DECISION-MAKING FRAMEWORK FOR THE EVALUATION OF CLIMBING LANES ON TWO-LANE TWO-WAY RURAL ROADS. FINAL REPORT

This research was directed toward determining general guidelines for the construction of climbing lanes with respect to length and location. A microscopic simulation model was developed to evaluate the performance of a climbing lane. The model was calibrated and validated using data collected at two climbing lane sites in California. This model was used to determine an optimum length and location of a climbing lane on a specific upgrade and also to determine general guidelines for the most cost-effective location of climbing lanes when various candidate upgrades are considered. Travel time savings per mile of climbing lane was the sole performance measure examined in this report. A complete documentation of the computer program developed in this research was included in this report.