Citation

Bellis WR. Highw. Res. Board bull. 1953; 72: 1-13.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1953, National Research Council (U.S.A.), Highway Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In January of 1950, the New Jersey state highway department reconstructed the intersection of routes 1 and 25 (Communipaw Avenue) in Jersey City by a unique design which, although it did not use a bridge, proved to serve traffic as well as could have been done with a cloverleaf design. The design includes separate direct roadways short-cutting the center of the intersection. Traffic at the points of crossing is controlled by traffic signals. The locations of the points of cross traffic are designed for normal travel time between points and the best traffic signal synchronization. The number of lanes at each signal is a function of the traffic volume to be served and the signal capacity per lane. As demonstrated by four intersections constructed by the New Jersey state highway department, an entirely new field has been opened to the designer. It is the purpose of this paper to submit proven evidence of the new design technics, to illustrate traffic behavior suggesting more advanced application and to present untested but probable ultimate designs. The existing intersections do not express freedom of design. They were limited severely by restrictive right-of-way costs and the revisions were adopted as measures to improve existing conditions. Nevertheless, there are design features which are taken advantage of by a few drivers, thereby, increasing the efficiency of the intersection. If these features are refined so that all drivers can use them, the efficiency is increased still more. A study of these features and accompanying traffic behavior suggests an ultimate design, without the use of bridges, which would permit the free flow of all streams of traffic without the need for stopping and without the need for deviating from reasonable, normal vehicle speed. Channelized intersections; Design; Economic efficiency; Highway capacity; Highway design; Reconstruction; Traffic flow; Traffic signal timing; Traffic signals; Traffic volume