Abstract
The HCM (Highway Capacity Manual 2010) classifies two-lane rural highway that passes through developed areas as ‘Class III’ and suggests using Percent Free-Flow Speed (PFFS) as performance measure to define Level Of Service (LOS). Apparently, this performance measure addresses the main limitation associated with using Average Travel Speed (ATS) as a measure of performance. However, larger speed differential under heterogeneous traffic causes error in estimating Free-Flow Speed (FFS) and thus affects PFFS. This implication was examined in the present study using field data collected on a national highway approaching a city. Speed–flow equations were developed and intercept values were compared to the FFS obtained according to HCM guidelines. Comparison confirms a very close agreement between average FFS value and those obtained for different types of vehicle separately except for car. This consequently causes an error in estimating PFFS since the traffic composition consists of significant proportion of car. The possible capacity of the highway section was observed to be around 2300 pc/h for mixed traffic situation.
Highlights
Most of the smaller states in India are capital-centric, even though they are towns or small cities
The present study examined the major implication of Percent Free-Flow Speed (PFFS), a measure to assess performance on ‘Class III’ two-lane highways
Free-Flow Speed (FFS) study was conducted on the selected highway section
Summary
Most of the smaller states in India are capital-centric, even though they are towns or small cities. With the increase in population, the towns/cities are growing rapidly. Usually these towns are having only one highway connectivity (normally two-lane highway) from the other important towns/cities in the state or outside the state and the development takes place along the highway as it provides easy accessibility to the city centre. These areas gradually start to generate considerable amount of traffic as the residents are dependent on the town/city for almost all needs. Substantial city traffic influence results mobility reduction and subsequent deterioration of quality of service. The recent edition of HCM (Highway Capacity Manual 2010) classifies this highway section as ‘Class III’ and provides separate guidelines for performance evaluation
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