Toll plaza design and operation model based on drivers' lane selection patterns

This paper aims to develop a simulation model to apply for the design andoperating methods for toll plazas by analyzing the delay and the effect of geometry, and lane operations at toll plazas. Previous studies use a design method for toll plazas based on the queuing theory for analyzing the traffic characteristics at toll plazas. However, the design and operating method based on the queuing theory cannot be applicable under various payment systems, such as electronic toll collection (ETC), because drivers may have various lane selection behaviors. Thus, new design of toll plazas canbe desired for optimizing the operation of toll plaza and the minimization of traffic delay under various payment methods. This study focuses on developing a simulation model based on the integration with the existing queuing theory and drivers' lane change behavior, in particular, for ETCS. Asthe developed simulation evaluates three toll plazas with field data, theresults show significant improvement compared with the existing model. For the covering abstract see ITRD E140665