Determining Flow Rate
Determining the LOS for a basic freeway section
involves two steps:
1) Adjusting a count or estimate of the hourly volume of vehicles to account for the
effects of prevailing traffic conditions. This module addresses step one.
2) Adjusting the free-flow speed for the prevailing design conditions of that section.
The module "Free-Flow Speed Adjustment" addresses step two.
The hourly volume (in vehicles per hour) is changed to an equivalent passenger-car flow
rate by allowing for the effects of heavy vehicles (buses, trucks and recreational
vehicles) on traffic flow, the variation of traffic flow during the hour, and the
characteristics of the driver population. The passenger-car equivalent flow rate is then
reported on a per lane basis. Passenger-car equivalents in passenger car per hour per lane
(pcphpl) are determined using the following equation:
Where
vp = 15-minute passenger-car equivalent flow rate (pcphpl)
V = hourly volume (vph)
PHF = peak-hour factor
fHV = heavy-vehicle adjustment factor
fp = driver population factor
Values for the driver population factor, fp, range from 0.85 to 1.0. In general, the
value of 1.0 is used to reflect commuter traffic. Use of a lower value reflects more
recreational traffic. The peak hour and heavy-vehicle adjustment factors are described in
their respective modules. The demonstration for this module uses values derived from the
peak-hour and heavy-vehicle adjustment factor modules.
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