The Impact of Vehicle Lane Changing Behavior on Road Capacity Based on VISSIM Simulation

Vehicle lane changing behavior is an important factor affecting the road capacity. This paper explores the influence of the disturbance wave generated by lane changing behavior on travel speed and headway of the fleet and proposes a calculation model of the road capacity reduction coefficient. As the frequency of lane changes influences road capacity, this paper analyzes the range of disturbance propagation, the average speed of the fleet and the average headway of two-lanes in the same direction. It further examines the multiple “no influence” and “influential” lane-changing cases and examines the relationship between lane changing actions. Using VISSIM simulation platform, experimental data is obtained. The results show that there is only 4.6% error between the numerical value calculated by the model and the simulation result measured by the VISSIM, which verifies the proposed method.