Advanced Transport Engineering

Two phase intersections have never before been used, but they are much safer than the traditional intersection, and have ~69% more capacity, yet fit within the same footprint. Right turn (US left) conflicts are best resolved on the approach. Pedestrians can cross slip lanes after the early cut off (ECO) and before the late start (LS), under signal control, and without vehicles filtering.Bus priority is best gained using metering to practical capacity, rather than with bus lanes, and...
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Two phase intersections have never before been used, but they are much safer than the traditional intersection, and have ~69% more capacity, yet fit within the same footprint. Right turn (US left) conflicts are best resolved on the approach. Pedestrians can cross slip lanes after the early cut off (ECO) and before the late start (LS), under signal control, and without vehicles filtering.Bus priority is best gained using metering to practical capacity, rather than with bus lanes, and metering also ensures free flow, and permits signal linking. Signal linking in the counter peak direction is enhanced by "restricted crossing U-turn". Tolled queue jumping by the majority of traffic, promotes efficiency and sustainability, yet free access can still be retained via a queue for equity.These operational concepts can prevent all congestion and minimize traffic incidents on arterial streets (as well as on freeways), and are much more effective than major works.In urban Melbourne, Australia, progress on road crash reduction is too slow, assaults during trips are increasing, arterial street amenity has been neglected, is poor and deteriorating, congestion is bad and on the increase, trip time averages only 15kph within 10km of the central business district and is worsening, road related revenues are decreasing and public transport subsidies are increasing, jobs are wasted stuck in traffic, and jobs foregone by subsidies are increasing, transport reliability is not available, and we must reduce CO2 emissions. Traffic operation proposed above will have an impact on trip speed and reliability, but there is an opportunity for much greater improvements.These (nine) transport problems have been set as objectives, and a fit-for-purpose design proposed for a supplementary transport system, that will meet the objectives, and take the load off the existing systems. The objectives, some alternatives and the preferred solution form the remainder of the document. A suspended podcar system, like "The Jetsons" is able to out-compete the car on its own terms, using simpler technology than the common car. It is profitable, and therefore self-funding but needs a government guarantee to overcome the sovereign risk. The big thing is to reduce the impact of the car on the urban environment to the point where children can again play in the street, and at the same time provide trips that are 4 times faster, safer, lower cost and reliable. There is no other competitive option.