A Method for Determining the Capacity of an Exclusive Left Lane with a Permitted Phase under Nonstrict Priority

A new method has been developed for estimating the capacity of an exclusive left lane with a permitted phase under nonstrict priority. Different from maneuvers under strict priority, these left-turning vehicles were released in the form of a left-turn group. A field survey was first conducted to explore the maximum number of vehicles in a left-turn group, and the releasing process of the permitted left turns. The observations revealed that (1) the maximum number is related to the intersection geometry and (2) the releasing process includes two stages: the first left-turn group crossing at the beginning of a permitted phase and the following left-turn groups crossing using gaps provided by opposing right turns. Next, a method based on probability theory and these observation results were applied to estimate the capacity of an exclusive left lane. The procedure contains two stages and eight steps. Finally, the estimation of the left-turn capacity using the proposed model was validated by comparing the capacity from the strict priority and actual maximum volumes.