Traffic organization design process for highway weaving area based on UAV video data and traffic simulation experiments

With the construction of multi-lane highways, the increased density of the highway network and the reduced spacing between entrances and exits lead to an increase in the number of highway weaving areas, and the design of the weaving area and its traffic organizations play an important role in the safe operation of weaving areas. This study establishes the design process of the weaving area and its traffic organization on multi-lane highways, including 1) preliminary design: physical space design of the weaving area and traffic organization schemes design; 2) evaluation method: driving behavior number acquisition based on UAV video/driving simulation experiments, calibration of traffic simulation parameters, and calculation of evaluation indicators of accessibility and safety; 3) Scheme selection: the optimal scheme should be selected based on a comparison of the evaluation indicators. If none of the preliminary schemes can achieve superior results, the parameters of the preliminary scheme for physical space and traffic organization should be adjusted based on the experimental results. Following this, the evaluation and scheme selection process should be repeated. This study takes a weaving area in Guangzhou as an example and proposes four preliminary designs of traffic organization based on data collected by UAVs. The optimal design scheme is then selected by carrying out simulation experiments according to the evaluation method. The successful application of the case study proves that this process is reasonable and feasible, and can be applied to the traffic organization design of multi-lane highway weaving areas under construction or expansion.