ALSANCAK MAIN COASTAL ROAD – FUEL STATION RE-ENTRY COMPRESSION AT PEAK HOUR

Westbound along Alsancak Main Coastal Road, fuel stations are positioned directly on the corridor without deep buffer lanes. Entry is simple. Exit is immediate. The geometry invites short stops and fast re-entry.

The compression forms during the return to flow.

Time pattern: 17:00–19:00 weekdays. Secondary peak: 11:00–13:30 Saturdays.

During these windows, vehicles moving westbound maintain moderate corridor speed shaped by earlier roundabout release. At the same time, fuel station activity increases due to post-work refueling and weekend preparation.

The risk does not originate at entry. It forms at exit.

A vehicle refuels and prepares to rejoin westbound traffic. The driver waits for a perceived acceptable gap. However, gap perception is influenced by earlier acceleration rebuild behavior on the axis. Approaching vehicles are traveling slightly faster than expected because the corridor still visually reads as semi-open.

A typical local sequence unfolds:

Vehicle A exits the fuel station forecourt and commits to westbound merge.
Vehicle B approaches at stabilized corridor speed.
Vehicle A accelerates but requires additional seconds to match flow.
Vehicle B closes distance more rapidly than anticipated.

The compression is short but sharp.

Unlike Karaoğlanoğlu’s transitional leisure rhythm, Alsancak carries denser commercial frontage. Fuel stations are not peripheral. They are embedded in the main strip. Re-entry occurs directly into active traffic rather than into a protected feeder lane.

Historically, when traffic volumes were lower and retail clustering less intense, merge attempts had wider tolerance margins. As frontage density increased through the 2000s and 2010s, merge frequency rose without proportional geometric expansion.

Evening lighting amplifies subtle misjudgment. Westbound glare reduces depth perception. Simultaneously, illuminated price boards draw peripheral attention. Drivers inside the station focus on finding a gap, while approaching drivers process multiple visual stimuli along the commercial strip.

The structural pattern is consistent:

Continuous coastal flow
Embedded fuel station exit
Gap estimation under higher approach speed
Short acceleration deficit

The exposure is not reckless merging. It is speed miscalibration between corridor perception and actual flow velocity.

Alsancak Main Coastal Road does not forgive slow acceleration into active westbound rhythm during peak return hour. When re-entry timing is off by even one second, the corridor compresses abruptly.

The fuel stop is brief.
The merge window is narrower than it appears.