Capacity Analysis

1
 Objectives
Review LOS definition and determinants
Define capacity and relate to ideal
capacities
Review calculating capacity using HCM
procedures for basic Multilane, Motorway,
twolane two way traffic section
Focus on relations between capacity, level-
of-service, and design

2
 Level of Service (LOS)
Concept a qualitative measure describing
operational conditions within a traffic stream
and their perception by drivers and/or
passengers

Levels represent range of operating

conditions defined by measures of
effectiveness (MOE)

3
 LOS = E

Also, D = 39.1 pc/mi/ln, LOS E 4

 Level of Service

There should be some quantitative measurement of highway

performance under prevailing conditions, which give LOS, and
called MOEs
Measures of Effectiveness
operating conditions within traffic system (speed, density, v/c
ratio, time-spent-in-following etc)
how conditions are perceived by drivers & passengers
LOS
A Free-flow, unimpeded conditions (Lower than Capacity)
B Reasonably free-flow conditions, f-f speeds sustained (Lower)
C Speeds near f-f, freedom to maneuver is restricted (Lower)
D Speeds begin to decline slightly, density incr. rapidly (Lower)
E Volatile operations because of no usable gaps (at capacity)
F Operation under breakdown conditions in veh. Flow (Higher than
Capacity)
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 LOS A (Freeway)
Free flow conditions
Vehicles are
unimpeded in their
ability to maneuver
within the traffic
stream
Incidents and
breakdowns are
easily absorbed

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Flow reasonably free LOS B
Ability to maneuver
is slightly restricted
General level of
physical and
psychological
comfort provided to
drivers is high
Effects of incidents
and breakdowns are
easily absorbed

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Flow at or near FFS
LOS C
Freedom to maneuver
is noticeably
restricted
Lane changes more
difficult
Minor incidents will
be absorbed, but will
cause deterioration
in service
Queues may form
behind significant
blockage
8
Speeds begin to
decline with
LOS D
increasing flow
Freedom to maneuver
is noticeably limited
Drivers experience
physical and
psychological
discomfort
Even minor incidents
cause queuing, traffic
stream cannot absorb
disruptions
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Capacity
Operations are volatile, LOS E
virtually no usable gaps
Vehicles are closely
spaced
Disruptions such as lane
changes can cause a
disruption wave that
propagates throughout
the upstream traffic
flow
Cannot dissipate even
minor disruptions,
incidents will cause
breakdown 10
Breakdown or forced
flow
Occurs when:
LOS F
Traffic incidents

cause a temporary
reduction in capacity
At points of

recurring congestion,
such as merge or
weaving segments
In forecast

situations, projected
flow (demand)
exceeds estimated
capacity 11
 Design Level of Service
This is the desired quality of traffic conditions
from a drivers perspective (used to determine
number of lanes)
Design LOS is higher for higher functional
classes
Design LOS is higher for rural areas

LOS is higher for level/rolling than

mountainous terrain
Other factors include: adjacent land use type
and development intensity, environmental
factors, and aesthetic and historic values
Design all elements to same LOS (use HCM to
analyze)
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Design Level of Service
(LOS)

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 Capacity Defined
Capacity: Maximum hourly rate of
vehicles or persons that can reasonably be
expected to pass a point, or traverse a
uniform section of lane or roadway,
during a specified time period under
prevailing conditions (traffic and roadway)
Different for different facilities
(freeway, multilane, 2-lane rural, signals)
Why would it be different?

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 Capacity

Recall:
q

capacity qc
uf

uc

kc kj

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 R1

R2

Determinant factors of the capacity of this cup are: H

, , R1 R2

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Determinant factors for highway capacity
are:
Roadway conditions (geometrics)
Width of lanes
Right shoulder lateral clearance
Interchange spacing
Grade
No. of lanes
Traffic conditions (flow charact.)
Vehicle composition
Driver familiarity with freeway segment 17
 Basic Capacity capacity under ideal conditions
Roadway conditions (geometrics) Ideal
Width of lanes 12 ft
Right shoulder lateral clearance 6 ft
Interchange spacing 2 mi
Grade 2%

No. of lanes 5

Traffic conditions (flow charact.) Ideal

Vehicle composition Cars only
Driver familiarity with freeway segment

REAL CAPACITY NEEDS TO BE ADJUSTED BASED ON REAL CONDITION!!

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 Ideal/Basic Capacity
Multilane Freeways: Capacity
Suburban/Rural (Free-Flow Speed)
2,200 pcphpl (60 mph) 2,400 pcphpl (70 mph)
2,100 (55 mph) 2,350 pcphpl (65 mph)
2,000 (50 mph) 2,300 pcphpl (60 mph)
1,900 (45 mph) 2,250 pcphpl (55 mph)

2-lane rural 2,800

pcph
Signal 1,900 pcphgpl

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 Multilane Highways
Chapter 21 of the Highway Capacity Manual
For rural and suburban multilane highways
Assumptions (Ideal Conditions, all other
conditions reduce capacity):
Only passenger cars
No direct access points
A divided highway
FFS > 60 mph
Represents highest level of multilane rural and
suburban highways

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 Multilane Highways
Intended for analysis of uninterrupted-
flow highway segments
Signal spacing > 2.0 miles
No on-street parking
No significant bus stops
No significant pedestrian activities

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Source: HCM, 2000
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 23
Source: HCM, 2000
 LOS = E

Also, D = 39.1 pc/mi/ln, LOS E 24

Step 1: Gather data
Step 2: Calculate capacity
(Supply)

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Source: HCM, 2000
Definitions Free-Flow Speed
Free-Flow Speed (FFS)
The mean speed of passenger cars that can be
accommodated under low to moderate flow rates
on a uniform Multilane segment under prevailing
roadway and traffic conditions.
Factors affecting free-flow speed
Lane width
Lateral clearance
Number of lanes
Interchange density
Geometric design

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Source: HCM, 2000
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 Lane Width
Base Conditions: 12 foot lanes

Source: HCM, 2000

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 Lane Width (Example)

How much does use of 10-foot lanes decrease

free flow speed?
Flw = 6.6 mph
Source: HCM, 2000
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 Lateral Clearance
Distance to fixed objects
Assumes
>= 6 feet from left edge of travel lanes to
obstruction
>= 6 feet from right edge of travel lane to
object in median

Source: HCM, 2000

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 Lateral Clearance
TLC = LCR + LCL

TLC = total lateral clearance in feet

LCR = lateral clearance from right edge of
travel lane
LCL= lateral clearance from left edge of
travel lane

Source: HCM, 2000

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Source: HCM, 2000
32
Example: Calculate lateral clearance adjustment for a 4-lane
divided highway with milepost markers located 4 feet to the
left of the travel lane.
TLC = LCR + LCL = 6 + 4 = 10
Flc = 0.4 mph
Source: HCM, 2000
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fm: Accounts for friction between opposing directions of
traffic in adjacent lanes for undivided

No adjustment for divided, fm = 1

Source: HCM, 2000

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Fa accounts for interruption due to access points along
the facility
Example: if there are 20 access points per mile, what is
the reduction in free flow speed?
Fa = 5.0 mph
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 Estimate Free flow Speed

BFFS = free flow under ideal conditions

FFS = free flow adjusted for actual conditions
From previous examples:

FFS = 60 mph 6.6 mph - 0.4 mph 0 5.0 mph =

48 mph ( reduction of 12 mph) 36
Step 3: Estimate
demand
Source: HCM, 2000
37
Design Traffic
Volumes
 Design Traffic Volumes
Need to select the appropriate hourly
traffic volume to get the design LOS
 Definitions

Annual average daily traffic (AADT)

Annual traffic averaged on a daily basis

Design hourly volume (DHV)

Traffic volume used for design calculations
Typically between the 10th and 50th highest volume hour
of the year (30th highest is most common)

K-factor
Relationship between AADT and DHV
DHV
K
AADT
 Definitions

Directional distribution factor (D)

Factor reflecting the proportion of peak-hour traffic
traveling in the peak direction
Often there is much more traffic in one direction than
the other

Directional design-hour volume

(DDHV)
DDHV K D AADT
 Definitions
Passenger car equivalents
Trucks and RVs behave differently
Baseline is a freeway with all passenger cars
Traffic is expressed in passenger cars per lane
per hour (pc/ln/hr or pcplph)

Driver population
Non-commuters suck more at driving
They may affect capacity

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Calculate Flow Rate

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 Heavy Vehicle Adjustment
Heavy vehicles affect traffic
Slower, larger
fhv increases number of passenger vehicles to
account for presence of heavy trucks

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 f(hv) General Grade Definitions:
Level: combination of alignment (horizontal and
vertical) that allows heavy vehicles to maintain
same speed as pass. cars (includes short grades
2% or less)
Rolling: combination that causes heavy vehicles
to reduce speed substantially below P.C. (but not
crawl speed for any length)
Mountainous: Heavy vehicles at crawl speed for
significant length or frequent intervals
Use specific grade approach if grade less than
3% is more than mile or grade more than 3% is
more than mile)
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Example: for 10% heavy trucks on rolling
terrain, what is Fhv?
For rolling terrain, ET = 2.5
Fhv = _________1_______ = 0.87
1 + 0.1 (2.5 1)

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Driver Population Factor (fp)
Non-familiar users affect capacity
fp = 1, familiar users
1 > fp >=0.85, unfamiliar users

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Step 4: Determine
LOS
Demand Vs.
Supply

Source: HCM, 2000

48
 Calculate vp

Example: base volume is 2,500 veh/hour

PHF = 0.9, N = 2
fhv from previous, fhv = 0.87
Non-familiar users, fp = 0.85

vp = _____2,500 vph _____ = 1878 pc/ph/pl

0.9 x 2 x 0.87 x 0.85

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 Calculate Density

Example: for previous

D = _____1878 vph____ = 39.1 pc/mi/lane

48 mph

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 LOS = E

Also, D = 39.1 pc/mi/ln, LOS E 51

 Design Decision
What can we change in a design to
provide an acceptable LOS?
Lateral clearance (only 0.4 mph)
Lane width
Number of lanes

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 Lane Width (Example)

How much does use of 10 foot lanes decrease free

flow speed?
Flw = 6.6 mph
Source: HCM, 2000
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 Recalculate Density

Example: for previous (but with wider lanes)

D = _____1878 vph____ = 34.1 pc/mi/lane

55 mph

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 LOS = E

Now D = 34.1 pc/mi/ln, on border of LOS 55E

 Recalculate vp, while adding a lane

Example: base volume is 2,500 veh/hour

PHF = 0.9, N = 3
fhv from previous, fhv = 0.87
Non-familiar users, fp = 0.85

vp = _____2,500 vph _____ = 1252 pc/ph/pl

0.9 x 3 x 0.87 x 0.85

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 Calculate Density

Example: for previous

D = _____1252 vph____ = 26.1 pc/mi/lane

48 mph

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 LOS = D

Now D = 26.1 pc/mi/ln, LOS D (almost C) 58

Issues of traffic capacity analysis
How much traffic a given facility can accommodate?
Under what operating conditions can it accommodate that
much traffic?

Highway Capacity Manual (HCM)

1950 HCM by the Bureau of Public Roads

1965 HCM by the TRB
1985 HCM by the TRB (Highway Capacity Software
published)
1994 updates to 1985 HCM
1997 updates to 1994 HCM
2000 HCM is available
 Flow-density relationships
Flow = (density) x (Space mean speed)

q kus
Space mean speed = (flow) x (Average space headway)

u s qd where d 1/ k
Average space headway = SMS/(Average time headway)

d us h where
h 3600 / q
Speed, Density, and Flow Rate
A few examples
 Fundamental diagram of traffic flow
(flow vs. density)
Optimal flow Mean free speed, uf
or
capacity,qmax

Optimal speed, uo
Flow (q)

Speed is the
slope. u = q/k

Uncongested
flow Congested
flow
Jam density,
Density (k) Optimal
kj
density, ko
 Fundamental diagram of traffic flow
(SMS vs. density & SMS vs. flow)

uf uf
Uncongested
flow
SMS

SMS
Congested
flow

0 kj 0 qmax
Density Flow

SMS vs. density SMS vs. flow

 Fundamental diagram of traffic flow
and shock wave
For upstream
q1
Slope gives
Flow (q)

velocity uw of
q2 shock wave for q1

q2 q1
uw
Work
zone For bottleneck k 2 k1
k1 k2
Density (k) kj

Queue forms upstream of the bottleneck. So we use the

diagram of the upstream section
 HCM analyses are
Capacity concept usually for the peak
(worst) 15-min period.

Capacity as defined by HCM:

the maximum hourly rate at which persons or vehicles can be
reasonably expected to traverse a point or uniform segment of a
lane or roadway during a given time period under prevailing
conditions.

Sometimes
Some regularity using With different
Traffic persons
expected (capacity prevailing
Roadway is not a fixed value) makes more conditions,
sense, like different capacity
Control transit results.
Capacity values for ideal conditions

Most capacity analysis models include the

determination of capacity under ideal roadway,
traffic, and control conditions, that is, after having
taken into account adjustments for prevailing
conditions.

Freeway, 12-ft lane width, 6-ft lateral clearance

uninterrupted (right side, 2 ft on left side), all vehicles
flow are passenger cars, familiar drivers,
level grade, no heavy vehicles, free-
flow speeds (70 mph for urban, 75 mph
for rural; if you have a speed limit, its a
different matter. Capacity used is
usually average per lane (e.g. 2400
pcphpl in one direction)
 Prevailing condition types

Geometric Horizontal & vertical alignment, lane width

conditions and lateral clearance, grades

Traffic Directional distribution, lane distribution,

conditions heavy vehicles in the traffic stream, turning
movements

Control Speed limits, lane use controls, traffic

factors signals, STOP and YIELD signs
Factors affecting: examples

Trucks occupy more

space: length and gap

Drivers shy away from

concrete barriers
 From ideal conditions to real,
prevailing conditions
We use adjustment factors to take into account the effect of
prevailing conditions on capacity and level of service. Typically it
is like

Free-flow speed:

FFS FFSi f LW f LC f N f ID

Passenger car equivalent flow rate:

v p v /( PHF N f HV f p )
 Application of the capacity
concept
Precision Low Used in transportation planning studies
to assess the adequacy or sufficiency
of existing highway networks (Traffic
volumes are estimates; define targeted
LOS first then find the number of lanes)
Medium Used as a design control in the
selection of highway type and in
determining dimensional needs (Traffic
volumes are estimates; define targeted
LOS first then find the number of lanes)
High Used in traffic operational analyses: a)
Analysis of existing conditions, b)
Estimation of operational improvements
(For this analysis volume, geometry
and control data exist)
 Level of service
A level of service is a letter designation that describes a range
of operating conditions on a particular type of facility.

LOS A (best) LOS F (worst or system breakdown)

A Free flow
B Reasonably free flow
C Stable flow
D Approaching unstable flow
E Unstable flow
F Forced flow
 MOE in 2000 HCM
Uninterrupted Fwy: Basic sections Density (pc/mi/ln)
Fwy: Weaving areas Density (pc/mi/ln)
Fwy: Ramp junctions Density (pc/mi/ln)
Multilane highways Density (pc/mi/ln)
Two-lane highways Percent-time spent
following
Average upgrade speed
Interrupted Signalized Approach delay (sec/veh)
intersections
Unsignalized Average total delay
intersections (sec/veh)
Arterials Average travel speed
Transit Load factor (pers/seat)
Pedestrians Space (sq ft/ped)
LOS example: freeway basic
sections
Basic freeway segments:
Segments of the freeway
that are outside of the
influence area of ramps or
weaving areas.

See Exhibit 23-

3.
LOS density flow rate - speed
Level of Service: general
descriptions
LOS for basic freeway
segments

A C

B D
LOS for basic freeway
segments (cont.)

E
F
 LOS examples near SLC

LOS B

LOS C or D

LOS A

Level of Density range

service (pc/mi/ln)
A 0 - 10.0
B 10.1 - 16.0
C 16.1 24.0
D 24.1 32.0
LOS E or F E 32.1 45.0
F > 45.0
Objective of highway design
Create a highway of appropriate type with dimensional
values and alignment characteristics such that the
resulting design service flow rate is at least as great as
the traffic flow rate during the peak 15-min period of
the design hour, but not greater enough as to represent
extravagance or waste

Why the peak 15-min period? Traffic flow

fluctuates, but it is known from previous studies
that it is stable for about 15 minutes.
 Service flow rates vs. service
volumes
What is used for analysis is service flow rate. The actual number
of vehicles that can be served during one peak hour is service
volume. This reflects the peaking characteristic of traffic flow.

Stable
SFE flow Unstabl
e flow
E F
Flow

D
SFA C
B SVi = SFi * PHF
A

Densit
y
 Design service flow rate vs. design
volume
Design volume (DHV, Hourly volume of traffic
vph) estimated to use a certain type
of facility during the design
year (peak period)

Design service flow Maximum hour flow rate of

rate (vph) traffic that a new facility can
serve without the degree of
congestion falling below a pre-
selected level

v p v /( PHF N f HV f p )
 Acceptable degree of
congestion
Rural freeway Motorists expect high speed smooth
traffic always
Urban arterial Motorists accept few delays because
they know there are physical limits for
improvements (and budgets)

Balance need (demand) and resources available (supply) to

determine the degree of congestion for design.
Targeted LOS