CE 322: TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING II

Parameters of Traffic Flow

Nipjyoti Bharadwaj
Assistant professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati
Comparison of Micro and Macro Properties

Microscopic Macroscopic
• Time headway – h • Volume Q – unit
• Spacing –s • Density K
• Speed - v • Speed V:
• Time Aggregated
• Space Aggregated
Average or Mean Speed
• The speeds of successive vehicles may be taken at a single point of the roadway over
long period of time. These speeds are also known as spot speeds.

• Average travel speed for a segment of roadway over a long period of time

• The method by which the speed measurements are taken and the way in which their
average is computed affect the results and interpretation of this quantity.

• Two common ways of computing the average, or mean, speeds are the time mean speed
and the space mean speed.
Average or Mean Speed
• The time mean speed Ut is the arithmetic average of the spot speeds
just defined that is:

• where N is the number of observed vehicles and v, is the spot speed

of the ith vehicle.
Average or Mean Speed
• The space mean speed is calculated on the basis of the average travel
time it takes N vehicles to traverse a length of roadway D. The ith
vehicle traveling at speed v, will take

• Thus the average travel time for N vehicles will be

• and the average speed based on the average travel time (i.e., the
space mean speed) is the harmonic average of the spot speeds,
Questions
Q1. The spot speeds of four vehicles were observed to be 30, 40, 50,
and 60 km/hr, respectively. Compute the time mean speed and the
space mean speed.
• Q2
Applications:
• Trends in speeds of different classes of vehicles
• Problematic locations
• Regulation and control:
• Establish speed limit
• Speed at intersection
• Length of OSD zones
• Location of traffic signs and size
• Speed at curves
• To evaluate effectiveness of traffic management measures
• Before and after studies
• Capacity in relation to speed and congestions
• Research
Applications:
• For geometric design of roads
• Speed studies
• Design speed
• Horizontal curvature
• Vertical profile
• Sight distances
• Superelevation
• Accident Studies
• Causes of accidents
• Relationship accident and speed
• Before and after studies
Histogram and Cumulative Frequency Curves
Histogram and Cumulative Frequency Curves
Traffic Volume
Traffic Volume: Vehicles and pedestrians

Intersections, mid block, supporting facilities like stations, etc.

Traffic volume : no of vehicles crossing a given point in a

specified time

Volume change (variation)

Peak hour
Non peak hour
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Annually
Traffic Volume Study
• Quantity measure of traffic flow

• Vehicles/day or vehicles/h or PCU/h

• Classified volume study

• Volume of various types and classes of traffic

• Distribution by direction

• Turning movements/ unit time

PCU
• To describe the entire traffic flow on a highway per unit of time, the flow of various
vehicle classes must be converted into a single standard vehicle type, such as a
Passenger Car. As a result, the Equivalency factor known as passenger car unit
(PCU) is allotted to each vehicle type.
Applications
• Relative measure of importance of roads deciding priority for expansion and
improvement
• Planning, traffic operation and control
• Planning and design of new facilities
• Analysis of traffic patterns and trends
• Classified volume count in structural design of pavements, geometric design.
• Volume distribution studies in in one-way studies and other regulatory measures
• Turning movements useful for design of intersections, planning signal timings,
channelization other control devices
• Pedestrian volume study : side walks, cross walks and signal timings
Traffic Volume Counts
• Annual total traffic volume

• AADT (Annual Average Daily Traffic)

• ADT (Average Daily Traffic)

• Maximum hourly volume

• Thirtieth hourly volume

Thirtieth hourly volume
 Commonly used unit is 30th Highest Hourly Volume (30HV).

 Defined as the hourly volume that is exceeded by 29 hourly volumes

during a year.

 In American conditions: 30HV is about 15% of AADT on Rural

Highways and 8-12% on urban streets.

 For Indian roads 8-10% of AADT has been suggested as 30HV.

Thirtieth hourly volume…

• The relationship between the hourly traffic volume as

percentage of AADT and number of hours in a year when the
traffic volume exceeds is as given below for a road.
No of Hrs. 1 5 10 20 30 50 70 105 150
exceeding
% AADT 24 20 18 16 15.7 15 14 13 12

• If the AADT projected for the design period is 8,500 PCU/day,

estimate the design hourly volume, justifying your results.
Thirtieth hourly volume…

8500 *14.4
DesignHourlyVolume = = 1224PCU / h
100
Peak Hour Volume
• Geometric design : lanes, intersection design, shoulder design, etc
• Deficiencies in capacity of roads
• Justify, plan and location of traffic control devices such as roadway markings,
signals, traffic signs, etc.
• Develop traffic operation programs such as one way conversion of roads, tidal flow
operations
• Plan and justify the regulatory measures such as restrictions on turning movements,
parking.
Peak Hour Factor (PHF)
• The Peak Hour Factor (PHF) compares the traffic volume during
the busiest 15-minutes of the peak hour with the total volume
during the peak hour. It indicates how consistent traffic volume is
during the peak hour.
• PHF = (total hourly volume) / [(peak 15-minute volume within the
hour x 4)]
• = V / (VPeak x 4)
• 0 < PHF >= 1
Find Peak Hour Factor (PHF)
• Q1 The 15-minute vehicle volumes are relatively constant:
• V15 = 190
• V30 = 200
• V45 = 190
• V60 = 190

• Q2The 15-minute vehicle volumes are more variable:

• V15 = 175
• V30 = 200
• V45 = 150
• V60 = 125
Density
• Density or concentration is defined as the number of vehicles occupying a given
length of lane or roadway averaged over time. (veh/km)
• Difficult to measure directly.
• Arial photograph can be used
• Usually measured by the relation q=kv
Headways
Density= 1000/avg spacing
Flow = 3600/avg headway
Avg headway= avg spacing/avg speed
Question
Thank You