THE ROAD CAPACITY OF CITY CENTERS

A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS WAS CONDUCTED OF THE VARIABLES INVOLVED IN DETERMINING THE ROAD CAPACITY OF CITY CENTERS. CONSIDERING FIRST THE NUMBERS OF VEHICLES THAT CAN USE THE ROADS OF A CITY PER UNIT TIME UNDER VARIOUS CONDITIONS, IT MIGHT BE REASONABLY EXPECTED THAT THIS NUMBER WOULD DEPEND ON MANY FACTORS, INCLUDING THE NATURE OF THE CITY AND OF ITS ROAD SYSTEM AND ON THE TYPES OF JOURNEYS THAT ARE MADE THERE . FORMULAS ARE DEVELOPED FOR DETERMINATION OF THE CAPACITY OF A ROAD PER UNIT OF ROAD WIDTH AND THE AVERAGE DISTANCE TRAVELLED. FROM THIS RESULTED AN APPROXIMATE THEORETICAL FORMULA FOR THE ROAD CAPACITY OF CITY CENTERS. CARE MUST BE TAKEN, HOWEVER, NOT TO USE THE EXPRESSION FOR THE RANGE OF POSSIBLE CAPACITIES OF A CBD FOR CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH IT WOULD NOT REASONABLY BE EXPECTED TO APPLY.