CONNECTIONS: The VDOT Library E-Newsletter

The Highway Capacity Manual Is Here...and It's an eBook!

VDOT employees have unlimited access to the "eBook version" of the new Highway Capacity Manual. Try it today!

The 7^th Edition of TRB’s Highway Capacity Manual is here!

The HCM is available for “one-click access" as an eBook, which means you don’t need to worry about physical check-outs, shipping, or getting an overdue notice, because this item can be used by “unlimited simultaneous users” across all of VDOT.

Translation: You don’t have to buy it (but you can, for $250 in eBook format, if you want), you don’t have to borrow it (though accessing VDOT’s eBook copy via the library pretty much equates to that) and you don’t have to do anything special to share it with a friend at VDOT…just forward them THIS LINK.

TRB announced the decision to release the 7th Edition of the HCM so they could promote it at the  TRB 2022 Annual Meeting last January. Of course, VDOT Library patrons started asking for a copy right away. But releasing an entirely new edition of a resource this big (compared to a simple update) is no small task. Despite January’s optimism, it turns out the HCM was not commercially available in ANY format until a couple weeks ago!

So we licensed an eBook version (the only version available for now) when it was "hot off the digital presses," so to speak. Good thing, because we were being told the print version would be out “in May” but we're half way through and now the vendors say a more realistic estimate is June, July or “this summer at some point."

Don’t worry, we will acquire multiple copies of the print edition for loan to employees too. After all, we still have 10 copies of the 6^th Edition (2016), which comes as a svelte boxed-set of three printed volumes in loose leaf binders...plus a fourth volume online.

Also, should anyone need them, we are one of the few libraries in the country with copies of the 5^th edition (2010), the 4^th edition (2000-completely revised), the 3^rd edition (first big revise/partnership between TRB, NCHRP and FHWA, upgrated in 1994 & 1997), the 2^nd edition (1965-Highway Capacity Committee) and yes, even the 1^st edition (1950-Bureau of Public Roads).

Why all the fuss over a book?  The HCM is a multi-agency resource (TRB, AASHTO, FHWA) that serves as a fundamental reference on concepts, performance measures, and analysis techniques for assessing the multimodal operation of streets, highways, freeways, and off-street pathways. It incorporates the latest research on highway capacity, quality of service, Active Traffic and Demand Management, and travel time reliability. The objective is to help practitioners applying HCM methods understand their basic concepts, computational steps, and outputs. These changes are designed to keep the manual in step with its users’ needs and present times.

For those of you preparing for an upcoming P.E. Exam, please be advised that as of now, according to the “NCEES Principles and Practice of Engineering Examination, CIVIL–TRANSPORTATION CBT Exam Specifications, Effective Beginning January 1, 2022” the “official” exam prep edition of the HCM (see page 5) is shown as Highway Capacity Manual (Volumes 1–4), 6th edition, 2016.

That is 100% subject to change! So check back with NCEES on their requirements, and if you need a copy of the HCM 7^th edition now look for the eBook version, but expect us to have it in print (if that is your preference) by “this summer at some point!"
 

Ken Winter
(434) 962-8979
VDOT Research Library