AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF GUERRERO

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEERING

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM:

CIVIL ENGINEER
LEARNING UNIT:
FLEXIBLE FLOORING
RESEARCH No. 3
TYPES OF VEHICLE CAPACITY

VEHICLE CLASSIFICATION

TRANSIT CLASSIFICATION

Student's name:

SEMESTER: SIXTH CLUSTER: -- 700 T. M.

Teacher:

CHILPANCINGO GUERRERO, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018.

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FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEERING

Types of vehicle capacity

Firstly, in order to better understand we must take into account and analyze what vehicle
capacity refers to in accordance with the definitions, it is a sample of the volumes for the
period in which it is carried out and its objective is to quantify the number of vehicles that
pass through a point, section of a road or at an intersection. In other words, clear is the
count of vehicles that pass on a certain section of a highway or road.

From here we can specify that in order to know the behavior of any traffic flow for
counting or capacity, there are two general methods on which most of the vehicles are
based.

 Manual method
 Automatic method

Depending on finding the characteristics of the road network, the knowledge of the
behavior of the traffic flow and the uses of the data to be obtained, two types of counts are
carried out:

 Permanent counts
 Temporary counts

Manual counting method

Manual counting is one of the most common methods, but on the other hand it is not so
convenient to be used, it is responsible for obtaining attributes of the traffic flow through
personnel who carry out the vehicle count visually. This method is generally used for
special counts lasting a few hours and to check the accuracy of automatic counts. This
activity is carried out when the desired information cannot be obtained through the use of
automatic devices or when environmental conditions make its use impossible.

The manual method of counting traffic flow allows vehicles to be classified by: size, type,
number of occupants, traffic lane, direction of traffic, among other very diverse properties.
However, the manual method has disadvantages such as the cost of employing field
personnel for long periods of time, the cost of processing information, the time it takes to
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capture digital formats, and limitations due to human factors. That is why it was mentioned
that it is not so reliable to use, not because it is a bad gauging method but because its
implication in costs is very high compared to other methods.

The mechanics of this method are simple; It consists of personnel recording and storing
traffic flow information on a special form (previously established with the corresponding
vehicle classification). This form can be on paper (count sheet) or an electronic tablet that
has an application for data capture, in order to minimize processing errors.

The manual method for gauging vehicles as described is very important, but taking into
account that it has its advantages and disadvantages since the reasons were explained, but
even so it is a very common method, which is why it continues to be used. .

Automatic counting method

This method is also very common for counting or gauging vehicles and, unlike the manual
method, not much expense is invested. This automatic counting method refers to the data
collection procedure, with automatic equipment designed to continuously record the
components. of the traffic flow in an established time, which can be: minutes, hours, days,
weeks, months or years. But in order to collect this information, certain equipment is
required that must be installed at specific points within the roads that are going to be
gauged.

The attributes of the traffic flow are recorded by means of sensors (also called detectors)
that transmit the information to a recording equipment (generally located on the side of the
road), for storage and processing. The recording device can transmit the collected
information data in real time to counting centers for analysis in the office, through the help
of communication devices. Based on this information we can clarify that for automatic
capacity there are several devices to be able to count the vehicles.

Various devices are derived from automatic counting with which vehicle counting can be
done, some of which are mentioned below:

Ultrasonic sensors: transmit waves of sonic energy at a frequency between 25 and 50 kHz,
which is outside the human hearing range. Most ultrasonic sensors operate on a pulse of
waves and volume of vehicle counting, presence and lane occupancy information.
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CIVIL ENGINEERING

Technology combination sensors: combines several types of sensors to understand traffic

flow characteristics more completely than if they were operating independently.

Laser radar sensors: active sensors that transmit energy in the infrared spectrum. There is
equipment that can scan one or two lanes or use multiple beams of light to cover the desired
lanes. Laser radars detect presence, vehicle volume, speed, vehicle length, queue
measurement and classification.

Permanent traffic flow counting

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These counts, as their name specifies, are records of traffic flow information permanently
in clear words that are at a certain time without stopping counting until the established time
is met. The places where the counting devices are located are called permanent counting
stations, or master stations. These stations are placed in strategic locations throughout the
entire highway network (federal and state) in order to represent the patterns of traffic flow
behavior in an area, region, group or conglomerate of roads with similar characteristics.

Data from the master stations are used to determine the adjustment factors necessary to
estimate traffic flow parameters from temporal counts. For the installation of master
stations, the analysis of the temporal program, the need for information and control of
specific road sections must be based on. The areas where the same vehicle flow behavior
occurs must be defined, based on existing data and the activities that take place in them.
The precise location of the stations is determined by the point or points that best correlate
with the rest of them.

Temporal counting of traffic flow.

To obtain the behavior of traffic flow on a road network, continuous data collection is
necessary. However, collecting this data on all the roads that make up the network is not
feasible due to the large amount of resources required to carry out this task.

A reasonable estimation can be carried out through time counts and adjustment factors,
calculated from the master stations. Within the time counts, the weekly count is
recommended, because recreational, work and cargo trips are distributed with different
behaviors, following seasonal patterns throughout that period; Additionally, there are
special types of counts such as diaries and schedules.

The aforementioned counts are described in more detail below:

Weekly Counts: records the behavior of traffic flow for 7 continuous days. Its main
function is to calculate the Weekly Average Daily Traffic (TDPS) for a point on the road.
The place where this count is carried out is known as a weekly station.
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Daily counts: records flow behavior for at least 24 hours. In some cases this count can be
carried out for several days, in order to calculate an Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of a point
located on the road.

Hourly count: this count is responsible for recording the hourly behavior of a specific point;
Generally the duration of this record is less than 24 hours, although sometimes it may
exceed them. Its results are used to know the Hourly Traffic (TH) of a point located on the
road.

Vehicle Classification.

A vehicle classification is constituted or goes hand in hand with the vehicle capacity since
when counting the cars we must identify what class or type of vehicles circulate on the road
section in which the capacity is made, the classification is said to be It is a system that
classifies all existing vehicles into categories depending on whether they carry too many
passengers or not, in order to classify what type of cargo it is.

Cargo vehicles are subdivided by the number of axles and units, including both power and
trailer units.

To classify the vehicles, it is necessary to determine which gauging method you applied. If
we realize that if we use the manual gauging we have to see what type of vehicle it is and
write down the entire description in order to classify the vehicle and use the automatic
counting equipment. It is easier for vehicles to be classified by axles, and this is based on
an algorithm to interpret the wheelbase information and thus carry out a vehicle
classification. The specifications given by the manufacturers of the distances between the
axles of the vehicles must be considered, so it is very important to test and calibrate the
counting software algorithm in such a way that the classification established in the current
Mexican standard (NOM-) is used. 012-SCT2-2014). For this, everything must adhere to
the standards as requested by the Secretary of Communications and Transportation (SCT).

The system that has been most adopted within vehicle classification and that has been most
used by counting teams is the 13 vehicle classes, developed by “The Federal Highway
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Administration” (FHWA). But we must emphasize that these 13 classes of vehicles do not
apply within the Mexican Republic.
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FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEERING
AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF GUERRERO
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEERING
AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF GUERRERO
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEERING
 AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF GUERRERO
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEERING

Traffic classification

Daily traffic (TD).- Refers to the vehicle volume recorded in one day by a counting
station.

Average Daily Traffic (TDP). - It is the total volume during a period of time (in whole
days), greater than one day and less than one year, divided by the number of days in that
period of time.
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Weekly Average Daily Traffic (TDPS). - It is the total volume of vehicle traffic flow on a
highway during a week; It can be the average of the 7 days of a week, the average of 4
weeks in the month or the average of all the averages of each day of the week, that is, the
sum of the averages of all the Mondays of a month.

Monthly Average Daily Traffic (TDPM). - It is the average of the monthly volume of
traffic flow calculated from the average of the daily volumes of all the days that make up
the counting month. This means: there will be a PMDD for each month of the year.

Annual Average Daily Traffic (TDPA). - It is the total average volume of vehicle traffic
flow on a highway or road in a year, divided by 365 days with the purpose of representing
the traffic flow on a typical day of the year. There are two basic procedures for calculating
TDPA:

 Simple average of all days.

 Average of averages (AASHTO Method).

References

Manual to obtain traffic volumes on SCT roads.