INTRODUCTION

Two lane highway compose predominant portion of national highway system of our country.
More than 90% highway part are covered by two lane road. Traffic operation in two lane road is
unique. Lane changing and overtaking are possible only in the face of oncoming traffic in
opposite lane. The overtaking demand increases rapidly as the volume increases, while passing
opportunity in opposite lane decreases as the traffic volume increases. Therefore flow in one
direction influences flow in other direction. This problem is more accurate in case of mixed
traffic flow when speed differential among different vehicle is quite substantial.it increases the
desired number of overtaking considerably with limited opportunities of overtaking.
According to highway capacity manual 2000,To determine the capacity and level of service of
any road there is procedure of analyzing streets, Highways, Bus and streetlight rail transit,
pedestrians and bicycle path. The analysis procedure directly depends upon the flow facilities
provided on the road side. The flow facility is divided in to two categories as an interrupted flow
facilities and uninterrupted flow facilities. Interrupted flow facility deals with stopping and go
way operation of the vehicle hence there is controlled and uncontrolled access points such as
Traffic signals, stop signs, go signs and other type of control that stops traffic periodically. In
uninterrupted case there is no specific elements of flow. Normally transit, pedestrians and
bicycle facility is considered to be interrupted flow and in special case of long way bus without
stops or along the passenger corridor is uninterrupted flow.so the capacity analysis is a set of
procedure for estimating of traffic-carrying ability of facilities provided over a range of defined
operational condition. A principal objective of capacity analysis is to estimate a maximum
number of pedestrian or the vehicle that can accommodate facility with reasonable safety in
specified period of time. The operational analysis of highway deals with capacity, Demand,
Quality and level of service, traffic flow rate, performance measure, service measure of
highway.
Prediction and knowledge of capacity is fundamental in planning, design, operation and layout
of road network. Road way factor influences the capacity of two lane highway that includes
lane width, gradient, lateral clearance, size and type of shoulder. Lane and shoulder have
significant effect on traffic flow. Narrow lane causes flow of vehicle very close to each other
latterly slowing down or by observing large longitudinal gaps for given speed. Important traffic
condition that affect capacity of two lane road are composition of traffic steam, directional split
and presence of slow moving vehicle in the stream. Environmental condition such as presence
of wet pavement or snow or ice condition, rain, darkness, fog, parking regulation affect driver
performance and capacity of road. There are indication that wet or icy pavement reduce the
capacity by 5%-15%.
In context of our country, According to NEPAL ROAD SAFETY ACTION PLAN 2013-2020
strategic road network status is bituminous 28%, gravel 27%, earthen 45%.The annual vehicle
growth rate is (9%-17%).According to recent study carried out by department of transport than
half of the road accident is due to driver carelessness, 15% is due to narrow and defective road
and 20% is due to poor condition of vehicle. From this, it is clear that the existed road condition
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is very weak, traffic increasing rate is quite high and major cause of road accident is narrow
road. Hence operational analysis of road is necessary in our countrys context .

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Most developing country cities have been classified as low cost strategy cities. In comparison
with cities in the West, these cities consume less transport energy. Characteristics of these
urban centers are high density, mixed land use, short trip distances, and high share of walking
and nonmotorized transport. Modes of heterogeneous traffic flow in developing countries
consist of vehicles with varying dynamics and space requirements sharing the same road space.
Traffic streams in heterogeneous traffic consist of distinct categories of vehicles. In context of
our country traffic consists of many motorized two wheelers, motorized three wheelers,
bicycles, non-motorized three wheelers, cars, buses, pull carts and if the facility for pedestrian
is not provided in that case pedestrian flow is also considered.
Dharan is a developing of city of Nepal located in eastern region. The traffic flow condition in
Tinkune-Bhanu chowk two lane road is mixed type of flow. Due to increased number of vehicle
and limited condition of roadway more severe traffic problem is created in highway. The
capacity of road is decreasing, Traffic congestion is increasing, Road accident is increasing,
Quality service of road is decreasing, and mixed type of traffic is causing slowdown of speed of
vehicle on highway and difficulty in visibility. The important problem related are as follows.
1. Traffic congestion and Travel time delay
2. Increase in traffic density.
3. Increase in traffic conflicts.
4. Decrease in average spacing between the vehicles.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

Specific Objective
To determine the level of service of two lane highway.

General Objective
1. To analyze traffic flow data collected on two-lane roads varying in roadways and traffic
conditions.

2. To study the influencing parameters like lane width, shoulder width, gradient, traffic
composition, directional split and pavement surface roughness on capacity of two lane roads
under mixed traffic condition
3. Establish a recommended conceptual frame work for improved capacity and level of service
of procedures.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The decision to provide a 2-lane highway many times is not justified on demand and capacity
requirements alone, therefore, but on minimum level of service requirements which justify at
least one travel lane in each direction for safety, convenience, and tolerable operating
conditions (HRB 1965). This brief description for what justifies the implementation of twolane, two-way highways shows that level-of-service (LOS) is a very important parameter for
assessing the performance of two-lane, two-way highways. Equally important is the need for
accurate performance measures used to establish the LOS, which is defined in detail later in this
chapter. As Luttinen stated, performance measures are quantitative descriptions of traffic flow
quality. A good performance measure describes the perceptions of the traffic facilities users
and is useful for traffic engineers analyzing the facilities (Luttinen, 2000).
Taragin and Eckhardt (1953) studied the effect of shoulder on speed and lateral placement of
motor vehicles and found that when two lane pavements on main highways are 6 m in width or
less, shoulders should be constructed with at least 1.2 m of stabilized material, adjacent to
pavement plus additional width of grass and gravel. Leong (1978) measured speeds and
capacity at 31 sites on rural highways in New South Wales. The sites had varying lane and
shoulder width and all sites had gravel shoulders. The data were analyzed using multiple
regression and it was suggested that speed increased with increasing shoulder width. Farouki
and Nixon (1976) studied the effect of carriageway width on speed of cars in the special case of
free-flow conditions in sub-urban roads at Belfast. It was found that the mean free speed of
cars in suburban area increases linearly with the carriageway width over a certain range of
width (5.2 to 11.3 m). William and Reilly (1992) provided a summary of operational techniques
that can be used to improve level of service and capacity on two-lane highways.
Pursula and Enberg (1991) reported from Finland that the highest flow rate measured on two
lane two-way road was 2500 veh/h with a directional split of 50/50. Fi (1994) reported that
traffic characteristics were similar to HCM and expected traffic volume on two-lane highway
was near 1500 pcu/h/l. Bang et al. (1995) developed speed-flow relationship and simulation
model for twolane road in Indonesia and found that free flow speed for two-lane roads under
ideal conditions is considerably lower in Indonesia than in developed countries. Sahoo et al.
(1996) found that increase in traffic volume decreases the speed of vehicles. Parker (1996)
observed that knowledge of traffic composition plays an important role in determining
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capacity. Kumar and Rao (1998) observed that speed density data could be reasonably
represented by a linear relationship. Hossain and Iqbal (1999) studied vehicular free speed
characteristics on two-lane national highway of Bangladesh. Karan et al. (1978) developed
relationship between average speed and pavement conditions for two-lane highways. Schofield
(1986) studied effect of light and weather conditions on the speed and capacity of two-lane
roads. Brilon and Ponzlet (1997) studied influences of environmental factors on the speed-flow
relationships on German autobahns.
In the late 1940s the Bureau of Public Roads and the Highway Research Boards Committee on
Highway Capacity joined forces to create a manual that would provide its users with definitions
of key terms, a compilation of maximum observed flows, and the initial fundamentals of
capacity. From this effort, the first HCM was published in 1950. The 1950 HCM provided a
standard method for highway capacity analysis in the United States. The Manual contained
three basic types of capacity: 1) ideal capacity, capacity under ideal conditions, 2) possible
capacity, capacity under prevailing conditions, and 3) practical capacity, maximum traffic
volume under prevailing conditions without traffic conditions becoming unreasonable. The
latter of these was used to analyze functionality of two-lane, two-way highways, with the
performance measure for practical capacity being the operating speed (Luttinen, 2001).
In 1965, a new highway capacity manual was developed and is most noted for its introduction
of the level of service concept. The second of the HCM extended the idea of practical capacity
from the first HCM to the well-known six levels of service (LOS) scheme. This procedure
involved calculating a base volume and then dividing the given demand volume by the base
volume to obtain a v/c ratio. The V/C ratio was then used to look up level of service values from
a table contained within the highway capacity manual. A new manual in 1985 Highway Capacity
Manual, the average speed was considered an inadequate measure of the balance between
passing demand and passing supply. This measure was known as percent time delay (PTD),
which is defined as the average percent of time that all vehicles are delayed while travelling in
platoons due to inability to pass (TRB1985). A few years ago, the fourth edition of manual, the
HCM 2000 renamed the percent time delay (PTD) to percent time spent following (PTSF). This
was done because the expression was based on time spent travelling in platoons, rather than
delay, which was causing confusing with the user of the HCM.

METHODOLOGY

- Geometric Data
- Demand Volume
- Field Measured Speed ( SFM) or Base
free flow speed ( BFFS)
If SFM

If BFFS

Field Measured speed Adjustment

BFFS Adjustment
-

Lane Width
Shoulder Width
Access Point Density

Flow Rate
Heavy Vehicle

Percent time spent

Compute Free flow speed

Following

Demand volume Adjustment for Average

Speed

Demand Volume Adjustment For percenttime spent- Following

Peak Hour factor

Peak hour factor

Heavy vehicle

Heavy Vehicle

Grade

Grade

Compute flow Rate

Compute flow rate

Compute Average Travel

speed

Compute Percent Time Spent

Following

Determine LOS and Other

performance Measure

STUDY AREA
Operational analysis of any highway lying in urban area is necessary to study its parameter. Like
capacity, free flow speed, Demand and Quality and level of service. As the traffic and
population increased it will cause severe problem in urban area.Dharan is an urban area located
in eastern region of Nepal where traffic and population increasing rate is high, so the study area
is carried out in koshi highways part, Tinkune, Bargachhi, Bhanu chowk. This site was selected
considering different constraints like time, fund and manpower. It serves significant traffic from
south part Biratnagar, Itahari, Municipality area and north part Dhankuta,Terhathum,Bhojpur
and so on. Nowadays traffic capacity is high and quality of service is found to be very worse
hence our team decided to perform operational analysis such road. After completion of this
project it will be helpful for other organization involved in transportation planning of this
region.

METHOD AND NATURE OF DATA COLLECTION

Data collection
The first approach will be the traffic volume count at the intersection. Traffic volume
Is the flow rate in vehicle per hour for the 15-minutes analysis period. Video camera
Recording technique was used for data collection.

NATURE OF DATA
Geometric Data
Geometric conditions including the information regarding the approach grade, the number and
width of lanes, parking conditions will be determined. Also, the existence of exclusive left or
right turn lanes will be noted.

Traffic Data
With the help of the traffic volume count, Peak Hour Factor (PHF) will be calculated. Vehicle
type distribution will be quantified as the percent of heavy vehicles (% HV) in each movement,
where heavy vehicles are defined as those with more than four tires touching the pavement.
The number of local buses on each approach will also be identified, including only those buses
making stops to pick up or discharge passengers at the intersection. Buses not making such
stops will be considered as heavy vehicles. Approach pedestrian flow rate along with arrival
time will also be determined. Base saturation flow rate will be computed using fixed passenger
cars per hour per lane.

Determining Free Flow Speed

A key step in the assessment of the LOS of a two lane highway is to determine the free-flow
speed (FFS). Two general methods can be used to determine the FFS for two lane highway: field
measurement and estimation of the guidelines provided.

Field Measurement
The FFS of a highway can be determined directly from a speed study conducted in the field. No
adjustments are made to the field measured data. The speed study should be conducted at a
representative location within the highway segment being evaluated. A representative sample
of the speeds of at least 100 vehicles, impeded or unimpeded should be obtained. The FFS can
be computed based on field data as shown in equation:

Vf

FFS= SFM + 0.0125fHV

Where
FFS

= estimated free-flow speed

SFM

= mean speed of traffic measured in the field (km/h).

Vf

= observed flow rate for the period when the field data were
Obtained (veh/h).

FHV

= heavy-vehicle adjustment factor.

If field measurement of highway is not feasible, data taken at a similar facility may be
used.

Estimating FFS
The FFS can be estimated indirectly if field data are not available. To estimate FFS, the
analyst must characterize the operating conditions of the facility in terms of a base freeflow speed (BFFS) that reflects the character of traffic and the alignment of the facility.
Estimates of BFFS can be developed based on speed data and local knowledge of
operating conditions on similar facilities. Once BFFS is estimated, adjustment can be
made for the influence of lane-width, shoulder-width, and access-point density. The FFS is
estimated using

FFS= BFFS-fLS-fA
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Where
FFS
BFFS
fLS
fA

= estimated FFS (km/h):

= base FFS (km/h):
= adjustment for lane width and shoulder width

= adjustment for access points.

Determining Demand Flow Rate

Three adjustment must be made to hourly demand volumes, whether based on traffic counts
or estimates, to arrive at the equivalent passenger-car flow rate used in LOS analysis. These
adjustments are applied according to equation.

Vp =PHFfG fHV

Where
Vp

=passenger-car equivalent flow rate for peak 15- min period (pc/h)

= Demand volume for the full peak hour (veh/h)

PHF

= Peak- hour factor

FG

= grade adjustment factor

FHV

= heavy- vehicle adjustment factor

Determining Average Travel Speed

The average Travel speed is Estimated from the FFS.The demand flow rate and an adjustment
Factor for the percentage of no passing zone. The demand flow rate for estimating average
travel speed is determined with demand flow rate equation using the value of fHV Computed
with passenger car equivalent equation. Average travel speed is estimated with following
equation

ATS = FFS-0.0125Vp - fnp

Where
ATS = Average Travel speed for both direction of travel combined (km/h)

fnp = Adjustment for percentage of no passing zones

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Vp = Passenger car equivalent flow rate for peak 15-min period (pc/h).

Determining percent time- spent Following

The percent time-spent-following is estimated from the demand flow rate. The directional
distribution of traffic. And the percentage of no passing zones. The demand flow rate ( v p) for
estimating percent time-spent-following is determined with equation following using the value
of fHV computed with passenger- car equivalents. Appropriate values of percent- time spent
following can be determined from following equation.
PTSF = BPTSF +fd/nD
Where
PTSF

= percent- time following.

BPTSF = Base percent time-spent- following for both direction of travel

combined.
fd/nD
= adjustment for the combined effect of the directional distribution of traffic and of
the percentage of no-passing zine on percent-time-spent-following.
BPTSF = 100(1 0.000879Vd )

Determining LOS
The first step in determining LOS is to compare the passenger-car equivalent flow rate (Vn)
to the two-way capacity of 3.200pc/h. If Vn is greater than the capacity. Then the roadway is
oversaturated and the LOS is F. Similarly. If the demand flow rate in either direction of travel-as
determined from the two-way flow rate and the directional split-is greater than 1.700pc/h.
then the roadway is oversaturated and the LOS is F. In LOS Percent time-spent-following is
nearly 100 percent and speed are highly variable and difficult to estimate.
When a segment of a class I facility has a demand less than its capacity. The LOS is determined
by locating point on table that corresponds to the estimated percent-time-spent-following and
average travel speed. If segment of a class II facility has a demand less than its capacity. The
LOS is determined by comparing the percent time-spent- following with criteria. The analysis
should include the LOS and the estimated values of percent time- spent-following average
travel speed. Although average travel speed is not considered in the LOS determination for a
class II Highway. The estimate may be useful in evaluating the quality of service of two lane
highway facilities. Highway networks or system including the segment.

Other Traffic Performance Measures

The v/c ratio for an extended two-way segment can be computed using following equation
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V/c = Vp/c
Where
V/c = volume to capacity ratio
c = two way segment capacity- Normally 32oo pc/h for two way segment 1700 pc/h for
directional segment
Vp = passenger car equivalent flow rate for peak 15- min period (pc/h)

Total travel on the extended two- way segment during the peak 15-min period is computed
using following equation

VkmT15 = 0.25()Lt
Where
VkmT15 = the total travel on the two- way segment during the peak hour is computed
using the following equation.
VkmT60 = V*Lt
Where
VkmT60 = total travel on the analysis of segment during the peak hour (veh-km).
Following equation used to compute the total travel time during the peak 15-min
period.
T T15=

VkmT15

Where
T T15 = total travel time for all vehicle on the analysed segment during the
peak 15-min period (veh-h).

Scope of the study

The scope of the proposal depends upon the assessment of existing facilities and the user
needs for the improvement of the capacity and level of services. The decisions made during the
research include appropriate service measures. These decisions provide the fundamentals for
the revised procedures. These procedure will help to determine the new additional geometric
features required. It further checks the existing capacity and level of service of the given two
lane highway; determine the future scenario and the upgradation required for the existing two
lane highway. It helps in the comparisons of level of service between the two lane highway and
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multilane highway. It helps in the determination of need for planning, design and operational
analysis procedure.

LIMITATION OF STUDY
Specific time
The movement of vehicle is continuous in roadways. The study and observation of
vehicle is carried out at certain period of time or point of time. Like peak hour (office
hour) and normal hour. There is variation in traffic at different time.

Specific Location
Our research work is carried out at heavy traffic location of Dharan-Itahari highway
which includes Tinkune, Bargachhi and Bhanu chowk.

REFERENCES:
1. Shrestha, D. and Marasini, A. (2014), Transportation Engineering,Volume-II
2. Garber and Hoel, Transportation planning
3. Chandra, S. and Kumar, P. (1996), Effect of shoulder condition on Highway Capacity,
Proceedings International Seminar on Civil Engineering Practices in Twenty First
Century, Roorkee, India, pp. 512-519.
4. Chandra Satish, Capacity Estimation Procedure for two-lane roads under mixed
traffic conditions pp. 498.
5. Casey Thomas Durbin (2006), Traffic performance on two-lane,two-way highways:
Examination of analytical approaches.
6. Transportation research board,Highway capacity manual 2000
7. Thapa j. Arjun (2013), status paper on road safety in Nepal, Department of road.
8. Erlangung d.g. eis (2007), Capacity and Traffic performance of unsignalized
intersection under mixed traffic conditions.

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