CE-431: Traffic

Engineering
Lecture 3
Chapter 5: Introduction to Traffic Stream
Characteristics
Chapter 6: Volume and Flow Characteristics
Traffic Stream
• Traffic streams are made up of individual drivers
and vehicles interacting with each other and with
the physical elements of the roadway and its
general environment.
• No traffic streams will behave in the same manner
because of:
• Variations in individual vehicle
• Variations in driver behavior
 Types of Traffic Facilities
• Uninterrupted flow
• Interrupted flow
Uninterrupted flow
• No external interruptions to the traffic stream
• Full access control, no intersections
• Primarily on freeways
• Other examples: rural two-lane highways and rural
and suburban multilane highways
• The characteristics of the traffic stream are based
solely on the interactions among vehicles and with
the roadway and the general environment.
Types of Traffic Facilities
Interrupted Flow
• Incorporate fixed external interruptions into their
design and operation.
• Interruptions may include: traffic signals, STOP and
YIELD signs, unsignalized at-grade intersections,
driveways, curb parking maneuvers, and other
land-access operations.
 Traffic Stream Parameters
• Traffic stream parameters fall into two broad categories.
• Macroscopic parameters; describe the traffic stream as a
whole;
• Microscopic parameters; describe the behavior of
individual vehicles or pairs of vehicles within the traffic
stream.
Principal macroscopic parameters;
(I) volume or rate of flow,
(II) speed, and
(III) density.
Microscopic parameters;
(1) the speed of individual vehicles,
(2) headway, and
(3) spacing
Volume and Flow Rates
• Volume: No. of vehicles passing a point, lane or
direction of the highway in unit time interval (often
per day or hour)
• Flow: No. of vehicles passing a point, lane or
direction of the highway in less than an hour
interval.
• Flow rate: Flow represented in terms of per hour.
For e.g., 400 vehicles in 15 minutes has an
equivalent hourly flow rate of 1600 veh/hr
Daily Volumes
• Used for documentation of trends and planning purposes
• No directional differentiation
 Average annual daily traffic (AADT). The average 24-hour
volume at a given location over a full 365-day year, the
number of vehicles passing a site in a year divided by 365
days (366 days in a leap year)
 Average annual weekday traffic (AAWT). The average 24-
hour volume occurring on weekdays over a full 365-day
year, the number of vehicles passing a site on weekdays in
a year divided by the number of weekdays (usually 260).
 Average daily traffic (ADT). The average 24-hour volume
at a given location over a defined time period less than
one year; a common application is to measure an ADT for
each month of the year.
 Average weekday traffic (AWT). The average 24-hour
weekday volume at a given location over a defined time
period less than one year; a common application is to
measure an AWT for each month of the year.
Example
• Calculate AADT and AAWT and ADT and AWT for each
month.
Hourly Volumes
• Used for design and operations of traffic flow and control
devices
• The single hour of the day that has the highest hourly
volume is referred to as the peak hour
• Represented as directional volume
• Both directions would carry equal volumes in different times
but reversible lanes can be used if the difference is
directional traffic is high
• Directional design hourly volume (DDHV)
DDHV = A x D x K
K = proportion of daily traffic occurring during the
peak hour
D = proportion of peak hour traffic traveling in the
peak direction of flow.
Example
• Consider the case of a rural highway that has a 20-
year forecast of AADT of 30,000 veh/day. Based on
the data of Table 5.2, what range of directional
design hour volumes might be expected for this
situation?
• Using the values of Table 5.2 for a rural highway,
the K factor ranges from 0.15 to 0.25, and the D
factor ranges from 0.65 to 0.80. The range of
directional design hour volumes, therefore is:
• DDHVLow = 30,000 * 0.15 * 0.65 = 2,925 veh/h
• DDHVHigh = 30,000 * 0.25 * 0.80 = 6,000 veh/h
Subhourly Volumes and Rates of
Flow
• The quality of traffic flow is often related to short-
term fluctuations in traffic demand.
• A facility may have sufficient capacity to serve the
peak-hour demand, but short-term peaks of flow
within the hour may exceed capacity and create a
breakdown.
Example
Example (Cont’d.)
Subhourly Volumes and Rates of
Flow
• Flow rates are considered stable over a period of 15
minutes
• Most standard design and analysis procedures use 15
minutes as the base period
• Peak Hour Factor(PHF): Relationship between hourly
volume and peak flow rate
PHF = (hourly volume)/(peak flow rate)
PHF = V/(4 x vm15)
PHF = 0.875 (for previous example)
PHF range = 1.00 to 0.25
Normal range = 0.98 (urban areas) to 0.7 (rural areas)
 Speed and Travel Time
• Speed: distance per unit time
• Travel time: time required to traverse a section of
highway
• There are two ways to compute average speeds of
flow;
• Time mean speed: mean of speeds for vehicles
passing over a point or lane of the highway over a
specified time period
• Space mean speed: mean of speeds of vehicles
occupying a given section or lane of the highway over
a specified time period
Calculate TMS and SMS for the
following data
TMS and SMS
• The SMS weights slower vehicles more heavily in
the average, based on the amount of time they
occupy a highway section.
• Thus, the SMS is usually lower than the
corresponding TMS, in which each vehicle is
weighted equally.
• The two speed measures may theoretically be
equal if all vehicles in the section are traveling at
exactly the same speed.
 Density
• The number of vehicles occupying a given length of
highway or lane, generally expressed as vehicles per
mile or vehicles per mile per lane.
• Difficult to measure; often computed using flow and
speed relationships
• Most important parameter because:
• Directly related to traffic demand
• Affects selection of speed by the drivers and, in turn,
determines flow
• Indicates quality of flow in terms of driver comfort and
freedom to maneuver
Spacing
• The distance between successive vehicles in a
traffic lane, measured from some common
reference point on the vehicles, such as the front
bumper or front wheels

𝐷 = 1000/𝑑𝑎 For meters

𝑑𝑎 For km/hr
𝑆 = 3.57
ℎ𝑎
Example
• Traffic in a congested multilane highway lane is
observed to have an average spacing of 200 ft and
an average headway of 3.8 s. Estimate the rate of
flow, density, and speed of traffic in this lane.
Problem 5.2
A traffic stream displays average vehicle headways of
2.4 s at 55 mi/h. Compute the density and rate of
flow for this traffic stream.
Relationship Between Macroscopic
Parameters
v=SxD
• Space mean speed and density are measures that
refer to a specific section of a lane or highway,
whereas flow rate is a point measure
• The above equation is valid for all points under
stable conditions
• It will give an average flow rate for all points under
unstable conditions (queue formation)
• If a freeway lane were observed to have a SMS of
55 mi/h and a density of 25 veh/mi/ln, the flow
rate in the lane could be estimated as:
v=55 × 25=1,375 veh/h/ln
• Consider a freeway lane with a measured SMS of
60 mi/h and a flow rate of 1,000 veh/h/ln. The
density could be estimated as:
D=v/S=1,000/60=16.7 veh/mi/ln
Traffic Flow Conditions
• A condition of relatively high speed and low density
(on the stable portion of flow relationships)
• A condition of relatively low speed and high density
(on the unstable portion of flow relationships)
Speed Flow Curve for Modern Drivers
Traffic Flow Theory
• Mathematical models that attempt to relate
characteristics of traffic movement to each other
and to underlying traffic parameters.
• Formally began with the work of Bruce
Greenshields and the Yale Bureau of Highway
Traffic in the 1930s.
 Linear Speed-Density Relationship

• Given by Bruce Greenshields

• For estimating density and speed at capacity, slope of the

(a) Find the free-flow speed and jam density for this
relationship.
(b) Derive equations depicting the relationships
between flow and density, and speed and flow.
(c) Determine the capacity of the site mathematically
 Interrupted Flow
• The key feature of interrupted flow is the cyclical
stopping and restarting of traffic streams at traffic
signals and at STOP or YIELD signs.
• It forms groups of vehicles which move
simultaneously through the intersections
• These groups are known as “platoons”
• Characteristics of platoons can be taken similar to
uninterrupted flow
• The starting and stopping of vehicles adds complexity
in the analysis
Demand, Volume and Capacity
• Traffic Demand: The number of vehicles that desire
to pass a point or segment of a roadway in an hour,
or expressed as an hourly rate in veh/h or
persons/h.
• Traffic Volume: The number of vehicles that
actually pass a point or segment of a roadway in an
hour, or expressed as an hourly rate in veh/h or
persons/h.
• Capacity: The maximum volume (or rate of flow)
that a particular point or segment of a facility can
accommodate in veh/h or persons/h.
When Demand Exceeds Capacity
Possible Driver Actions
• Diverting to other routes
• Diverting travel to another time
• Diverting travel to a different destination
• Staying home
The true demand is the sum of volume in the field
and the above-mentioned drivers
Only volume in the field could be measured which
could be the demand if it is below or equal capacity
Relationship Between Demand
and Capacity
• 75 veh/min (or 75 × 60 = 4,500
veh/h) is exceeded by the
demand from time 30 minutes to
time 90 minutes. During this
time, the demand is 120 veh/min
(120 × 60 = 7,200 veh/h).
• After 90 minutes, the demand
falls off to 65 veh/min (65 × 60 =
3,900 veh/h).
• Q=(120 veh/min −75 veh/min
)×(90 min−30 min) =2,700 veh
• the queue can be dissipated at a
rate of 75 − 65 = 10 veh/min.
• Taking 2,700/10 = 270 minutes—
a period that starts at t = 90
minutes.
• D= 1/2 ( 90−30 ) (2,700 )+ 1/2 ( 360−90 ) ( 2,700 )
=81,000+364,500=445,500 veh-min or 445,500/60 = 7,425
vehicle-hours.
• Between 30 and 90 minutes, vehicles arrive at a rate of 120
veh/min. Thereafter, they arrive at a rate of 65 veh/min.
• Total number of arriving vehicles that are subject to delay is (60 ×
120) + (270 ×65) = 24,750 vehicles.
• The average delay per vehicle is 445,500/24,750 = 18 min/veh.
Breakdown
• A “breakdown” occurs when the volume of traffic
arriving at a point exceeds the capacity of that
point to discharge vehicles.
On-Ramps
Major Merge Points
Intersections
Volume, Demand and Capacity
Effects of Bottleneck
 Effects of Bottlenecks
• A decision is made to add a lane to Segment 3, essentially
increasing its capacity to a value larger than the demand
of 3,700 veh/h.
• Once this is done, the volume now discharged into
Segment 4 is 3,200 veh/h, more than the capacity of 3,000
veh/h.
• This second bottleneck, often referred to as a "hidden
bottleneck" was not apparent in the volume data
originally obtained.
• It was not obvious because the existing demand was
constrained from reaching the segment due to an
upstream bottleneck.
• Such a constraint is often referred to as "demand
starvation”.