SURVEY OF DOWNHILL SPEEDS OF TRUCKS ON MOUNTAIN GRADES

A STUDY WAS MADE OF THE DOWNHILL OPERATIONAL SPEEDS OF HEAVILY LOADED TRUCKS ON MOUNTAIN GRADES ON THE HIGHWAYS IN ARIZONA DURING 1949 AND 1950. THE OBJECT OF THE SURVEY WAS TO PROVIDE BASIC DATA TO DETERMINE JUST HOW FAST A HEAVY TRUCK TRAVELED DOWN VARIOUS RATES OF GRADES AND WHAT PECULIAR TRAVEL HABITS WERE ASSOCIATED WITH THESE COMMERCIAL VEHICLES. PRELIMINARY STUDY DISCLOSES THAT TRUCKS NEED LITTLE SPECIFIC CONSIDERATION ON DOWNGRADES AND GENERALLY ASSUME SPEED CHARACTERISTICS COMMONLY ASSOCIATED WITH PASSENGER VEHICLES. SEVEN TYPICAL FIELD LOCATIONS ON TRANSCONTINENTAL ROUTES WERE ANALYZED WITH MOUNTAIN GRADES RANGING FROM +2 TO OVER +6 PERCENT. ELEVATIONS VARIED FROM SEA LEVEL TO 7200 FT. WHILE TRAFFIC VARIED FROM 1000 TO 3000 VEHICLES PER DAY. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrbproceedings/30/30-031.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 30, pp 322-329, 5 FIG, REF. 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:
  • Willey, W E
• Publication Date: 1951

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board Held at Washington, D.C., January 9-12, 1951
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Proceedings
  • Volume: 30
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Mountains; Road downgrades; Slopes; Studies; Traffic speed; Trucks
• Uncontrolled Terms: Grades
• Old TRIS Terms: Downgrade; Speed studies
• Subject Areas: Highways; Motor Carriers; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223509
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 25 1971 12:00AM