North Carolina Department of Transportation level of service software program for Highway capacity manual planning applications

752991130Final report; July 2002-June 2005.PDFTech ReportFHWA/NC/2006-06Highway capacityHighway operationsHighway planningSimulationSoftwareComputer programsNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Analysis GroupFain, Shannon J.Cunningham, Chris M.Foyle, Robert S.Rouphail, Nagui M.UNC Institute for Transportation Research and EducationNorth Carolina. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Analysis GroupNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-PLANNING AND POLICYUS Transportation CollectionThe Transportation Planning Branch (TPB) of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) desired auser-friendly tool for determining highway capacity and service volumes for freeways, multilane highways, arterials, andtwo-lane highways based upon the specific conditions present in North Carolina for use in planning applications. The tooldeveloped in this project is based upon the methodology and theory presented in the 2000 Highway Capacity Manual,with default values established specifically for North Carolina conditions across the three regions of the state. The toolincludes a unique graphical interface and plot of the measure of effectiveness against average annual daily traffic. Thistool allows for various planning scenarios to be examined in an efficient, yet accurate manner, both visually andnumerically.Additionally, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis on the input parameters was carried out. The analysis showed thatfour (4) inputs had high sensitivity, eleven (11) inputs had medium sensitivity, and six (6) inputs had low sensitivity.NCDOT\ue2\u20ac\u2122s future data collection efforts can be expanded and targeted to include information on the most sensitive inputsto enhance future planning analysis efforts by establishing documented default values on these inputs