Indiana Lane Merge System for Work Zones on Rural Freeways

The Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University have been investigating and implementing a novel traffic control system at two-lane freeway work zone entries to reduce the number of aggressive lane changes close to the lane taper. The system creates a variable no passing zone through a series of dynamic “DO NOT PASS” signs activated in response to congestion detected on the continuous lane. The Purdue team investigated the operational effect of the system to develop preliminary guidelines for system deployment. The research results indicate that the system improves drivers’ behavior toward more safety and reduces travel time in the continuous lane. The simulation model developed at Purdue was used to generate data and formulate rules for system deployment.