Incorporating work zone configuration factors into speed‐flow and capacity models

Summary This study aims to develop work zone speed‐flow and capacity models, which incorporate work zone configuration factors including the number of work zones, geometrical alignment, work zone speed limit, and work zone length. On the basis of the traffic data from six work zone sites with various work zone configurations, two nonlinear traffic speed and flow models including work zone configuration factors are developed for the uncongested and congested traffic conditions, respectively. A work zone capacity model is proposed on the basis of the two models. The three models can further be used to examine the effects of work zone configuration factors on the speed‐flow relationship and capacity at work zones. Results show that traffic speed, traffic flow, and work zone capacity increase with the posted speed limit. Traffic speed under uncongested conditions decreases with the geometric alignment, the number of work zones, work zone length, and heavy vehicle percentage. Under congested conditions, the increase of the number of work zones is found to exhibit a larger negative impact on the traffic flow than the increase of geometric alignment. The number of work zones is also found to have the largest negative impacts on work zone capacity, followed by the geometric alignment. Short work zone length exhibits a relatively minor contribution to increasing work zone capacity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.