Soil Mechanics Laboratory

Department of Civil Engineering – Faculty of Engineering

University of Indonesia

NAME : Fadhil M Irfan 1706020490

Naufal Ariq 1706064183
GROUP : 7
DATE OF EXPERIMENT : Tuesday, 23 April 2019
NAME OF EXPERIMENT : Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual)
ASSISTANT : Nastia Widodo
INITIAL AND GRADE :

I. INTRODUCTION
A. Experiment Objectives
Determine the Peak Hour Factor (PHF) based on Highway
Capacity Manual 2010

B. Equipment and Materials

1. Counter
2. Survey Form
3. Stopwatch
4. Stationary
5. Measuring Tape

II. GENERAL PROCEDURE

A. Testing Procedures
1. Determine the location of the survey and determine the spot
to count the upcoming vehicles
2. Stay in such a good position so that we can see the upcoming
vehicles clearly
3. Count or record every passing vehicle based on vehicles
classification (motorcycle, passenger car, heavy vehicles)
4. Do the counting process until the specified duration (15 or 30
minutes)

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Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual)
 Soil Mechanics Laboratory
Department of Civil Engineering – Faculty of Engineering
University of Indonesia

III. DATA COMPUTATIONS

A. Data Results
Table 1. Data Observation from Vokasi to FE
LV HV MC UM
Time Time
Passenger Car Big Buses Truck (2 as) Truck (3 as) Motorcycle Unmotorized

48 1 0 0 120 0
13.00 13.15 32 2 0 0 116 0
30 1 0 0 124 0
35 0 0 0 100 0
13.15 13.30 28 1 0 0 105 0
27 2 0 0 104 0
30 2 0 0 97 4
13.30 13.45 20 2 0 0 105 1
24 1 0 0 97 0
14 0 0 0 75 0
13.45 14.00 16 0 0 0 104 0
20 1 0 0 68 0
14 3 0 0 70 0
14.00 14.15 6 0 0 0 42 0
12 1 0 0 42 0
19 1 0 0 81 1
14.15 14.30 11 1 0 0 82 0
20 0 0 0 94 1
16 2 0 0 112 0
14.30 14.45 21 1 0 0 102 0
13 1 0 0 96 2
15 1 0 0 98 0
14.45 15.00 12 0 0 0 82 1
20 2 0 0 105 0

B. Data Calculations
1. Calculate the volume of the vehicle over 15 minutes
𝑄 = 𝑄𝐿𝑉 + (𝑄𝐻𝑉 𝑥 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝐻𝑉) + (𝑄𝑀𝐶 𝑥 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑀𝐶)
• pce: equivalent to passenger car
• pcelv = 1
• pcehv = 1,5
• pcemc = 0,33
2. Calculate the volume of the vehicle over 1 hour

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Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual)
 Soil Mechanics Laboratory
Department of Civil Engineering – Faculty of Engineering
University of Indonesia

Table 2. Traffic flow

LV HV MC UM Q
Time Time Passenger Big Truck (2 Truck (3 Q 15 Q1
Motorcycle Unmotorized
Car Buses as) as) min hour
48 1 0 0 120 0
13.00 13.15 32 2 0 0 116 0 234,8
30 1 0 0 124 0
35 0 0 0 100 0
13.15 13.30 28 1 0 0 105 0 196,47 _
27 2 0 0 104 0
30 2 0 0 97 4
13.30 13.45 20 2 0 0 105 1 180,17
24 1 0 0 97 0
14 0 0 0 75 0
13.45 14.00 16 0 0 0 104 0 133,01 744,45
20 1 0 0 68 0
14 3 0 0 70 0
14.00 14.15 6 0 0 0 42 0 88,82 598,47
12 1 0 0 42 0
19 1 0 0 81 1
14.15 14.30 11 1 0 0 82 0 137,81 539,81
20 0 0 0 94 1
16 2 0 0 112 0
14.30 14.45 21 1 0 0 102 0 158,3 517,94
13 1 0 0 96 2
15 1 0 0 98 0
14.45 15.00 12 0 0 0 82 1 145,55 530,48
20 2 0 0 105 0

3. Calculate the Peak Hour Factor (PHF)

𝑄1 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟
𝑃𝐻𝐹 =
4 × 𝑄15 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑥
Table 3. To count PHF
Time Time Q
Q 15 Q1 PHF
min hour
13.00 13.15 234,8
13.15 13.30 196,47 _ _
13.30 13.45 180,17
13.45 14.00 133,01 744,45 0,79
14.00 14.15 88,82 598,47 0,76
14.15 14.30 137,81 539,81 0,75
14.30 14.45 158,3 517,94 0,82
14.45 15.00 145,55 530,48 0,84

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Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual)
 Soil Mechanics Laboratory
Department of Civil Engineering – Faculty of Engineering
University of Indonesia

Table 4. Value of PHF

Time PHF
13.00 - 14.00 0,79
13.15 - 14.15 0,76
13.30 - 14.30 0,75
13.45 - 14.45 0,82
14.00 - 15.00 0,84

Traffic Volume
250
Vehicle per 15 minutes

200

150

100

50

Figure 1. Graph of Flow vs Time in 15 minutes

Graph of PHF vs Time

0,86
0,84
0,82
0,80
PHF

0,78
0,76
0,74
0,72
0,70
13.00 - 14.00 13.15 - 14.15 13.30 - 14.30 13.45 - 14.45 14.00 - 15.00

Figure 2. Graph of PHF vs Time

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Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual)
 Soil Mechanics Laboratory
Department of Civil Engineering – Faculty of Engineering
University of Indonesia

IV. ANALYSIS
A. Experimental Analysis
The experiment was conducted on Bus Stop of Faculty of
Engineering at Tuesday, 23 April 2019. The title of the
experiment is “Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual),”
which the goal is to determine the Peak Hour Factor (PHF) of
particular road segment based on Highway Capacity Manual
2010. However, due to place constraint we cannot use highway
specification, and so we use Faculty of engineering Bus Stop that
comes from “Vokasi” to “FE” for our specimen. Moreover, the
data gathered were divided into several major category: Light
Vehicle (LV), Heavy Vehicle (HV), Motorcycle (MC), and
Unmotorized (UM). For HV, it was breakdown into three minor
categories: Big Buses, Truck (2 as), and Truck (3 as).
From the above category, we counted the number of
vehicles within 15 minutes. Starting from 15.20 until 15.35 where
the data observed was breakdown into 5 minutes. This was done
using counter to make the process of observing the vehicles
easier.
B. Data and Results Analysis
The data that was observed was then processed. Here, we
were given additional data so that we could get a data within the
interval of two hours, starting from 13.00 to 15.00. In which, we
need to get the traffic flow within each 15 minutes (Q 15 min).
We could do this by multiplying each vehicle with its pce and
sum it all up. Equivalent to passenger cars or pce is a multiplying
factor that compare other vehicle types with light vehicle or
passenger car. Then we process the traffic flow within 15 minutes
so that we could get the value of traffic flow within 1 hour (Q 1
hour) buy summing each “Q 15 minutes” until it reaches “Q 1
hour.” From the value of “Q 15 minutes” and “Q 1 hour” we
could say that the time within 13.00 to 13.15 and 13.00 to 14.00

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Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual)
 Soil Mechanics Laboratory
Department of Civil Engineering – Faculty of Engineering
University of Indonesia

has the highest value of traffic flow than the other time frame.
This was illustrated by Figure.1 where the early hour of the
observation has the highest value of “Q in 15 minutes,” where
this occur during 13.00 to 13.15 this is because the number of
vehicles that pass the observed area is at its highest. This could
happen because the behaviour of the road users, where at the time
of the survey, an event near the Bus Stop of Faculty of
Engineering is occurring. Moreover, the maximum traffic flow
could occur on that time because lunch break for student and staff
of the universities has ended, therefore, road users are more
frequent in travelling from one faculty to another faculty.
When we have got the Q value for 15 minutes and 1 hour,
we move to the next step. Which is to find the value of Peak Hour
Factor (PHF). PHF represents the traffic flow within an hour time
frame. This was done by having the “Q in hour” divided by 4
times the “maximum Q in 15 minutes.” Therefore, the PHF value
of the road: 0.79, 0.76, 0.75, 0.82, and 0.84. Those value was then
illustrated by figure 2. We could say that the highest PHF value
comes from the hour of 14.00 to 15.00 with 0.84 as its PHF. Our
result has low value of PHF where it means that the traffic volume
within 15 minutes moves fluctuate.

C. Error Analysis
From this experiment we could defined some potential errors that
could occur, that may disrupt our observation data:
• The number of surveyors is less than the category that was
surveyed. So, errors could occur during counting each
vehicle on each category.
• To set up the counter back to zero from the previous
observation does require time, and it may result in some
time losses during observation.

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Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual)
 Soil Mechanics Laboratory
Department of Civil Engineering – Faculty of Engineering
University of Indonesia

V. SUMMARY
• The experiment has successfully determined the value of Peak
Hour Factor (PHF) on Faculty of Engineering Bus Stop that goes
from “Vokasi” to “FE.”
• Equivalent to passenger cars or pce is a multiplying factor that
compare other vehicle types with light vehicle or passenger car.
• The value of PHF on our surveyed road segment: 0.79, 0.76, 0.75,
0.82, and 0.84.
• The greatest PHF value is 0.84 where it comes from the hour of
14.00 to 15.00. Where it means that the surveyed road is in lower
volume condition.
• The highest volume condition within 15 minutes comes from
13.00 to 13.15 with the value of 234,8 pcph. This is because the
number of vehicles that pass through the observed road is at its
highest.
VI. REFERENCES
Transportation Research Board. 2010. Highway Capacity Manual
Volume 2: Uninterrupted Flow. TRB. Washington DC
Transport Research Laboratory. (2018). Guidelines for Transportation
Engineering Survey. Depok.

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Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual)
 Soil Mechanics Laboratory
Department of Civil Engineering – Faculty of Engineering
University of Indonesia

VII. APPENDIX

Figure 3. Observing the Number of

Vehicles Passing using a Counter
Source: Author’s Documentation

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Traffic Counting (Highway Capacity Manual)