Vehicles per Lane Mile
Updated Using 2022 Data

Vehicles per Lane Mile evaluates vehicle volume per mile per lane at peak hour. It provides the average density on a roadway.

Methodology

Methodology: Vehicles per Lane Mile

Vehicles per lane mile is calculated as the roadway segment’s peak hour volume divided by the number of lanes weighted by the aggregate lane miles of each segment. Peak hour volumes are computed by applying an hourly to daily ratio factor to AADT.

Calculation

`"Vehicles per Lane Mile" = (∑_("i=1")^("# Segments") "(""Volume"_("i")/"Number of Lanes"_("i") × "Lane Miles"_("i")")" )/(∑_("i=1")^("# Segments")"Lane Miles"_("i")`

Reporting Periods

  • Peak Hour
  • Peak Period
  • Daily
  • Yearly
Definitions

Definitions: Vehicles per Lane Mile

  • Area Type
    • Urbanized Area: An area with a population of at least 50,000 people.
    • Non-Urbanized Area: An area with a population less than 50,000 people.
  • Context Classification: A classification assigned to a roadway that broadly identifies the various built environments in Florida, based on existing or future land use characteristics, development patterns, and the roadway connectivity of an area. For more information about context class, please reference methodology document.
  • Facility Type
    • Arterials: Signalized roadways that primarily serve through traffic with average signalized intersection spacing of two miles or less.
    • Highways: High speed roadways with signal spacing greater than two miles per signal.
    • Freeway: A multilane, divided highway with at least two lanes for exclusive use of traffic in each direction and full control of ingress and egress.
  • Highway System: An integrated network of roads and highways for motor and non-motor transport. Each highway system has roadways that are exclusive to their respective system.
    • National Highway System (NHS): Roads designated by Congress as nationally important for inter-regional travel, including roads designated as connectors to NHS intermodal facilities.
    • State Highway System (SHS): Roads under the jurisdiction of the State of Florida, and maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation or a regional transportation commission; includes roads with Interstate, US, and SR numbers.
    • Strategic Intermodal System (SIS): Transportation system created by the Florida Legislature in 2003 to include statewide and regionally significant facilities and services, containing all forms of transportation for moving both people and goods, including linkages that provide for smooth and efficient transfers between modes and major facilities.
  • Reporting Periods
    • Peak Hour: 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on a weekday. This hour is chosen to allow consistent comparisons among transportation modes. It may not be the hour of greatest travel for any given roadway, mode or area. The majority of travel typically occurs during the PM peak hour resulting in more congestion in the PM peak than observed in the AM peak.
  • Segment: A portion of roadway defined by two boundary points.
  • Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT): Estimated amount of travel for all vehicles in a geographic region over a given period of time. It is calculated as the sum of the number of miles traveled by each vehicle.
  • Vehicles per Lane Mile: Density of vehicles on a facility, commonly used to describe utilization.

Download Data

Date of last refresh: 10/19/2023

SOURCES

FDOT - Roadway Characteristics Inventory Feature 147 (Strategic Intermodal System) and Feature 212 (Through Lanes)
FDOT - Traffic Characteristics Inventory