The effect of oversized lane width and lane shoulder on heavy vehicle parking on residential streets

Abstract

Heavy vehicle are wider than passenger car, hence, it requires a wider space to operate and to park. When heavy vehicle drivers are unable to locate parking they often park on the road lane or shoulder. These vehicles should not be allowed to park on road lane or shoulder as it obstructs the vision of other drivers, the road lane or shoulder may require constant maintenance and repair; and pedestrian and motorists may be forced onto the streets or onto the wrong side of the streets in order to pass the heavy vehicles. This research was conducted to establish if width of road lane and road shoulders in neighbourhood streets will encourage heavy vehicle parking. Five residential areas in MPJBT were selected as the case study. Selected local and minor collector streets with heavy vehicle parked on it were measured for their actual lane width (ALW) and actual road shoulder width (ASW). The t-test was used to compare the means of ALW and ASW with the recommended JKR and JPBD standard. The t-test rejected the null hypothesis as the sig- value p is less than alpha level (a = 0.20) at 80% confidence level. The analysis indicates that almost all (80%) of ALW and ASW do not follow the recommended JKR and JPBD standard. The mean of ALW for both local and minor collector roads are oversized (p = 0.000). Comparisons of ALW for minor collector road also show a lower p value than the alpha level (p = 0.0002). The results further suggest that oversized lane will encourage heavy vehicles to be parked on it. The t-test also proved that the mean of ASW for both local (p = 0.000) and minor collector (p = 0.001) streets do not follow the recommended JKR standard. It is concluded that oversized lane and road shoulders widths provides an opportunity for heavy vehicle drivers to misuse the space.