Methodology for Selecting Urban Median Treatments: A User's Manual

About the report:

Urban arterial streets must provide a high level of service for through traffic as well as access to abutting properties representing a variety of land uses. To an extent, the provision of traffic service and the accommodation of access needs are conflicting functions that require different median treatments and different access controls. The regulation of left-turn traffic through the utilization of alternate median controls is a primary method of providing a compromise.
Although several investigators have examined the merits of raised medians and traversable or continuous two-way, left-turn median lanes, guidelines for selecting the treatment best suited for medians under particular urban conditions have not been fully developed. The absence of guidelines has led to considerable differences in opinion among planners, designers, and traffic engineers, and often the design chosen has generated criticism from the motoring public, property owners, and businessmen. The purpose of the study reported here was to develop guidelines that can be used to formulate a rational basis for selecting alternative median designs for nonlimited access urban highway projects.

Authors