Multilane Highway

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

FFS = BFFS – fLW – fLC – fM – fA

Where:
FFS = free-flow speed (km/h);
BFFS = free-flow speed for base conditions;
fLW = adjustment for lane width from Table 6.3 (km/h);
fLC = adjustment for lateral clearance from Eq. 6.8 and Table 6.13 (km/h);
fM = adjustment for median type from Table 6.14 (km/h); and
fA = adjustment for access-point frequency from Table 6.15 (km/h).
Lateral Clearance
TLC = LCR + LC L Eq. 6.8

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

Table 6.9 LOS Criteria for

Multilane Highways
Level of Service
Figure 6.4 Multilane Highway Speed-Flow Curves and LOS Criteria