Guidelines for Selecting Lane Widths on Urban and Suburban Arterials

In an era of multimodal design and expensive right-of-way, transportation agencies must make decisions on how to safely accommodate all users of the roadway system. One of the key decisions that affects roadway operation and safety is the selection of lane widths. Previous research projects have examined the relationship between lane width and safety on urban and suburban arterials. These studies showed inconsistent results on whether or not the use of lane widths narrower than 12 feet on urban and suburban arterials increased crash frequencies. Therefore, there is a need to provide guidelines for state departments of transportation (DOTs) on selecting the appropriate lane widths and understanding the safety impacts of lane width decisions. The objective of this research was to develop guidelines for the selection of an appropriate lane width considering bike and parking lanes on urban and suburban arterials. The guidelines should incorporate the assessment of safety impacts of lane width in the decision-making process.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4912
• Supplemental Notes:
  • NCHRP canceled this project and reallocated project funds to NCHRP Program.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Terminated
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 03-112A

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Dekelbab, Waseem

• Start Date: 20200818
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20200818

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arterial highways; Bicycle lanes; Decision making; Guidelines; Highway design; Highway safety; Parking; Suburbs; Traffic lanes; Urban highways; Width
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01725144
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 03-112A
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Dec 17 2019 12:24PM