Abstract
The effects of heavy vehicles become more pronounced in two-lane highway facilities with passing restrictions since vehicles in a platoon do not have any other choice but to follow the leaders’ choice of speed, which is usually below their desired speed levels. Furthermore, platoon lengths are expected to be longer than usual, affecting level of service indicators such as follower density and average travel speed. This study aims to make a preliminary analysis of the influence of heavy vehicle on such facility types in Japan. Detector data were analyzed for two different time periods — peak and weekday. The speed of heavy vehicles has a direct effect on follower speed and follower density was found to become more sensitive to heavy vehicle percentage as flow rate increases. Average speed was also found to be more sensitive to heavy vehicle presence on upgrades, especially during the evening period.
