An on-street parking maneuver can often start a temporary bottleneck, leading to additional delay endured by the following vehicles. In most cases, the number of vehicles delayed due to a parking maneuver is limited. However, if the maneuver occurs near a signalized intersection, the delay may linger over multiple cycles, resulting in a degraded performance of the traffic system. In this paper, we try to define a minimum distance from the parking area to the intersection to avoid such delay. As the throughput reduction at the intersection is highly linked to the lingering delay, it is used as a key indicator of the traffic performance. Based on the hydrodynamic theory of traffic flow, the perturbation caused by the parking maneuver is analyzed. Using dimensional analysis, we illustrate the relation between the background conditions (i.e., traffic demand, signal control settings, duration of the parking maneuver), the distance from the parking area to the intersection, and the throughput reduction at the intersection. Based on this relation, one can find a minimum distance to avoid lingering delay (throughput reduction) when designing the parking area. Similarly, we can compute the throughput reduction caused by existing on-street parking areas. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the practical applications. We hope the findings can be used as a basis for developing on-street parking design guidelines.
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