(CETP 203) Traffic Engineering and Management Tutorials

Tutorial 1: Traffic Characteristics

1) A driver with a perception-reaction time of 2.5 sec is driving at 65 mi/h when she observes that an
accident has blocked the road ahead. Determine the distance the vehicle would move before the
driver could activate the brakes. The vehicle will continue to move at 65 mi/h during the perception-
reaction time of 2.5 sec.

2) A student trying to test the braking ability of her car determined that she needed 18.5 ft more to stop
her car when driving downhill on a road segment of 5% grade than when driving downhill at the
same speed along another segment of 3% grade. Determine the speed at which the student conducted
her test and the braking distance on the 5% grade if the student is traveling at the test speed in the
uphill direction.
3) As part of a class project, a group of students collected a total of 120 spot speed samples at a location
and determined from this data that the standard variation of the speeds was 6 mi/h. If the project
required that the confidence level be 95% and the limit of acceptable error was 1.5 mi/h, determine
whether these students satisfied the project requirement.
4) Table 4.2 shows the data collected on a rural highway in Virginia during a speed study. Develop the
frequency histogram and the frequency distribution of the data and determine:
a. The arithmetic mean speed
b. The standard deviation
c. The median speed
d. The mode or modal speed
e. The 85th-percentile speed
 (CETP 203) Traffic Engineering and Management Tutorials

Tutorial 2: Traffic Flow Measurements

1) Figure 6.3 shows vehicles traveling at constant speeds on a two-lane highway between
sections X and Y with their positions and speeds obtained at an instant of time by
photography. An observer located at point X observes the four vehicles passing point X
during a period of T sec. The velocities of the vehicles are measured as 45, 45, 40, and
30 mi/h, respectively. Calculate the flow, density, time mean speed, and space mean
speed.

2) Figure 2 shows peak-hour volumes for a major intersection on an expressway. Using

the Webster method, determine a suitable signal timing for the intersection using the
four-phase system shown below. Use a yellow interval of three seconds and the
saturation flow given.

Figure 1 Turning Movements

 (CETP 203) Traffic Engineering and Management Tutorials

Figure 2 Data for Example 2

3) See the different trajectories given below and comment on the movement of vehicle
over time. Do you think some cases represented below may not be possible in real
world. Identify those cases and give explanation for the same.
 (CETP 203) Traffic Engineering and Management Tutorials

4) In a highway segment XY, an observer standing at location X counted four vehicles

passing in front of him in 20 s. Their speeds are labelled in the figure. Find the flow,
density, time-mean speed, and space-mean speed in this scenario.

5) On a section of Interstate 91 near the University of Massachusetts Amherst, studies

show that the speed- density relationship is v = vf [1 - ((k/kj)2.5)]. Assume a capacity of
4600 vehicles per hour and that the jam density is 200 vehicles per mile. Find the free-
flow speed and the optimal speed at capacity.