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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations

Report
This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-98-106
 Date: February 1998

Capacity Analysis of Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities

Recommended Procedures for the "Signalized Intersections" Chapter of the Highway Capacity Manual

 

TECHNICAL REPORT DOCUMENTATION

1. Report No.
FHWA-RD-98-106		 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle

CAPACITY ANALYSIS OF PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE FACILITIES: RECOMMENDED PROCEDURES
FOR THE "SIGNALIZED INTERSECTIONS," CHAPTER OF THE HIGHWAY CAPACITY MANUAL

5. Report Date
6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s)

N. Rouphail, J. Hummer, J. Milazzo II, P. Allen

 8. Performing Organization Report No.
9. Performing Organization Name and Address

North Carolina State University
Department of Civil Engineering
Box 7908
Raleigh, NC 27695-7908

10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)
3A4b
11. Contract or Grant No.

DTFH61-92-R-00138
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Office of Safety Research & Development
Federal Highway Administration
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, Virginia 22101-2296

 13. Type of Report and Period Covered

Final Report

April 1995 - February 1998
14. Sponsoring Agency Code
15. Supplementary Notes

Contracting Officer's Technical Representative: Carol Tan Esse, HDRS
16. Abstract

The objective of this project is to develop revised operational analysis procedures for transportation facilities with pedestrian and bicyclist users. This document describes the effects of pedestrians and bicyclists on the capacity of signalized intersections. These procedures augment the existing Highway Capacity Manual signalized intersection Level of Service procedures for locations with substantial pedestrian and/or bicycle traffic conflicting with vehicular turning movements. This document incorporates the results of a multi-regional data-collection effort that confirms the validity of a conflict zone occupancy approach to analyze pedestrian and bicycle effects on signalized intersection capacity.

In addition to this report, there were two additional reports produced as part of this effort on Capacity Analysis of Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities. These reports are subtitled as:

  1. Recommeded Procedures for the "Pedestrian" Chapter of the Highway Capacity Manual (FHWA-RD-98-107)

  2. Recommended Procedures for the "Bicycles" Chapter of the Highway Capacity Manual (FHWA-RD-98-108)
17. Key Words:

pedestrian, bicycle, capacity, signalized intersection,
adjustment factor, occupancy

 18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. This document is available to the
public through the National Technical Information
Service, Springfield, VA 22161.

19. Security Classif. (of this report)

Unclassified

 20. Security Classif. (of this page)

Unclassified

 21. No. of Pages 22. Price
Form DOT F 17000.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page is authorized

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. INTRODUCTION

  2. BACKGROUND

  3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

  4. PROPOSED REVISIONS TO HCM CHAPTER 9 PROCEDURES

    4.1 Overview of Recommended Procedure for Determining fLpband fRpb

    4.2 Details of Recommended Procedure for Determining fLpb and fRpb

  5. EXAMPLE PROBLEMS

  6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

  7. REFERENCES

  8. TECHNICAL REPORT DOCUMENTATION

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Pedestrians and bicycles causing delay to turning vehicles in Eugene, Oregon
Figure 2 Opposing traffic screens pedestrians from the view of left-turning drivers at this intersection in Chicago, Illinois
Figure 3 Pedestrians affect left turns when there is no opposing traffic at the same Chicago, Illinois, intersection
Figure 4 Comparison of various right-turn saturation flow adjustment factors due to pedestrians
Figure 5 Sample conflict zone locations
Figure 6 Queued turning vehicles waiting for a gap in a pedestrian stream in Portland, Oregon
Figure 7 Outline of computational procedure for fRpb and fLpb
Figure 8 Pedestrians causing substantial delay to an "unopposed" left turn in Portland, Oregon
Figure 9 Supplemental worksheet for pedestrian-bicycle effects on permissive right turns
Figure 10 Supplemental worksheet for pedestrian effects on permissive left turns
Figure 11 Comparison of ApbT with other adjustment factors for pedestrians
Figure 12 Through bicycles delay right-turning vehicle in Gainesville, Florida
Figure 13 Turning driver having two receiving lanes to choose from in Portland, Oregon
Figure 14 Example sketch
Figure 15 Existing HCM method of capturing the effect of pedestrians on lane groups containing turning vehicles
Figure 16 Impact of proposed method for capturing the effect of pedestrians on lane groups containing turning vehicles

 

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Data collection site characteristics
Table 2 Input Requirements for Determination of fRpb and fLpb
Table 3 List of symbols used in determination of fRpb and fLpb
Table 4 Intermediate Pedestrian-Bicycle Parameters: Pedestrian Conflict Zone Occupancy (OCCpedg)
Table 5 Intermediate Pedestrian-Bicycle Parameters: Relevant conflict Zone Occupancy (OCCr) For Right Turns or Unopposed Left Turns
Table 6 Intermediate pedestrian-Bicycle Parameters: Conflict Zone Occupancy After Opposing Queue Clears (OCCpedu) for Opposed Left Turns
Table 7 Intermediate Pedestrian-Bicycle Parameters: Relevant Conflict Zone Occupancy (OCCr) After Opposing Queue Clears for Opposed Left Turns
Table 8 Intermediate Pedestrian-Bicycle Parameters: Permitted Phase Turning Adjustment (ApbT) For Right And left Turns
Table 9 Proposed Adjustment Factor For Pedestrian-Bicycle Effect On Right Turns (fRpb)
Table 10 Proposed Adjustment Factor for Pedestrian Effects on Left Turns(fLpb)
Table 11 Proposed Adjustment Factor for Radius Effects on Right Turns (fRT)
Table 12 Existing and proposed saturation flow adjustment factors for lane groups containing turning vehicles
Table 13 Examples showing impact of proposed adjustment factors on capacity
Table 14 Recommended HCM pedestrian Level of Service (LOS) criteria for signalized crossing delay

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