Developing Level-of-Service Criteria for Two-Lane Rural Roads with Grades under Mixed Traffic Conditions
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 147, Issue 5
Abstract
Traffic operations on two-lane rural roads differ substantially from those on divided carriageways due to vehicular interactions between traffic flows in the opposite directions. With the presence of grades and mixed (heterogeneous) traffic, traffic operations on two-lane highways become even more complex and challenging. The present study developed level-of-service (LOS) criteria for assessing the performance of two-lane rural roads with grades. Eight two-lane undivided study sections with grades varying from 1% to 8% were selected. The suitability of well-established performance measures such as percent time spent following (PTSF), number of followers per capacity (NFPC), follower density (FD), average travel speed (ATS), and percent of free-flow speed (PFFS) was evaluated. The results showed that the foregoing performance measures were not practically applicable for characterizing the operational LOS for two-lane rural roads with grades. A new performance measure termed density ratio (DR) was developed in the present study. The ATS, PFFS, and FD measures for different grades revealed no significant difference when visualized at similar DR ranges. Therefore, DR can be considered an effective measure for developing LOS criteria for such roads. The criteria were first developed using DR, ATS, and FD; subsequently, a design LOS was derived.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. The density ratio, average travel speed, number of followers per capacity, and follower density for certain sections will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to five anonymous reviewers for their thorough and most helpful comments.
Disclaimer
This paper is disseminated in the interest of information exchange. The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions reflected in this paper are the responsibility of the authors only. The authors are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. This paper does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.
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Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 147 • Issue 5 • May 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 2, 2020
Accepted: Nov 16, 2020
Published online: Feb 19, 2021
Published in print: May 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jul 19, 2021
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