CALIFORNIA FREEWAY CAPACITY STUDY -- 1956

DURING THE PRESENT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE FREEWAY SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA, SOME EXTREMELY HIGH DAILY VOLUMES ARE BEING EXPERIENCED. ONE INTERSECTION OF TWO FREEWAYS HANDLES 319,000 VEHICLES PER DAY. DESPITE HIGH VOLUMES, OPERATION IS NORMAL AT MOST PLACES ON THE SYSTEM. SPEEDS ARE HIGH AND ACCIDENT RATES ARE LOW. EXCEPT FOR ABOUT TWO HOURS A DAY, IT IS POSSIBLE TO AVERAGE 50 MPH FOR ABOUT 28 MILES RIGHT THROUGH THE HEART OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES. EIGHTY-THREE PEAK HOUR OBSERVATIONS OF OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS WERE MADE AT 50 LOCATIONS ON 4-, 6-, AND 8-LANE URBAN FREEWAYS. THE OBSERVATIONS AT EACH LOCATION CONSISTED OF RECORDING TRAFFIC COUNTS AND SPEEDS BY 5-MINUTE INTERVALS IN EACH LANE. TRAFFIC WAS CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF VEHICLE AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES ON FLOW CHARACTERISTICS WERE MADE. THE REPORT CONTAINS TABLES OF WHOLE-HOUR VOLUMES AND SPEEDS BY LANE FOR EACH OF THESE OBSERVATIONS, AND 37 GRAPHS SHOWING SPEED-VOLUME RELATIONSHIPS AND DISTRIBUTION OF TRAFFIC BY LANES UNDER VARIOUS GEOMETRIC CONDITIONS. /AUTHOR/