Block handling

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Not a single source included in the article.

Under block handling the simultaneous passage is understood several vehicles in one direction, while the other side has to wait. This is done to increase the flow of traffic in each direction and to reduce backlogs in front of traffic structures. It distinguishes block handling from alternating driving through a bottleneck that only offers space for one vehicle , regardless of direction.

In the past, the Katschberg tunnel ( Tauern motorway ) was particularly well-known in this context , and was usually operated in block processing when there was a traffic jam at the beginning of the holiday.

Movable bridge

With a movable bridge , ships are allowed to pass through from one direction, while the entrance to the bottleneck is still blocked for the other side. Only when all waiting ships on one side have passed the bridge will the passage be cleared for the other direction. As a result, the waiting time for the crossing road or rail traffic can sometimes be quite long. Bridges on busy waterways therefore have several movable elements in order to allow more watercraft to pass through the traffic structure and thus the crossing traffic route .

Level crossings

In rail traffic , block handling occurs at level crossings when several trains from different directions pass the same. On special traffic signals , the number of passing trains can be specified. A well-known example is the railway line on the right bank of the Rhine near Eltville am Rhein .

tunnel

In two-way traffic tunnels, passage is only ever granted at one tunnel portal and entry via red traffic lights is prohibited on the other side of the tunnel . Block handling is normally used to avoid a traffic jam in the tunnel when there is a high volume of traffic (then the opposite lane can be given a permanent green) or when a construction site or a vehicle breakdown in the tunnel hinders traffic.

At the direction of traffic tunnels block clearance is applied in order to avoid a traffic jam and thus the risk of rear-end collisions in the tunnel. The resulting traffic jam would be caused by excessive traffic anyway, but due to potential accidents and disabilities it would even be longer. The traffic jam is only fixed at a certain point by the light signal system at the tunnel portal, so that the impression is created that the tunnel is responsible for the jam. If the drainage is not obstructed, for example by a construction site, the traffic behind the tunnel will flow again.

Trivia

The usual clearance at road construction sites with traffic lights with only one-sided passage is also based on this principle.