Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)

Example:
A class –I two lane highway has the following information. Determine the LOS of the highway.

 900 veh/h (two-way volume)  Rolling terrain

 70/30 directional split  3.2m lane width
 20% trucks and buses  1.4m shoulder width
 5% RVs  10-km length
 0.9 PHF  80 percent no-passing zone
 100- Km/h BFFS,  12 access points/km

Solution
LOS for class-I two-lane highway is determined based percent time spent following and average travel
speed

Step-1: Determining average travel speed (ATS)

ATS=FFS −0.0125 v p −f np

Before going to ATS estimation, we should have to determine FFS and v p . And f np is adjustment
factor for the percent of no-passing zone for ATS
FFS = BFFS – fLS – fA ….. From table-4, fLS = 2.4 for 3.2m lane and 1.4m shoulder width
fA = 8 for 12 accesses /km
FFS = BFFS – fLS – fA = 100-km/h – 2.4km/h- 8km/h = 89.6km/h
V
vp = …………………………………Adjusted flow rate
PHF∗f G∗f HV

The volume V has to be converted to flow rate by using flow rate( v p )

1 1
f HV = = =0.844
1+ PT ( ET −1 ) + PR ( E R −1 ) 1+ 0.2 ( 1.9−1 )+ 0.5 ( 1.1−1 )

Where Er and Et is taken from table-2

f G=0.93 for rolling terrain ¿ table−1

900
vp= =1274.015 Pc /hr
0.9∗0.93∗0.844
 Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)

Calculate the highest directional flow rate

0.7*1274 = 891.94pc/h
Check the highest directional flow rate against the capacity of the highway
1274pc/h <3200pc/h …………ok………………………for two directional flow rate
891.94pc/h………………..ok…………………………..for one directional flow rate

 f np is adjustment factor for the percent of no-passing zone for ATS

1274 pc
f np=2.74 through interpolation for ∧80 % no− passing zone as per table−5
h
So,
ATS=FFS −0.0125 v p −f np = 89.6 kph−0.0125∗1274−2.74

ATS = 70.93kph

Step-2: Determining percent time spent following (PTSF)

 P TSF=BPTSF + f d
np

BPTSF=100 ( 1−e )
−0.000879 v p

Convert the volume into flow rate for the case of PTSF
V
vp =
PHF∗f G∗f HV

1
f HV =
1+ PT ( ET −1 ) + PR ( E R −1 )

Equivalence factor for ET and E R are 1.5 and 1.0 for rolling terrain from table-7 for PTSF
1 1
f HV = = = 0.909
1+ PT ( ET −1 ) + PR ( E R −1 ) 1+ 0.2 ( 1.5−1 )+ 0.05 ( 1−1 )

Grade adjustment factor for rolling terrain fG

f G=0.94 for rolling terrain ¿ table−6
 Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)

900
So, v p = =1170.21 pc /h for percent time spent following
0.9∗0.94∗0.909
Calculate the highest directional flow rate
v p = 0.7*1170.21pc/h = 702.15pc/h

Check the flow with capacity

1170.21pc/h <3200pc/h…ok……For two way flow rate capacity
702.15pc/h<1700pc/h……ok……For one way flow rate capacity
Next, compute base percent time spent following (BPTSF)

BPTSF=100 ( 1−e )
−0.000879 v p

¿ 100 ( 1−e ) = 64.25%

−0.000879∗1170.21

Adjustment (fd/Np) For Combined Effect Of Directional Distribution Of Traffic And

Percentage Of No-Passing Zones On Percent Of Time Spent Following On Two-Way
Segments from table-8 for 80% no-passing zone and 70/30 directional split:-
fd/np = 10.24

 P TSF=BPTSF + f d
np

PTSF = BPTSF + fd/np = 64.25% + 10.24% = 74.69%

Step-3: Determining LOS based on ATS = 70.93kph and PTSF = 74.69%
As per table-9: For ATS = 70.93kph of class-I two-lane highway LOS is C and For PTSF
=74.69% LOS is D
Table-9: LOS criteria for Two-lane Highway Class -I
LOS Percent Time-Spent-Following (%) Average Travel Speed (Km/h)
A ≤35 >90
B >35-50 >80-90
C >50-65 >70-80
D >65-80 >60-70
E >80 ≤60
F vp
> 1.0
C

So take the worst condition, LOS of class-I two-lane highway becomes D.

Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)
Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)
Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)
Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)
Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)
Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)
Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)
Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)
Worked Example taken from Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2000)