Safety and operational impacts of access management techniques

As a series of advanced traffic management techniques, access management reduce the number of traffic conflicts, lower the risk of traffic crash, and improve the operational efficiency of roadway system by classifying the function of roadways (Mobility and Accessibility), improving the design of roadway facilities, and optimizing the operation of access maneuvers. In past a few decades, over 100 kinds of access management techniques were developed. And to evaluate safety and operational impacts of these techniques is the fundamental to implement access management. This paper presents the concepts, principles and categories of access management techniques, and describes briefly impacts of some “priority” techniques on safety and operational. As a case study, evaluation of Right-Turn Followed by U-Turn that is an alternative for Direct Left-Turn was discussed finally in detail. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a summarized analysis on safety and operational impacts of access management techniques.