Dwayne Wafford
English 102
Visualize commuting to and from two relatively small cities in South East Central
Alabama on the highway each day. Good ole low-stress roads and simple driving, right? Now
imagine driving to work daily in a major U.S. city. Two common thoughts that would spring to
mind would be that of traffic jams and tension. However, what if it is told that the highway
between Macon and Lee Counties are just as bad traffic wise compared to city roads in
Birmingham Alabama? This may seem like an improbable notion to outsiders, but locals,
students, and travelers are subjected to standstill jams and aggressive drivers on highways. Often
there is no way out of any bottleneck traffic legally on Interstate 85 east mile 21-29 without
formal retribution from state troopers. What to do in cases where people need to continue
driving? This problem needs to be addressed now. This persuasive research project is addressed
to The Alabama Department of Transportation, Alabama residents, and other agencies. I will
provide you with some problems and necessary resolutions based on my research so that you
may act. The goal is to allow a freer flowing stream of traffic and lesser stressed people on the
interstate. Although there will always be issues on the highway, a more relaxed flow is optimal
and conducive for a productive economy.
The most noticeable dilemma along our latitudinal road coordinates is an increase in
the volume of traffic over the decades. This volume increase may be due to a host of factors
such as economic growth of cities, greater accessibility in vehicle ownership, or a simple part of
overall global population growth. The picture below displays the statistical upheaval from two
decades prior in Lee and Montgomery Counties.
250,000
201,000 205,000 199,000
200,000 187,000
150,000
Population
100,000
63000
53000
42,000
50,000 33,000
0
1990 2000 2010 2018
Auburn 33,000 42,000 53,000 63,000
Montgomery 187,000 201,000 205,000 199,000
Date
Notice a mean net increase of around 20,000 in growth between the two
([Link] figure 1). That is a lot of people, enough to inhabit a small city.
More volume brings forth more road density. It is commonplace knowledge that a portion of
these booms is from out of state and out of town students attending college. However, traffic
does not seemingly get better in the summer months, but we will save this discussion for later in
the paper. What causes a denser roadway and what damages do they bring about? Besides the
statistical increase in population growth, there is GPS data on smartphone devices suggesting to
people the fastest routes for shorter timed trips (Downs 3-4). In turn, combinations use the same
routes and congestion happen. This congestion is due to a term known as triple convergence.
Denser highways often produce what is referred to as a phantom traffic jam. These stoppages are
the result of occurrences you can not visualize from your car but usually happen when someone
far off quickly merges or slows causing a reactionary stoppage from that point backward toward
you (Lewis 1). With the halt in traffic, the flow rate of this stream of traffic is sabotaged, and
people get a setback in their time schedules. With no surprise, it is also noted that massive
vehicles increase the density (Berger and Maurer 5). The image below highlights the more the
proportion of these vehicles on the road, the accident rate (at the bottom) increases in decimal
points of tenths, hundredths, cont.- Heavy Vehicle % by Berger and Maurer
and thousandths. They did not specify why but it could have something to do with the amount of
space they take up or because of overall slower fluid mechanics of diesel motors. After all mass
times acceleration is equivalent to force and that force is generally 1800-foot pounds. It is easier
to get a car to accelerate and stop more quickly than a bulldozer. Finally, a heavier volume of
traffic produces accidents.
I will place emphasis on the most problematic. Therefore the subject matter of accidents
and their solutions come first. It is a good idea to get a rough estimate on the crash rate. To
determine the crash rate, you must multiply the total the number of crashes by a million and then
divide number by annual daily traffic by the days in a year multiplied by length in kilometers
(Othman et al. par17). In 2015 Montgomery, Macon, and Lee counties had combined crashes of
about 1600. Also, I took 1 field value’s mean average annual daily traffic of several stations on
ALDOT’s page
Southeast Region Statistics by [Link]
The crashes by the county’s interstates were not accessible so we will have to guess based on the
order of magnitude. Let us take a fourth of those crashes and plug in numbers.
400𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑠 × 106
= 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 6.5
2100𝑎𝑎𝑑𝑡 × 365 × 80𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠
Along 50 miles of our tri-county expressway, it is safe to assume there are about 5-7 crashes per
million vehicle kilometers and 9-11 per million vehicle miles. Now compare this estimate raw
data from on the crash rate in the state of Georgia provided by Georgia Highway Safety.
Crashes/Injuries/Fatalities by [Link]
The crash rate for the entire state in 2015 is 3.26 per one million miles. That is about 7-10 per 1.6
million kilometers, roughly like the rate in the small expressway of the tri-county area in
Alabama. A common recurring theme found on researching jams and accidents is that they are
quite susceptible to reductions in speed. More on jams a little later. A decrease of speed by 30
km/h diminished injury accidents every four years by 21.3% (Berger and Maurer 6). So that is 18
miles per hour less than the average speed of 70. You need to take measures of at least testing a
speed limit of 52 mph and re-check your statistics and compare the two.
There is an influence of the type, number, steepness, curvature, and width of motorway
lanes that impacts accidents. What you need to know on the number and width of the lanes is less
is good for the prevention of accidents. It was found that four lanes were associated with more
road crashes than 2+1 roads (Othman et al. figure 7-8) 2+1 lanes are two lanes that transition to
one on some Swedish roadways. However, another study found that three-lane roads decrease
the injury accidents by about 10% although the width was not noted (Berger and Maurer 6).
ALDOT, you need to shrink your carriageway’s width down to 5.8 meters if you have not
already done so. If you do happen to expand a lane, keep the overall width low also.
Onwards to curvatures, it was found that left curves with 1,000-meter radii efficiently
curbed lane changing accident rates and right curves with 0.7 km radii had the most accidents.
That is quite larger than 5.8 meters in width. They specified that they measured the entirety of
the two roads, so it is assumed they measured the radius within the high curvature.
Path Radius by Federal Highway Administration
Second, the elevations on these curves must be leveled correctly or else forces make cars sway
causing potential severe injuries. Super elevations kept at 3% noticeably lowered crashes
(Othman et al. figure 13). These elevations are made at a slant that often rises in height on the
edge to create centripetal force to keep you centered on the road and to prevent the centrifugal
force from sliding you off the outer edges of the road . Super Elevation by [Link]
Now there will be limitations on this topic because of the limit in the number of curves and the
high expense for constructing new roads. Therefore, a less expensive and more feasible solution
would be to create a circular mono lane one-way backroad with four left angular curves and
banked at 2-4% super elevation. This one-way one lane road should connect at least two counties
with at least 2 other exits in between.
To conclude with curves and elevations, ALDOT, be sure to ensure 3% super elevations on all
your curves on I-85 between Macon and Lee County in the nearest future of your construction
plans.
Finally, here are some causes and solutions to flow rate issues and congestion. Earlier on
in the paper it is mentioned that congestion does not outwardly get better in the summer months
around the time most students head home. What gives? A lot of transplants migrate here and
other low-dense parts of the south for cheaper living (Downs 5). This is of no surprise to anyone
native to Alabama. This is probably the major root of our highway jams and this is not your fault,
ALDOT, but as public officials, you need to recognize this and act accordingly on our behalf.
Another thing causing jams is bottleneck traffic, where there is a reduced number of lanes caused
by a minor accident on the expressway (Varaiya 4).
Phantom traffic jams were explained earlier in the paper. Here’s how to reduce it.
A medium dense roadway increases the number of vehicles passing at a time, also called flow
rate (Lewis 7). Once the dense lanes shift from medium to high or low, the flow rate stifles.
Relationship Quadratic by Hazel Lewis
Again, a gradual cut in speed greatly impacts flow rate as the above image displays. Speed
reductions intensify traffic density which heightens traffic flow.
With all the city slickers inundating us hillbillies I think it is time for you, ALDOT, to
return them the favor by providing them with a home luxury they have grown to love and
cherish- ramp metering. A ramp meter is a device usually light, to control traffic (Varaiya 4).
Immerse meters throughout this 80 km section of interstate to dissuade them from using this
territory altogether. Now to us locals and the public officials licensing us to drive, some of you
are awful drivers, if not the worst. Where specifically in Alabama do you need to be by driving
20 to 30 plus mph over the speed limit? If it is a cow that needs to be milked or some propane
you need to purchase, it can wait. Abide by roadway laws and maybe out of towners will too. Do
not speed over the limit up on someone’s bumper in the right lane. How bright does that seem?
The establishment at the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicle needs to replace the current
driver’s test. Set in place more rigor and accountability to ensure a safer and possibly a freer
flowing Alabama road system.
Works Cited
Auburn, Alabama Population 2019.” Auburn, Alabama Population 2019 (Demographics, Maps,
Graphs), [Link]/us-cities/auburn-al-population/.
Berger, W., and Peter Maurer. "Emergency bays versus emergency lanes on motorways–A cost
benefit analysis." Traffic Safety on Two Continents–10th International Conference, Mälmo. Vol.
9. 1999. P.7 P.8
Downs, Anthony. “Traffic: Why It's Getting Worse, What Government Can
Do.” Brookings, Brookings, 3 July 2018, [Link]/research/traffic-why-its-getting-
worse-what-government-can-do/
Drive Safe Alabama, [Link]
[Link] Accessed, 1 May 2019
Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, [Link]
crashes/injuries/fatalities/ Accessed, 1 May 2019
Lewis, Hazel. “Motorway Mathematics.” Maths Careers, 16 Aug. 2016,
[Link]/article/motorway-mathematics/
Othman, Sarbaz, Robert Thomson, and Gunnar Lannér. "Identifying critical road geometry
parameters affecting crash rate and crash type." Annals of Advances in Automotive
Medicine/Annual Scientific Conference. Vol. 53. Association for the Advancement of
Automotive Medicine, 2009.
[Link]., [Link] Accessed,
1 May. 2019
TechAlive, [Link] Accessed, 1 May
1, 2019
Varaiya, Pravin. "What we've learned about highway congestion." (2005): 2-9.
