Effect of Work Zone Length and Speed Difference Between Vehicle Types on Delay-Based Passenger Car Equivalents in Work Zones

This paper presents how Delay-based Passenger Car Equivalent (D-PCE) values of heavy vehicles in work zones vary with work zone length, speed difference between vehicle types, heavy vehicle type, traffic volume and heavy vehicle percentage. The D-PCE values increased with increasing volume, work zone length and speed difference between
vehicle types. Speed difference had the most significant effect on D-PCE. They decreased with increasing heavy vehicle percentage. Depending on the work zone length, speed difference between vehicle types, volume and percentage heavy vehicles, the D-PCE values ranged from 1.01 to 21.18. Operation of two lane highways resemble one lane
work zones more closely than basic freeway sections and the D-PCE values are comparable to the PCE values of heavy vehicles for two lane highways. D-PCE values for different combinations of the factors were developed in this paper.