INTRODUCTION TO TRANSPORTATION

ENGINEERING

TOPIC: TRAFFIC ENGINEERING STUDIES

Lecturer: Dr. Albert Forde
 INTRODUCTION
Characterizing and optimizing the operation, safety performance, and
condition of transportation assets/facilities relies on accurate data.
Traffic engineering studies are used to obtain relevant empirical data,
and that data must be collected in an unbiased, objective manner to
result in appropriate decisions for improvements.
 A study can be performed to explore a specific aspect or problem,
which leads to a clear study definition, experimental design, data
reduction, and data analysis.
 Alternatively, a study might be conducted at regular intervals to
monitor system performance.
 INTRODUCTION
 Data collection for traffic studies can also be performed without
gathering data in the field.
 Extracting information from existing systems or by modeling the
transportation system in a traffic analysis and simulation tools.
Examples of traffic analysis and simulation tools are
 VISSIM
 SYNCHRO/SIM TRAFFIC
 CORSIM
 HIGHWAY CAPACITY SOFTWARE
 CUBE
 ASSIGNMENT 2(Due 27th July,2022)

Write a detailed description on the traffic analysis and

simulation tools in the previous slide.
 TRAFFIC ENGINEERING STUDY PROCEDURES
Volume Studies

Speed Studies

Intersection Studies

Safety Studies
 VOLUME STUDIES
 Engineers often use counts of the number of vehicles, bicycles,
or pedestrians to perform traffic analyses.
 Counts are usually samples of actual volumes, although
continuous counting is increasingly performed for certain situations
or circumstance.
 The counting period selected for a given location depends on
the planned use of the data and the methods available or collecting
the data.
 The count period should be a representative of the time of the
day, day of the week, or month of year that is of interest in the
study.
 VOLUME STUDIES
 Count periods may range from an hour to a year. Manual
counts are usually for periods less than 1 day.
 Typical count periods for turning movements, sample counts,
vehicle classifications, pedestrians, and bicycles include:
• Peak period(2 hours);
• Morning and afternoon peak periods(4 hours)
• Morning, midday, and afternoon peak periods( 6 hours)
• Daytime(12hours).
 VOLUME STUDIES
Count intervals are typically 5 or 15 minutes. For capacity analysis
purposes, 15-miunte count intervals are adequate. The two basic
methods of counting traffic are:
o Manual Observation
o Automatic Counts
Manual Observation: Manual observations are defined as any
count where individual vehicles or subjective (pedestrian, bicycle)
are tallied by an analyst either during field observation or from
video recordings.
 Manual Observation
In manual-count data collection, the analyst manually tallies each
vehicle or subject as it proceeds through the intersection or point of
interest.
The main objective of manual count is that it typically minimizes
equipment cost and setup time. An analyst can quickly be trained to
perform a manual count in the field or from video.
However, manual count counts tend to become inefficient as the
temporal duration of the count increases(due to the quantify of staff
hours required and fatique of data collector).
Practical applications often require less than 10 hours of data
collection. The simplest approach for conducting manual counts is to
record each observed vehicle with a tick mark on a prepared field form.
 Manual Observation
 Photo Left(Traffic enumerators recording vehicular and pedestrian
movements at critical intersection in Freetown)
 Photo Right(Traffic enumerators counting vehicles along the ELWA
Junction –RIA Highway in Liberia
Manual Observation
Manual Observation
 Automatic Count
 Automatic counts utilize automated technology to perform the
count.
 Many applications require counts that are collected for extended
periods of time(days, weeks , or even months).
 The use of observers for such purposes would be cost-prohibitive.
 Automatic counting provides the means of gathering large
amounts of volume data at a reasonable expenditure of time and
resources.
 Modern technologies for automatic counts can principally be
divided into:
 on-road technology
 roadside technology.
 Automatic Count
 On-road technology includes pneumatic tubes, piezoelectric strips,
and various forms of magnetic inductance technology.
 Roadside technology can also be combined with in-vehicle
technology, which typically takes the form of electronic toll
transponders or wireless communication devices that can
accommodate with roadside readers.
 Both on-road and roadside technologies typically consist of two
basic components:
Data recorder
sensors to detect the presence of vehicles and/or pedestrians.
 ASSIGNMENT 3(Due July 27, 2022)

Write a brief summary on the on-road and roadside

technologies discussed . Include photos.
 DURATION OF VOLUME COUNTS
 Average Daily Traffic (ADT): The average of daily volumes over
two or more days, but less than a year.
 Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT): The average of ADT
volumes for an entire year. A true AADT count requires measuring the
daily volume for a full year. Representative AADT counts are typically
determined by applying daily and seasonal adjustment factors to ADT
counts.
 Average Weekday Daily Traffic (AWDT or AWT): The total traffic
volume for an average weekday.
 Average Weekend Daily Traffic(AWET): The total traffic volume
for an average weekend day(Saturday or Sunday).
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
 Often, the traffic volume at a given location may be available in
only one particular form.
 Traffic survey is very important and essential for traffic engineers
to achieve safe and efficient transportation of people and goods in
both urban and rural areas.
 Many developing countries, especially in West Africa lack enough,
reliable and continuous traffic data.
 Therefore, traffic engineers in these countries usually rely on short-
term traffic counts and estimations.
 Traffic flow usually varies from hour to hour, from day to day and
from season to season.
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
 This characteristic of traffic flow implies that traffic engineers
should deal carefully and wisely with traffic flow information.
 It is simply not acceptable to estimate the traffic flow on one day
(24 hours) by counting flow in one hour of that day and multiplying its
value by 24.
 Traffic flow usually varies from hour to hour, from day to day and
from season to season.
 This characteristic of traffic flow implies that traffic engineers
should deal carefully and wisely with traffic flow information.
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
 An estimate of the peak hour volume can be calculated by
multiplying the AADT by a factor that varies from 7 -12%, which
represents the typical percentage of daily traffic that occurs in the peak
hour.
 This relationship is called the “K” factor, and is defined as follows:

𝑫𝑯𝑽
𝑲=
𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑻
Where
𝑫𝑯𝑽 = design hour volume, which is the highest hourly during the year.
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
The DHV volume will be selected as a compromise because designing
for too high traffic volume could be wasteful, while designing for too
low traffic volume could lead to poor performance of the proposed
signalized intersections.
Peak Hour Factor(PHF)
• Another measure of traffic volume variability is the peak hour factor. It
provides an indication of the consistency of the 15-minute flow rates
during the peak hour.
• If all four of the 15-minute volumes within the peak hour are exactly
the same, the PHF equals 1.00.
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
 When a roadway operates at capacity through the entire peak
hour, the PHF is often close to 1.0.
 If all of the peak hour volume occurs during one of the four 15-
minute intervals, the PHF equals 0.25.

𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆

𝑷𝑯𝑭 =
𝟒 × 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝟏𝟓 − 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
• Table below shows 15-minute volume counts during the peak hour on
an approach of an intersection.
• Determine the PHF and the design hourly volume of the approach.
Time Volume
6:00 - 6:15 pm 375
6:15 - 6:30 pm 380
6:30 - 6:45 pm 412
6:45 - 7:00 pm 390

Solution
Total volume during peak hour = 375+380+412+390= 1557 vph
Volume during peak 15 min= 412
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS

𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓

Peak Hour Factor=
𝟒 ×𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝟏𝟓 𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓

𝟏𝟓𝟓𝟕
= = 0.945
𝟒×𝟒𝟏𝟐
Obtain design hourly volume

𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝟏𝟓𝟓𝟕

DHV = = = 1648 vph
𝑷𝑯𝑭 𝟎.𝟗𝟒𝟓
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
Adjustment values can also be used to convert a daily traffic volume to
an AADT using the following formula.

𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑻 = 𝑽𝟐𝟒𝒊𝒋 × 𝑫𝑭𝒊 × 𝑴𝑭𝒋

Where
𝑽𝟐𝟒𝒊𝒋 = 24-hour volume for day 𝑖 in month 𝑗
𝑫𝑭𝒊 = Daily adjustment factor for day 𝑖
𝑴𝑭𝒋 = monthly adjustment factor for month 𝑗
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
 It is common that in less developed cities, traffic flow counts of
durations shorter than 24 hours are required in many situations
to be expanded to 24-hour volumes.
 This is also necessary when estimations of the ADT or AADT are
needed quickly or when the available budget is very limited.
 In order to work out such expansion of traffic counts, hourly
expansion factors are used.
 These factors can be determined using data obtained at
continuous count stations. Hourly expansion factors (HEFs) are
determined by the formula.
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟐𝟒−𝐡𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝
HEF =
𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫
• The HEFs are used to expand traffic counts of durations shorter than
24 hours to 24-hour volumes by multiplying the hourly volume for
each hour during the short count period by the HEF for that hour and
finding the mean of these products.
• It is also possible to expand traffic volumes collected on a particular
day of the week in order to get estimates of the average flow per day
in that week.
• For this purpose, Daily Expansion Factors (DEFs) are computed. DEF is
determined by the formula
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS
𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤
DEF=
𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲
• The DEFs are used to determine the total traffic volume per week from
counts of 24-hour duration by multiplying the 24-hour volume by the
DEF.
• The result is then divided by 7 in order to determine an estimate of the
average flow per day (ADT) in that week.
• Moreover, estimates of the Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) can
be computed using Monthly Expansion Factors (MEFs), which are
computed as follows:
 TRAFFIC VOLUME ADJUSTMENT FACTORS

𝐀𝐀𝐃𝐓
MEF =
𝐀𝐃𝐓 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡

Therefore, given the ADT value for a particular month in a given year;
the AADT for this year may be obtained by multiplying this ADT by the
MEF.
 Example 1
A traffic engineer urgently needs to determine the AADT on a
rural primary road that has the volume distribution
characteristics shown in Tables 1, 2, and 3. She collected the
data shown below on a Tuesday during the month of May.
Determine the AADT of the road.

Period Volume(vph)
7:00 - 8:00 a.m. 400
8:00 - 9:00 am 535
9:00 - 10:00 a.m. 650
10:00 - 11:00 am 710
11:00 - 12:00 noon 650
Example 1

Monthly Expansion Factors for a Rural Primary Road

Month ADT MEF
January 1350 1.756
February 1200 1.975
March 1450 1.635
April 1600 1.481
May 1700 1.394
June 2500 0.948
July 4100 0.578
August 4550 0.521
September 3750 0.632
October 2500 0.948
November 2000 1.185
December 1750 1.354
Total yearly volume =28,450
Mean average daily volume = 2370
 Solution

Estimate the 24-hr volume for Tuesday using the factors given in table
of hourly expansion factors volumes
400 ×29.0 + 535 ×22.05 + 650×18.80 +(710×17.)+(650×18.52)
=11,959
vehs
5
Adjust the 24-hr volume for Tuesday to an average volume for the
week using the table for weekly expansion factors
• Total 7-Day volume = 11,959 × 7.727 = 92,407 vehs
92,407
• Average 24-hr volume = = 13,201 vehs
𝟕
Since the data were collected in May, use monthly expansion factor
for May to obtain AADT
• AADT = 13,201 × 1.394 = 18,402 vehs
 SPEED STUDIES
 Speed is a fundamental measure of traffic performance for use in
operation, design and safety.
 Thus, spot speed data have a number of applications, functioning
to determine traffic operation and control parameters.
 Establish highway design elements, analyze highway capacity,
assess highway safety, monitor speed trends, and measure
effectiveness of controls or programs.
 Spot speed studies are designed to measure speeds at specific
locations under prevailing traffic and environmental conditions at the
time of the study.
 SPEED STUDIES
 There are two principal approaches to collecting vehicle speeds at
spot locations. The first approach is the indivual vehicle selection
method
 Where a subset of vehicles in the traffic stream is sampled using
predominately manual speed measurement techniques.
 Alternatively, the all-vehicle sampling method records almost all
vehicle speeds using automated on-road or roadside measurement
equipment.
 Whereas the first method is targeted to short-term speed
measurements, the second one is appropriate for system performance,
monitoring systems that rely on continuous estimation.
 SPEED STUDIES
There are two types of average speed measures that express the rate
of movement or speed of a vehicle.

 Time-Mean Speed(TMS)

 Space-Mean Speed(SMS)
 Time-Mean Speed(TMS)
This refers to the basic arithmetic mean of speed collected as a spot
location.
 It is calculated by summing the speeds of all individual vehicles
crossing over a point and dividing by the number of observations.
 It is the measure of speed that is collected by an observer with a
speed gun at the side of the road and is the most common type of
speed measurement used in practice.
 This measure is appropriate to sample approach speeds to a
signalized intersection, measure the speeds in a horizontal curve, or to
quantify the effect of a traffic-calming treatment on vehicle speeds at
that location . The TMS is expressed as follows:
𝒏
𝒊=𝟏 𝒖𝒊
𝒖𝒕 =
𝒏
 Time-Mean Speed(TMS)
Where
𝒖𝒕 = time-mean speed in unit distance per unit time,
𝒖𝒊 = spot speed( the speed of the vehicle at the designated
point on the highway, as might be obtained using a radar gun) of
the 𝑖 𝑡ℎ vehicle
𝒏 = number of measured vehicle spot speeds.
 Space-Mean Speed(SMS)
 Is the average speed of all vehicles occupying a segment and is
defined as the total distance traveled over the total travel time for
all vehicles.
 It is the speed measure used in traffic flow theory speed-flow
density relationships.
 The SMS is expressed as follows:

𝑙
𝑢𝑠 =
𝑡𝑎𝑣𝑔
 Space-Mean Speed(SMS)
Where
𝒖𝒔 = space-mean speed in unit distance per unit time,
𝒍 = length of roadway used for travel time measurement of
vehicles,
𝒕𝒂𝒗𝒈 = average vehicle travel defined as follows
𝒏
𝒊=𝟏 𝒕𝒊
𝒕𝒂𝒗𝒈 =
𝒏
𝒕𝒊 = time necessary for vehicle 𝑖 to travel a roadway section of length 𝑙 ,
𝒏 = number of measured vehicle travel times
 Example 2
The speeds of five vehicles were measured (with radar) at the
midpoint of a 0.8 –kilometer section of roadway. The speeds
for vehicles 1,2,3,4, and 5, were 71,68,82,79, and 74 km/h,
respectively. Assuming all vehicles were traveling at constant
speed over this roadway section, calculate the time-mean and
space-mean speeds.
 solution
For time-mean speed,
𝒏
𝒊=𝟏 𝒖𝒊
𝒖𝒕 =
𝒏
𝟕𝟏 + 𝟔𝟖 + 𝟖𝟐 + 𝟕𝟗 + 𝟕𝟒
=
𝟓

= 𝟕𝟒. 𝟖 𝒌𝒎/𝒉
 Solution
For Space-mean speed:
𝒍
𝒖𝒔 =
𝒕𝒂𝒗𝒈
Where
𝒏
𝒊=𝟏 𝒕𝒊
𝒕𝒂𝒗𝒈 =
𝒏
𝟏 𝟎.𝟖 𝟎.𝟖 𝟎.𝟖 𝟎.𝟖 𝟎.𝟖
𝒕𝒂𝒗𝒈 = + + + + = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟏𝟎𝟕𝟒𝟓 𝒉𝒓
𝟓 𝟕𝟏 𝟔𝟖 𝟖𝟐 𝟕𝟗 𝟕𝟒

Therefore,
𝒍 𝟎.𝟖
𝒖𝒔 = = = 𝟕𝟒. 𝟒𝟓 𝒌𝒎/𝒉
𝒕𝒂𝒗𝒈 𝟎.𝟎𝟏𝟎𝟕𝟒𝟓
 INTERSECTION STUDIES
 Intersection studies are among the most common studies in
transportation engineering. They include:
 Delay
 Queue Length
 Saturation Flow
 Lost Time
 Gap and Gap Acceptance
 Intersection Sight Distance
 INTERSECTION STUDIES
Delay :
Intersection delay data have many uses, including the ability to
measure the quality of traffic flow and evaluate the need for traffic
signals.
Analyst can estimate intersection delay with equations or simulation
models.
Queue Length:
 Queue length studies have several important applications. Queue
length data can help determine the necessary length of storage lanes
or can provide a useful measure of traffic signal efficiency.
 Observers count the number of vehicles in a standing or slowly
moving queue at designated time intervals.
 INTERSECTION STUDIES
Saturation Flow Rate:
 Traffic engineers use saturation flow rate to time signals and
estimate intersection capacity.
 Saturation flow rate is defined as the number of vehicles that can
pass a given point on a highway in a given period of time with on
interruptions.
 In intersection studies, analysts focus on the flow past the stop bar
in a lane during an hour of interrupted green signal.
Lost Time :
 Lost time is the unused portion of a signal cycle and is an
important input in traffic signal timing analysis.
 There are two significant components of lost time for each signal
 INTERSECTION STUDIES
Start-up lost
occurs between the time the green signal begins and the queue begins
moving efficiently, and
Clearance lost time
occurs between the time the last vehicle crosses the stop bar and the
signal phase begins.
Gaps
 Gap studies can provide important results about the potential
safety of crossing movements.
 The size of gaps in a traffic stream depends on the traffic volume,
speed on the major approach, grade on the side street (minor
approach), number of lanes to cross, and the median width.
 INTERSECTION STUDIES
 Gap Acceptance
 Gap acceptance studies are more difficult to conduct than gap
studies because this type of study attempts to measure the
acceptable length of a gap to make a conflicting maneuver.
 A gap acceptance study still requires data on the gaps presented in
the major traffic stream.
 Observers must categorize each data point as an accepted lag, a
rejected lag, an untested gap (there was no minor-street vehicle
present), an accepted gap, or a rejected gap.
 The difference between lag and gap critical because drivers react
differently to each of them.
 INTERSECTION STUDIES
 Gap Acceptance
 A lag is the time elapsed between the arrival of a minor-street
vehicle ready to move into the major street and the arrival of
the front bumper of the next vehicle in the major stream.
 A gap is the available time in seconds between two successive
vehicles at the same point in space, measured from the rear
bumper of the leading vehicle to the front bumper of the
following vehicle.
 Intersection Sight Distance
 Appropriate sight distances along intersection approaches are
necessary for safe turning and crossing movements.
 Sight distances are critical to safe intersection operation.
 INTERSECTION STUDIES
 Intersection Sight Distance
 Provision should be made to account for proper intersection sight
distance so that sufficient time to stop is available.
 Sight distance studies are based on primarily vehicle speeds and
distance measurements on the opposing roadway.
 Speeds are usually determined using the speeds of free-flowing
vehicles collected with a speed gun.
 The posted plus 5 mph(or 8 km/h)or the roadway design speed, if
known, could be used.
 INTERSECTION STUDIES
 Safety Studies
 Safety is a relevant component in the job of highway designers
and traffic engineers.
 Guidelines and standards have been developed for good practice
with an emphasis on designing safer roads.
 The collection and analysis of safety data are fundamental to the
design of programs to reduce frequency of crashes/collisions.
 Analysts use safety data to help understand why collisions occur,
to help identify collision-prone , to help in making decision on
which safety programs or countermeasures should be
implemented.