Looking at the east side segments of the freeway section, the traffic volumes in the before case were identified to be 336 vehicles in each direction. There are two lanes for this particular section, a posted speed of 65 miles per hour and no obstructions to either side. The percent trucks and recreational vehicles were assumed as was the peak hour factor. The population factor was assumed to be 1.0.
The following figure represents the input screen from the HCS Traffic information representing these values identified above.
The other required input is the terrain for the area, for the example, we have entered level.
After entering the required data, the user should select the RUN - LOS menu option to retrieve the information.
Examining the output shows that the freeway is operating at level of service A for each direction and the operating speed for the facility is 64.8 miles per hour.
Turning out attention to the freeway after construction of the interchange, the main item to be changes is the volumes on the roadways. Looking back at the input values and summing all the traffic from the ramps that would constitute the freeway volumes, the new values entered in the HCS module are 614 in one direction and 615 in the other direction. Therefore, the corresponding changes were made to the input file in HCS as shown:
and the LOS calculation for the modified freeway segment because of the interchange shows operation at level of service A with operating speeds of 65.0 and 65.1 miles per hour.
This type of calculation should be performed for all freeway segments (both sides of the interchange) for all the alternatives developed.
Select any of the options to receive more information or click on the back button to return to the HCS analysis page or the site map button to go to the site map.
