3D Visualization and Micro-Simulation Applied to the Identification and Evaluation of Geometric and Operational ‘Solutions’ for Improving Visually Impaired Pedestrian Access to Roundabouts and Channelized Turn Lanes

The Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) at North Carolina State University is responsible for an NCHRP funded effort to identify and evaluate roundabout and channelized turn lane treatments intended to improve facility access for visually impaired pedestrians. As part of this effort, ITRE is utilizing VISSIM micro-simulation/modeling capabilities to investigate the (estimated) effectiveness of proposed treatments in advance of their full scale field evaluation. While VISSIM provides effective animation capabilities for use by engineers for preliminary design, its primary focus is on the representation of traffic operations. While the program has a very useful AVI graphic output, it does not have the capability to generate the type of photo-realistic 3D models shown to be useful in public involvement settings. ITRE, working in conjunction with the NY State DOT has generated additional 3D visual environments showing the range of treatments and treatment combinations currently proposed. The principle audience for this work were the NCHRP “panel’ members whose responsibility it was to provide the go-ahead to the Phase II treatment implementation and evaluation phase. The paper provides an overview of how 3D visual simulation and micro-simulation/modeling were used in an integrated fashion to address geometric design and operational facility performance issues. The work is responsive to research needs identified by the TRB Visualization Technical Committee that call for more effective techniques for integrating real time and non real time simulation methods and for increased recognition of modeling requirements underlying the visual simulation of transportation system ‘operations.’ The methodology being employed in NCHRP 3-78 is an outgrowth of the use of VISSIM by an NIH funded bioengineering research partnership effort that was headed by Western Michigan University and supported by NC State University, Vanderbilt University, Johns-Hopkins, and Accessible Design for the Blind. This is the first time, to the authors' knowledge that photo-realistic visualization methods and computer simulation/modeling have been applied to this problem area.