Highway Capacity Analysis : HCM and HCS

Highway Capacity Analysis provides students with foundational principles, concepts, and theory regarding capacity analysis to prepare them for work as an operational traffic engineer. Students learn how the mastery of capacity analysis applies to signal operations and optimization, roadway and intersection design, transportation planning, and traffic impact analysis. The text also prepares students to use the necessary software employed within the traffic engineering profession. 

The text is divided into three sections: Uninterrupted Flow, Interrupted Flow, and Application Extensions. In Part I, students learn how to analyze uninterrupted flow segments and facilities, including freeways and highways. Part II discusses the analysis of stop control, roundabouts, signalized intersections, urban streets, interchanges, and alternative intersections, with multimodal analysis and travel time reliability included where applicable. Part III extends the procedural analyses outlined in Parts I and II into broader applications, including signal timing optimization and traffic impact studies. Students follow step-by-step procedures to work through exercises by hand, then code them into software to experience their learnings in practice. 

Providing a practical, succinct, and logical approach to traffic engineering processes and procedures, Highway Capacity Analysis prepares students to enter the traffic engineering profession with the knowhow and practical experience required to succeed. The text is well suited to courses in traffic engineering and transportation.

William M. Sampson is a licensed professional engineer with 40 years of experience in the traffic engineering profession. He’s served on the Highway Capacity and Quality of Service Committee and has distinct expertise in capacity analysis and signal timing. He is the director of the McTrans Center and a transportation engineering lecturer at the University of Florida.