HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING

ECG564
OPEN-ENDED LAB
SEMESTER MAR-AUG 2022

TITLE OF EXPERIMENT : TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDY

DATE OF EXPERIMENT : 12 MAY 2022
GROUP : ECC2206C4A
GROUP MEMBERS 1. NURARINA FARHANA BINTI KAMAL HISHAM (2020854008)
2. SYED MUHAMMAD AMIRUL BIN WAN IBRAHIM (2021505067)
3. HANNA HUMAIRA BINTI MOKHTAR (2021505059)
4.NUR DIANA NADHIRAH BINTI MOHD DIN (2021393433)
5. MUHAMMAD ADAM BIN KHAIRUL ANUAR (2020963481)

LECTURER : DR. MUHAMMAD AKRAM BIN ADNAN

LEVEL OF OPENESS : 2

MARKS COMMENTS
INTRODUCTION
BASIC CONCEPTS
METHODOLOGY 1 2 3 4 5
RESULTS&ANALYSIS 1 2 3 4 5
DISCUSSION 1 2 3 4 5
CONCLUSION 1 2 3 4 5

TOTAL MARKS
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Traffic volume study was introduced in this study to determine the average daily traffic,
vehicle composition as well as traffic flow by implementing a Level 2 degree of openness. The
traffic count was conducted manually which is known as Direct Method Data by using a tally
counter as it eases in obtaining data for both traffic volume and vehicle classification. This
allows the data to be used immediately after collection. The study was carried out at a selected
T-Junction in UiTM Shah Alam which is a single lane two-way road. Six direction flows were
identified and the number of vehicles was determined for each flow for every 5 minutes interval
with a total duration of one hour. Performing traffic volume study provides better means for
traffic efficiency and for improvement and expansion of the road itself such as widening and
relaying roadworks. Hence, providing a better road infrastructure for the society in the area.

2.0 BASIC CONCEPTS

2.1 OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the study is:

1. To determine the vehicle composition in the traffic flow stream

2. To observe the traffic flow trend and movement pattern
3. To estimate hourly volume

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Traffic volume can be defined as the number of vehicles or pedestrians passing

a given point on a lane or carriageway during a specified period of time. Traffic volume
studies are widely known as traffic counts and they are carried out to determine the
basic traffic data such as the number (volumes), classifications and directional
movements of roadway vehicles and pedestrians at a selected location.

The various volume counts taken over different lengths of time is usually
expressed in vehicles per hour (VPH). Other traffic volume characteristics obtained are
average annual daily traffic (AADT), average daily traffic (ADT), peak hour volume
 (PHV), vehicles miles of travel (VMT). The documentation of volume trends, critical
flow time periods and the influence of heavy and slow vehicles of motorcyclists or
pedestrians on overall vehicular traffic flow can be illustrated.

The sampling period depends on the intended use of the data recorded, the
resources available to the counting agency, the nature of the location being studied and
the type of count. Counting can be done from as low as 5 minutes intervals to as much
as a year.

2.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Data on the traffic volume is essential in describing the hourly, daily or yearly
number of vehicles, as well as the vehicle's composition. Capacity analysis for straight
road sections or intersections also rely on the traffic volume information, hence the
traffic volume study needed to be done.

3.0 PROCEDURE

1. The location of study was identified and selected based on the descriptions give by the
Lecturer in charge which was to identify a T-junction.
2. The chosen three points have been determined and the layout of the intersection was
sketched with the description where the number of vehicles were counted and recorded.
The totals of 6 different directions were labelled as A to B, A to C, B to A, B to C, C to
A, and C to B.
3. Pens, stopwatch, Traffic Volume Recording sheet and clipboards were prepared before
starting the study.
 Figure 1: T-Junction Diagram

4. The start time and end time for the study was recorded.
5. The type and number of vehicles were recorded if the only vehicles entered any of six
(6) points of directions by using Traffic Volume Recording Sheet.
6. The data was recorded for 1 hour with 5 minutes of interval continuously by using
stopwatch to determine the vehicle volume at that time.
7. The data collected transferred for proper tabulation, calculation, and documentation.
4.0 RESULTS

Lane 1 (V1)

Table 1.0: Number of vehicles travelling in direction flow V1

Time (min) Private Lorry/Big Big Lorry/ Buses Motorcycle Total
car/small van/4- Van Heavy good Vehicles
wheel vehicles
drive/Utility
vehicle
8.50 am 3 - - - - 3
8.55 am 3 - - - - 3
9.00 am 4 - - - - 4
9.05 am 2 - - - - 2
9.10 am 2 - - - - 2
9.15 am 2 - - - 1 3
9.20 am 6 - - - - 6
9.25 am 2 - - - - 2
9.30 am 5 - - - - 5
9.35 am 4 - - - - 4
9.40 am 3 - - - - 3
9.45 am 8 - - - - 8
 Lane 1 (V2)

Table 2.0: Number of vehicles travelling in direction flow V2

Time (min) Private Lorry/Big Big Lorry/ Buses Motorcycle Total

car/small van/4- Van Heavy good Vehicles
wheel vehicles
drive/Utility
vehicle
8.50 am 4 - - - - 4
8.55 am 2 - - - - 2
9.00 am 1 - - - - 1
9.05 am - - - - - -
9.10 am - - - - - -
9.15 am 1 - - - - 1
9.20 am 1 - - - - 1
9.25 am 1 - - - - 1
9.30 am - - - - - -
9.35 am - - - - - -
9.40 am - - - - - -
9.45 am - - - - - -
 Lane 2 (V3)

Table 3.0: Number of vehicles travelling in direction flow V3

Time (min) Private Lorry/Big Big Lorry/ Buses Motorcycle Total

car/small van/4- Van Heavy good Vehicles
wheel vehicles
drive/Utility
vehicle
8.50 am 11 - - - 7 18
8.55 am 14 - - - 8 22
9.00 am 13 1 - - 2 16
9.05 am 13 1 - - 7 21
9.10 am 14 - - - - 14
9.15 am 4 - - - 1 5
9.20 am 16 - - - 4 20
9.25 am 14 - - - 9 23
9.30 am 7 1 - - 2 10
9.35 am 11 - - - 5 16
9.40 am 13 - - - 7 20
9.45 am 11 - - - 7 18
 Lane 2 (V4)

Table 4.0: Number of vehicles travelling in direction flow V4

Time (min) Private Lorry/Big Big Lorry/ Buses Motorcycle Total

car/small van/4- Van Heavy good Vehicles
wheel vehicles
drive/Utility
vehicle
8.50 am 2 - - - - 2
8.55 am 6 - - - - 6
9.00 am 2 - - - - 2
9.05 am 1 - - - - 1
9.10 am 5 - - - - 5
9.15 am 1 - - - - 1
9.20 am 1 - - - - 1
9.25 am 1 - - - - 1
9.30 am - - - - - -
9.35 am 4 - - - - 4
9.40 am 7 - - - - 7
9.45 am 4 - - - - 4
 Lane 3 (V5)

Table 5.0: Number of vehicles travelling in direction flow V5

Time (min) Private Lorry/Big Big Lorry/ Buses Motorcycle Total

car/small van/4- Van Heavy good Vehicles
wheel vehicles
drive/Utility
vehicle
8.50 am 1 - - - - 1
8.55 am - - - - - -
9.00 am - - - - - -
9.05 am 1 - - - - 1
9.10 am 1 - - - - 1
9.15 am - - - - 2 2
9.20 am - - - - - -
9.25 am - - - - - -
9.30 am 2 - - - - 2
9.35 am 2 - - - - 2
9.40 am - - - - - -
9.45 am 5 - - - - 5
 Lane 3 (V6)

Table 6.0: Number of vehicles travelling in direction flow V6

Time (min) Private Lorry/Big Big Lorry/ Buses Motorcycle Total

car/small van/4- Van Heavy good Vehicles
wheel vehicles
drive/Utility
vehicle
8.50 am 13 - - 1 4 18
8.55 am 9 - - 1 5 15
9.00 am 7 - - 3 2 12
9.05 am 9 - - - 4 13
9.10 am 10 - - 4 2 16
9.15 am 4 - - 1 3 8
9.20 am 5 - - - 1 6
9.25 am 5 - - 2 2 9
9.30 am 5 - - 1 4 10
9.35 am 9 - - 2 3 14
9.40 am 7 - - 1 2 10
9.45 am 19 - - 2 10 21
5.0 DATA ANALYSIS

Table 7.0: Conversion Factors to PCU

Equivalent Value in p.c.u’s

Types of vehicles Rural Standards Urban Standards Rough About Traffic Signal
Design Design
Passenger Cars 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Motorcycle 1.00 0.75 0.75 0.33
Light Vans 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00
Medium Lorries 2.50 2.50 2.80 1.75
Heavy Lorries 3.00 3.00 2.80 2.25
Buses 3.00 3.00 2.80 2.25
(Source: The Road Engineering Association of Malaysia, Arahan Teknik (Jalan) 8/86 A Guide on
Geometric Design of Roads)

Table 8.0: Total vehicles by direction and types of vehicles

Direction 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL
Type of VEHICLES
vehicle
Private car & 44 10 141 34 12 102 343
taxi
Small good 0 0 3 0 0 0 3
vehicle & van
Medium good 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
vehicle &
lorries
Heavy good 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
vehicle
Buses 0 0 0 0 0 18 18
Motorcycle 1 0 59 0 2 42 104
TOTAL 45 10 203 34 14 162 468

Table 9.0: Total vehicles by direction and times

Time Vehicles Total

(min) D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6
5 3 4 18 2 1 18 46
10 3 2 22 6 - 15 48
15 4 1 16 2 - 12 35
20 2 - 21 1 1 13 38
25 2 - 14 5 1 16 38
30 3 1 5 1 2 8 20
35 6 1 20 1 - 6 34
40 2 1 23 1 - 9 36
45 5 - 10 - 2 10 27
50 4 - 16 4 2 14 40
55 3 - 20 7 - 10 40
60 8 - 18 4 5 21 56
TOTAL 45 10 203 34 14 152 468
 Table 10.0: Table of analysis traffic volume based on types of vehicles

Type of Percentage PCU Number of Number of Traffic Traffic

vehicle (%) Urban roads vehicles vehicles volume volume
(veh/hr) (pcu) (pcu/hr)
Private car 73.29 1.0 343 686 343 686
& taxi
Small good 0.64 2.0 3 6 6 12
vehicle &
van
Medium 0 2.50 0 0 0 0
good
vehicle &
lorries
Heavy good 0 3.0 0 0 0 0
vehicle
Buses 3.85 3.0 18 36 54 108
Motorcycle 22.22 0.75 104 208 78 156
TOTAL 100 468 936 481 962

Sample calculations:

Since 30 minutes equals to 0.5 hours,

Traffic volume = Number of vehicles X PCU

= 343 x 1.0

= 343

Hourly estimated volume = 936 veh/hr

Total traffic volume per hour = 962 pcu/hr

 TRAFFIC COMPOSITION

Motorcycle
Buses 22.22%
3.85% Private
car & taxi
Small good vehicle &
van 73.29%
0.64%
Private car
& taxi
Small good
vehicle &
Private car & taxi Small good vehicle & van van Medium good vehicle & lorries
Medium
Heavy good vehicle Buses Motorcycle
good
vehicle &
lorries
Graph 1: Pie Chart of Traffic Composition
Heavy
good
vehicle
Buses
TOTAL VEHICLES EACH DIRECTION FLOW VS TIME (MIN)
Motorcycle
25

20
Total Vehicle

15

10

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Time (min)

V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6

Graph 2: Line Graph Of Total Vehicles Of Each Flow vs Time (min)

 56

48
46
40 40
38 38
35 36
34
Total Vehicles

27
20

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Time (min)

Total Vehicles

Graph 3: Total Vehicles vs Time (min)

Students’
parking

Figure 1 : Layout of direction for flow of vehicles

6.0 DISCUSSION

A traffic volume study has been conducted within the selected study area to measure the traffic
data where to get the amount of traffic moving on the roads passing a given point on a lane or
carriageway during a certain period. The selected study area has been made in the area of UiTM
Shah Alam at the T-junction of the engineering students’ car park and the data was counted every
5 minutes interval within 60 minutes from 8:50 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.

Traffic volume or traffic counts can be obtained by using several methods such as a manual method
using a hand tally counter and an automatic method using pneumatic counters. In this laboratory,
lecturer facilitated students to retrieve vehicle data according to vehicle categories by conducting
using any method of counting such as the tick-mark, hand tally counter and pneumatic counters. It
is advised to use pneumatic counters if the volume of vehicles in that certain flow direction
estimated to be high. The data obtained during this study on the traffic volume is required to get
the hourly number of vehicles, and the traffic flow trend in addition because of the composition of
the vehicles within the sort of chart and graph.

Based on the data analysis that had been measured, Table 1.0 until Table 6.0 shows the number of
vehicles traveling in each direction where the junction has 6 directions. Other than that, Table 8.0
shows the total vehicles by direction and by types of vehicles where each vehicle passing by the
junction will be counted and classified by the types of vehicles for instance cars, buses, vans, small
good vehicles, medium good vehicles, heavy good vehicles, buses, and motorcycles. As seen in
Table 8.0, the predominant vehicle type is personalized vehicles like the car, small van, 4-wheel
drive, etc because it is the most useful and convenient transportation used with 343 vehicles in
total for 60 minutes. It is also can be seen in the pie chart of traffic composition in Graph 1 as the
number of cars in dark blue colour is the highest percentage which is 73.29% compared to others.
Furthermore, the analysis of traffic volumes in the passenger car unit per hour (pcu/h) had been
obtained in Table 10.0. To get it, the overall vehicles have to be multiplied by the conversion
factors depending on the sort of vehicles and therefore the study area where this study was
conducted within the geographic region. Moreover, Graph 2 shows the line graph of total vehicles
against time in minutes by direction where direction 3 (V3) is the highest number of vehicles with
203 vehicles which can be seen in Table 9. Lastly, Graph 3 illustrates the graph of total vehicles
against time in minutes. As shown in Table 3, the highest number of vehicles is from 9:25 a.m. to
9:30 a.m. with 23 vehicles during 5 minutes intervals. It can be assumed that the period from 9:25
a.m. to 9:30 a.m. is when the students and the lecturers who have finished their classes at 9.00 am
are on the road going out to their homes and preparing for the next class or session in campus.

There are some errors during this experiment that affect our readings such as human error where
the number of vehicles that are non- stop behind each other vehicles which makes the viewer hard
to count because didn't have time to be filled in the form hence affecting the data. Moreover, to
prevent errors that may occur during experimenting on the roadway, safety cones must be placed
to alert the drivers and riders and avoid any accidents.

The traffic volume study is vital because the purpose of conducting a traffic volume study is to be
used and needed in planning, designing, and operating the transportation system. The traffic data
is required for design purposes which to design the structural and geometrical because the
geometric design relies on peak hour volume to avoid congestion by categorizing the amount of
Service (LOS) as describing operational conditions within a traffic stream and their perception by
motorists and passengers in terms of such factors as speed and period, traffic interruptions, comfort
and convenience, and safety. Other than that, the traffic data also were used for planning purposes
where accurate information on the quantity of traffic on the roads is vital for the design of both
road maintenance and improvement policies. Besides we can measure the Average Dailly Traffic
(ADT) and also hourly traffic occurs at selected location. Lastly, it helps in traffic management
purposes where the flow information is essential to be used in traffic signal design to improve the
junction performance and for future planning, capacity analysis can provide a prediction when
additional investment is needed. Hence, increase the efficiency and life of roads. Reduces traffic
volume at a particular section. Provide better means for development of infrastructures. Provide
better means to utilize other roads in case of special events in the city.
6.0 CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, traffic volume studies were used to determine the vehicles composition in the
traffic flow system and to observe the traffic flow trend as well as the movement pattern.
Students had successfully obtained the hourly number of vehicles, the traffic flow trend and
the composition of the vehicles. The traffic flow data that had been obtained usually collected
to obtain data concerning the movement of vehicles at selected T-junction such as annual traffic,
average daily traffic, annual average daily traffic, and hourly traffic. The importance of annual
traffic was to compute crash rates and to indicate trends in volume. Then the average daily
traffic and annual average daily traffic was calculated to measure the present demand while
hourly traffic was to calculate to determine peak hour periods and to establish the traffic control.

From the tabulated data, it can be concluded that the predominant vehicles type is personalized
vehicles such as car. From the pie chart of the traffic composition, it shows that the highest
percentage of traffic composition is cars with 73.29 %. A vehicle was converted into a
Equivalent Passenger Car Unit (PCU) for consistency in interpreting road traffic performance,
road geometry, congestion and traffic signal analysis and design, besides it also designed to
give the effect of and equivalent numbers of passengers cars.

Based on the data have been collected and analyzed, the most critical time period is
from to minutes where the traffic volume in the intersection increases. Since there were fewer
heavy vehicles pass through the intersection, the effect of the heavy vehicles will reduce the
traffic volumes. There are some factors that may influenced the accuracy of the data collected
such as during the counting of vehicles for one direction, students may make mistakes in
counting the right number of vehicles due to carelessness.
7.0 ORGANIZATIONS

NAME TASK
Hanna Humaira Binti Mokhtar 4.0 RESULTS
(2021505059) 5.0 DATA ANALYSIS
Muhammad Adam Bin Khairul Anuar 2.1 OBJECTIVE
(2020963481) 3.0 PROCEDURE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Nur Diana Nadhirah Binti Mohd Din 2.0 BASIC CONCEPT
(2021393433) 2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Nurarina Farhana Binti Kamal Hisham 6.0 CONCLUSION
(2020854008) 8.0 ORGANIZATION

Syed Muhammad Amirul Bin Wan Ibrahim

6.0 DISCUSSION
(2021505067)