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Capacity and
LOS Analysis
CE 122
Traffic and Highway Engineering
Multilane Highway Characteristics
Generally have posted speed limits of between 60
and 100 km/h
They usually have four or six lanes, often with
physical medians or two-way left-turn-lane (TWLTL)
medians, although they may also be undivided
They are typically located in suburban
communities leading to central cities or along
high-volume rural corridors that connect two cities or
significant activities generating a substantial number
of daily trips
Traffic signals may be found along such
highways, although traffic signals spaced at 3.2 km
or less typically create urban arterial conditions
Multilane Highway Characteristics
key factors that
distinguish multilane
highways from freeways:
Vehicles may enter and
leave the highway at
intersections and
driveways, and through
the median at selected
points
The general design
standards of multilane
highways tend to be
lower than those found on
freeways
LOS Determination Procedure
1. Establish Base Conditions and
Capacity
2. Estimate or Measure Free-Flow
Speed
3. Calculate Analysis Flow Rate
4. Calculate Density and Determine
LOS
1. Base Conditions
Minimum lane widths of 3.6 m
A minimum of 3.6 m of total lateral clearance from
roadside objects (right shoulder and median). A
lateral clearance (shoulder or median) greater than
1.8 m is considered in computations to be equal to
1.8 m.
Traffic stream consisting of passenger cars only
No direct access points along the roadway
A divided highway
Level terrain, with grades no greater than 2%
A driver population of mostly familiar roadway users
A free-flow speed of 96.5 km/h or more
2. Estimating Free-Flow Speed
Same procedure as for freeways, but includes factors
for median type and access point density as opposed
to number of lanes and interchange density
Table 6.11
Median Type
Table 6.12
Access Frequency
Table 6.13
3. Analysis Flow Rate
1. Adjust for PHF
2. Adjust for vehicle mix
3. Adjust for driver population
V
vp Eq. 6.3
PHF N f HV f p
Heavy Vehicle Factor
1
f HV = Eq. 6.5
1 + PT ET 1 + PR E R 1
Where:
fHV = heavy-vehicle adjustment factor,
PT = proportion trucks and buses in the traffic stream,
PR = proportion recreational vehicles in the traffic stream,
ET = passenger car equivalency for trucks and buses,
from Tables 6.5, 6.6 and/or 6.8), and
ER = passenger car equivalency for recreational vehicles,
from Tables 6.5, and/or 6.7).
4. Calculate Density
vp
D
S
4. Level of Service