Level of Service

Level of service (LOS) is a qualitative measure used to relate the quality of traffic
service. LOS is used to analyze highways by categorizing traffic flow and assigning
quality levels of traffic based on performance measure like speed, density,etc
Level-of-Service in North America

The following section pertains to only North American highway LOS standards as in the
Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) and AASHTO Geometric Design of Highways and Streets
("Green Book"), using letters A through F, with A being the best and F being the worst, similar to
academic grading.
A: free flow. Traffic flows at or above the posted speed limit and motorists have complete
mobility between lanes. The average spacing between vehicles is about 550 ft(167 m) or 27 car
lengths. Motorists have a high level of physical and psychological comfort. The effects of
incidents or point breakdowns are easily absorbed. LOS A generally occurs late at night in urban
areas and frequently in rural areas.
B: reasonably free flow. LOS A speeds are maintained, maneuverability within the traffic stream
is slightly restricted. The lowest average vehicle spacing is about 330 ft(100 m) or 16 car lengths.
Motorists still have a high level of physical and psychological comfort.
C: stable flow, at or near free flow. Ability to maneuver through lanes is noticeably restricted and
lane changes require more driver awareness. Minimum vehicle spacing is about 220 ft(67 m) or
11 car lengths. Most experienced drivers are comfortable, roads remain safely below but
efficiently close to capacity, and posted speed is maintained. Minor incidents may still have no
effect but localized service will have noticeable effects and traffic delays will form behind the
incident. This is the target LOS for some urban and most rural highways.
D: approaching unstable flow. Speeds slightly decrease as traffic volume slightly increase.
Freedom to maneuver within the traffic stream is much more limited and driver comfort levels
decrease. Vehicles are spaced about 160 ft(50m) or 8 car lengths. Minor incidents are expected to
create delays. Examples are a busy shopping corridor in the middle of a weekday, or a functional
urban highway during commuting hours. It is a common goal for urban streets during peak
hours, as attaining LOS C would require prohibitive cost and societal impact in bypass roads and
lane additions.
E: unstable flow, operating at capacity. Flow becomes irregular and speed varies rapidly because
there are virtually no usable gaps to maneuver in the traffic stream and speeds rarely reach the
posted limit. Vehicle spacing is about 6 car lengths, but speeds are still at or above
50 mi/h(80 km/h). Any disruption to traffic flow, such as merging ramp traffic or lane changes,
will create a shock wave affecting traffic upstream. Any incident will create serious delays.
Drivers' level of comfort become poor.[1] This is a common standard in larger urban areas, where
some roadway congestion is inevitable.
F: forced or breakdown flow. Every vehicle moves in lockstep with the vehicle in front of it,
with frequent slowing required. Travel time cannot be predicted, with generally more demand
than capacity. A road in a constant traffic jam is at this LOS, because LOS is an average or
typical service rather than a constant state. For example, a highway might be at LOS D for the
AM peak hour, but have traffic consistent with LOS C some days, LOS E or F others, and come
to a halt once every few weeks.
LOS in other Transportation Network Elements
Performance of other transportation network elements can also be communicated by LOS.

Among them are:
Two-lane roadways (uninterrupted flow)
Multilane roadways (4 or more lanes) (uninterrupted flow)
Open freeway segments
Freeway entrances (merges), exits (diverges), and weaving lanes
Bicycle facilities (measure of effectiveness: events per hour; events include

meeting an oncoming bicyclist or overtaking a bicyclist traveling in the same
direction)
Pedestrian facilities (HCM measure of effectiveness: pedestrians per unit area
heoretical Considerations
The LOS concept was first developed for highways in an era of rapid expansion in the use and
availability of the private motor car. The primary concern was congestion, and it was commonly
held that only the rapid expansion of the freeway network would keep congestion in check.
Since then, some professors in urban planning schools have proposed measurements of LOS that
take public transportation into account. Such systems would include wait time, frequency of
service, time it takes to pay fares, quality of the ride, accessibility of depots, and perhaps other
criteria.
LOS can also be applied to surface streets, to describe major signalized intersections. A crowded
four-way intersection where the major traffic movements were conflicting turns might have an
LOS D or E. At intersections, queuing time can be used as a rubric to measure LOS; computer
models given the full movement data can spit out a good estimate of LOS.
While it may be tempting to aim for an LOS A, this is unrealistic in urban areas. Urban areas
more typically adopt standards varying between C and E, depending on the area's size and
characteristics, while F is sometimes allowed in areas with improved pedestrian, bicycle, or
transit alternatives. More stringent LOS standards (particularly in urban areas) tend to necessitate
the widening of roads to accommodate development, thus discouraging use by these alternatives.
Because of this, some planners recommend increasing population density in towns, narrowing
streets, managing car use in some areas, providing sidewalks and safe pedestrian and bicycle
facilities, and making the scenery interesting for pedestrians.
An LOS standard has been developed by John J. Fruin, PhD. for pedestrian facilities.[4] The
standard uses American units and applies to pedestrian queues, walkways, and stairwells. This
standard is not considered a good measure[citation needed] of pedestrian facilities by the planning or
engineering professions, because it rates undesirable (and hence unused) sidewalks with an LOS
A, while pedestrians tend to prefer active, interesting sidewalks, where people prefer to walk (but
rate a worse LOS on this scale). To rectify this and other issues, The National Cooperative
Highway Research Program (NCHRP) is conducting a project to enhance methods to determine
LOS for automobiles, transit, bicycles, and pedestrians on urban streets, with particular
consideration to intermodal interactions.
LOS in the UK
The LOS measure is much more suited to American roads than roads in Europe and the UK, but
the HCM is used. The technique is in UK textbooks, but is sparingly used. The individual
countries of the UK have different bodies for each areas roads, and detailed techniques and
applications vary in Scotland, England and Wales, but in general the practice is the same.
Rural and urban roads are in general much busier than in the U.S, and service levels tend to be to
the higher end of the scale, especially in peak commuting periods. It is acceptable for roads to
operate at 85% capacity, which equates to LOS D and E.
In general the principle is to take the volume of traffic in one hour and divide by the appropriate
capacity of the road type to get a v/c rating, which can be cross-referenced to the textbooks with
tables of v/c ratings and their equivalent LOS ratings. The lack of definitive categories towards
LOS D, E and F limits the use, as a D or E category on an urban road would be acceptable.
In certain circumstances the UK shortens the LOS categories to just A-D. A and B indicate freemovement of traffic (i.e. under 85% capacity), C reaching capacity 85%-100%, D over capacity.
Little reference to this can be found in textbooks and it may just be an 'unwritten engineering
practice', agreed with certain authorities.
LOS in Australia
In Australia LOS are an integral component of Asset Management Plans, defined as the service
quality for a given activity. LOS are often documented as a commitment to carry out a given
action or actions within a specified time frame in response to an event or asset condition data.[5]
Refer Austroads Guide to Traffic Engineering Practice Part 2 for a good explanation.

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What are the different levels of service (LOS) and what do they represent?

How is LOS measured for different transportation elements like highways, intersections, pedestrian walkways etc.?

Level of service (LOS) is a qualitative measure used to relate the quality of traffic

Level-of-Service in North America

Performance of other transportation network elements can also be communicated by LOS.

Two-lane roadways (uninterrupted flow)

Multilane roadways (4 or more lanes) (uninterrupted flow)

Open freeway segments

Freeway entrances (merges), exits (diverges), and weaving lanes

Bicycle facilities (measure of effectiveness: events per hour; events include

Pedestrian facilities (HCM measure of effectiveness: pedestrians per unit area

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