CAPACITY AND SPEED OF WEAVING SECTIONS OF THE TOKYO METROPOLITAN EXPRESSWAY

This is a report on the characteristics of weaving traffic analyzed through video observations and data from vehicle detectors in six weaving sections of the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway. This is followed by a comparison of the observed capacities and speeds with those calculated using several existing U.S. methodologies. Four methods of estimating speeds were examined: 1985 HCM, PINY, JHK, and Leisch methods. The PINY and the Leisch methods seem to underestimate the weaving and nonweaving speeds. The 1985 HCM and the JHK mehtods give relatively good estimates, but estimates by the 1985 method seem slightly more accurate than those by the JHK method.