"Analysis of Alternatives for Accommodating Trucks on Urban Freeways in Southern Nevada"
This website provides information on demand modeling portion of the project "Alternatives for Accomodating Trucks on Urban Freeways in Southern Nevada", a research project co-sponsored by Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC-SNV), Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), and Nevada University Transportation Center (NUTC) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Traffic engineers and planners are increasingly becoming aware of the safety and traffic operations implications brought by the differences in operating characteristics of trucks and autos in mixed traffic lanes. The current system that mixes large trucks and autos in traffic lanes, leads to frequent conflicts between these vehicle types. The truck operators generally believe the mixed lanes unduly limit the potential productivity of long-haul trucking. On the contrary, most passenger vehicle drivers are intimidated when squeezed-in or tailgated by large trucks, which is sufficient enough to consider excluding trucks from some lanes. Furthermore, safety groups are increasingly pressuring transportation agencies to implement various truck strategies that would keep the general motoring public free from exposure to big rigs in the mixed traffic lanes, thus, alleviate traffic congestion and improve safety. This project is restructured this year to ensure successful completion. The entire project is divided into three tasks: a) Develop demand model for truck routing in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, b) Conduct surveys to collect data on feasibility, and c) Perform safety analysis to obtain information on high risk locations for truck traffic. Of these three various tasks, this website provides information on "Demand Modeling". |