Truck travel characteristics as an indicator of system condition and performance.

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Joint Transportation Research Program Technical Report Series : Civil Engineering
• Creators:
  Ahmed, Anwaar ; Volovski, Mathew ; Van Boxel, Daniel ; Labi, Samuel ; Sinha, Kumares C.
• Corporate Creators:
  Purdue University. Joint Transportation Research Program
• Corporate Contributors:
  Indiana Department of Transportation ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Highway traffic
  • Truck traffic
  • Quality of service
  • Level of service
  • Traffic volume
  • Passenger car equivalence
  • Traffic characteristics
  • Traffic
  • Level of service
  • Passenger car equivalent
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/IN/JTRP-2011/07
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Indiana
• Edition:
  Final report.
• Corporate Publisher:
  Purdue University. Joint Transportation Research Program
• Abstract:
  The effect of trucks on the level of service is determined by considering passenger car equivalents (PCE) of trucks. The ; Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) uses a single PCE value for all tucks combined. However, the composition of truck traffic ; varies from location to location; therefore a single PCE-value for all trucks may not correctly represent the impact of truck ; traffic at specific locations. Consequently, the Indiana Department of Transportation wanted to develop separate PCE values ; for single-unit and combination trucks to replace the single value provided in the HCM. Traditionally, equivalent delay and ; microscopic simulations have been used to estimate PCE values. In order to facilitate the development of site specific PCE ; values, an alternative PCE-estimation methodology was explored in the present study on the basis of lagging headways ; measured from field traffic data. The study used data from four locations on a single urban freeway and three different rural ; freeways in Indiana. Three-stage-least-squares (3SLS) regression techniques were used to generate models that predict ; lagging headways for passenger cars, single unit trucks, and combination trucks. The estimated PCE values for single-unit and ; combination truck for basic urban freeways (level terrain) were 1.35 and 1.60, respectively. For rural freeways, the estimated ; PCE values for single-unit and combination truck were 1.30 and 1.45, respectively. However, due to the lack of sufficient ; quality data for rural freeways, the estimated PCE values for rural freeways are not recommended for use. As expected, traffic ; variables such as vehicle flow rates and speed have significant impacts on vehicle headways. The use of separate PCE values ; can have significant influence on the LOS estimation. This study also explored regional variation of PCE values. The results ; of the likelihood ratio test indicated that it is appropriate to combine data from similar locations (freeway sections at different ; geographical locations) for the PCE analysis.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  SPR-3229
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/23803/dot_23803_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 10.78 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1b2720f1652eaf9cc0424fedb2cdf0c709290203ae69cb0e25c2215cf5f59c711a428bf2bd51e3f064be6668634836fa553f3eeea56d426eb09c06539544b476