REDESIGN OF TRANSPORT SYSTEMS ON HIGHWAYS, STREETS AND AVENUES

Redesigning of the traffic system on highways, streets and avenues is quite important, when aspects such as network plan, geometric design, traffic control, operation, regulation and enforcement of roads are considered as a unified system. The ‘highways’, which should primarily consider transport function for intercity connections, and ‘streets and avenues’, which should also involve the various space functions for the inner city, must be clearly categorized, and they must be redesigned. A tentative plan of a network classification system is proposed. Transport function consists of traffic function and access function, and there are several network classes depending on the balance of these two functions for each road category. Each road network class could have a target Level of Service (LOS). The process of redesigning the transport system on highways, streets and avenues tries to meet the required LOS.The handling of transport demands, especially in urban areas with traffic congestion, is important because the prediction of demand is very difficult under such conditions the true demand possibly becoming a potentiality caused by traffic congestion. One of the solutions of this difficulty is also proposed. The junction treatments, including traffic signal control, dominate over the LOS of the road transport system network in urban streets and avenues. The process of design, control, and operation of junctions at critical intersections is proposed. A tentative evaluation method for highway LOS is also discussed.