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CE 573 Transportation Planning - Fall 2001
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Assignment 03 During week 2, we will learn about performance measures and level of service.The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) is the primary reference for transportation engineers to evaluate the performance of transportation facilities. The HCM uses the quality of service to provide a framework for evaluating the performance of a highway facility. Click here to read about a recent study on performance measures and the HCM. The HCM 2000 defines level of service as "a quality measure describing operational conditions within a traffic stream, generally in terms of such service measures as speed and travel time, freedom to maneuver, traffic interruptions, and comfort and convenience." [page 2-2, HCM2000] The HCM further notes that "each facility type that has a defined method for assessing capacity and level of service also has performance measures that can be calculated. These measures reflect the operating conditions of a facility, given a set of roadway, traffic, and control conditions. Travel speed and density on freeways, delay at signalized intersections, and walking speed for pedestrian facilities are examples of performance measures that characterize flow conditions of a facility". [p 2-3, HCM2000] Your assignment for next Wednesday (class #4) is to read the following documents and be ready to discuss them during class. We will conduct a field study to learn how to measure pedestrian level of service.
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