URBAN FREEWAY TRUCK CHARACTERISTICS

This report contains three major elements (1) an inventory of urban freeways contained in the 20 most populous Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States; (2) truck problems and management strategies as they relate to urban freeways; and (3) empirically-derived distributions of urban freeway traffic characteristics. Source material used for compilation of the inventory and truck-problem sections was restricted to existing published reports. The inventory details both physical and operating characteristics (e.g. lane, shoulder, and right-of-way widths; percent trucks during peak, etc.) in statistical summaries. Truck problems (i.e. capacity reduction, off-tracking, etc.) and management strategies (e.g. lane-use restrictions, etc.) are discussed. Distributions of urban freeway traffic characteristics (speeds, headways, volumes, etc.) are based upon field data collection at 11 sites in four urban areas representing ramp weaves, basic, merge and diverge sections. Using the Traffic Evaluator System, over 240 observation hours yielded detailed trajectories on more than 561 thousand vehicles. A companion publication "Passenger Car Equivalents," Report No. FHWA/RD-81/156, August 1982 contains an analysis of PCE truck effects observed on a sample of the sites studied. A report documenting the total data base plus a set of 40 data files contained on seventeen 2400-foot magnetic tapes is available from FHWA (HSR-40). (FHWA)

• Corporate Authors:

  Institute for Research

  257 South Pugh Street
  State College, PA  United States  16801

  Federal Highway Administration

  Engineering Research and Development Bureau, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Seguin, E L
  • Crowley, K W
  • Zweig, W D
  • Gabel, R J
• Publication Date: 1982-12

Media Info

• Pagination: 195 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Freeway operations; Freeways; Highway design; Inventory; Management; Passenger car equivalence; Traffic flow; Trucks; Urban areas
• Old TRIS Terms: Freeway design
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Freight Transportation; Highways; Motor Carriers; Operations and Traffic Management; I71: Traffic Theory;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00376387
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-RD-83- 33 Final Rpt., FCP 32B2-012
• Contract Numbers: DTFH61-80-C-00106
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 30 1983 12:00AM