Traffic flow characteristics of road section affected by maintenance operation

YUAN Longhong; LIU Hui; ZHENG Yifeng; YUE Xiaoquan; WANG Yuhang; SUN Xiaonan

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1672-0032.2025.04.002

Abstract：To alleviate traffic congestion caused by urban road maintenance and improve traffic efficiency during maintenance operation,two typical urban road maintenance work zones in Fuzhou(single-lane closure and double-lane closure)are selected for analysis.Using video image recognition technology,vehicle operation data in the maintenance work zones are collected,and vehicle trajectories are extracted using Tracker software.Data processing and analysis is conducted with MATLAB and SPSS to examine the spatiotemporal distribution and speed characteristics of vehicles under maintenance scenarios,as well as the impact of maintenance work zone configurations on traffic flow.The results indicate that traffic volume in maintenance work zones varies significantly between off-peak and peak hours;after entering the warning area,vehicles shift from closed lanes to open lanes,with a marked decline in traffic efficiency during peak hours;vehicle speeds gradually decrease along the direction of traffic flow within maintenance work zones,with the lowest speeds and largest time headways observed in the activity area;in mandatory lane-changing behavior,the speed of the trailing vehicle in the target lane is a key factor influencing lane-changing decisions;in the two maintenance work zones,the proportions of lane-changing vehicles with higher speeds than those of the trailing vehicle are 65%and 71%,respectively;during peak hours,lane-changing initiation points are closer to the downstream end of the warning area,and the closer the lane-changing initiation point is to the activity area,the longer the lane-changing duration is.