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(air whooshing)

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- [Narrator] Making rural
highways as safe as possible

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is a continuing effort by
transportation researchers

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and The Texas Department
of Transportation.

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With the number of motorists
increasing across the state,

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this effort is a priority.

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This research determines
when turning lanes need to

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be included at intersections

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near passing lanes on Super 2 corridors.

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- [Marcus] TxDOT has been
building Super 2 highways

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for more than two decades now.

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And they provide great
opportunity for passing

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for vehicles that

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are through vehicles that
are traveling long distances.

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But what that means, is
they don't focus as much

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on intersections and driveways

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but as you build more passing lanes,

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the need becomes greater
to have some guidance

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on what to do with passing
lanes near intersections.

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- So what we're trying to do by looking

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at the scenario is to
decide what the safest way

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to address that scenario is to address

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both the safety of through
traffic and turning traffic

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and to limit the amount of
roadway delay at those areas

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to be able to expedite the
flow of traffic through there.

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- The biggest piece of
the research involved

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the team recording and
observing operations

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at some locations with intersections near

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and within passing lanes on Texas highways

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to see what was going on

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and using those recordings,

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we were able to process the data

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and turn that into material
that fit into simulation models.

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- From their results of the
simulation that they created,

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they were able to virtually optimize what

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the best scenarios are
as far as the locations

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of passing lanes around
these intersections,

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or, if it's necessary to have a location

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where there's going to be left turns

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within the Super 2 section,

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how to best handle that scenario.

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- [Marcus] What the research
has shown is that you can

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in fact have the passing
lanes and the intersections in

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in close proximity, and they do work.

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You don't have to avoid intersections

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with your passing lanes,
but you do need to have

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that separation.

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And so in particular, there
should be a separation of

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at least 1500 feet
between an intersection,

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and the end of a passing lane

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to provide room for the turning vehicles

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and the merging vehicles
to stay separated.

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But what we've also found,
is that it does provide

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not only operational benefit,
but a financial benefit,

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benefit cost that was
performed, showed great benefit

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in

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the operational benefit

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reduction of delay,

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reduction of crashes,

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compared to the cost of
building the infrastructure.

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- At this point, with the guidance,

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and the observations
that the researchers did,

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and with the model that
they were able to produce,

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I do feel that the next step
is going to be implementation

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and working some places
up that we can look

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at implementing the
technology out on the roadway.

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- [Narrator] For more information,

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and to find the publications
for this project,

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Please visit the TxDOT Research Library

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at the link shown below.