Flexible infrastructure

Although traffic demand fluctuates throughout the day, the infrastructure present to accommodate that demand is mostly fixed. Notable exceptions are the so called rush hour lanes. These are lanes that are opened to traffic during times of increased traffic demand. When not in use to serve regular traffic, they are used as emergency lanes as most of the time it concerns converted shoulder lanes. Similarly, urban roads also have to deal with fluctuating demand throughout the day. In some areas there are clear flows in the morning that enter an area whereas in the evening the same flow can be seen to leave the area. Traffic lights are used to ensure that traffic can pass an intersection safely and efficiently. The inflow and outflow of traffic is however constrained by the number of entry- and exit lanes for a direction. A flexible assignment of the entry and exit lanes at an intersection could provide a more efficient use of an intersection throughout the day. Questions for this research are if flexible infrastructure could indeed decrease travel time losses by traffic that needs to pass these intersections and how to realise this type of infrastructure in practice.