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Traffic Engineering

Traffic Volume Studies

M.Sc. in Transportation Engineering,

Pulchowk Campus

Traffic Studies

• Why traffic studies?

• Types

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Types of Traffic Counts

• Short and Long Term

• Cordon Counts

• Screen line Counts

• Intersection Counts

• Pedestrian Counts

The methods available for traffic counts are

– Manual methods

– Combination of manual and mechanical

methods

– Mechanical methods

– Automatic devices

– Moving observer method

– Photographic methods

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Traffic Volume Study

• Traffic volume

–Definition

–Complete traffic volume study

–Objectives

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Some terms

• Volume
• Rate of flow
• Demand
• Capacity

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Daily Volumes and Use

• for highway planning and general
observations of trends

• volume projections
• AADT/AAWT/ADT/AWT

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Hourly Volume and Use

• Peak Hour Volume

• Operational analyses

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Hourly Volume and Use

DDHV = AADT * k * D

Where
DDHV – directional design hour volume (vph)
AADT – average annual daily traffic (vpd)
K – Proportion of daily traffic occurring during the peak
hour expressed as a decimal
for design purpose k often represents the proportion of
AADT occurring during the 30th highest peak hour of the
year.
D - Proportion of peak hour traffic traveling in the peak
direction expressed as a decimal.

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Sub Hourly Volumes and Rate of Flow

• The quality of traffic flow

• Rate of flow

• 15 minutes for most operational and

design analyses.

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Sub Hourly Volumes and Rate of Flow

hourly vol ume

PHF = maximum rate of flow

PHF

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Illustration of Daily Volume Parameters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
No. of Total No.
Total AWT ADT
Weekday of days Total Weekday
Monthly 5/2 4/3
Month s in in Volume
Volume (vpd (vp
Month Month (Veh)
(Veh) ) d)
(days) (days)
Jan. 22 31 425000 208000
Feb. 20 28 410000 220000
Mar. 22 31 385000 185000
Apr. 22 30 400000 200000
May 21 31 450000 215000
Jun 22 30 500000 230000
Jul 23 31 580000 260000
Aug 21 31 570000 260000
Sep 22 30 490000 205000
Oct 22 31 420000 190000
Nov 21 30 415000 200000
Dec 22 31 400000 210000
year 260 365 5445000 2583000
AAWT = ????
AADT = ????

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• Trend charts
– volume trends over period of years
– useful for planning future expansion design and regulation.
• Variation charts
– hourly, daily, seasonal variations
– help in deciding the facilities and regulation needed during
peak traffic periods.
• Traffic flow maps along the routes
– the thickness of lines representing the traffic volume to any
desired scale
– help to find the traffic volume distribution at a glance.

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• Volume flow diagram at intersections

– either drawn to a certain scale or indicating traffic volume

525
– showing details of crossing and turning traffic.
25 490 10 750

• 30th highest hourly volume (design hourly volume)

375 30

– found from the plot between hourly volume and the number
300
70
of hours in a
400

year that50the traffic volume is exceeded

450 375
25 415

– is the hourly volume that will be exceeded only 29 times in a year and all
other hourly volumes of the year will be less than this value.
585 50 670 30

750

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Arrival Vs Departure Volume

• Key issue for intersection volume studies
• General case: departure volume
• For capacity restrained intersection: arrival
volume

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A traffic engineer needs to determine the AADT on a rural road

that has the volume distribution characteristics as shown in the
table. The data collected shown below on a Tuesday during
month of Bhadra. Determine the AADT of the road

Monthly Volume Count

Data
Hourly Volume Count Data
Month ADT
Hour Volume Hour Volume
Baisakh 1350
6-7 am 294 6-7 pm 743
Daily Volume Count Data Jestha 1200
7-8 am 426 7-8 pm 706 Day of Week Volume Aashadh 1450
8-9 am 560 8-9 pm 606 Sunday 7895
Monday 10714
Shrawan 1600
9-10 am 657 9-10 pm 489
Tuesday 9722 Bhadra 1700
10-11 am 722 10-11 pm 396 Wednesday 11413 Aswin 2500
11-12 pm 667 11-12 am 360 Thursday 10714
Kartik 4100
12-1 pm 660 12-1 am 241 Friday 13125
Saturday 11539 Mangsir 4550
1-2 pm 739 1-2 am 150
Poush 3750
2-3 pm 832 2-3 am 100
Magh 2500
3-4 pm 836 3-4 am 90
Falgun 2000
4-5 pm 961 4-5 am 86
Chaitra 1750
5-6 pm 892 5-6 am 137

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Hourly Expansion Factor

Daily Expansion Factor

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Monthly Volume Count Data

Month ADT
Baisakh 1350
Jestha 1200
Aashadh 1450
Shrawan 1600
Bhadra 1700
Aswin 2500
Kartik 4100
Mangsir 4550
Poush 3750
Magh 2500
Falgun 2000
Chaitra 1750

24-hr volume for Tuesday

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Poisson distribution
– counting distribution
– no. of events X occurring in a specified counting
interval of duration T

m x e m
P(X=x) =
x!
with mean  m
and variance 2 m

If is the average rate of arrival per second

m  t

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Probability of arrival of x vehicles in any time

interval t seconds

P( x) 
t x e  t
x!

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Assignment
Problem 1:

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Problem 2:

Problem 3:

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Problem 4:
• The table below shows the volumetric data collected
at an intersection. Calculate the peak hour volume,
peak hour factor (PHF) and the actual (design) flow
rate for this approach.

Problem 5:
The following traffic count data were taken from a
permanent detector location.

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Problem 6:

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