A 15 hour count was done from 6am to 9pm for three days Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

An observer counted the numbers of vehicles along with its type, passing through the section for
a definite time interval. For light volumes, tally marks on a form was adequate. The following is
a sample of the table that was used to record the volumetric data.
Table 1 : Volumetric data collected.

FROM

TO

(Time)

(Time)

HCV

LCV

CAR

3W

2W

Passenger Car Unit (PCU) is a metric used in Transportation Engineering, to assess traffic-flow
rate on a highway. A Passenger Car Unit is a measure of the impact that a mode of transport has
on traffic variables (such as headway, speed, density) compared to a single standard passenger
car. This is also known as passenger car equivalent. (Highway Capacity Manual, 2000)
For example, typical values of PCU (or PCE) are:

Table 2; Values of pcu

Car

1.0

Motorcycle

0.5

Bicycle

0.2

LCV

2.2

Bus, Truck

3.5

3-wheeler

0.8

The solution of was tabulated as follows;

Table 3: Solution to the problem

FROM (Time)

TO(Time)

FLOW IN PCU

The first step in this solution was to find the total traffic volume for each 15 minute period in
terms of passenger car units. For this purpose the PCU values given in the above table was used.
The hour with the highest volume was located and the 15 minute interval with the highest
volume.
The peak hour volume is just the sum of the volumes of the four 15 minute intervals within the
peak hour. The peak hour factor (PHF) was found by dividing the peak hour volume by four
times the peak 15 minute volume.

P.H.F=

V
4 V 15

Where PHF= Peak hour Factor

V=Hourly volume (veh/hr)
V15=Volume during the peak 15 min of the peak hour (veh/15 mins)

The actual (design) flow rate was calculated by dividing the peak hour volume by the PHF,

BUDGETING
Table 4: Proposed Project Budget

ITEM

QUANTITY AND

TOTAL (KSHS.)

Questionnaires
Pens
Tables for recording

UNIT COST
300x2
20x10
200x2

600
200
400

observations
Stopwatches
Hiring observation

300x5

vehicle
Hardcopy reports
500x2
Travelling
Field Participants
300x10
Internet and Computer services
Tape measure
1x300
Reflector jackets
250 x 5
Total

1500
3000
1000
1,500
3,000
1,000
300
1,250
13,750

WORK SCHEDULE
The projects work-time frame will be as follows:
Table 5: Proposed Work Schedule
TIME
ACTIVITY
Submission Of
proposal
Approval of
research proposal
Sourcing for funds
Preparation of
writing materials
and sourcing of
required material
resources
Selection of
traffic study
sections
Data collection
(Traffic volume &
Speed counts)
Data collection
(Interviewing and
administering
questionnaires)
Transcribe oral
interviews
Finalize
organizational
samples
Data cleaning
Data analysis
Write up findings
Research findings
dissemination

NOVEMBE
R

DECEMBER

JANUARY

FEBRUAR
Y

MARCH

APRIL