What is Occupancy?

Occupancy is the ratio of vehicles to the distance betwen the vehicles on the highway per lane usually represented as a percentage.

Here are some examples:

A line of vehicles touching bumper to bumper would represent 100% occupancy.

Vehicles separated equally by a single vehicle space would represent 50% occupancy.

No vehicles at all would represent 0% occupancy.

As lane occupancy exceeds 20 percent, travel speeds on the highway begin to decrease.

Typically, the following occupancy ranges can be used to help predict highway congestions level:

0 to 20 percent = Uncongested

20 to 30 percent = Unstable (impending congestion)

30 to 100 perccent = Congested