Highway Capacity

Capacity is the maximum number of vehicles that have a reasonable expectation of

passing over a given section of lane or roadway in one direction or in both directions
during one hour under prevailing road and traffic conditions.
Hourly capacity is influenced by the following factors:
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Number of lanes;
Carriageway width;
Shoulder width;
Gradients and their length;
Truck and bus percentage of total traffic;
Lateral obstructions on both or one side of the roadway; and
Roadside friction

The degree of roadside friction impact on road capacity:

None:

Few or no buildings along the roadside;

Light:

Buildings and/or road intersections along and close to the road, 100200 meters between these objects, pedestrians and non-motorized
traffic observed occasionally;

Medium:

Scattered roadside development, 50-100 meters between buildings

and/or road intersections, pedestrians and non-motorized traffic
observed frequently;

Heavy:

Continuous roadside development with less than 50 meters between

buildings and/or road intersections, pedestrians and non-motorized
traffic tend to disrupt the motor vehicle traffic and reduce travel speed
to below 35 km/hr even at low traffic volume.

Based on studies undertaken by the Planning Services of the Dept. of Public Works
and Highways (1975-1977, 1979), the Philippine road capacities for varying roadway
widths and flat terrain can be estimated as follows:
Table 1: Basic hourly capacities according to road type (DPWH, 1979)
Road Type
Highway
Highway
Highway
Highway
Highway
Highway
Highway
Urban Street
Urban Street
Urban Street
Urban Street

Carriageway
Width (m)
4.0
4.1 - 5.0
5.1 - 5.5
5.6 - 6.1
6.2 - 6.5
6.6 - 7.3
2 x 7.0
6.0
6.1 - 6.5
6.6 - 7.3
2 x 7.0

Roadside
Friction
None or Light
None or Light
None or Light
None or Light
None or Light
None or Light
None or Light
Heavy
Heavy
Heavy
Heavy

Basic Hourly Capacity

(in PCU in Both Directions)
600
1,200
1,800
1,900
2,000
2,400
7,200 (Expressway)
1,200
1,600
1,800
6,700
1

Capacities under Philippine conditions are about 20 % higher than those reported in
the U.S. Highway Capacity Manual of 1965. This could be due to the fact that the
average passenger car unit on Philippine roads is smaller than its U.S. counterpart and
may also be attributed to the behavior of local drivers (e.g., it is very common to drive
quite close to the vehicle in front and roads with 2 lanes per direction are effectively
used as if there were 3 lanes instead). The basic capacity reported in the U.S. HCM of
1965 is 2,000 pcu/hr for both directions of a 2-lane, flat, 7.3-meter road without
roadway friction. As can be seen from Table 1, the Philippine corresponding capacity
is 2,400 pcu/hr.
For multi-lane highways in flat terrain, such as expressways, the lane capacities (if
lane width is at least 3.5 meters) are estimated as follows:
Table 2: Hourly capacities for multi-lane highways
No. of lanes per direction
Hourly capacity, pcu/lane

2
1,800

3
1,750

4
1,700

The DPWH has updated these basic hourly capacity values in their 2004 Highway
Planning Manual and the new values are shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Basic hourly capacity, PCU (DPWH, 2004)
Carriageway width
Single less than 4 meters
4.0 5.0 meters
5.1 6.0 meters
6.1 6.7 meters
6.8 7.3 meters
2 x 6.7 or 2 x 7.3 meters

Hourly PCU
Rural
600
1,200
1,900
2,000
2,400
7,200

Urban
600
1,200
1,600
1,700
1,800
6,700

Passenger Car Equivalent Factors

The capacity is normally expressed in passenger car unit per hour (pcu/hr) and would
depend on the so-called passenger car equivalent factors (PCEF) of the different
vehicle classes that compose the traffic. These factors express the impact of slowmoving vehicles and heavy vehicles interacting with gradients and length of gradients.
The following formulas are used to estimate PCEF of different vehicle types:
Table 4: PCEF formulas
Vehicle Type

PCEF per vehicle

Cars, vans, jeeps

1.0

Jeepneys
Motorcycles

Vehicle Type

PCEF per vehicle

Motor Tricycles
Buses
Trucks
Note : Use 25PCT instead of 100PCT on multi-lane highways and expressways.

In all these formulas, the factors are defined as follows:

RFRIC : roadside friction with values as follows:
Table 5: RFRIC values
Roadside Friction
None
Light
Medium
Heavy

RFRIC value
0
3.0
6.0
9.0

SWID : shoulder width with values as follows:

Table 6: SWID values
Shoulder Width (m)
0 0.5
0.6 1.9
2.0 or more; unpaved; in good condition
2.0 or more; paved; in good condition

SWID value
0
1.0
1.5
4.0

CWID : carriageway width with values as follows:

Table 7: CWID values
Carriageway Width (m)
4.0
4.1 5.0
5.1 5.5
5.6 6.1
6.2 6.5
6.6 7.3
2 x 7.0
Urban 6.1 6.5
Urban 6.6 7.3
Urban 2 x 7.0

CWID Value
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

PCT : gradients and length of gradients with values as follows:

Table 8: GRA values
Gradient, %
0 0.9
1.0 1.9
2.0 2.9

GRA Value
0.5
1.0
1.5
3

Gradient, %
3.0 4.9
5.0 6.9
7.0 8.9
> 10.0

GRA Value
3.0
6.0
8.0
10.0

PCT is computed as 0.05(GRA)2 for gradient length less than or equal to 400
meters and 0.07(GRA)2 for gradient length greater than 400 meters.
PH : heavy vehicles, buses and trucks in % of total AADT. It is computed as
follows:

Table 9: PCEF values (DPWH, Highway Planning Manual, 2007)

Vehicle
Type

Vehicle Type

1
2
3-5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Motor tricycle
Passenger car
Passenger and goods utility and small bus
Large bus
Rigid truck, 2 axles
Rigid truck, 3 axles
Truck semi-trailer, 3 and 4 axles
Truck semi-trailer, 5+ axles
Truck trailers, 4 axles
Truck trailers, 5+ axles

Terrain
Flat
1.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.0
2.5
2.5
2.5
2.5
2.5

Rolling
1.5
1.0
1.725
2.3
2.3
2.875
2.875
2.875
2.875
2.875

Mountainous
1.5
1.0
1.95
2.6
2.6
3.25
3.25
3.25
3.25
3.25

Level of Service
Following the definitions used by the DPWH Highway Planning Manual (2007) for
the evaluation of road sections, the levels of service are as follows:
Table 10: Level of Service (LOS) criteria
Level of Service

Volume / Capacity Ratio

Description

less than 0.20

Free flow traffic

0.21 - 0.50

Relatively free flow traffic

0.51 - 0.70

Moderate traffic

0.71 - 0.85

Moderate / heavy traffic

0.86 - 1.00

Heavy traffic

greater than 1.0

Saturation traffic, stop and go

movement

Determination of AADT
[Reference: Transport Training Center, Course Notes on Transportation and Traffic Technology, UP
Diliman, 1983]

Traffic volume count stations:

a) Seasonal stations selected along major and national roads and mostly
located near the district or city boundary. They are distributed and carefully
selected throughout the country to cover the various types of highways and to
reflect their traffic patterns.
b) Control stations selected along national roads and major arterials for the
purpose of providing controls necessary to record volume counts on a common
basis. These are required to establish seasonal and daily traffic volume
characteristics, and factors for expanding data from single counts obtained at
coverage stations.
c) Coverage stations are required to provide sufficient data to permit
reasonably accurate estimates of ADT on each road segment.
Schedule of traffic count surveys on each type of station:
a) Seasonal station traffic counts are conducted over a 24-hour period, once in
every month for a duration of 1 week (or more). The count is scheduled as
follows:
1st week count 1st to 7th day of the 1st month
2nd week count 8th to 14th day of the 2nd month
3rd week count 15th to 21st day of the 3rd month
4th week count 22nd up to the end of the 4th month regardless of
whether it exceeds 7 days
b) Control station traffic counts on control stations are conducted as follows:
- 24 hours
- 7 days continuous
- Four cycles per year (quarterly)
i. Select any 7 consecutive days such that none of them is a holiday
ii. Saturday and Sunday are not considered as holidays
iii. Commence count from 0600H (6:00 AM), 3 shifts of 8 hours each
c) Coverage station traffic counts on coverage stations are conducted as
follows:
- 12 hours although usually 16 hours if there is significant traffic
during night-time
- 2 weekdays continuous
- 2 cycles per year (semestrally)
i. Select any 2 weekdays such that none of them is a holiday
ii. Commence count from 0600H (6:00 AM), 2 shifts of 8 hours each
iii. Counting period of this station shall coincide with the counting
period of its control station

Determination of AADT of Seasonal Station:

Example:
Where:

Estimate of AADT of Control Station:

Where:

ADT1 = average daily traffic for the 1st month

ADT2 = average daily traffic for the 2nd month
ADT3 = average daily traffic for the 3rd month

ADTm1 = ADT of the control station in the 1st quarter

ADTm2 = ADT of the control station in the 2nd quarter
ADTm3 = ADT of the control station in the 3rd quarter
ADTm4 = ADT of the control station in the 4th quarter

Estimate of AADT of Coverage Station:

Where:

V11 = expanded 24-hour volume of the coverage station for the 1st day
of month 1
V12 = expanded 24-hour volume of the coverage station for the 2nd day
of month 1

V21 = expanded 24-hour volume of the coverage station for the 1st day
of month 2
V22 = expanded 24-hour volume of the coverage station for the 2nd day
of month 2
To expand the 12-hour count at the coverage station, we use the ratio and proportion
of the control station count as follows:

Where:

Also,

t12 = 12-hour count at coverage station

T12 = 12-hour count at control station
corresponding to the same 12 hours of the
coverage station
T24 = 24-hour count at control station

DF11 = Daily Factor of the 1st day of month 1

DF12 = Daily Factor of the 2nd day of month 1
DF21 = Daily Factor of the 1st day of month 2
DF22 = Daily Factor of the 2nd day of month 2

The Daily Factor is computed from:

SF = seasonal factor for the month under consideration