CHAPTER 2

HIGHWAY CAPACITY
ANALYSIS
CHAPTER 2 : Highway Capacity

Consist of:
Capacity and Level of Service
Basic Freeway segment
Multilane Highway
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

CAPACITY AND LEVEL OF SERVICE

DEFINITION:
Capacity is the maximum hourly rate at which persons or
vehicles reasonably can be expected to traverse a point or a
uniform section of a lane or roadway during a given time
period under prevailing roadway, traffic and control
conditions.

Level of Service (LOS) is a qualitative measure describing

operational conditions within a traffic stream and their
perception by motorists and/or passengers.
CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity
CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

MULTILANE HIGHWAY CAPACITY STUDY

Multilane highways generally have posted speed limits of 60

to 90 km/h. They usually have a total of four or six lanes,
counting both directions, often with medians or two-way
right-turn lanes (TWRTL); however, they also may be
undivided.

Multilane highways typically are located in suburban

communities, leading into central cities, or along high-volume
rural corridors connecting two cities or two significant
activities that generate a substantial number of daily trips.
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity
MULTILANE HIGHWAY CAPACITY STUDY

Divided highway Undivided highway

TWLT
Lane

median

At-grade crossing

Grade separated
crossing
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Contd
Such highways often have traffic signals; but traffic
signals spaced at 3.0 km or less typically create urban
street conditions.

Traffic volumes on multilane highways vary but might

range from 15,000 to 40,000 veh/day. In some cases,
volumes as high as 100,000 veh/day have been observed
when access across the median is restricted and when all
major crossings are grade separated.
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

THE BASE CONDITIONS FOR MULTILANE

HIGHWAYS:

3.6-m minimum lane widths;

3.6-m minimum total lateral clearance in the direction of
travel;
Only passenger cars in the traffic stream;
No direct access points along the roadway;
A divided highway;
Level terrain
Driver population of mostly familiar roadway users
Free-flow speed (FFS) higher than 100 km/h.
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Total Lateral Clearance = Median Lateral + Shoulder Lateral

Clearance Clearance

1.6 m 1.2 m

Median Roadway Shoulder

Total Lateral Clearance = 1.6 + 1.2 = 2.8 m

* If shoulder or median is greater than 1.8 m, use 1.8 m. total

lateral clearance should be not more than 3.6 m.
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

ACCESS POINTS on a highway includes Driveways and Intersections

 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

METHODOLOGY

The prediction of LOS for a multilane

highway involves three steps:

(1) Determination of free-flow speed

(2) Adjustment of volume
(3) Determination of level of service
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity
MULTILANE HIGHWAY CAPACITY STUDY

Methodology (according to U.S. HCM 2000)

FFS

BFFS BFFS Adjustment Compute FFS

Lane width
Input
Median type
Geometric data Determine
Access point
FFS or BFFS LOS
Lateral Clearance
Volume

Volume Adjustment
Compute flow rate
Peak-hour Factor
Number of Lanes
Driver population
Heavy vehicles
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Determination of Free Flow Speed

(a) Field measurement
Average of all passenger-car speeds measured in field under
low-volume conditions can be used directly as the FFS if such
measurements were taken at flow rates at or below 1400
pc/hr/ln.

(b) Estimation
FFS can be estimated from 85th-percentile speed or posted
speed limits.
It can be assumed that the FFS is 3 km/h lower than the 85th-
percentile speed.

Recent studies suggests that BFFS is approximately 11 km/h higher

than the speed limits of 65 km/h and 70 km/h, and it is 8 km/h higher
for 80 km/h and 90 km/h speed limits.
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

When field data are not available, FFS can be estimated

indirectly as follows:

FFS = free flow speed

BFFS = base free flow speed
fLW = adjustment for lane width (refer Table 2)
fLC = adjustment for total lateral clearance (refer Table 3)
fM = adjustment for median type (refer Table 4)
fA = adjustment for access point density (refer Table 5)
A base FFS of 100 km/h may be used for a rural or a
suburban multilane highway.
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Determination of Flow Rate

vp = 15-min passenger-car equivalent flow rate (pc/hr/ln)

V = hourly volume (veh/hr)
PHF = peak hour factor
N = number of lanes
fHV = heavy vehicle adjustment factor
fp = driver population factor
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Peak-Hour Factor
The PHFs for multilane highways have been observed
to range from 0.75 to 0.95.
Lower values are typical of rural or off-peak
conditions, whereas higher factors are typical of
urban and suburban peak-hour conditions.
Where local data are not available, 0.88 is a
reasonable estimate of the PHF for rural multilane
highways and 0.92 for suburban facilities.
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Exercise

Calculate the peak hour factor from the following

traffic count:
*Kahoot.it
Time Traffic count
8:00 8:15 102
8:15 8:30 98 PHF = ??
8:30 8:45 116
8:45 9:00 104
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Heavy Vehicle Adjustment Factor, fHV

ET , ER = passenger car equivalents for trucks or buses (T)

and recreational
vehicles (RV) in the traffic stream (refer either Tables 6, 7
or 8)
PT , PR = proportion of truck/buses and RVs in the traffic
stream

*Note*
In Malaysia there are no recreational vehicles. Therefore,
neglect PR and ER .
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

fHV = 1
1 + PT (ET 1) + PR (ER 1)
where PT = percentage of trucks and buses
ET = passenger car equivalent for trucks and buses
PR = percentage of recreational vehicles
ER = passenger car equivalent for recreational vehicles

* Neglect PR and ER , because there are no RVs in Malaysia!

Recreational
vehicle (RV)
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Driver Population Factor

The traffic stream characteristics that are the basis of

this methodology are representative of regular drivers
in a substantially commuter traffic stream or in a
stream in which most drivers are familiar with the
facility.

In this case, the driver population factor is 1.00.

Ranges between 0.85 to 1.00.

 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Determination of LOS

1. Define and segment the highway as appropriate.

2. On the basis of the measured or estimated free-flow
speed on a highway segment, an appropriate speed-
flow curve of the same shape as the typical curves in
Figure 1 are drawn.
3. Locate the point on the horizontal axis corresponding
to the appropriate flow rate (vp) in pc/hr/ln and draw
a vertical line.
4. Read up to the FFS curve identified in step 2 and
determine the average travel speed at the point of
intersection.
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

5. Determine the level of service on the basis of density

region in which this point is located. Density of flow can be
computed as

D = density (pc/km/ln)
vp = flow rate (pc/h/ln)
S = average passenger-car speed (km/h)

6. The LOS can also be determined by comparing the

computed density with the density ranges shown in Table 1.

*Kahoot.it
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Excercise
(1) Determine the LOS of a multilane highway, given that FFS is 82.5
km/h and vP = 926 pc/hr/ln.

D = vp/S
= 926 / 82.5
= 11.2 pc/km/ln

LOS C
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity
Example:
A 1.57-km segment of an east-west five-lane highway with
two travel lanes in each direction is separated by a two-way
right-turn lane (TWRTL).
Given,
- Rolling terrain,
- 83.0-km/h 85th-percentile speed,
- 3.6-m lane width,
- 1,500-veh/h peak-hour volume,
- 6 percent trucks and buses,
- 8 access points/km (westbound),
- 6 access points/km (eastbound),
- 0.90 PHF,
- 3.6-m and greater lateral clearance for westbound and
eastbound
What is the LOS of the highway on rolling terrain during the
peak hour?
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Solution:
 CHAPTER 2: Highway Capacity

Solution:..Contd
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Solution:..Contd

*Kahoot.it
Exercise:

A four-lane undivided highway is on level terrain with 3 access

points per kilometer and has 3.3 m lanes, with 1.8 m
shoulder. The peak-hour factor is 0.8 and directional peak-
hour volume is 2400 vehicles per hour. There are 6% truck
and 2% buses. The section has 70 km/h posted speed limit.

-Determine the level of service.

Answer: LOS E
-How to improve the level of service?.
Please discuss your answer.
Exercise:
A six-lane divided highway is on rolling terrain with 2
access points per kilometer and has 3.6m lanes, with a
3.0m shoulder on the left side and 1.8 m on the right side.
The peak-hour factor is 0.85, and the peak-hours volume
is 3000 veh/h. There are 6% large trucks and 2 % buses.
The driver population adjustment factor is estimated as
0.95 and the posted speed limit is 100 km/h. Determine
the level of service.