Overview

Printable Overview, Introduction, and Getting Started

Krome Avenue is a 33-mile north-south route that bypasses Miami, Florida on the west side. It is essentially a rural route that has very little roadside development. Florida’s Turnpike is about 5 miles to the east, providing several east-west connections to Krome Avenue. Its two-lane configuration has limited capacity compared to other facilities such as freeways and multilane roadways. Most of the route now operates well within its capacity, except that some congestion has been observed at critical locations. This is a region of high population growth that is expected to generate continually increasing traffic volumes. Prompted primarily by safety considerations, the posted speeds have already been reduced below the 55 mph level typically found on open highways.  

In this case study, we will go through the process of identifying the goals, objectives and analysis tools for an investigation of the existing level of service on the entire route. We will then apply the analysis tools to assess the current performance of this route and to identify areas that are deficient. Finally, applying the same analysis tools, we will investigate some alternatives for correcting the deficiencies.  

The main purpose of the case study is to illustrate the concepts and practice of applying the analysis tools in general, and the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) in particular. Much of the discussion will be based on a recently completed study of Krome Avenue that had similar goals and objectives. Several problems will be presented to illustrate the application of the tools and the interpretation of the results.