KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

2023 ACADEMIC YEAR

FIRST SEMESTER

CE 367 TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES

DR. KENNETH A. TUTU

 TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES
• Traffic control devices (TCDs) are communication devices that facilitate safe and
efficient operations of roadway facilities by conveying information such as
regulations, warnings and guidance to facility users.
• TCDs include signs, pavement markings, signals and delineators.
• Traffic calming measures are treated under TCDs in this course.
• The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) (first published in
1935 in the U.S.) provides guidance on the design and location of TCDs to ensure
their message is appropriately conveyed.
• The MUTCD is free to download at https://mutcd.fhwa.dot/gov/
• The MUTCD is used in Ghana in addition to the following local manuals:
o Standard Details, Road Signs and Markings for Urban and Trunk Roads,
Ministry of Roads and Highways, Accra.
o Traffic Calming Measures: Design Guidelines, Ghana Highway Authority
• To be effective, TCDs must meet the following basic requirements:
o Fulfil a need
o Command attention (be easily detected)
o Command respect from road users
o Convey a clear, simple meaning
o Be legible at the appropriate distance
o Give adequate time for proper response

Traffic Signs
• They are categorized into regulatory, warning and guide signs:
o Regulatory signs: inform motorists of certain laws and regulations, violations of
which are punishable. They can be mandatory signs (must do) or prohibitory
signs (must not do).
 Examples of regulatory (mandatory) signs are:

 Examples of regulatory (prohibitory) signs are:

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 o Warning signs: alert drivers of hazardous conditions (actual or potential) that
would otherwise not be readily apparent, requiring drivers to reduce speed or
perform other maneuvers. Warning signs are installed at construction zones and
intersection approaches, merging areas, crosswalks, school zones, etc. Examples:

o Guide (informational) signs: provide information about direction, distances to

destinations and availability of services such as food, fuel, hotel and hospitals.
Examples are:

Pavement Markings
• They communicate the intended travel path and roadway alignment, thus providing
guidance for drivers to travel in appropriate lanes.
• Markings also provide regulatory information on turning, stopping and yielding.
• At night, markings are illuminated by headlights, road lighting, or both to provide
optical guidance on the road ahead.
• Retroreflective road markings reflect light from headlights towards the driver,
making road signs and markings appear brighter and easier to see or read.

Delineators
• They provide optical guidance around curves, particularly at night. They indicate the
road curvature ahead and can be helpful in reducing run-off-road crashes.

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Traffic Signals
These are covered under intersections (different module).

TRAFFIC CALMING
• It involves changes in roadway geometry and installation of measures to reduce traffic
speeds and/or volumes to improve safety, livability and other public interests.

• Categorization of traffic calming measures

Traffic Calming Measure Description
• Education and enforcement measures used to raise awareness of
Non-physical measures
driving behavior and calm traffic.

• Physical measures that deflect vehicle travel paths to slow traffic

to the posted speed limit.
• Vehicle deflection could be vertical or horizontal.
Speed control measures
• Examples of such measures are speed humps, speed lumps, speed
tables, raised intersections, traffic circles, chicanes, chokers,
lateral shifts, bulb-outs and median islands.

• Physical barriers that discourage or eliminate cut-through traffic.

• Cut-through traffic passes through a residential area that has
Volume control measures neither an origin nor destination point in that area.
• Examples are full- and half-street closures, median barriers and
diverters.

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Speed Control Measures (Vertical Deflection)
Speed Control
Description
Measure
• Elevated sections, with parabolic profile, placed across the roadway.
Speed humps
• Typically 3.6–4.2 m in length (direction of travel) and 75–90 mm in height.
• Similar to speed humps, but have gaps for wheels of emergency vehicles to pass
between the lumps without significant jostling or displacement.
• Passenger cars have narrower wheel tracks and are unable to pass between the
lumps. Cars are displaced vertically when they pass over the lumps.
Speed lumps
(speed cushions)

Istockphoto.com

• Shorter in length (0.3–0.6 m in direction of travel) and 150 mm in height.

• Typically used on parking lots and commercial driveways.

Speed bumps

• Flat-topped speed humps long enough for entire wheelbase of a car to rest on
top. Slope sides (ramps) are typically 1.8 m long, and flat top is typically 3 m.
• The length and extended flat top allow speed tables to provide higher speeds and
smoother rides than speed humps.
Speed tables

• They are speed tables marked and signed for pedestrian crossings.
• Their height increases visibility of pedestrians and their flat sections, if made of
textured material, increase the visibility of the crosswalks themselves.

Raised crosswalks

Orange County PWD

• They are speed tables covering the entire intersections and may have textured
crosswalks across the flat sections.
• They have ramps on all approaches.
Raised intersections

Candappa et al.

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Speed Control Measures (Horizontal Deflection)
Speed Control
Description
Measure
• Raised islands, placed in intersections, around which traffic circulates

Traffic circles

• They are changes in roadway alignments that create reverse curves.

• The shift in alignment is created by bending or angling curb lines or by means of
edge and center islands.

Lateral shifts

• They are curb extensions or edge islands that alternate from one side of the street
to the other to form S-shaped curves on otherwise straight roads.
• They are often designed as a series of lateral shifts.
Chicanes

• They are curb extensions at intersections that reduce roadway width from curb to
curb. They slow vehicle turning speeds, shorten pedestrian crossing distances and
increase pedestrian visibility.
Bulb-outs

• They are curb extensions or edge islands at midblock locations which narrow a
street at that location. They can also be installed at a midblock crosswalk to
shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians and provide a pedestrian waiting area.

Chokers

• They are typically included in a striped median and can also be used intermittently
to narrow roads, where pedestrians can cross without a signal or stop control.

Median islands

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Traffic Volume Control Measures
Volume Control
Description
Measure
• Roadway is closed to through traffic, preventing vehicles from continuing beyond
the closure. Full-closures can be designed to allow bicycles and pedestrians to pass
through.

Full-closures

• One side of the roadway is closed to through traffic.

• Design strategies include designing the curb extension or edge island to extend
more than a car length along the roadway, so that motorists traveling the wrong
way through the half-closure do so for an uncomfortable distance.
Half-closures

• They are raised islands located at an intersection, along the centerline of a

roadway, preventing motorists from traveling through the intersection from a side
street, while openings may be provided for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Median barriers

• They are median barriers placed diagonally across an intersection to prevent

vehicles approaching from either roadway to continue straight through the
intersection.
• Breaks in the diverter can provide access for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Diagonal diverters