An Analysis of Travel Conditions on the U.S. 52 Bypass in Lafayette, Indiana

Abstract

In recent years vehicular travel has increased at a tremendous rate. The construction of new highways and the improvement of existing facilities have failed to keep pace with the growth of motor-vehicle travel. The problem is especially acute in urban areas where major arterial highways lack needed capacity for handling the large movements of intracity travel. Many urban roads were constructed decades ago, when the present status of vehicular travel was inconceivable. Inadequate planning and improvement of these facilities have resulted in congestion and delays which are costly and irritable to road users. Relationships were developed to express overall travel speeds and delays as functions of elements that were descriptive of the traffic stream, roadway geometry, and roadside development. These equations permit the evaluation of traffic engineering improvements designed to improve travel conditions.