Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Introduction
 Definitions
 Factors affecting Capacity
 Factors affecting level of service (LOS)
 Determining the capacity and LOS of a highway
 Uninterrupted flow

 Analysis Methodologies for Basic Freeway Sections and

Multilane Highways
 Analysis method of Two-Lane Rural Highways Capacity

 Interrupted flow

 NB: For interrupted flow unsignalized / signalized

intersection, roundabouts
 refer to HCM2000/2010

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Introduction
 The analysis of traffic conditions in macroscopic models are
governed by fundamental relationships between flow, speed and
density.
 Speed-flow-density relationships are the most useful tools in
highway design and planning process.
 They are useful in predicting the roadway capacity, in
determining the adequate level-of-service of traffic flow and in
determining travel time for a specific roadway.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Introduction
 Traffic flow theory in practice is used in:
 Facility planning - the understanding of facility capacity
 Design - the sizing and geometric features of facilities
 Performance measure -the level of service offered by a specific
facility (in this instance highway facilities)
 Delay

 Travel speeds

 Travel times

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Introduction (cont’d)
 This also includes
 Determining turning lane lengths
 Average delay at intersections
 Average delay at freeway ramp merging areas
 Change in the levels of freeway performance
 Simulation (mathematical models - algorithms)
 to study inter-relationship among the different elements of
traffic

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Highway Capacity
 One of the most critical needs in traffic engineering is a clear
understanding of how much traffic a given facility can
accommodate and under prevailing operating conditions.
 This is what leads to the concept of highway capacity and level-
of-service analysis.
 The basis for all capacity and level-of-service analysis is a set of
analytic procedures that relate to demand or existing flow levels,
geometric characteristics, and controls to measures of the
resulting quality of operations.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Highway Capacity (cont’d)
 Capacity of a transport facility is defined as;
 The maximum number of vehicles, passengers, or the like, per
unit time which can be accommodated under given conditions
with a reasonable expectation of occurrence.
 The Highway Capacity Manual(2010) defines the capacity as the
maximum hourly rate at which persons or vehicles can be
reasonably expected to traverse a point during a given time
period, under prevailing roadway, traffic and control conditions.
 To analyze the capacity we use the peak 15 minutes of the peak
hour.
 Capacity is independent of the demand. It is the physical amount
of vehicles and passengers that a road can afford.
 It does not depend on the total number of vehicles demanding
service.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Highway Capacity (cont’d)
 Generally the highway capacity depends on certain conditions,
i.e.,
 Road way characteristics:
 These are geometric characteristics and design elements of the
facility, which include type of facility, number of lanes, lane
width, shoulder width, horizontal and vertical alignments,
lateral clearance, design speed, and availability of queuing
space at intersections.
 For example, a curved road has lesser capacity compared to a
straight road.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Highway Capacity (cont’d)
 Traffic conditions:
 Capacity is expressed in terms of units, e.g., (car, people, etc.)
 Also does depend on the traffic conditions which are associated
with the characteristics of the traffic stream on the segment of
the highway.
 This includes the distribution of the different types of vehicles
in the traffic stream or traffic composition such as the mix of
cars, trucks, buses etc. and the directional and lane
distribution of the traffic volume on the highway segment.
 Other characteristics are proportions of turning movements at
intersections etc.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Highway Capacity (cont’d)
 Control conditions:
 This primarily applies to surface facilities
 Includes the types of traffic control devices in operation, signal
phasing, allocation of green time, cycle length, and the
relationship with adjacent control measures.
 Environmental conditions
 Weather etc

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service
 The Highway Capacity Manual (2010) defines level of service
(LOS) as a qualitative stratification of a performance measure or
performance measures that represent quality of service.
 LOS of a traffic facility is a concept introduced to relate the
quality of traffic service to a given flow rate.
 LOS is a mechanism used to determine how well a transportation
facility is operating from a traveler’s perspective.
 LOS describes the operational conditions within a traffic stream
in terms of service measures such as speed and travel time,
maneuverability, traffic interruption comfort, and convenience.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service (cont’d)
 LOS closely related to capacity and often confused with it is
service volume.
 When capacity gives a quantitative measure of traffic, LOS tries
to give a qualitative measure.
 Service volume is the maximum number of vehicles, passengers
which can be accommodated by a given facility or system under
given conditions at a given level of service.
 LOS qualitatively measures both the operating conditions
within a traffic system and how these conditions are perceived
by drivers and passengers. It is related with the physical
characteristics of the highway and the different operating
characteristics that can occur when the highway carries
different traffic volumes.
 Speed-flow-density relationships are the principal factor
affecting the LOS of a highway segment under ideal conditions.
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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service (cont’d)
 For a given road or facility, capacity could be constant though
actual flow will be different for different days and different times
in a day itself.
 The intention of LOS is to relate the traffic service quality to a
given flow rate of traffic by designating a range of operating
conditions on a facility.
 HCM provides some procedure to determine LOS. It divides the
quality of traffic into six levels ranging from level A to level F.
 Level A represents the best quality of traffic where the driver has
the freedom to drive with free flow speed and level F represents
the worst quality of traffic.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service (cont’d)
 LOS A
 Free-flow conditions where traffic flow is virtually zero. Only
the geometric design features of the highway may limit the
speed of the car. Comfort and convenience levels for road users
are very high as vehicles have almost complete freedom to
maneuver. Travel speed > 85% BFFS.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service (cont’d)
 LOS B
 Reasonable free-flow conditions. Comfort and convenience
levels for road users are still relatively high as vehicles have only
slightly reduced freedom to maneuver. Minor accidents
accommodated with ease though local deterioration in traffic
flow conditions would be more discernible than in LOS A
 Travel speed is between 67% - 85% BFFS.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service (cont’d)
 LOS C
 Stable flow conditions. Flows are at a level where small
increases will cause a considerable reduction in the
performance or ‘service’ of the highway. Restrictions in
maneuverability . Minor incidents can be absorbed but major
incidents will results in queues. Speed is substantially affected
by that of the other vehicles. Comfort and convenience have
decreased. Travel speed is between 50% - 67% BFFS.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service (cont’d)
 LOS D
 Highway operating at high-density levels but stable flow still
prevails. Small increases in flow levels will result in significant
operational difficulties. There are severe restrictions on a
driver’s ability to maneuver, with poor levels of comfort and
convenience. Travel speed is between 40% - 50% BFFS.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service (cont’d)
 LOS E
 Capacity of the highway has been reached. Traffic flow
conditions best described as unstable with any traffic incident
causing extensive queuing and even breakdown. Levels of Basic
Elements of comfort and convenience are very poor and all
speeds are low if relatively uniform. Travel speed is between
30% - 40% BFFS

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service (cont’d)
 LOS F
 State of breakdown or forced flow with flows exceeding
capacity. The operating conditions are highly unstable with
constant queuing and traffic moving on a ‘stop-go’ basis. Travel
speed is ≤ 30% BFFS.

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Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Level of Service (cont’d)
 Summarized as follows:
 Level A - High level of functional freedom.
 Level B - Stable traffic although conditioned for the fastest
vehicles.
 Level C - Stable traffic although considerably conditioned.
 Level D - Unstable traffic.
 Level E - Flow near capacity, frequent stops.
 Level F - Jammed road. The demand exceeds the capacity of the
road.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Factors affecting Level of Service
 The factors affecting level of service (LOS) can be listed as
follows:
 Speed and travel time

 Traffic interruptions/restrictions

 Freedom to travel with desired speed

 Driver comfort and convenience

 Operating cost.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Factors affecting Level of Service (cont’d)
 Other factors also affect the maximum flow on a given highway
segment:
 Lane Width: Traffic flow tends to be restricted for lane widths
narrower than 3.65m. Vehicles have to travel closer together in
the lateral direction, and motorists tend to compensate for this
by driving more cautiously, increasing the spacing between
vehicles, thus reducing the maximum flow on the highway.
 Lateral Obstruction: Roadside or median objects may be
located too close to the edge of the pavement, motorists tend to
move away from the object, resulting in reduced lateral
distances between vehicles. This lateral reduction in space also
results in longer spacing’s between vehicles and a reduction in
the maximum flow on the highway. This effect is eliminated if
the object is located at 1.8m from the edge of the roadway.
 NB: Lateral clearances are based mainly on safety
considerations and not on flow consideration.
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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Factors affecting Level of Service (cont’d)
 Traffic Composition: The presence of vehicles other than
passenger cars-such as trucks, buses reduces the maximum
flow on the highway because of their size, operating
characteristics, and interaction with other vehicles.
 Grade: The effect of a grade depends on both the length and
the slope of the grade. Traffic operations are significantly
affected when grades of 3% or greater are longer than 400m
and when grades are less than 3 % and longer than 800m. The
effect of heavy vehicles on such grades is much greater than
that for passenger vehicles.
 Speeds: Space mean speed, are also used in level-of-service
analysis because flow has a significant effect on speed.
 Driver Population: Driver populations do not exhibit the
same behavior.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Determining the Capacity and LOS of a highway
 HCM uses travel speed and volume by capacity ratio (v/c)
ratio to distinguish between various levels of service.
 The value of v/c ratio can vary between 0 and 1.
 HCM has defined six levels of service shown below.

 Fig: Linkage between LOS, speed and flow/capacity ratio

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Determining the Capacity and LOS of a highway
 ‘Level of service’ describes in a qualitative way the operational
conditions for traffic from the viewpoint of the road user.
 It gauges the level of congestion on a highway in terms of
variables such as travel time and traffic speed.
 To determine a road’s LOS, an understanding of the relationship
between;
 hourly volume, peak hour factor and service flow is vital.

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Determining the Capacity and LOS of a highway
 Roads with different operating characteristics are;
 Two-lane highways
 Multilane highways
 Freeways and express ways.
 Urban streets
 Signalized intersections
 Pedestrians facilities
 Bicycle facilities etc...

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 Highway Capacity & Level of Service Concepts
 Determining the Capacity and LOS of a highway
 Two types of capacities exist, i.e.,
 1. Possible capacity: Maximum number of vehicles that can pass a
point in unit time.
 2. Practical capacity: Theoretical flow from HCM adjusted to
given road conditions.

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