CIVENG 4TA4 – Winter 2024

Tutorial # 1
Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Question 1
A traffic Engineer counted the eastbound traffic on a two-way two-lane local highway manually. In one hour, a total
number of 1240 vehicles passed at point A (where the engineer was conducting the count).

a) What is the average headway on the highway?

b) Assuming that all vehicles are travelling at a uniform speed of 60 km/h, what are the average vehicle spacing
and the average density on the highway?
c) Do you observe any relationship between average speed, average flow, and average density?

Answer

a) Given: flow (q) = 1240 vehicle per hour

3600
We know that: q(vph) =
hav (seconds)

3600 3600
Hence: hav (seconds) = q(vph) = 1240 = 2.903 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠

b) Assuming that all vehicles are travelling at 60 km/h, the spacing (the distance between the front of the two
vehicles) will equal the distance travelled during the average headway:

Sav = Vav * hav = 60 (km/h) / 3.6 * 2.903 (seconds) = 48.383 m

1000 1000
Then, the density can be determined as: K(vpk) = = = 20.668 veh/km
Sav (m) 48.383

c) We can observe that if we multiply the density by the average speed, we will get the flow:
20.668 (veh/km) * 60 (km/h) = 1240 (veh/h)
Hence, q = v*k

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Question 2
A traffic Engineer measured the speed of 15 consecutive vehicles that passed at a specific point on a local highway
in 2 minutes. The 15 observations are presented in the table below. Determine the Time Mean Speed (TMS) and the
Space Mean Speed (SMS) of vehicles on the highway.

Vehicle
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
#
Speed
51.43 57.67 50.48 61.17 60.67 58.03 52.25 70.52 66.61 60.71 54.33 62.21 53.19 53.89 58.14
(km/h)

Answer

Vehicle # Speed (Vi) (1/Vi)

1 51.43 0.01944
2 57.67 0.01734
3 50.48 0.01981
4 61.17 0.01635
5 60.67 0.01648
6 58.03 0.01723
7 52.25 0.01914
8 70.52 0.01418
9 66.61 0.01501
10 60.71 0.01647
11 54.33 0.01841
12 62.21 0.01607
13 53.19 0.01880
14 53.89 0.01856
15 58.14 0.01720
Sum 871.3 0.26050

∑ vi 871.3
a) TMS = = = 58.087 km/h
N 15

N 15
b) SMS = ∑(1⁄ = = 57.582 km/h
vi ) 0.26050

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Question 3
The table below shows the average travel time (in minutes) of fifteen vehicles within a 1000 m segment of a highway.
Compute both the TMS and the SMS.

Vehicle # Travel time (minutes)

1 0.652
2 0.801
3 0.755
4 0.761
5 0.892
6 0.667
7 0.743
8 0.772
9 0.791
10 0.831
11 0.821
12 0.661
13 0.673
14 0.752
15 0.76

Answer

Vehicle # Travel time (minutes) Speed (Km/h) = 1(km) / t (min) * 60 (min/hr)

1 0.652 92.02
2 0.801 74.91
3 0.755 79.47
4 0.761 78.84
5 0.892 67.26
6 0.667 89.96
7 0.743 80.75
8 0.772 77.72
9 0.791 75.85
10 0.831 72.20
11 0.821 73.08
12 0.661 90.77
13 0.673 89.15
14 0.752 79.79
15 0.76 78.95
Sum 11.33 1200.73

∑(𝑑⁄𝑡𝑖 ) 1200.73
𝑇𝑀𝑆 = = = 80.05 𝑘𝑚/ℎ
𝑁 15
𝑑 1
𝑆𝑀𝑆 = = × 60 = 79.44 𝑘𝑚/ℎ
∑(𝑡𝑖 ⁄𝑁) 11.33/15

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Question 4
The speeds of all vehicles passing through a specific point on the eastbound of an urban highway between 4 and 6
p.m. were collected by means of a speed camera and presented in the attached Excel file. The highway has one lane
per direction. Based on the data provided, determine the average flow rate, average headway, Time Mean Speed
(TMS), and Space Mean Speed (SMS).

Answer

a) q = N / T
From the attached file, we see that 3567 vehicles passed between 4 and 6 p.m. (i.e., 2 hours)
Hence q = 3566 / 2 = 1783 vphpl

b) hav = 3600 / q = 3600 / 1783 = 2.02 seconds

c) Since the speeds were measured at a point, then the average value of the provided speeds would be the
TMS.
From Excel, the average value = 74.95 km/h
Hence TMS = 74.95 km/h

d) To get the SMS, we can use the Wardorp equation:

𝜎𝑡2
𝑆𝑀𝑆 = 𝑇𝑀𝑆 −
𝑇𝑀𝑆
The standard deviation can be also obtained from Excel (σ = 8.48 km/h)
Hence,
(8.48)2
𝑆𝑀𝑆 = 74.95 − = 73.99 𝑘𝑚/ℎ
74.95

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