Influence of Bicycle Traffic on Capacity of Typical Signalized Intersection

Bicycle traffic has a significant effect on the capacity of signalized intersections. This paper divides the influence of bicyclists on vehicular flow into four types with the time durations estimated based on probability, shock wave, and gap acceptance theory. Vehicular saturation flow rate is predicted for various conditions on the basis of the speed-flow curve for the capacity of typical intersections influenced by bicycle traffic. The model overcomes the limitations of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM, 2000) method for left-turns due to data collection, and takes into account the effect of trapped bicycles on the through vehicular traffic. The numerical results show that the left-turn and through capacities predicted by the model are lower than those of the HCM method. The right-turn capacity is close to that of the HCM method at low bicycle volumes and higher than that of the HCM method at high bicycle volumes. © 2007 Tsinghua University Press.