CHAPTER … 4

TRAFFIC CAPACITY

"We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence is not an act but a habit."

.. Aristotle (384-322 B.C)

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 4.1 Capacity Considerations

To make the best use of the existing road network or to bring improvements in it or
for planning new routs the knowledge of traffic capacity of the network is required by
the traffic engineers. However, the definitions and the methods of assessment of the
capacity for different roadway conditions vary considerably.

For all practical purposes, AASHTO defines the capacity as "the maximum number of
vehicles that can pass a given point on a roadway or in a designated lane during one
hour without the traffic density being as great as to cause unreasonable delay, hazard,
or restriction to the drivers' freedom to maneuver and the prevailing roadway and
traffic conditions".

However, it is necessary to choose one or more arbitrary criteria of what constitutes

restriction of traffic movement, or "congestion".

A very fundamental question in transportation planning is how much capacity should

be provided on a particular network provision of insufficient capacity results in traffic
muddle while too much will be an unnecessary waste of resources. Forecasting for
the future traffic demand is therefore a vital pre-requisite step in any transportation
network.

This chapter in particular considers "practical" measures of the capacity, emphasizing

the importance of the relation between traffic speed and flow in arriving at practical
values. The method of dealing with variations in the type of vehicle composing the
traffic stream and of using "passenger car units" is described. Standards of capacity
which have been adopted in U.K. for rural roads are given. Practical capacities based
on observation are given for rural roads.

Highway capacity information serves three basic purposes:

 It is used in transportation planning studies to assess the adequacy or sufficiency

of existing highway networks in service to current traffic and to estimate the time
in the future when traffic growth may overtake the capacity of the highways or
perhaps may reach a level somewhat below capacity but one that would
nevertheless result in an undesirable degree of congestion.

 Highway capacity information is of vital concern in the design of highways.

Knowledge of highway capacity is essential to the proper fitting of a planned
highway to the requirements of traffic, both in the selection of the highway type
and in determining dimensional needs such as number of lanes and minimum
lengths of weaving sections.

 Highway capacity information service is utilized in traffic operation analysis for

many purposes, but especially for isolating bottleneck locations (either existing or
potential) and preparing estimates of operational improvements that may be
expected to accrue from prospective traffic control measures or form stop
alternations in the highway geometry.

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However, the degree of exactness varies in the capacity data required for these several
uses. Reasonable balance between the standards for the highway being designed and
the estimated future traffic is ensured so that future operating conditions will not fall
below an acceptable level.

4.2 Passenger Car Units

As mentioned earlier, the traffic capacity of roads and streets is required by engineers
and town planners who are concerned with making the best use of existing roads,
planning new roads and streets is required by engineers and town planners who are
concerned with making the best use of existing roads, planning new roads or the
improvement of traffic routes.

Although the capacity of roads for traffic and the factors which affect it have been
widely discussed for many years, there is still some confusion about the meaning of
traffic capacity. Definitions, methods of assessment and values of capacity quoted for
given conditions vary considerably, and the reasons are not always clear.

However, the method of dealing with variations in the types of vehicle composing the
traffic stream and using "passenger car units" is described. Standards of capacity
which have been adopted by Ministry of Transport for rural roads are given here. As a
matter of fact, vehicles of different sizes and weights have different operating
characteristics, which must be considered in highway design. Besides being heavier,
trucks generally are slower and occupy more roadway space and consequently impose
a greater traffic effect on the highway than passenger vehicles do. The overall effect
on traffic operation of one truck is often equivalent to several passenger cars
depending on the gradient and the passing sight distance available. Thus the larger the
proportion of trucks in a traffic stream, the greater the traffic load and the highway
capacity required.

For uninterrupted traffic flow, as typically found in rural areas, the various sizes and
weights of vehicles as they affect traffic operation can be grouped into two general
classes:

1. Passenger cars-all passenger cars including light delivery trucks

2. Trucks--all buses, single unit-trucks, and truck combinations except the light
delivery trucks.

A light delivery truck is a single-unit truck, such as a van or pickup, with size and
operating characteristics similar to those of a passenger car and commonly used for
short-haul, light delivery service.

Vehicles in the truck class are normally those having 9,000 lb or greater gross vehicle
weight (GVW) rating of the manufacturer and vehicles having dual tires on the rear
axle.

These definitions apply in the use herein of the terms "passenger cars" or "passenger
car traffic" and "truck" or "truck traffic".

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In the passenger car class, most of the vehicles have similar operating characteristics.
In truck class, characteristics vary considerably, particularly in size and
weight/horsepower ratio. Although this variation may be significant between any two
trucks, the effect of all trucks in a traffic stream can be evaluated and is similar on
most highways under comparable conditions. Accordingly, for the geometric design
of a highway it is essential to have traffic data on vehicles in the truck class. These
data generally indicate the major types of trucks and buses as percentages of all traffic
expected to use the highway.

Table 1 summarizes the passenger car unit equivalents for various conditions as per
the standards of RRL.

Table 1. Passenger car equivalents

Rural
Roads* Urban Round- Traffic
Vehicles
Ministry Streets abouts Signals
(Transp.)
Cars and light vans 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Commercial vehicles medium 3.0 1.75 2.8 1.75
Commercial vehicles heavy.. 3.0 2.5 2.8 1.75
Buses and coaches 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.25
Motorcycles 1.0 0.75 0.75 0.33
Pedal cycles 0.5 0.33 0.5 0.2

*With moderate amounts of gradients curvature.

It was found that the passenger car unit equivalent for buses varied with the flow of
buses.

For design purposes the percentage of truck traffic during the peak hours should be
known. In rural areas, comprehensive data usually are not available on the
distribution of traffic by vehicle types during the peak hours; however, the percentage
of trucks traffic during the peak hours is known to be less than the percentage for the
24-h periods. As the peak hour is approached, the passenger car traffic generally
increases at a greater rate than truck traffic does. Most trucks operate steadily
throughout the day, and much of the over-the-road hauling is done at night and during
early morning hours. In the vicinity of major truck and bus terminals the scheduling
of regular truck and bus runs may result in concentration of trucks during certain
hours of the day. However, because of the delays caused by other traffic during peak
hours, the schedules generally are made to avoid these hours.

For the design of particular highways, data on composition of traffic should be

determined by traffic studies. Truck traffic (exclusive of light delivery trucks) should
be expressed as a percentage of total traffic during the design hour, of total two-way
traffic in the case of a two-lane highway; and of total traffic in the predominant
direction of travel, in the case of multilane highway.

Under urban interrupted-flow conditions the criteria differ somewhat. A imparted

intersections, percentages of trucks during both the morning and evening peaks,

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should be determined. Variations in truck traffic between the different movements at
intersections may be substantial and may appreciably affect geometric layout. The
percentage of trucks during a particular hour of the day may vary considerably; it is
advisable to count trucks for several peak hours that are considered representatives of
the 30th highest or design hour. A convenient value that appears reliable is the average
of the truck traffic percentages for a number of weekly peak hours. For highway
capacity purposes, local city-transit buses must be considered separately from other
trucks and buses. This is because it was found that the passenger car unit equivalent
for buses varied with the flow of buses.

The standard carriageway capacities recommended by the Ministry of Transport, U.K.

are expressed in passenger car units in a 16-hour day, for roads in which design
feature which affect capacity, such as lateral clearances, width of verges, curvature,
sight distances and gradients, conform to certain minimum standards. The standard
lane width now recommended is 12 ft. on all important roads, except on 3-lane roads
where as overall carriageway width of 33 ft. is recommended.

The following figures have been recommended as the capacities of the various types
of carriageway:

Passenger car units per 16-hour day

2-lane carriageways … Up to 4500

3-lane carriageways … 4500 to 9000
Dual 2-lane carriageways … 9000 to 25000
Dual 3-lane carriageways … Over 25000

In terms of mixed traffic these capacities are equivalent to the following values:

Table2. Shows the capacities of mixed vehicles

Capacity-vehicles per 16-hours day

Percentage of medium and heavy commercial
Carriageway vehicles, buses and coaches
15% 22.5% 30%
Two-lane Up to 3250 Up to 2900 Up to 2600
Three-lane 3250-6500 2900-5800 2600-5200
Dual two-lane 6500-19000 5800-17000 5200-15000
Dual three-lane Over 19000 Over 17000 Over 15000

4.3 Thirtieth Highest Hourly Volume

As a daily common observation on the roads, traffic changes from hour to hour, in
discussing capacity of roads, it is useful to define a particular volume which is to be
used for the process for planning for the smooth traffic flow on our roads and
highways. The concept of the "thirtieth highest hourly volume" or the volume which
is equaled or exceeded in only 30 hours throughout the year was given prominence in
AASHTO (1984). There has since been a fairly wide acceptance of this idea, both in
the U.S.A. and in Europe. It is recognized that this volume tends to be very stable and

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a reliable for a given roads, and that it is the volume for which the ratio of benefit to
expenditure is near the maximum. It is clearly uneconomical to attach too much
importance to the exceptionally high peaks which occur on only a few occasions
throughout the years. On the other hand much of the benefit to a driver would be lost
if reasonable provision were not made for normal peak traffic.

To obtain the thirtieth hourly volume for a given road requires continues count of
traffic throughout each of the 8760 hours of the year. This can be done as regards the
total number of vehicles of all kinds by means of automatic traffic counters, but it is
quite impracticable to obtain the information in respect of the various classes of
vehicles.

4.4 The Busy Week

An alternative approach which has been adopted by the Ministry of Transport in

Great Britain is to base capacities on the concept of a "busy week". Carriageway
capacities are expressed in terms of the volume which can be passed safely and
without too great a reduction in speed during a 16-hour day (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.). By
averaging the traffic over seven consecutive days during the summer (a busy week) a
16-hour volume is obtained which will only be exceeded on exceptional occasions. In
determining the capacity, allowance must be made for the hourly variations which
occur during the busy week. Generally the traffic flow during the peak hour in the
same week is about 10 percent of the 16-hour daily average but, as, seen, there is a
fairly big variation on individual roads.

4.5 Capacity for Peak Hour Traffic

In passenger car units about 10 percent of the average daily traffic passes during the
peak hour, with a range of typical roads of 8 to 15 percent. The range of mixed traffic
is greater owing to the tendency for medium and heavy commercial traffic flow to be
reduced during the peak hour. The capacities quoted earlier correspond generally to
hourly capacities as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Shows capacities in terms of passenger cars per hour

Passenger Cars per

Carriageway
Hour
Two-lane Up to 450
Three-lane 450-900
Dual two-lane 900-2500
Dual three-lane Over 2500

4.6 Economic Capacity

It is a moot question whether design should be based on life expectancy. The decision
is greatly influenced by economics. A highway might be designed for traffic 5 years
hence with the expectations that the surfacing would be restored in 25 years.

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However, economic capacity of a road is the total traffic passing along it in a year,
with the hourly distribution and composing by vehicle type through the year
particular to that road, is just not sufficient to make the most economical
improvement economically justifiable when the monetary benefits to road users are
compared with the overall cost of the improvement, taking the normal return on
capital investment as standard.

There are points in this definition that need amplifying. There is a problem to
evaluate economic benefits from road improvements. The saving in working time and
reductions in material losses due to accidents can be put in monetary terms, but that it
is more difficult to treat non-working time and suffering caused by accidents in this
way. This means that there are additional benefits from road improvements which
may have to be left out of the economic account, and this must be remembered when
such calculations are being considered.

The type of improvement considered is not specified. In the case of a level rural road
the only practicable improvement is by widening. Considerations of safety dictate
that roads should be two-lane, three-lane, dual-carriageway two-lane, or dual-
carriageway three-lane (unless more than six-lanes are required). It would be
expected that a road which just needs widening would need to move up one step in
this progression, although strictly the widening should be that which gives the
greatest rate of return or expenditure; in practice this is usually the same thing.

The method discussed above has one apparent disadvantage because the economic
capacity of a road varies with the cost of the land through which it passes. This
means, for example, that much more congestion will be accepted in cities where land
is expensive than a rural areas where it is relatively cheap; but this is normal policy
and the economic approach merely underlines the reasons for it. The RRL has
suggested the following economic capacity figures for 2-lanes and 3-lanes highways.

Capacity in p.c.u. per 16-hour day (August)

2-Lane … 6000
3-Lane … 12000

In applying these results to existing roads, it would be logical to allow them to reach
this level of flow before widening the road. Since in practice a period of up to five
years may elapse between the decision to widen a particular road and the completion
of the work, the decision should be taken when present traffic plus 40 percent equals
the capacity. This assumes that the recent rate of increase of traffic, 7 to 8 percent per
annum, is maintained. If the rate of increase changes, the five-year allowance can be
changed in proportion. At the present rate of traffic growth a road which has just been
widened to three lanes at the appropriate capacity will last for about 13 years before it
needs to be widened once again to a dual carriageway. In practice it may be simpler to
plan for an ample increase in traffic, say, 20 years (i.e.150 percent at the present rate,
assuming only simple interest) without need for further widening. This would
generally mean building to dual-carriageway standard, which is desirable on accident
grounds.

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 4.7 Speed/Flow Relationship

The road research laboratory, U.K., has concentrated almost exclusively on the
relation between the average speed of vehicles and the flow as a guide to road
capacity, particularly in towns. The chief reason for this reference is that loss of time
is of direct concern to drivers, and this can be calculated from average speed. Also the
average speed can be found without the need for very precise measurements, and the
effects of delays at intersections or bottlenecks can be included without difficulty.

It has been argued that average speeds tend to vary in an inexplicable way, and
therefore they do not provide a firm basis for capacity calculations. It is shown that a
large part of the variation in average speeds (particularly in towns) can be explained
as the effect of a number of factors, and the relations found between speed and these
factors can be interpreted in terms of capacity.

4.8 Factors Affecting Capacity and Service Volume

The factors which adversely affect the capacity and hence the service volume could
be broadly grouped as under:

A- Roadway Factors:

i. Lane width: Lanes should not be less than 12 ft. (3.7 m) wide for free flow,
particularly where trucks and buses are included in the traffic demand. Lesser
widths will restrict the amount of traffic carried.
ii. Lateral Clearance: Objects closer than 6 ft. (1.9 m) from the edge of the
pavement restrict the effective with of that roadway. The magnitude of the
width effect depends upon the closeness of the restrictions to the payment and
their frequency.
iii. Shoulders: Adequate shoulders must be provided as a refuge for stopped
vehicles, if capacities of the through traffic lanes are to be maintained.
iv. Auxiliary Lanes: Theses include parking lanes, speed change lanes, turning
and shortage lanes, weaving lanes, and truck climbing lanes. The purpose of
each is to provide additional pavement to accommodate special uses, thus
maintaining the capacity of the through roadway.
v. Surface Conditions: If a poor pavement surface prevents attainment of high
speeds, then the highway will be unable to provide the better levels of service.
Capacity, on the other hand, may be little affected.
vi. Alignment: Poor alignments prevent attainment of the higher level of service
due to the reduced possible speeds and affects capacity of 2 &3 lane roads by
reducing passing opportunities.
vii. Grades: Grades influence service volumes and capacity, in terms of reduced
speeds of trucks, buses, and reduced sight distance. Capacity may be little
influence until speeds of heavy vehicles are reduced to about 30 mph, but
service volumes are seriously affected. Provision of climbing lanes can greatly
reduce the adverse effect of grades by removing the influence of trucks almost
entirely.

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B- Traffic Factors:

i. Trucks: Trucks take up more space than passenger cars. Where grades are
present, the effect becomes greater as the grades increase in length or
steepness. When truck speeds drop below 30 mph, the effect on capacity
becomes quite severe. As a minimum, on level city streets or on multi-lane
highways, one average truck is equivalent to 2 passenger cars. Nevertheless,
the effect of heavy commercial vehicles (in the same direction), was over
three times that of cars. In terms of capacity, therefore such a vehicle is
equivalent to three cars. It was not possible to subdivide the effect of opposing
traffic according to class of vehicle but the average effect was about equal to
that of cars in the direction of travel. Results of this type are of value in
expressing traffic flow in terms of passenger car units are given in Table 1.

As regards the effect of other factors, road curvature and gradient can reduce
speeds by large amounts at relatively low levels of flow; the effect is almost
certainly less when speeds are already reduced by congestion.
ii. Buses: Intercity buses have better performance characteristics than do trucks.
Special procedures and charts have been developed to show the influence of
such on city streets.
iii. Lane Distribution: The Relative utilization of the several lanes on any multi-
lane highway varies, depending upon the total volume. Where more than two
lanes exist in a given direction, the median lanes, generally, will carry more
traffic at higher speeds than the side ones under heavy volume conditions.
iv. Variation in Traffic Flow: Traffic demand fluctuates within the peak-hour,
just as it does within the day or year. The capacity analysis is based on
conditions over a full hour, since capacity, as defined, is a one-hour measure.
v. Traffic Interruptions: Any feature or device installed on a street or highway
which forces some or all traffic to stop, no matter how necessary, retards that
highway's ability to carry traffic. Even speed limits below 30 mph will be
interruptions in a sense that they prevent attainment of the optimum speed for
maximum capacity. Typical interruptions include toll-gates, draw bridges, rail
road grade crossing, grade-intersections, etc.

Service Volume: A service volume is the "maximum" numbers of vehicles that can
pass over a green section of a lane or roadway in one direction on multilane highways
(or in both directions on a two-lane or three-lane highways) during a given specified
time period while operating conditions are maintained corresponding to the selected
or specified level of service. Noteworthy, is the fact that service volume is an hourly
volume.

Design and Operating Speeds: These have been discussed earlier much in depth.
However, here we may have just a passing remark on the matter. A speed selected for
purposes of design of roadway, upon which the safe operation of vehicles, is
dependent is termed as design speed. As regards operating speed, it is the highest over
all speed at which a driver can travel on a given highway under favorable weather
conditions and prevailing traffic conditions without at any time exceeding the safe
speed as determined by design speed on a section-by-section basis.

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Design Volume: A traffic volume determined for use in design, representing traffic
expected to use the highway and is generally expressed as hourly volume. The
design-hourly volume is related to highway capacity in the design of number of lanes
and other elements of geometric design (such as safe –passing sight distances, grades,
etc), as well as the planning of stage construction. The basis of selection of these
volumes is based on traffic studies and predictions. These are usually determined by
analysis of operating speeds and predictions. They are usually determined by analysis
of operating speeds. Because it is not economically feasible to design for the hours of
greatest traffic, which only occur a very small percent of the time, the design-hour
volume should be selected to achieve the quality of operation which will be
considered satisfactory by motorists in an overall sense.

Typical Values: Such as 30th highest hour, of the year for which the facility is to be
designed (generally 20 years hence), is recommended as the volume criteria to be
used for geometric design. This is based on the theory to be a reasonable
representation of average annual weekday peak hours in urban areas and of average
annual weekend peak hours in rural areas. This has been already discussed to some
extent earlier in this chapter.

4.9 Design Standards of National Highway Board

It is worth while to mention here the design standards as adopted by the National
Highways Board, Government of Pakistan. A Master plan or perspective plan, (1983-
2010), was prepared on behalf of Ministry of Communications. It was rightly realized
that the network of National Highways was fast deteriorating under the growing
traffic volume and pressure. This made them to work on every aspect of the network.

As regards design standards, i.e. to say width and type of pavement, its surface
treatment and size of formation, were based as per international as well as related to
the local conditions. Broadly speaking, some design standards of National Highway
Board (Ministry of Communications, Government of Pakistan), are given in Table 4.

Table2. The Highway Design Standards (NHB)

Volume limits Type of Formation

(Vehicles/day) pavement width
3.65 m (12 ft.)
Up to 500 vehs pavement with triple 12 m (40 ft.)
surface treatment.
*7.3 m (24 ft.)
500 to 3000 vehs pavement with triple 12 m (40 ft.)
surface treatment
3000 to 7000 vehs
*7.3 m (24 ft.) 12 m (40 ft.)
Asphalt concrete
9 m (30 ft.) median
4 lane divided,
7000 to 48000 vehs in rural areas and 2
Asphalt concrete
m median in urban.

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 * (In hilly terrain, pavement width may have to be reduced from 7.3 m to 6 m and
formation width from 12 m to 9.75 m)

As a matter of fact, the object of Master Plan was to evaluate the capacity of the then
existing National Highways in relation to the increase in volume of traffic. The
Government declared five roads as National Highways in 1979 and the Federal
Government took over the responsibility of their maintenance and improvements. The
length of National Highways was only 4,289 km which was about 11% of the total
length of all types of roads under Highways Departments in Pakistan (NTRC
Publication No. 48 titled Transport Bulletin Chapter-4). There were certain other
Highways which should have formed part of National Highways network, but were
excluded due to financial constraint.

The vehicle population in the country grew from meager 30,000 vehicles in 1947 to
550,000vehicles in 1979. Most spectacular increase has been from 400,000 vehicles
in 1977to 550,000 in 1979. The Master plan observed that apart from the traffic
volume, the vehicle loading which in the case of over 60% cargo vehicles exceeded
8200 kg (18000 lbs) axle load--the designated axle loading. It was further observed
that on rural sections of highways the proportion of heavy vehicles was 70%.
However, data collected was not converted to equivalent passenger car units for the
design purposes (which would have reflected better picture of highway congestion).
Nevertheless, vehicle loading is further compounded by the fact that more than 60%
of the trucks on road are overloaded above 8200 kg (18,000 lbs) axle load which is
the design axle loading. Nevertheless, NLC trucks and other containers carrier trucks
seen on our highways have axle loading as high as 10,800 lbs to 13,233 lbs (NTRC
Study, 1982). Furthermore, as per MP data, road sub-sector was clearly the dominant
mode of transportation and its share has been increasing to its level of 62% for freight
and 80% for domestic passengers. In the light of these trends an estimate of 10%
annual increase in the traffic density was presumed for the Master Plan. As a
tailpiece, it is pertinent to record that MP excluded motor cycles whose loading is
nominal as well as animal drawn transport whose use on highways of Pakistan is
evidently fading out.

4.10 "Theoretical" Capacity

Early attempts to estimate the capacity of a section of road free from intersections
were based on headway, i.e. the distance between the fronts of two successive
vehicles. For instances, headway between following vehicles at different speeds was
measured. It was found in practice:

h =17.5 + 0.8v + 0.004 v 2 ,

where,
h = average headway between following vehicles in feet,

v = speed in ft / sec.

The relation between speed and minimum safe headway can be deduced
theoretically as:

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  d  d  2
h = a + bv +   v
 1936 

where
a = headway between stationary vehicles (ft)
b = reaction time (seconds)
d  = breaking distance of following vehicle from 30 miles/hr (ft)
d = breaking distance of leading vehicles from 30 miles/hr (ft)

This relation is of the same form as that determined experimentally and quoted above.
If we take a =17.5 ft, b= 0.8 sec and v=44 ft/sec (30 miles/hr), for observed minimum
headway we find that  d   d  is 8 ft; in view of the fact that the breaking distances of
most cars range between 50 and 110 ft, it may be concluded that cars frequently travel
too close together for safety.

If the headways between all vehicles are given by the formula for h, then clearly the
time interval between the passages of successive vehicles past a point on the road is
h/v. that is to say, one vehicle passes in each period of h/v sec. this is equivalent to a
v
flow (or volume) of traffic of v/h vehicles per sec or 3600 / vehicles per hour.
h

A number of calculations of maximum flow at a given speed, based on actual

headways or calculated safe minimum headways, have been made, and the results
show very large variations. The values are usually over 2000 vehicles / h / lane and
sometimes as much as 3000 vehicles / h / lane (at the speed which corresponds to the
maximum flow). In any case they are based on the assumption that vehicles follow
one another at equal intervals and at the same speed. These conditions are very
unrealistic and are seldom observed on the road. Under actual driving conditions,
particularly with mixed traffic severe congestion occurs at flows much lower than
these. The problem has since been approached from the practical rather than the
theoretical point of view.

However, theoretical capacity is no more in practice anywhere. As such no further

research has been carried out on this.

4.11 Practical Capacity

The term "Practical capacity" was introduced in the U.S.A. by HIGHWAY
RESEARCH BOARD, COMMITTEE ON HIGHWAY CAPACITY (1950), where it
is defined as "the maximum number of vehicles that can pass a given point on a
roadway or in a designated lane during one hour without the traffic density being so
great as to cause unreasonable delay, hazard, or restriction to the drivers' freedom to
maneuver under the prevailing roadway and traffic conditions". This definition gives
a reasonable method of approach, but in practice it is necessary to choose one or more
arbitrary criteria of what constitutes restriction of traffic movement, or "congestion".
Measures of congestions which have been studies are:

i. Mean speed of traffic

ii. Mean difference in speed between successive vehicles

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 iii. Actual speeds in relation to desired speeds
iv. Standard deviation of speeds
v. Actual numbers of overtaking in relation to desired numbers
vi. Estimates of the proportion of vehicles impeded, base on the distribution of
time-intervals between successive vehicles.

Method (vi) depends on the distinction between "random" intervals between vehicles
which do not influence one another, and intervals between vehicles where the first is
impeding the second.

In the American studies all these measures were considered and emphasis was given
to those concerned with speed. In their report on the capacity of straight level two-
lane rural roads in various European countries it was concluded that the proportion of
impeded vehicles is the most useful measure of congestion and dismiss mean speeds
as being too variable to be reliable.

At first sight the proportion of impeded vehicles is an excellent index of congestion,

which has the advantage over all the others it does not require speed measurements to
be made. It is, of course, open to the objection that it is not obvious, what is the
maximum degree of congestion which can be tolerated, but a similar difficulty occurs
with all the measures which have been mentioned. A more serious objection is that no
account is taken of the amount by which the vehicles are impeded; and it is very
desirable that this should be included.

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