Traffic and speed characteristics on two-lane highways: field study

Abstract

Many models have been developed to evaluate the operating speeds on two-lane rural highways. However, provided information usually lacks details essential to assess their applicability at locations other than where they were developed. This paper presents a procedure to interpret raw data collected on three horizontal curve sites of different two-lane rural highway classes in Ontario. The speed observations were categorized into three vehicle classes (passenger car, light truck, and multi-axle heavy truck) and four light condition categories (day, night, and two transition periods). The minimum headway and percentile value to define the operating speed were examined, and a revision of the current practice deemed not warranted. The findings also indicated that operating speeds do not depend on the time or vehicle class. Finally, the horizontal alignment affects the operating speed, but the speeds of the two travel directions on a horizontal curve may differ even with little contribution of the vertical alignment.Key words: highway geometric design, operating speed, traffic composition, traffic counters, ambient light, acceleration, deceleration.