UEMX 3813

HIGHWAY AND
TRANSPORTATION
Lecture 3: Highway Capacity and
Level-of-Service Analysis

Ir.Dr. Khoo Hooi Ling

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Introduction
 The need to quantify and measure the traffic
performance: traffic congestion.
 Concepts introduced in Lecture 2 is for un-
interrupted flow on highways.
 2 practical measures of traffic to bear in mind:
 Traffic composition-> affect the performance
based on the geometric, acceleration and
deceleration ability
 Temporal distribution: concentrate more on the
peak period.
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Transportation Facilities
 Uninterrupted-flow facilities
 no fixed elements external to the traffic stream to
interrupt flow
 Freeways, multilane hwy, two-land hwy
 Interrupted-flow facilities
 have controlled and uncontrolled access points
that can interrupt flow
 (un)signalized intersections, urban streets
 Performance?
Capacity Analysis
 Procedures for estimating the traffic-carrying
ability of segments or points of a facility over
a range of defined operational conditions
 Purposes
 Assessing facility performance
 Planning and designing improved facilities
Capacity
 “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” (HCM
2000)
 Base conditions
 good weather
 good pavement conditions
 users familiar with the facility
 no impediments to traffic flow
Level of Service (LOS)
 A qualitative measure describing operational
conditions in a traffic stream and their
perception by motorists
 Range – A (best) through F (worst)
 Determined by measure of effectiveness
(MOE) such as speed and travel time,
freedom to maneuver, traffic interruptions,
and comfort and convenience
 Level-of-service (LOS) (cont’d)

 LOS A
 Free flow speed
 Virtually unaffected by
the presence of others in
the traffic stream
 Freedom to select
speeds and to maneuver
within the traffic stream is
extremely high
 Comfort and
convenience is excellent
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Level-of-service (LOS) (cont’d)
 LOS B
 Speed near free-flow
speed
 Presence of other
users in traffic stream
begins to be
noticeable
 Slightly decline in
freedom to select
speed
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 Level-of-service (LOS) (cont’d)
 LOS C
 Speed near free flow speed
 Freedom to maneuver is
noticeably restricted
 General level of comfort
and convenience declines
significantly.
 Disruption in traffic streams,
such as incidents
 Queue may develop

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Level-of-service (LOS) (cont’d)
 LOS D
 Speed starts to
decline with
increasing flow
 Freedom to
maneuver more
restricted
 Reduction in comfort
 Lengthy queue

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Level-of-service (LOS) (cont’d)
 LOS E
 Near capacity
 Maneuverability is
extremely limited
 Discomfort
 Sensitive to minor
disruptions, vehicles
from ramp

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Level-of-service (LOS) (cont’d)
 LOS F
 Breakdown in vehicular
flow
 Queues form quickly
behind points in the
roadway
 Vehicles operate at low
speeds, may in stop-and-
go condition
 The cyclic formation and
dissipation of queues is a
key characterization of
LOS F. 12/42
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Service Flow Rates
 Maximum flow rate attainable at each level of
service (except for LOS F) for a given facility
 Define the flow boundaries between levels of
service
 Hourly service flow rate is defined as four
times the peak 15-min volume
Determination of LOS
 Base conditions
 Roadway conditions: lane width, lateral clearance,
access frequency, terrain
 Traffic conditions: composition of traffic,
percentage of heavy traffic, driver population
characteristics
 Environment conditions: sunny days, dry
roadways

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Determination of LOS (cont’d)
 Capacity
 The maximum flow rate for the facility
o A reasonably expected value rather than the absolute
maximum flow rate ever observed
 It is the greatest when all roadway and traffic
conditions meet or exceed their base case.
 Example: study shows that the best lane width for
the capacity is 3.6m, if the engineer increase the
width to 4m, will it increase the capacity? What if
the engineer reduce the lane width to 3.4m?
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Determination of LOS (cont’d)
 3 types of facilities are investigated:
1. Basic freeway segments
2. Multilane highways freeway
expressway
3. Two-lane highways highway
roadway
 2 main steps: arterial streets
1. Determine free flow speed
2. Determine analysis flow rate

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Determination of LOS (cont’d)
1. Basic Freeway Segments
 Definition
 Assumption: 1 travel direction is concerned
 Service measure: Density Justify
 Base condition: Why?
 3.6m minimum lane widths
 1.8m minimum right (left)-shoulder clearance between the
edge of the travel lane and objects that influence driver
behavior
 0.6m minimum median lateral clearance
 Only passenger cars in the traffic stream
 5 or more lanes in each travel direction (urban area only)
 3.2km or greater interchange spacing
 Level terrain (no grades greater than 2%)
 Driver population of mostly familiar roadway users 18/42
Freeways

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 Basic freeway segment:
Procedure
1. Determining free-flow speed
Refer charts
FFS  BFFS  f LW  f LC  f N  f ID
FFS: estimated free-flow speed (km/hr)
BFFS: estimated free-flow speed for base condition,
(km/hr)
f : adjustment for lane width (km/hr) (Table 3)
LW

fLC: adjustment for lateral clearance (km/hr) (Table 4)

fN: adjustment for number of lanes (km/hr) (Table 5)
f : adjustment for interchange density (km/hr) (Table 6)
ID

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Basic freeway segment:
Procedure (cont’d)
2. Determine analysis flow rate
V
vp 
PHF  N  f HV  f p
vp: 15-min passenger car equivalent flow rate
(pc/h/ln)
V: hourly volume (veh/hr)
PHF: peak-hour factor
N: Number of lanes (one side of the road)
fHV: heavy-vehicle adjustment factor
fp: driver population factor (assumed as 1.00) 21/42
Basic freeway segment:
Procedure
 Peak hour factor (PHF)
- a measure of non-uniformity of traffic condition
- take the peak 15 minutes vehicle arrival rate within an hour
period
V
PHF 
V15  4
where:
V: hourly volume for hour of analysis
V15: maximum 15-min flow rate within hour of analysis
4: number of 15-min periods per hour
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Basic freeway segment:
Procedure (cont’d)
 Heavy-vehicle adjustment
1. Find the passenger car equivalent (PCE)
 If no single grade <3% is more than 0.8km; or no
single grade >3% is longer than 0.4km: The type
of road: level, rolling, mountainous;
 If specific and composite grade given:
Example: 3000m of 3% upgrade, followed by
5000m of 5% upgrade on a length of 8000m
 Average Grade Technique
Rise on 3% Grade=3000*0.03=90m
Rise on 5% Grade=5000*0.05=250m
Total rise=90+250=340m
The grade=340/8000=0.0425=4.25% 23/42
Basic freeway segment:
Procedure (cont’d)
1. Calculate the adjustment factor What is recreational
vehicle?
1
f HV 
1  PT  ET  1  PR  ER  1

PT: proportion of trucks and buses in the traffic

stream
PR: proportion of recreational vehicles in the traffic
stream
ET: PCE for trucks and buses (Table 7,8)
ER: PCE for recreational vehicles (Table 7,9)

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Basic freeway segment:
Procedure
 Density:
vp
D
S
where D: density in pc/km/ln
vp: flow rate in pc/hr/ln
S: passenger car speed in km/hr (Figure 1)

 Check LOS using FFS and density computed

by referring to Table 1 or Figure 1
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Example
A six lane urban freeway (three lanes in each
direction) is on rolling terrain with 3.4m lanes,
obstructions 0.6m from the right (left in Malaysia)
edge of the traveled pavement, and 0.93
interchanges per km. The traffic stream consists of
primarily commuters. A directional weekday peak-
hour volume of 2200 vehicles is observed, with 700
vehicles arriving in the most congested 15-min
period. If the traffic stream has 15% large trucks and
buses and no recreational vehicles, determine the
level of service. Assume the basic free flow speed is
110km/hr.
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Solution
 N=3;  commuters;
 LW=3.4;  V=2200;
 Obstructions: 0.6m;  PT=15%;
 0.93  rolling terrain;
interchange/kmfID=  Pr=0%;
8.43 using  BFFS=110;
interpolation
 fp=1
 fID=8.43 using
interpolation
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 Solution
 Step1: Determine FFS
FFS=BFFS-fLW-fLC-fN-fID
=110-2.1-2.6-4.8-8.43
=92.07 km/hr
 Step 2: Determine vp
fHV= 1/(1+0.15(2.5-1))=0.816
Vp=V/PHF*fHV*fp*N=2200/0.7857*0.816*1*3
=1143.81 pcu/hr
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Solution
 Density=Vp/FFS
=1143.81/92.07
=12.42 pcu/km
LOS C

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Multilane Highways
Multilane Highways
 Procedure for LOS determination is about the
same, except some adjustment factors and
their values.
 Only valid for highways that are not
significantly influenced by large queue
formations and dissipations or disruptions.

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Multilane Highways (cont’d)
 Base conditions:
 3.6m minimum lane widths
 3.6m minimum total lateral clearance from roadside objects
in the travel direction
 Only passenger cars in the traffic stream
 No direct access points along the roadway
 Divided highway
 Level terrain ( not more than 2%)
 Mostly familiar drivers
 Free flow speed of 100km/hr or more
 Service measure: Density

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Multilane Highways:
Procedure
1. Determining free-flow speed
Refer charts
FFS  BFFS  f LW  f LC  f M  f A
FFS: estimated free-flow speed (km/hr)
BFFS: estimated free-flow speed for base condition,
(km/hr)
f : adjustment for lane width (km/hr) (Table 3)
LW

fLC: adjustment for lateral clearance (km/hr) (Table 13)

fM: adjustment for median type (km/hr) (Table 14)
f : adjustment for number of access points along the
A

roadway (km/hr) (Table 15)

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Multilane Highways:
Procedure (cont’d)
 Lateral Clearance adjustment

TLC  LCR  LCL

TLC: total lateral clearance (m)
LCR (left): lateral clearance on the right side of the travel lanes to
obstructions (retaining walls, utility poles, signs, trees, and etc)
LCL (right): lateral clearance on the left side of the travel lanes to
obstructions
 Others procedure remain the same as previous procedure
 For undivided highway, there is no adjustment for left side (right
side) lateral clearance because it is already taken into account in
the fm term; LCL=1.8m, if an individual lateral clearance exceeds
1.8m, take 1.8m.
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Example
A six-lane divided highway is on rolling terrain with 1.2
access points per kilometer and has 3.0m lanes,
with a 1.5m shoulder on the right side and a 0.9m
shoulder on the left side. The peak-hour factor is
0.80, and the directional peak-hour volume is 3000
vehicles per hour. There are 6% large trucks, 2%
buses, and 2% recreational buses. A significant
percentage of non-familiar roadway users are in the
traffic stream (with driver population adjustment
factor assumed as 0.95). The BFFS study shows
that the free flow speed is 98km/hr. Determine the
level of service.
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Solution
 Divided highway  V=3000
 N=3  PT=6%
 Rolling terrain  PB=2%
 1.2 access/km0.8  ET=2.5
(interpolation)  PR=2%
 LW=3m  Fp=0.95
 LCR=1.5  ER=2.0
 LCL=0.9  fp=0.95
 TLC=2.4  BFFS=98
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 PHF=0.8
Solution
 Step 1: Determine FFS
FFS=BFFS-fW-fLC-fM-fA
=98-10.6-1.5-0-0.8
=85.1
 Step 2: Determine Vp
fHV=1/(1+0.08(2.5-1)+0.02(2-1))=0.88
Vp=3000/0.8*3*0.88*0.95=1500
 Step 3: Density=1500/85=17.6 pcu/km
LOS D 38/42
Two-lane Highways
Two-lane Highways
 Traffic in both direction needs to be considered.
 Considers only two-way analysis.
 Service measure:
 Percent time spent following (PTSF)
 Average travel speed
 Two classes:
 Class I: drivers expected high speed travel; inter-city
routes, primary arterials, daily commuter routes
 Class II: drivers do not expect travel at high speeds;
recreational routes, routes passed through rugged terrain

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Two-lane Highways Procedure
1. Determining free flow speed
 Measured speed (up to 200 pc/hr)
Vf S FM
FFS  S FM  0.0125
f HV

 Estimated speed Vf

FFS  BFFS  f LS  f A
f LS
(Table 16)
fA: Adjustment for access point
(Table 15) 41/42
Two-lane Highways Procedure
(cont’d)
2. Determining Analysis Flow Rate
V
vp 
PHF  f HV  f G

fG: grade adjustment factor (Table 17)

fHV: heavy vehicle adjustment (Table 18)
3. Calculate service measures: Average travel speed
ATS  FFS  0.0125v p  f np
fnp: adjustment factor for the percentage of no-passing
zones (Table 19)
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Two-lane Highways Procedure
(cont’d)
4. Percent time spent following (PTSF)
PTSF  BPTSF  f d / np
BPTSF
f d / np
(Table 20)


BPTSF  100 1  e
0.000879 v p

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Two-lane Highways Procedure
(cont’d)
 Example: One segment of a Class I two-lane
highway is on rolling terrain and has an
hourly volume of 500 veh/hr with PHF=0.94,
and the traffic stream contains 5% large
trucks, 2% buses, and 6% recreational
vehicles. For these conditions determine the
analysis flow rate for ATS and PTSF.

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Solution
 Rolling terrain
 V=500
 PHF=0.94
 PT=5%
 PB=2%
 PT+PB=7%
 PR=6%

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Solution
 ATS:
 Based on V=500, Table 17:
 fG=0.71
 ET=2.5

 ER=1.1

 fHV=0.9

Vp=832
But, 832>600 redo using (600-1200) category
Vp=612

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Solution
 PTSF, (600-1200) category
 fG=0.94
 ET=1.5

 ER=1.0

 fHV=1/(1+0.07(1.5-1)+0.06(1-1)=0.967

Vp=500/(0.94*0.967*0.94)=585 pcu/hr

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Two-lane Highways Procedure
(cont’d)
5. Determine LOS
1. If v p  3200 pc/hr => LOS F
2. If directional flow, vp *directional split > 1700 pc/h
=> LOS F
 Class I: both PTSF and ATS are used to
determine the LOS; take the lower LOS (Table
21)
 Class II: use only PTSF (Table 22)

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Two-lane Highways Procedure
(cont’d)
Example:
The two-lane Class I highway in the previous
example has the additional characteristics:
3.4-m lanes, 0.6-m shoulders, access
frequency of 6 per km, 50% no-passing
zones, base FFS of 90 km/hr, and a
directional split of 60/40. Using the analysis
flow rates for ATS and PTSF from previous
example, determine the level-of-service for
this highway.
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Solution
 LW=3.4
 Shoulder=0.6
 Access 6/km
 50% no-passing zones
 BFFS=90
 DS=60/40
 FFS=BFFS-fLS-fA
=90-4.9-4=81.1 km/hr
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Solution
 ATS
 FFS-0.0125Vp-fnp= 81.1-0.0125 (612)-4.3
= 69.15 km/hr
LOS D
 PTSF
 BPTSF=100(1-e -0.000879(586))=40.25%
 PTSF=40.25+17.0=57.3%
LOS C

Conclusion: LOS D 51/42

Design Traffic Volumes
 To design the number of lanes and level of
service for a new freeway/highway.
 2 problems:
 Variability in traffic flow
 What hourly volume should be taken for design?

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53/42
 AADT
 Average annual daily traffic
 Total yearly traffic volume divided by the number of
days in the year
 Use the design hourly volume (DHV) for the design
 Conversion to hourly volume, the factor K
DHV
K
AADT
 K-factor:
 Represent the proportion of AADT occurring during the 30th peak
hour of the year
 If the 365 peak hour volumes to list in descending order, the 30th
peak hour is the 30th in the list, which represent a volume that is
exceeded in only 29 hours a year.
 Decrease with increasing development density of the area
 For high density area, the proportion of traffic occurring during
peak hour is lower as the off-peak hour demand is substantial
 A high proportion of traffic occurring in the peak hour does not
suggest that the peak-hour volume is high
 K=12% for urban areas; K=15% for rural roads (REAM, 2002) 54/42
 Hourly volume against
the cumulative number
of hours that exceed
AADT
 In design, usually use
the 30th highest volume
 Represent a volume
that is exceeded in only
29 hours of the year

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AADT (cont’d)
 Directional design-hour volume, DDHV
DDHV  K  D  AADT
 D factor:
 Directional distribution factor to reflect the
proportion of peak hour traffic volume traveling in
the peak direction
 D decrease with increase of density because
have substantial bi-directional demands
 D=60% for urban areas; D=65% for rural areas
(REAM, 2002)
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Example
A freeway is to be designed as a passenger-car-only
facility for an AADT of 35,000 vehicles per day. It is
estimated that the freeway will have a free-flow
speed of 110km/hr. The design will be for
commuters, and the peak-hour factor is estimated to
be 0.85 with 65% of the peak hour traffic traveling in
the peak direction. Determine the number of lanes
required to provide at least LOS C using the highest
annual hourly volume and the 30th highest annual
hourly volume.

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Solution
 Freeway;
 AADT=35,000
 FFS=110
 PHF=0.85
 D=65%
 LOS C  N=?
 K=0.12 for 30th highest
 Vp=1740
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Solution
 Vp=V/PHF*fHV*N*fp
 V=35,000*0.12*0.65=2730
 1740=2730/0.85*1*N*1
 N=1.84
 N=2

A 4-lane highway is needed.

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 Reference: Chapter 6: Highway Capacity and
Level-of-Service Analysis. Principles of
Highway Engineering and Traffic Analysis;
Mannering, F.L., Kilareski, W.P., Washburn,
S.S.; 4th edition

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