INTRODUCTION TO

TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

TTE 3004
 Today’s Lecture

• Volume studies and characteristics (Chapter

9)
• Speed, travel time, and delay studies
(Chapter 10)
• Highway traffic safety (Chapter 11)
 VOLUME STUDIES AND CHARACTERISTICS

9.1 Critical Parameters

9.2 Volume, Demand, And Capacity
9.3 Volume Characteristics
9.4 Intersection Volume Studies
9.5 Limited Network Volume Studies
9.6 Statewide Counting Programs
9.7 Specialized Counting Studies

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 The most fundamental measure in traffic engineering is
: how many vehicles are passing defined locations in
the roadway system over time, particularly during the
of a . Virtually no decision concerning
facility design or traffic control options can be made without
knowledge of existing and projected traffic volumes for the
location(s) under study.

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 CRITICAL PARAMETERS
is the number of vehicles (or persons) passing a point during a specified time period, which is
usually one hour but need not be.
is the rate at which vehicles (or persons) pass a point during a specified time period less than
one hour, expressed as an equivalent hourly rate.
is the number of vehicles (or persons) that desire to travel past a point during a specified period
(also usually one hour). Demand is frequently higher than actual volumes where congestion exists. Some
trips divert to alternative routes, and other trips are simply not made.
is the maximum rate at which vehicles can traverse a point or short segment during a specified
time period. It is a characteristic of the roadway. Actual volume can never be observed at levels higher
than the true capacity of the section. However, such results may appear because capacity is most often
estimated using standard analysis procedures of the highway capacity manual. these estimates may
indeed be too low for some locations.

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 VOLUME, DEMAND, AND CAPACITY

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
If traffic distributed itself among the 365
X 24 = 8,760 hours of the year, there is not a
location in the nation that would experience
congestion or significant delay.

Depending on the specific region and location,

peak hour of the day typically contains from 9% to
15% of the 24-hour volume.
 HOURLY TRAFFIC VARIATION PATTERNS

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 INTERSECTION VOLUME STUDIES

Based on departure counts, the maximum 15-minute volume is

, or a flow rate of 65/0.25 = . Using arrival
counts, the maximum 15-minute volume is , or a flow rate of
70/0.25 = . The difference is important because the
higher arrival flow rate (assuming that the study encompasses the
peak period) represents a value that would be valid for use in
planning, design, or operations.
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 LINK VOLUME STUDIES

One Day?
Three days?
Six Days?
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 ESTIMATING VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED ON A NETWORK

In this case, the estimate is the average eight-hour VMT for the
three days of the study. It cannot be expanded into an estimate of
annual VMT without knowing more about daily and seasonal
variation patterns throughout the year.
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
STATEWIDE COUNTING PROGRAMS
 SPECIALIZED COUNTING STUDIES
in major regional planning applications, origin and destination
studies involve massive home interview efforts to establish regional travel patterns.
The accumulation of vehicles within a cordoned area is found by summarizing
the total of all counts entering and leaving the area by time period. The cordon counts should
begin at a time when the streets are virtually empty. Because this condition is difficult to achieve,
the study should stan with an estimate of vehicles already within the cordon. This can be done by
circulating through the area and counting parked and circulating vehicles encountered.
and are generally conducted as part of a larger regional
origin-destination study involving home interviews as the principal methodology. In such regional
planning studies, home interview responses constitute a small but tailed sample that is used to
estimate the number of trips per y (or some other specified time interval) between defined
transportation zones that have been established within the study region.

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 SPEED, TRAVEL TIME, AND DELAY STUDIES

10.1 Introduction Speed, travel time, and delay are all

related measures commonly used as
10.2 Spot Speed Studies indicators of for traffic
10.3 Travel-time Studies facilities. All relate to a factor that is
most directly experienced by motorists:
10.4 Intersection Delay Studies
Motorists have the obvious desire to
complete their trip in the minimum time
consistent with safety. The performance
of a traffic facility is often described in
terms of how well that objective is
achieved.
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 INTERSECTION DELAY
-the time a vehicle spends stopped waiting to proceed
through a signalized or stop-controlled intersection.
-adds the delay due to deceleration to and acceleration
from a stop to stopped time delay.
-the time between a vehicle joining the end of a
queue at a signalized or stop controlled intersection and the time it crosses
the stop line to proceed through the intersection.
-the total delay at an intersection caused by a control device
(either a signal or a stop sign), including both time-in-queue delay plus
delays due to acceleration and deceleration.
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 SPOT SPEED STUDIES
• Spot speed studies are conducted to document the distribution of vehicle speeds as they
pass a point or short segment of the roadway.
: the average speed of all vehicles passing the study location
during the period of the study.
: in simplistic terms, the standard deviation of speeds is the average
difference between observed speeds and the time mean speed during the period of the
study.
: the speed below which 85% of the vehicles travel.
: the speed that equally divides the distribution of spot speeds; 50% of observed
speeds are higher than the median; 50% of observed speeds are lower than the median.
: a 10-mi/h increment in speeds that encompasses the highest proportion of observed
speeds (as compared with any other 10-mi/h increment).
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 BEFORE AND AFTER SPOT SPEED STUDIES
Many traffic engineering actions can help reduce speeds, including lowered speed limits, stricter
enforcement measures, warning signs, installation of rumble strips, and others. The major study
issue, however, is to demonstrate that speeds have indeed been successfully reduced.

Although both questions appear to have obvious answers, they in fact do not. There are two
reasons that a reduction in average speeds could have occurred: (1) the observed 3.5-mi/h
reduction could occur because the new speed limit caused the true mean speed of the underlying
distribution to be reduced; (2) the observed 3.5-mi/h reduction could also occur because two
different samples were selected from an underlying distribution that did not change. In statistical
terms, the first is referred to as a significant reduction in speeds, and the latter is statistically not
significant.

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
The data in Table 10.1 are used to plot two curves that lend a visual impact
to the information: (1) a Frequency Distribution Curve and (2) a Cumulative
Frequency Distribution Curve. These are illustrated in Figure 10.2 and plotted
as follows:
• Frequency distribution curve. For. each speed group, the % frequency of
observations within the group is plotted versus the middle speed of the
group (S).
• Cumulative frequency distribution curve. For each speed group, the %
cumulative frequency of observations is plotted versus the higher
boundary of the speed group.
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 TRAVEL-TIME STUDIES
• To identify problem locations on facilities by virtue of high travel times
and/or delay.
• To measure arterial level of service, based on average travel speeds and
travel times.
• To provide necessary input to traffic assignment models, which focus on link
travel time as a key determinant of route selection.
• To provide travel-time data for economic evaluation of transportation
improvements.
• To develop time contour maps and other depictions of traffic congestion in
an area or region.
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 FIELD STUDY TECHNIQUES

in this technique, the testcar driver is asked to pass

as many vehicles as pass the test car. In this way, the vehicle's relative
position in the traffic stream remains unchanged, and the test car
approximates the behavior of an average vehicle in the traffic stream.
in this procedure, the driver is asked to drive as
fast as is safely practical in the traffic stream, without ever exceeding the
design speed of the facility.
the driver is instructed to drive at the approximate
average speed of the traffic stream.

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 INTERSECTION DELAY STUDIES
Before 1997, the primary delay measure at intersections was stopped delay.
Although no form of delay is easy to measure in the field, stopped delay
was certainly the easiest. However, the current measure of effectiveness for
signalized and stop-controlled intersections is . Control
delay is best defined as time-in-queue delay plus time losses due to
deceleration from and acceleration to ambient speed.

• The method is intended for , and for

cases where the maximum queue is about 20 to 25 vehicles.

• The method directly measure acceleration/deceleration delay

but uses an adjustment factor to estimate this component.

• The method also uses an to correct for errors that are likely to
occur in the sampling process.

• Observers must make an of free-flow speed before beginning a

detailed survey. This is done by driving a vehicle through the intersection
during periods when the light is green and there are no queues and/or by
measuring approach Speeds at a position where they are unaffected by
The signal.
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY: STUDIES, STATISTICS, AND
PROGRAMS
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Approaches To Highway Safety
11.3 Accident Data Collection And
Record Systems
11.4 Accident Statistics
In 2007, 41,059 people were killed in accidents on U.S.
Highways in a total of 6.024 million police-reported
11.5 Site Analysis accidents. Because police-reported accidents are
generally believed to take up only 50% of all accidents
11.6 Development Of occurring, this implies a staggering total of almost 12
Countermeasures million accidents for the year.

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 APPROACHES TO HIGHWAY SAFETY
: exposure control is common to both lists and involves strategies that reduce the number of
vehicle-miles of travel by motorists. This, of course, has proven to be a very difficult strategy to implement in
the united states, given that the automobile is the overwhelming choice of travelers.
and are similar terms with a number of common features. They are
not, however, the same. Accident prevention implies actions that reduce the number of accidents that occur for a
given demand level. Accident risk control incorporates this but also includes measures that reduce the severity
of an accident when it occurs. Reduction of accident severity overlaps accident risk control and injury control
strategies.
If drivers and motorists cannot be successfully diverted to alternative modes, driver
and pedestrian training programs are common strategy for behavior modification.
focuses on crash survivability of occupants in vehicular accident this is primarily affected by
better vehicle design that is generally "encouraged by an act of congress.
deaths within one to two hours of an accident can be reduced by systems that ensure
speedy emergency medical responses along with high-quality emergency care at the site and during transport
to a hospital facility.
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 ACCIDENT DATA COLLECTION

Two national accident data systems are

maintained by the national highway traffic
safety administration (NHTSA). The fatality
analysis reporting system (PARS) is basically
the repository of data on all fatal highway
accidents from all 50 states. The
of information is
, which are virtually always filed in
the case of a fatal accident
Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 ACCIDENT STATISTICS

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 IDENTIFYING HIGH-ACCIDENT LOCATIONS

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.
 COLLISION DIAGRAMS

Source: “Traffic Engineering” by Roess, Prassas & McShane, 4th edition, Pearson.