Quantification of LOS at Uncontrolled Median Openings Using Area Occupancy Through Cluster Analysis

Abstract

This study quantifies LOS ranges for traffic movement at uncontrolled median openings using ‘area occupancy’ as a measure of effectiveness. The Highway Capacity Manual is silent about LOS ranges at uncontrolled median openings. Traditionally, traffic density is considered as an important parameter for quantifying the traffic flow. However, it does not consider the heterogeneous characteristics of the traffic stream. Further, occupancy also does not explain the heterogeneous traffic and the absence of lane discipline which is predominant in developing countries. Therefore, area occupancy is used in this study to assess the performance of traffic conditions at median openings. The established method to measure area occupancy has been modified to overcome the assumption used in earlier techniques. Area occupancy has been estimated for both major and minor traffic streams. K-mean clustering has been employed to classify area occupancy ranges for various LOS categories. This methodology could be beneficial for practitioner engineers to monitor the vehicular movement at median opening.