Overtaking Lanes

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Overtaking Lanes
Document No: 67-08-62J Revision: 2G Date amended: 12-Jun-2008

The information below is intended to reflect the preferred practice of Main Roads Western Australia ("Main Roads"). Main Roads reserves the right to update this information at any time without notice. If you have any questions or comments please contact Dave Hough for policy issues by e-mail or on (08) 9323 4248 and Sanath Mapa for design issues by e-mail or on (08) 9323 4634. To the extent permitted by law, Main Roads, its employees, agents, authors and contributors are not liable for any loss resulting from any action taken or reliance made by you on the information below or changes to its preferred practice.

Revision Register
Ed/ Version Number 1 2 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F 2G Clause Number All All 9.7.2 & 9.9 9.7.1 & 9.7. 2(e) Header 9.8 9.8 9.6.3 9.8 Description of Revision Guideline Developed Guideline Revised and Approved Editorial Changed Editorial Changed Guideline Contact Amended Editorial Changed Clarification of Previous Amendment - Table Deleted and Table Reference Amended. Editorial Changed Drawing 200631-0039 amended. Date

23-Jan-2003 11-Nov-2004 09-Mar-2005 23-Mar-2005 20-Sep-2005 26-Sep-2006 29-Sep-2006 18-Oct-2007 12-Jun-2008

Table Of Content:
9. CHAPTER 9 OF 10. OVERTAKING LANES 9.1. POLICY STATEMENT 9.2. SCOPE 9.3. POLICY OBJECTIVES 9.4. INTRODUCTION 9.5. PURPOSE AND SCOPE 9.6. JUSTIFICATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF PASSING LANES 9.6.1. STEP 1 - IDENTIFY UNIFORM SECTIONS ON ROAD UNDER INVESTIGA... 9.6.2. STEP 2 - MEASURE DAILY TRAFFIC VOLUME/CLASSIFICATION AND C... 9.6.3. STEP 3 - IDENTIFY THE PERCENTAGE OF ROAD LENGTH OFFERING O... 9.6.4. STEP 4 - WARRANTS FOR OVERTAKING LANES 9.6.5. STEP 5 - DO DELAYS OCCUR AS A RESULT OF UNUSUALLY SLOW VE... 9.6.6. STEP 6 - ASSESS NUMBER OF DELAYS PER DAY PER KM LONGER THA... 9.6.7. STEP 7 - DECIDE WHETHER THE NUMBER OF DELAYS PER KM PER DA... 9.6.8. STEP 8 - CONSIDER OTHER FACTORS 9.6.9. STEP 9 - DECIDE IF FURTHER ACTION IS JUSTIFIED AS A RESULT... 9.6.10. STEP 10 - DEVELOP DETAILED OVERTAKING LANE PROPOSAL 9.7. DESIGN 9.7.1. GEOMETRY 9.7.2. START/TERMINATION POINTS 9.7.3. CROSS SECTIONS 9.7.4. DRAINAGE 9.8. SIGNING AND PAVEMENT MARKING 9.9. REFERENCES

9.Chapter 9 of 10. OVERTAKING LANES 9.1.POLICY STATEMENT

Main Roads will provide overtaking lanes on all single carriageway National Highways and State Roads in accordance with the attached guidelines. Timing of the work will be determined by the availability of funds and priorities.

9.2.SCOPE
This policy applies to existing National Highway and State Roads. It may also be used as a guide for planning and designing overtaking lanes on future roads.

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Overtaking Lanes
Roads 2003 (Section 13)". They emphasize the need for overtaking lanes on low traffic volume rural roads where significant delays can result from drivers not being able to overtake large slow moving vehicles. These frustrations increase the potential crash rate due to road users attempting to overtake vehicles in unsafe situations. The AUSTROADS guidelines are adequate in high traffic volume situations, but fail to recognise the need for overtaking lanes on low traffic volume rural roads on which significant delays can result from vehicles not being able to overtake large freight and slow moving vehicles. These delays increase the potential crash rate by encouraging road users to attempt to overtake vehicles in unsafe situations.

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9.5.Purpose and Scope

These guidelines are intended for use by road and traffic practitioners working within or for Main Roads. They do not take the place of a complete project analysis for individual projects but only indicate where the provision of overtaking lanes should be more fully investigated. They follow the process depicted in Figure 1 below:

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Overtaking Lanes

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9.6.1.STEP 1 - Identify uniform sections on road under investigation

Sections should have relatively uniform traffic volume/classification, terrain and traffic conditions. Ideally sections for analysis should be about 20 kilometres in length. This length may vary from region to region. The speed used in selection of these overtaking distances will be either, the mean design speed or the 85th percentile speed over the length of road in both directions.

9.6.2.STEP 2 - Measure daily traffic volume/classification and convert to Passenger Car Equivalents
It is recommended that annual average figures are used but consideration needs to be given to seasonal variation in traffic/classification. Vehicle volumes need to be converted to Passenger Car Equivalents* using the conversion factors provided in Table 1. These factors have been derived from the Main Roads Road Evaluation System (WARES). Note: * Passenger Car Equivalence (PCE) factors are a relative measure of the traffic flow impedance effects of different vehicle types. The PCE factor for a particular vehicle type is the equivalent number of passenger cars (AUSTROADS Vehicle Class 1) that would have the same impedance effect as a single vehicle of that type.

AUSTROADS Vehicle Class 2 3 4 5 6 to 9 10 11 12

Dominant Vehicle Type Car towing 2-axle rigid truck 3-axle rigid truck 4-axle rigid truck Semi-trailers B-double Double road train Triple road train Flat 1 1.2 1.7 2 2.5 4 4 9

Terrain Type Rolling 1.3 1.7 3.5 5 5 10 10 22 Mountainous 2 3 6 8 10 16 16 35

Table 1: PCE Factors to Convert Mixed Traffic Volumes to PCE'S

9.6.3.STEP 3 - Identify the percentage of road length offering overtaking sight distance greater than 900 metres
This can be calculated using the Main Roads SIGHT program and IRIS data. If the information is not available use the appropriate default value from Table 2. (Note: The SIGHT program uses horizontal and vertical geometric road elements extracted from IRIS to determine the percentage of a road providing overtaking opportunities. Road Information Services Manager, Geoff Murray is the custodian of the SIGHT program.) The percentage of road offering overtaking provision is the sum of such sections, divided by the overall length of the road section being considered.

Pc

Percentage of sections offering overtaking provision Sum of length of sections offering overtaking provision

Overall length of road section being considered Alignment Descriptor High standard alignment in level terrain (less than 10% barrier-lined) Indicative Pc 85

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High standard alignment in undulating terrain or moderately constrained alignment in level terrain (about 20% barrier-lined) Moderately constrained alignment in undulating terrain. (about 40% barrier-lined) Constrained alignment in hilly terrain 10 30 60

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9.6.4.STEP 4 - Warrants for overtaking lanes

Table 2: Indicative Pc (Percentages of sections overtaking provision Using Table 3 and the percentage of section length providing offering overtaking sight distance -iethe Sight Distance > 900 m) that warrant overtaking derived from Figure 1; Step 3, identify minimum PCE's per day lanes for the section. Compare this with the actual PCE's derived in Figure 1; Step 2 to determine whether overtaking lanes are justified.

(greater than 60% barrier-lined)

Percentage of Section Length Providing Overtaking Sight Distance (Pc) 70 to 100 30 to 70 10 to 30 5 to 10 0 to 5 0

Minimum 2 way PCE per day that Warrant Overtaking Lanes 6,500 5,000 3,500 2,500 1,700 1000

Table 3: PCE Warrants for Overtaking Lanes

9.6.5.STEP 5 - Do delays occur as a result of unusually slow vehicles

If the section carries vehicles that are not adequately represented by the PCE's in Table 1 (i.e. slow moving farm equipment or sight seeing tourists) then further analysis of the potential number of vehicles that will be delayed may be conducted in Clause 1.6.6.

9.6.6.STEP 6 - Assess number of delays per day per km longer than 5 minutes
This can be assessed from the following formula:

where : No. Delays/km = number of occurrences per day per km of a delay greater than 5 minutes No. of cars per day = AADT x (% AUSTROADS Class 1 vehicles) No. of slow vehicles per day = AADT x (sum of % AUSTROADS Classes 2 to 12) P = Probability factor that vehicles will be delayed > 5 mins - from Table 4
5

Fv = Speed factor based on speed difference between fast and slow moving vehicles - from Table 5 (use values from Table 6 to determine Fv from Table 5) Speed of cars - typical AUSTROADS Class 1 vehicle speed in km/hr Speed of slow vehicles - typical slower moving vehicle speed in km/hr

AADT 85%

% Sight Distance Greater than 900 m 60% 30% 20% 10% 5%

<1%

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Overtaking Lanes
50 75 100 150 200 250 300 400 600 800 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 0.020 0.021 0.021 0.022 0.024 0.026 0.028 0.034 0.050 0.070 0.093 0.126 0.160 0.195 0.231 0.300 0.365 0.425 0.479 0.103 0.105 0.108 0.115 0.123 0.133 0.143 0.164 0.211 0.259 0.305 0.360 0.411 0.457 0.498 0.569 0.626 0.673 0.711 0.773 0.780 0.787 0.798 0.807 0.815 0.822 0.834 0.852 0.865 0.876 0.887 0.895 0.902 0.908 0.918 0.926 0.932 0.937

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0.001 0.002 0.003 0.008 0.018 0.032 0.051

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0.001 0.002 0.004 0.008 0.012 0.026 0.045 0.070 0.100

0.001 0.003 0.006 0.012 0.020 0.031 0.044 0.076 0.115 0.159 0.206

0.001 0.001 0.001 0.003 0.008 0.015 0.025 0.041 0.060 0.083 0.107 0.162 0.220 0.278 0.335

Table 4: Probability Factor P that Some Vehicle Will Be Delayed More Than 5 Minutes

Note: Table 4 refers to AADT. It is quite likely that 4000 AADT will equate to 6000 to 7000 PCEs in many situations. Therefore when the AADT exceeds 4000, overtaking lanes will be warranted.

Speed Difference 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 50 60

FV 0.64 0.95 1.30 1.69 2.09 2.50 3.33 4.17 5.00

Table 5: Values of Speed Factor FV

Alignment Standard > 90 km/h

Prevailing Grades <3% 3 to 5 % >5%

Car 105 105 95 90 90 85 75 75

Long Vehicle 95 70 40 75 55 30 60 45

75 to 90 km/h

<3% 3 to 5 % >5%

< 75 km/h

<3% 3 to 5 %

9.6.7.STEP 7 - Decide whether the number of delays per km per day >5% 70 25 justifies provision of an overtaking lane
Table 6: Typical Car and When the section being examined has an average ofLong moreVehicle than 10 Speeds five-minute delays per 20km per

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day, of detailed consideration of overtaking lanes justified. Sections other than 20km One the attributes of overtaking lanes is thatis they enable capacityof tolengths be added should be considered if more than 0.5 delays per km occur. incrementally as demand grows. (Overtaking lanes might initially be added at, say, 40 kilometre intervals, with further lanes being added at 20 kilometre intervals some years into the future.) Where traffic growth is expected through regional economic development, it may be beneficial to add these capacity increments slightly ahead of demand, particularly if these improvements will facilitate the economic development. Narrow Seals Car drivers are reluctant to overtake large vehicles on roads with narrow seals. On sections of road where this is the primary factor contributing to excessive queuing behind large vehicles, the provision of occasional overtaking lanes may be a more cost-effective solution than general seal widening. Crash History Crashes on any particular section of rural road are rare events, which makes crash rate a statistically poor warrant criterion. However, an investigation of crash history may help decide on marginal cases for an improvement. For overtaking lanes, particular attention should be paid to crashes associated with overtaking manoeuvres or where crashes may be attributed to slow moving vehicles. Public Complaints Complaints from road users can act as a trigger for investigating the need for overtaking lanes. However, they need to be assessed carefully to ensure that it is not one vocal sub group of road users creating a 'myth' of intolerable operating conditions. Complaints coming from a range of road user groups are more likely to have a reasonable base. Percentage of Heavy Vehicles Construction of passing lanes should be considered on roads with more than 15% heavy vehicles as defined by AUSTROADS Class 3 and greater.

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9.6.9.STEP 9 - Decide if further action is justified as a result of special factors

Special factors might include the following: Long grades of over 8% Heavy trucks joining the through traffic on an upgrade

9.6.10.STEP 10 - Develop detailed overtaking lane proposal

If the above process justifies an overtaking lane, the following guidelines for length, location and frequency are provided to assist in locating and designing the facility: Length The length of overtaking lanes should be in accordance with AUSTROADS - Guide to the Geometric Design of Rural Roads (2003 - Section 13.4.1.4) Overtaking lanes between 1000m and 1500m including tapers would be expected to provide maximum benefits in Western Australian conditions for 110 km/h speed zones. These lengths are a guide only, and the actual length should be chosen depending on the conditions at the desired site. In practice there are often constraints which prevent the desirable lengths from being achieved. Several short overtaking lanes may be more effective than a single long overtaking lane. Shorter overtaking lane lengths can be considered on upgrades where large vehicles will be operating at reduced speeds (i.e. where the treatment is acting as a climbing lane for slow vehicles) .Typically the length of climbing lanes are determined by the length of the upgrade plus the length required on the downgrade to provide a safe merge. Location Overtaking lanes are most effective where they will allow the greatest amount of extra overtaking. This will occur where speed differentials are greatest such as on upgrades, where sight distance is insufficient to allow overtaking without an overtaking lane, and where bunching is likely to occur as a result of the upstream road conditions which limit overtaking opportunities. However construction cost, safety, environmental impact and road appearance are also major considerations when determining the location of an overtaking lane. The main engineering factors to be considered when determining the location of overtaking lanes are as follows. (a) The function of overtaking lanes is more obvious to the driver on a section of roadway with limited overtaking opportunities than on long straight sections which already have good overtaking opportunities. Location on straight sections is also more likely to result in restrictions to overtaking in the opposing direction. Road sections with a reduced design

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Overtaking Lanes
speed standard should be avoided since these are not suitable for overtaking. (b) Location may be on grades or level road sections. While speed differences are often greater on upgrades, construction costs and constraints may be greater at these locations. It should also be noted that not all slow vehicles travel more slowly on upgrades. Overtaking lanes are also effective on roads in level terrain where the demand for overtaking opportunities exceeds supply. (c) The choice of location should take into account the requirements for high visibility to the diverge and merge tapers to comply with safety and appearance criteria. (d) Intersections and driveways should be avoided whenever possible, to minimise the problem of turning movements on a road section where overtaking is encouraged. Right turning movements, particularly at intersections, are of greatest concern from a safety perspective and where these cannot be avoided, special provision for turning vehicles should be considered. In reality it is difficult to find rural locations where driveways can be avoided. (e) Where constraints preclude widening of the road on the left hand side to create an overtaking lane, consideration can be given to widening the road on the opposite side and altering the centreline of the road. This is normally achieved by starting the lane on a horizontal curve and then transitioning the widening back from the right hand side to the left hand side on a downstream curve before merging on a straight. (f) Other physical constraints such as bridges or culverts should be avoided if they restrict the provision of a continuous shoulder. The importance of looking at each road section individually must also be emphasised. The above discussion gives an indication of good practice but it will be necessary to investigate each potential project to determine the best overtaking lane location for a particular road section. Frequency

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9.7.Design A staged construction approach is recommended with the initial target for an overtaking lane about every 20 kilometres. Conditions over each 20 kilometre section can then be reviewed 9.7.1.Geometry and those locations where significant delays are still being experienced can be targeted. Benefits of additional overtaking lanes Design diminish frequency about shall every five AUSTROADS - Guide to the Geometric of when Ruralthe Roads (2003, reaches Section 13.4) be used for kilometres. Atthe thisgeometric point a four-lane facility should be investigated. Refer totaper AUSTROADS - to be all aspects of design of overtaking lanes. Merge and diverge lengths are Guide to the Geometric Design of Rural Roads (2003), Section 13.4.1.6. calculated in accordance with the equations in Section 13.8.2 of the Austroads guide rather than
Figure 13.2. Typical plan layouts for a variety of passing lane configurations are shown on the following Guideline Drawings: 200331-0146 Right turn pocket within passing lane 200331-0147 Incorporating left and right turn pockets 200331-0148 Right turn treatment immediately prior to start of passing lane 200331-0149 Incorporating turning pockets and auxiliary lane

9.7.2.Start/Termination Points
The following guidance is given to designer's in selecting the start and end termination points: (a) The starting point of an overtaking lane cannot be determined as precisely as that of a climbing lane, which is often determined by the start of an incline. (b) The operation of an overtaking lane can be enhanced by developing the pavement widening on a horizontal curve. This provides for a smoother entry and tends to lead the traffic into the left hand lane by default. Care needs to be taken in the design of the diverge taper to ensure that the edge alignment is smooth. This may sometimes require the taper to be longer than the required minimum. (c) The commencement of an overtaking lane on a straight has the advantage of making the start of the lane more visible for approaching traffic but has the disadvantage of restricting overtaking in the opposing direction. The commencement of the lane immediately before a curve can create appearance problems. Consideration in this instance should be given to either adjusting the passing lane length or moving the passing lane to enable incorporation of the diverge taper into the curve. (d) Where an overtaking lane is to be commenced close to an intersection, consideration may be given to commencing the lane in conjunction with the intersection treatment providing the entering vehicle can directly access the left lane as an acceleration lane as shown on the Guideline Drawings listed in 9.7.1. (e) The location of the termination point is the most critical component of overtaking lane design. It is important that the termination is clearly visible to approaching traffic and provides sufficient sight distance to allow a smooth and safe merge between fast and slow vehicle streams. Refer to AUSTROADS - Guide to the Geometric Design of Rural Roads

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(2003), Table 13.2 (b) & 13.4(b) for merge sight distances. The merge sight distance is measured from an eye height of 1.05m to an object height of zero in the middle of the through lane, 20m past the start of the merge taper [source Queensland Main Roads - Road Planning and Design Manual (April 2002) Table 15.8A]. As an absolute minimum, stopping sight distance should be provided, measured from an eye height of 1.05m to an object height of zero at the start of the merge [source Queensland Main Roads - Road Planning and Design Manual (April 2002) Chapter 15.8]. Satisfactory approach sight distances will be most easily achieved by locating the merging area of overtaking lanes beyond any crest in the road. Where merge areas must be located on crest curves, crest K values based on approach stopping sight distance should be used. Refer to AUSTROADS Guide to the Geometric Design of Urban Roads (2002), Table 10.4. A key component of deciding where to end the overtaking lane is to provide continuation sight distance. Continuation sight distance allows drivers to decide whether to complete or abort an overtaking manoeuvre near the end of the overtaking lane. At the end of the 2 lane section (end of lane separation line) of the overtaking lane continuation sight distance shall 9.7.3.Cross be providedSections where practical. The ability to provide continuation sight distance will influence where the 2 lane section the passing lane can be finished. Refer to AUSTROADS - Guide to The overtaking lane width shallof be a minimum of 3.5m. the Geometric Design of Rural Roads (2003), Section 8.4.2. The shoulder to be provided adjacent to the overtaking lane shall be as per Main Roads - Guide to (f) Ending the merge taper on a straight section of road provides the best definition of the the Geometric Design of Roadways (2001, Chapter 3, Table 3.1) merge and should be achieved wherever possible. Ending within a horizontal curve may still meet continuation sight distance requirements but may not provide the same definition of which lane is terminating.

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9.7.4.Drainage
Where overtaking lanes are constructed as a widening of the existing road, the profile and crossfall should be checked to ensure that flat areas that cannot be drained adequately are not created.

9.8.Signing and Pavement Marking

Signing and Pavement Marking for overtaking lanes shall be as per Main Roads Drawing 200631-0039. Where there are limited overtaking opportunities between closely spaced overtaking lanes, sign G9-38 should be used C metres (refer to table in Main Roads Drawing 200631-0039) past the end of the merge taper to indicate the distance to the next overtaking lane.

9.9.References
AUSTROADS - RURAL ROAD DESIGN - Guide to the Geometric Design of Rural Roads (2003) ARRB Contract Report - Development of Guidelines to Identify the Location, Frequency and Length of Overtaking Lanes - November 1998. Queensland Main Roads - Road Planning and Design Manual (April 2002) AS 1742.2

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