical gap values before conducting any studies to improve capacity and delay at roundabouts. The purpose of this study is to measure and compare the critical gap values for different types of roundabouts in Qatar. More than 10,000 measurements were collected. The results showed that the critical gap values were 2.24 s, 2.55 s, and 2.40 s for the one-, two-, and three-lane roundabouts, respectively. These values are also quite low when compared to values calculated in other countries, which can be an indication of driver aggressiveness and risky behavior. The study is one of the first efforts to compare three types of roundabouts and to understand the difference in operation between them in this region. The results of this study can help engineers, planners, and public agencies to plan, study, and design similar facilities.

Keywords: gap acceptance; single-lane roundabout; human factors; driver behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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