CEE 301

Highway Engineering

Lecture 11

Traffic Flow Characteristics

Dr. Waqas Rafiq
COMSATS University Islamabad, Wah Campus
Traffic Streams
 Traffic streams are made up of individual drivers, vehicles
and physical elements of the roadway/ environment
 Both driver behavior and vehicle characteristics vary,
individual vehicles within the traffic stream do not behave
in exactly the same manner
 No two traffic streams will behave in exactly the same way,
even in similar circumstances, because driver behavior
varies with local characteristics and driving habits
 Given such variability in traffic streams, the critical
challenge of traffic engineering is to plan and design for a
medium that is not predictable in exact terms
Definitions

 Free flow speed:

 The theoretical speed of traffic, in mi/hr or km/hr, when
density is zero, i.e. when no vehicles are present
 The average speed of vehicles over an urban street segment
w/o signalized intersections, under conditions of low volume
 The average speed of passenger cars over a basic freeway or
multilane highway segment under conditions of low volume
 85th percentile speed:
 Speed at which 85% of the traffic is travelling
 Speed limit is commonly set at or below the ’85th percentile
speed’
 In USA speed limit is typically set 8 to 12 mph (13 to 19
km/h) below the 85th percentile speed
Types of Facilities

Uninterrupted flow
 Freeways
 Multilane highways
 Two-lane highways
Types of Facilities
Interrupted flow
 Signalized streets
 Un-signalized streets with stop signs
 Transit/ BRT lanes
 Pedestrian walkways
Traffic Measurements

 Running Time: The portion of the travel time during

which a vehicle is in motion
 Running Speed: The distance a vehicle travels
divided by running time, in mi/hr

 Spacing: The distance, in m (or in ft), between two

successive vehicles in a traffic lane, measured from the
same common feature of the vehicles (e.g. rear or front
end/ bumper)
Microscopic Characteristics
Headway :
 Time, in seconds (or in minutes), between two
successive vehicles as they pass a point on the
roadway, measured from the same common feature of
both vehicles (e.g. the front axle or front bumper)

 Time, usually expressed in minutes, between the

passing of the front ends of successive vehicles/ transit
units (moving along the same lane in the same
direction.
Microscopic Characteristics

 Time headway h = time measured at a spot between

two consecutive vehicle passages
 Space headway s = distance between two consecutive
vehicles at an instant
 Speed U = instantaneous speed of a vehicle at a spot
and at an instant (also called the spot speed)
Microscopic Characteristics
Microscopic Characteristics
Recap

 Speed (u) – ft/sec or mph

 Flow (q) – veh/sec or vph
 Density (k) – veh/ft or vpm
 Spacing (s) – ft/veh
 Headway (h) – sec/veh
 Clearance (c) – ft/veh
 Gap (g) – sec/veh
Microscopic Characteristics
Headway and Flow
 Headway and Flow relationship

Where
q=Flow of Rate, veh/hr/ln
ha = Average Headway in the lane, sec
Macroscopic Characteristics -Volume
 N = number of vehicles counted at a spot during T
seconds
 q = N/T, flow rate or volume (veh/s)
 q = 3600N/T (veh/h)

 Average time headway h = T/N (s), 1/h = N/T

Spacing and Density

 Relationship between Spacing and Density

Macroscopic Characteristics -Density

 N = number of vehicles counted instantaneously along

segment of L feet
 k = N/L, traffic density (veh/ft)
 k = 5280N/L (veh/mi)
 Average space headway s = L/N (ft), 1/ s = N/L
Macroscopic Characteristics -Density
Fundamental Relationship
 Assumption: all vehicles maintain same speed
Fundamental Relationship
 q = u . k (veh/hr) = (veh/mi) . (mi/hr)
 h=1/q
(sec/veh) = 1 / (veh/hr) . (3600)
 s=1/k
(ft/veh) = 1 / (veh/mi) . (5280)
Macroscopic Characteristics –Mean Speed
 Time mean speed: The arithmetic average of
individual vehicle speeds passing a point on a roadway
or lane, in mi/hr or km/hr
 Space mean speed:
 The harmonic mean of speeds over a length of roadway
Harmonic mean (sometimes called the sub-contrary
mean) is one of several kinds of average. Typically, it is
appropriate for situations when the average of rates is
desired.
 An average speed based on the average travel time of
vehicles to traverse a segment of roadway, in mi/hr or
km/hr
Macroscopic Characteristics - Mean Speeds

Time-mean speed Ut
Average value of speeds
of vehicles passing a
spot during some period
of time (mi/h)

Space-mean speed Us
Average value of
speeds of vehicles
along a road at some
instant (mi/h)
Macroscopic Characteristics - Mean Speeds

 Time Mean Speed

 Arithmetic mean of all instantaneous vehicle speeds at
a given “spot” on a roadway section
Macroscopic Characteristics - Mean Speeds

 Space Mean Speed

 Average speed of all vehicles occupying a given
section of highway or lane over some specified time
period
Exercise
 Calculate TMS & SMS, Is the space-mean speed equal to the
time-mean speed?
Space Mean Speed vs. Time mean
Speed
 SMS weighs slower vehicles more heavily, based on the
amount of time they occupy a highway section. Thus SMS is
usually lower than the corresponding TMS, in which each
vehicle is weighed equally
 The two speed measures (TMS & SMS) may conceivably be
equal if all the vehicles in the section are traveling at exactly
the same speed.