Section 6

Design Traffic

PROJECT
SELECTION

SUBGRADE PAVEMENT DESIGN

ENVIRONMENT CROSS SECTIONS
EVALUATION MATERIALS TRAFFIC
Section 2 Section 3
Section 4 Section 5 Section 6

Implementation, Feedback,
NEW OR Validation and Refinement
New Rehabilitation
REHABILITATION of Design and
Rehabilitation procedure

FLEXIBLE & SEMI- GRAVEL SMALL ELEMENT EVALUATION & OVERLAYS &
RIGID PAVEMENTS
RIGID PAVEMENTS PAVEMENTS PAVEMENTS MAINTENANCE REHABILITATION
Section 9
Section 7 Section 8 Section 10 Section 11 Section 12

COMPARISON
OF DESIGNS
Section 13
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CONTENTS

6 DESIGN TRAFFIC .....................................................................................................................................1

6.1 TRAFFIC COUNTS ..................................................................................................................................1
6.2 AXLE LOADS AND EQUIVALENCY FACTORS .............................................................................................2
6.3 DESIGN PERIOD ....................................................................................................................................3
6.4 GROWTH RATE .....................................................................................................................................3
6.5 CALCULATION OF DESIGN TRAFFIC ........................................................................................................6
6.6 REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................7

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6 DESIGN TRAFFIC
The structural deterioration of paved roads caused by traffic mainly depends on (MoW, 1999):
ƒ magnitude of the loads (axle loads)
ƒ number of load repetitions
The damage that vehicles do to a road depends greatly on the magnitude of the axle loads and as such the
damaging effect of an axle loading follows an exponential function.
The damaging effect of all axles expected to traverse the road is converted into Equivalent Standard Axles
(ESA) and added up over a chosen design period to become the basis for the structural pavement design.
The deterioration of paved roads caused by traffic results from both the magnitude of the individual wheel
loads and the number of times these loads are applied. For pavement design purposes it is necessary to
consider not only the total number of vehicles that will use the road but also the wheel loads (or, for
convenience, the axle loads) of these vehicles (TRL, 1993).

6.1 Traffic Counts

Traffic counts shall be carried out in a manner that results in a grouping of vehicle types into the categories
given in Table 6.1. Inclusion of other vehicle categories or a further sub-division of the categories may be
desirable for other purposes. However, manipulation of data shall not obscure the prescribed division into the
four heavy vehicle categories.
Table 6.1 Vehicle Classification System
Category Cars Light Medium Heavy Articulated
Axles 2 2 3 4 >4
Tyres 4 6 10 14 >14
Length <3 m 3m – 7.5m 3m – 7.5m >7.5m >7.5m
GVW <3.5T 3.5T-12T >12T >12T >12T
Includes Bus 2 Rear Axle 4 Axle Truck Large Truck
Cars Truck

Utility
1 Axle Truck

Minibus

4WD

In the absence of detailed classification traffic counts completed in accordance with the Traffic and Axle
Load Study Manual, Table 6.2 provides typical values for each road class in Addis Ababa for the year 2002
(AACRA, 2002).

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Table 6.2 – Typical Values for Addis Ababa Traffic

Road AADT Typical Percentage
Classification (two way) Car Light Medium Heavy Articulated
Freeway - - - - - -
Arterial 10,000 80% 17% 2% 0% 1%
Sub-Arterial 9,000 89% 9% 1% 0% 1%
Collector 4,000 91% 8% 1% 0% 0%
Local 1,500 97% 3% 0% 0% 0%

6.2 Axle Loads and Equivalency Factors

All design of bitumen surfaced road pavements shall be based on axle load surveys. The surveys shall be
carried out separately from weigh-bridge measurements undertaken for the purpose of enforcing axle load
limits.
The damaging effect of an axle passing over the pavement is expressed by the equivalency factor related to
an equivalent standard axle (ESA) of 8160 kg load:
4. 5
 AxleLoad (kg ) 
EquivalencyFactor =   …Equation 6.1
 8160 
In the absence of exact axle load survey results or studies for the specific project, generic values may be
used based results from previous studies completed in Addis Ababa. These are shown in Table 6.3 but
caution should be used and sensitivity of design to the use of default values should be used based on the
lower and upper values listed in the table.
Table 6.3 – Typical Equivalency Factors for Addis Ababa Traffic
Vehicle Class Typical Lower Upper
Car 0.03 0.00 0.10
Light 0.73 0.39 1.07
Medium 1.31 0.73 1.89
Heavy 1.61 1.05 2.18
Articulated 3.15 2.15 4.14

In order to determine the initial daily traffic loading from the survey data, the following procedure should be
followed (TRL, 1993; Austroads, 1992):
1. Determine the daily traffic flow for each class of vehicle from the results of this traffic survey and
other recent traffic count information that is available (Section 6.1 and Traffic and Axle Load Study
Manual).
2. Adjust the flows for two way traffic, lane factors and seasonal adjustment
3. Determine the mean equivalence factor for each class of vehicle from the results of the axle load
survey or default values from Table 6.2.
4. Determine the initial daily traffic loading by summing the products of the daily flow in each class by
the mean equivalence factor for each respective class:

N = N L EFL + N M EFM + N H EFH + N A EFA …Equation 6.2

where N = initial daily Equivalent Standard Axles

NL is the daily number of light vehicles in the current year
NM is the daily number of medium vehicles in the current year
NH is the daily number of heavy vehicles in the current year
NA is the daily number of articulated vehicles in the current year

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EFL the equivalency factor for the average light vehicle

EFM the equivalency factor for the average medium vehicles
EFH the equivalency factor for the average heavy vehicles
EFA the equivalency factor for the average articulated vehicles

6.3 Design Period

The design period is the length of time expressed in years before it is anticipated that rehabilitation of the
pavement will be necessary to restore shape, repair other forms of distress, or to provide additional
pavement strength (Austroads, 1992).
The design period starts when the completed pavement is opened to public traffic over the entire length of a
construction project. Any public traffic or construction traffic using the completed pavement before the start of
the design period shall be estimated separately and included in the design traffic loading for the purpose of
pavement design (MoW, 1999).
Strengthening of the pavement is normally required for the road to carry further traffic at an acceptable level
of serviceability after the end of the design period. Normal maintenance is assumed to take place throughout
the design period for the design to be valid. Premature failures may result if normal maintenance is
neglected during the design period (MoW, 1999).
For most road projects an economic analysis period of 20 years from the date of opening is appropriate.
Whatever time period is chosen for the appraisal of a project, the road will always have some residual value
at the end of this period. Choosing a pavement design life that is the same as the analysis period simplifies
the economic appraisal by minimising the residual value, which is normally difficult to estimate accurately
(TRL, 1993).
Rehabilitation, which may consist of granular or asphalt overlay, major patching or improvements or removal
of selected areas of pavement materials, initiates a new design period. In this regard, resurfacing a
pavement with a sprayed seal or a very thin asphalt overlay does not in itself constitute rehabilitation in the
pavement design sense.
The recommended design periods for pavements in Addis Ababa are:
ƒ New granular and semi-rigid pavements = 20 years
ƒ New rigid pavements = 40 years
ƒ New gravel pavements = 10 years
ƒ Asphalt overlays = 15 years
ƒ Granular overlays = 10 years

6.4 Growth Rate

The forecasting of traffic growth shall include separate estimates for the 5 vehicle categories. It is necessary
to assess future traffic in respect of the following types:
ƒ normal traffic that would use the route regardless of the condition of the road
ƒ diverted traffic that moves from an alternative route due to the improvement of the road, but at
otherwise unchanged origin and destination
ƒ generated traffic:
ƒ additional traffic occurring due to the improvement of the road
There is a considerable uncertainty and risk of making large errors in estimations of traffic growth since a
number of individually uncertain factors are brought together in the analysis. Where little information is
available, historical data, origin-destination surveys and records from AACRA are among the sources of
information for assessment of traffic growth. The designer may have to resort to the use of growth figures for
GDP in the estimation of movement of goods (MoW, 1999).
Based on road traffic survey information, it is reasonable, in most circumstances, to assume that traffic
volumes will increase geometrically either for the entire design period or up to a stage where "road capacity"

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is reached (in which case traffic volumes are assumed to remain constant for the remainder of the design
period (Austroads, 1992).
If there is an indication that "road capacity" is likely to be reached within the design period, it is
recommended that the designer establish that there is no planned upgrading of the road geometry within the
design period before he adopts "no growth" traffic volume for the period of "full capacity". Adoption of "no-
growth" traffic volumes for a period of "saturation" will entail modification of the approach used below to
aggregate daily traffic volumes for total design traffic.
For geometric traffic growth throughout the design period, total traffic over the design period is determined by
multiplying the total traffic in the first year by the appropriate Cumulative Growth Factor from Table 6.4 or
calculated exactly using the following equation:

GF =
[ ]
(1 + 0.01i ) (1 + 0.01i ) y − 1
…Equation 6.3
0.01i
where i = Growth Rate (% pa)
y - Design Period (years)

Table 6.4 - Cumulative Growth Factors (GF)

Design Growth Rate (% pa)
Period
0 2 4 6 8 10
(years)
5 5 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.9 6.1
10 10 10.9 12.0 13.2 14.5 15.9
15 15 17.3 20.0 23.3 27.2 31.8
20 20 24.3 29.8 36.8 45.8 57.3
25 25 32.0 41.6 54.9 73.1 98.3
30 30 40.6 56.1 79.1 113.3 164.5
35 35 50.0 73.7 111.4 172.3 271.0
40 40 60.4 95.0 154.8 259.1 442.8

In the absence of specific traffic survey and study results, typical values for growth rates can be adopted with
caution based on the economic growth zones shown in Figure 6.1 and the zone / road classification matrix
presented in Table 6.5 (AACRA, 2002). These values should be used with the recommended design period
(Section 6.3) in Equation 6.3 to determine the appropriate approximate Growth Factor.
The sensitivity of the design to these default values should be checked if these values are adopted for the
final design parameters. Otherwise they should serve purely as a guide and check for more detailed survey
and investigation results.

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Figure 6.1 – Economic Growth Zones in Addis Ababa

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Table 6.5 – Growth Rate Matrix (% pa)

Road Economic Growth Zone

Classification 1 2 3 4 5 6
Arterial 7.0 11.2 7.0 11.1 7.2 9.3
Sub-Arterial 6.5 9.3 6.5 9.2 6.6 8.2
Collector 6.0 7.4 6.0 7.4 6.1 6.8
Local 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5

6.5 Calculation of Design Traffic

Because asphalt, cemented materials and subgrades each have different performance relationships it is
necessary to determine separately for each material the number of standard axles which will cause the same
level of accumulated damage as the actual traffic load spectrum. The design loading is then calculated as
the design number of standard axles for:
Asphalt = Nsa x 365 x GF …Equation 6.4
Subgrade = Nss x 365 x GF
Cemented materials = Nsc x 365 x GF
where GF is the cumulative growth factor from Table 6.4 or equation 6.3 and
Nsa = N
Nss = N
Nsc = 10.0N
And N is the initial daily traffic loading is calculated from in accordance with Section 6.2 of this Manual and
from Section 5.4 of the Traffic and Axle Load Study Manual.

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6.6 References
Addis Ababa City Roads Authority, 2002, Pavement Maintenance Management System – Study Analysis
and Results, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa City Administration, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia.
Austroads, 1992, Pavement Design – A Guide to Structural Design of Road Pavements, Austroads, Sydney,
Australia.
Ministry of Works, 1999, Pavement and Materials Design Manual, The United Republic of Tanzania, Ministry
of Works, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Transport Research Laboratory, 1993, Overseas Road Note 31 - A guide to the structural design of bitumen-
surfaced roads in tropical and sub-tropical countries, 4th edn, Overseas Centre, Transport Research
Laboratory, Crowthorne, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

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