HIGHWAY ECONOMIC ANALYSIS EXPERIENCES WITH THE 1985 HIGHWAY CAPACITY MANUAL

Implications of some of the changes suggested in the 1985 Highway Capacity Manual are investigated. The study uses statistics from Alberta Transportation, Edmonton, Canada, as the data base and compares cost-volume curves obtained from the 1965 and the 1985 Highway Capacity Manual. The main conclusion of this investigation is that the application of data and capacity analysis procedures from the 1985 manual produces cost-volume relationships that could conflict with the current practice of designing rural highways when used with the traditional values of other variables, such as vehicle running cost and value of travel time. It is suggested that, in order to reflect the cost of deterioration in service with increasing traffic volume on two-lane roads, a cost of comfort and convenience should be computed and added to the other components of the user cost. Also examined and discussed is the impact of such new features of the 1985 manual as the driver population factor for multilane roads and the directional split of traffic on two-lane roads.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1987/1112/1112-001.pdf
• Record URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=HIGHWAY+ECONOMIC+ANALYSIS+EXPERIENCES+WITH+THE+1985+HIGHWAY+CAPACITY+MANUAL&author=S.+Sharma&author=P.+Lingras&author=A.+Werner&publication_year=1987
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Highway Capacity and Quality of Service. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Sharma, Satish C
  • Lingras, Pawan J
  • Werner, Al
• Publication Date: 1987

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-9
• Monograph Title: Highway capacity and flow theory and characteristics
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1112
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Economic analysis; Highway design; Rural highways; Statistics; Traffic volume; Two lane highways
• Candidate Terms: Highway economics
• Identifier Terms: Highway Capacity Manual
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Economics; Finance; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I71: Traffic Theory;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00465539
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309044642
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 29 1988 12:00AM