CIVENG 4TA4 Traffic Analysis

Lecture 2

Traffic Flow Theory:

Key Variables of Uninterrupted Traffic

Mohamed Hussein, PhD, P.Eng

Intended Learning Outcomes

❑ By the end of today’s lecture, you are expected to learn:

❖ The role of Traffic flow theory in Transportation Engineering

❖ The definition of interrupted and uninterrupted traffic

❖ The key variables of uninterrupted traffic and their characteristics

2
The Role of Traffic Flow Theory in Transportation

❑ The life cycle of any transportation facility (such as a highway or a

signalized intersection) involves five main phases:
❖ Planning
❖ Designing
❖ Building
❖ Operating
❖ Maintaining

❑ Traffic flow theory relates primarily to the operating phase, but its tools
and methods are used throughout the five phases

3
The Role of Traffic Flow Theory in Transportation (Continued)

❑ Traffic flow theory is concerned with the capacity and the operational
quality of transportation facilities.

❑ Traffic flow theory helps engineers to answer several questions of interest, such as:

❖ Can a specific highway handle the traffic demand under the prevailing
conditions or changes are needed?

❖ What would be the operating speed of a given facility if traffic increases

by 15 % in the next 3 years?

❖ Can a signalized intersection operations improved with a change in

signal timings, or are geometric design changes needed?

4
Uninterrupted and interrupted Traffic

❑ Traffic can be classified into two main categories:

❖ Uninterrupted traffic:
o Traffic is not interrupted by any external interruptions
(such as traffic control devices)
o Any Impediment to traffic results from other vehicles on
the traffic stream only
o Mainly expected on basic freeway segments and
portions of highways

❖ Interrupted traffic:
o Traffic is interrupted by external interruptions
o Mainly found in urban environments
5
Key variables of Uninterrupted Traffic

❑ Part I of the course focuses mainly on uninterrupted traffic. The

interrupted traffic will be addressed in detail in Part III

❑ In order to understand the characteristics of uninterrupted traffic, we need

to understand 5 key parameters that are typically used to describe traffic:

❖ Flow

❖ Speed

❖ Density

❖ Spacing

❖ Headway

6
1) Traffic Volume and Flow Rate

❑ Traffic volume is defined as Number of vehicles (N) that pass a certain

section, in a given lane or direction, during a specific period of time (T)

❑ Traffic volume can be measured over any period of time. For example:
❖ Volume = 200 vehicles per 15 minutes
❖ Volume = 900 vehicles per hours
❖ Volume = 10000 vehicles per day

Roadway

A 7
1) Traffic Volume and Flow Rate (Continued)

❑ Flow rate (q) = Rate of vehicles passing a certain point (expressed in

vehicle per hour or vehicle per hour per lane)

𝑁 (𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠)
❑ For an observer at Section (A): 𝑞 =
𝑇(ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠)

❑ For example If the traffic volume at section A was measured to be 200

vehicles in a 15-minute period, the flow rate q can be calculated as
follows:
q = [200 / 0.25 h] = 800 vehicle per hour

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1) Traffic volume and Flow Rate (Continued)

❑ The maximum hourly flow rate that can pass through a specific section of
a highway is referred to as Highway Capacity

❑ I.e., if the capacity of a given highway is 1800 veh/h/lane, this means that
each lane in this highway can accommodate up to 1800 vehicles per hour

Roadway

A
9
2) Time Headway (Headway)

❑ Headway (h) = The temporal separation between two consecutive vehicles

as they pass a certain point on a highway

Roadway
t = t1

Roadway
t = t2

h = t2 – t1
10
Example 1

❑ An observer at section (A) observed the traffic for 20 seconds. The table
below presents time stamp at which vehicles pass through section (A)
during the observation period

Roadway

A
Vehicle # Time passing section A (seconds)
1 1.62
2 6.16
3 8.60
4 13.07
5 15.77
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Example 1

❑ hi = ti – ti-1

Vehicle # Time passing section A (seconds) Headway (seconds)

1 1.62
2 6.16
3 8.60
4 13.07
5 15.77
h1-2 = 6.16 - 1.62 = 4.54
h2-3 = 8.60 - 6.16 = 2.44
h3-4 = 13.07 – 8.60 = 4.47
h4-5 = 15.77 – 13.07 = 2.70
∑hi = 14.15

❑ Incomplete headway due to the first vehicle = 1.62 seconds

❑ Incomplete headway due to the last vehicle = 20 - 15.77 = 4.23 seconds

❑ Total incomplete headways due to the first & the last vehicles = 1.62 +
4.23 = 5.85 seconds
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Relationship between Headway and Flow

❑ For long observation periods, the error due to incomplete headways of the
first and last vehicles can be ignored. Hence,

𝑇 = ෍ ℎ𝑖
𝑖=1

❑ Average headway (hav) during the observation period (T):

σ ℎ𝑖 𝑇
ℎ𝑎𝑣 = =
𝑁 𝑁

❑ Recall that the flow (q) = N/T, Then:

1
𝑞=
ℎ𝑎𝑣
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Example 2

❑ If the average headway on an urban highway during the peak hour is 2.4
seconds. What is the average hourly flow rate of that highway?

1
𝑞=
ℎ𝑎𝑣

3600 (𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟)

𝑞= = 1500 𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟 (𝑣𝑝ℎ)
2.4 (𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒)

𝟑𝟔𝟎𝟎
𝒒(𝒗𝒑𝒉) =
𝒉𝒂𝒗 (𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒔)

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3) Density

❑ Density (K): defined as the concentration of vehicles on a roadway at a

specific time instant. In other terms, density is the number of vehicles (N)
per length of the roadway (L) at a specific instant of time (usually
expressed in veh/km or veh/km/lane)

𝑁
❑ At specific instant of time: 𝐾 =
𝐿

❑ Density is considered the most difficult traffic parameter to measure

Roadway

15
4) Distance Headway (Spacing)

Spacing (S) = Distance between two consecutive vehicles in a traffic stream

at a specific instant of time, as measured from two corresponding
points on the vehicles (e.g. front bumpers)

Roadway
t = ti

Spacing

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Example 3

❑ A drone image captured a 100 m stretch of a road at 9:00 AM. The table
below shows the position of the front bumper of each vehicle (measured
from the right end of the roadway section, as shown in the figure)

Xi (m)

Roadway

100 m

Vehicle # Vehicle position (Xi)

1 6.50
2 27.50
3 47.00
4 72.50
5 93.00
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Example 3

❑ Si = Xi – Xi-1

Vehicle # Vehicle position (Xi) Spacing (m)

1 6.50
2 27.50
3 47.00
4 72.50
5 93.00
S1-2 = 27.50 - 6.50 = 21.00
S2-3 = 47.00 - 27.50 = 19.50
S3-4 = 72.50 – 47.00 = 25.50
S4-5 = 93.00 – 72.50 = 20.50
∑Si = 86.50

❑ Incomplete spacing due to the first vehicle = 6.50 m

❑ Incomplete spacing due to the last vehicle = 100 - 93 = 7.00 m

❑ Total incomplete spacings due to the first & the last vehicles = 6.50 + 7.00
= 13.50 m
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Relationship between Spacing and Density

❑ For long stretches of a roadway, the error due to incomplete spacings of

the first and last vehicles can be ignored. Hence,

𝐿 = ෍ 𝑆𝑖
𝑖=1

❑ Average Spacing (Sav) within the distance (L):

σ 𝑆𝑖 𝐿
𝑆𝑎𝑣 = =
𝑁 𝑁

❑ Recall that the density (K) = N / L, Then:

1
𝐾=
𝑆𝑎𝑣
19
Example 4

❑ If the average spacing on an urban highway during the peak hour is 20 m,

what is the average density of the highway during the peak hour?

1
𝐾=
𝑆𝑎𝑣

1000 (𝑚 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑚)

𝐾= = 50 𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑚 (𝑣𝑝𝑘𝑚)
20 (𝑚 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒)

𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎
𝑲(𝒗𝒑𝒌𝒎) =
𝑺𝒂𝒗 (𝒎)

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Example 5

❑ If the average flow of a local highway is known to be 900 vph

1) What is the average headway on the highway?
2) If all vehicles are travelling at a uniform speed of 50 km/h, what is
the average vehicle spacing and the average density on the highway?

❑ Solution

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5)_ Speed

❑ Speed is defined as the distance (D) travelled during unit time (T)

❑ In a moving traffic stream, each vehicle travels at a different speed. Thus,

the traffic stream does not have a single characteristic value, but rather a
distribution of individual speeds

❑ The traffic stream is usually characterized using an average speed

❑ There are two ways to compute the average speed of a traffic stream:
❖ Time Mean Speed (TMS)
❖ Space Mean Speed (SMS)
22
Time Mean Speed (TMS)

❑ TMS is the average speed of all vehicles passing a point on a highway

over some specified time period

❑ TMS is a point measure

❑ If an observer measured the speed (vi) of each vehicle passing through a

point (A) in a period of time T, the TMS can be calculated as follows:

σ 𝑣𝑖
𝑇𝑀𝑆 =
𝑁

❑ Individual speeds observed at a point is usually known as (Spot speed)

23
Space Mean Speed (SMS)

❑ SMS is the average speed of all vehicles occupying a given section of a

highway over some specified time period

❑ SMS describes a segment of a highway, not a point (space measure)

❑ If an observer measured the travel time (ti) of each vehicle within a

distance (d), over a specific period of time, the SMS can be calculated as
follows:

𝑑
𝑆𝑀𝑆 =
σ 𝑡𝑖 /𝑁

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Can SMS Be Measured If Spot Speeds Are Known?

❑ Yes. SMS can be approximated as the harmonic mean of the speeds

observed at a point
𝑁
𝑆𝑀𝑆 =
σ 1Τ𝑣𝑖

❑ Derivation

25
Example 6

❑ Using a radar gun, a co-op student made 5 speed observations in a twenty

second period:

V1= 45 km/h, V2 = 50 km/h, V3 = 60 km/h, V4 = 55 km/h, and V5 = 40 km/h

Using these observations, determine both the TMS and the SMS

σ 𝑣𝑖 45 + 50 + 60 + 55 + 40
𝑇𝑀𝑆 = = = 50 𝑘𝑚/ℎ
𝑁 5

𝑁 5
𝑆𝑀𝑆 = = = 48.99 𝑘𝑚/ℎ
σ 1Τ𝑣𝑖 1 1 1 1 1
+ + + +
45 50 60 55 40

26
Can TMS Be Measured If Travel Time Data Are Known?

❑ Yes. An approximate value of TMS can be obtained from a series of

measured travel times over a specified distance:

σ 𝑑 Τ𝑡𝑖
𝑇𝑀𝑆 =
𝑁

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Example 7

❑ The table below shows the travel time of six vehicles that were recorded
over a distance of 1000 ft on a local highway. Based on these
observations, compute both the Time Mean Speed and the Space Mean
Speed

Vehicle Number Travel Time (s)

1 18
2 20
3 22
4 19
5 20
6 20

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Example 7

Vehicle Number Travel Time (s) Speed (ft/s)

1 18 1000/18 = 55.6
2 20 1000/20 = 50.0
3 22 1000/22 = 45.5
4 19 1000/19 = 52.6
5 20 1000/20 = 50.0
6 20 1000/20 = 50.0
Total 119 303.7

σ 𝑑Τ𝑡𝑖 303.7
𝑇𝑀𝑆 = = = 50.6 𝑓𝑡/𝑠
𝑁 6

𝑑 1000
𝑆𝑀𝑆 = = = 50.4 𝑓𝑡/𝑠
σ 𝑡𝑖 /𝑁 119/6
29
Relationship between TMS & SMS

❑ TMS is always greater than the SMS, except when all the vehicles are
travelling at the same speed

❑ Wardrop (1952) developed the following relationship between TMS and

SMS

𝜎𝑠2 𝜎𝑡2
𝑇𝑀𝑆 = 𝑆𝑀𝑆 + 𝑆𝑀𝑆 = 𝑇𝑀𝑆 −
𝑆𝑀𝑆 𝑇𝑀𝑆

Where:

𝜎𝑠2 is the variance of individual vehicle speeds around the SMS

𝜎𝑡2 is the variance of individual vehicle speeds around the TMS

30
Relationship between TMS & SMS

❑ In Example 5, we calculated the SMS to be 48.99 km/h. Let’s confirm the

Wardrop equation by using the SMS value and variance to compute the TMS

𝜎𝑠2
𝑇𝑀𝑆 = 𝑆𝑀𝑆 +
𝑆𝑀𝑆

1
𝜎𝑠2 = ෍ 𝑣𝑖 − 𝑆𝑀𝑆 2
𝑁

1
𝜎𝑠2 = 45 − 48.99 2
+ 50 − 48.99 2
+ 60 − 48.99 2
+ 55 − 48.99 2
+ 40 − 48.99 2
5

𝜎𝑠2 = 51.02

51.02 𝑘𝑚
∴ 𝑇𝑀𝑆 = 48.99 + = 50.03 ≈ 50 𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟
48.99 ℎ
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TMS & SMS (Summary)

❑ In summary, the table below shows the different equations used to

compute both TMS and SMS

Observation TMS SMS

σ 𝑣𝑖 𝑁
At a point 𝑇𝑀𝑆 = 𝑆𝑀𝑆 =
𝑁 σ 1Τ𝑣𝑖

σ 𝑑Τ𝑡𝑖 𝑑
Over a distance 𝑇𝑀𝑆 = 𝑆𝑀𝑆 =
𝑁 σ 𝑡𝑖 /𝑁

32
Example 8

❑ Consider a two-lane one-way road that is perfectly controlled. In the left

lane, fast vehicles are travelling at a uniform speed of 100 km/h. In the
right lane, slow vehicles are travelling at a uniform speed of 50 km/h.
Traffic flow in each lane is 1200 vph, and lane change is prohibited. What
are the TMS and SMS of the traffic on both lanes?

V=100 km/h
q=1200 vph

V=50 km/h
q=1200 vph

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Calculate TMS

❑ At any given observation period, an observer at point (A) will record the
same number of vehicles in the two lanes (same flow in the two lanes)

𝑛 × 100 + 𝑛 × 50
𝑇𝑀𝑆 = = 75 𝑘𝑚/ℎ
2𝑛

V=100 km/h
q=1200 vph

V=50 km/h
q=1200 vph

A
34
Calculate SMS

❑ Average headway in both lanes: h = 3600/1200 = 3 seconds

❑ Average spacing in the fast lane = 3 (s) * 100 (km/h) / 3.6 = 83.33 m

❑ Average spacing in the slow lane = 3 (s) * 50 (km/h) / 3.6 = 41.67 m

❑ As we can see, the spacing in the left lane is double the spacing in the
right lane. This means that for a large segment of the road, if the number
of vehicles in the left lane is (n), the number of vehicles in the right lane
will equal (2n). Hence,

𝑛 × 100 + 2𝑛 × 50
𝑆𝑀𝑆 = = 66.67 𝑘𝑚/ℎ
3𝑛
35
Representing Traffic Parameters on Time-Space Diagram

❑ In order to gain a deeper understanding of the traffic key parameters, it is

useful to represent the five key parameters on the Time-Space diagram

❑ The Time-Space diagram is a graphical representation of the relationship

between distance and time of vehicles on a transportation facility

❑ The Time-Space diagram reveals a lot of information regarding the traffic

characteristics

36
Vehicle Trajectory

B 90
B
80
Vehicle trajectory
70

60
Space (m)
Roadway

50

40 vi ∆x
30
∆t
20

10
A
A 0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (S)

37
Class Activity

❑ The following figures illustrate some hypothetical vehicle trajectories.

Some of them are valid and some of them are not. Discuss whether or not
these trajectories are valid and for the valid trajectories, can you describe
how vehicles move?

38
Class Activity (Continued)
Time-Space Diagram

B 90

80

70

60
Roadway

50
Space (m)

40

30

20

10

A 0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (s)

40
Flow and Headway Represented on The Time-Space Diagram
90
V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9
V10
80
V11
70

60
V12
C
Roadway

50
Space (m)

40 V13
30
V14
20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (s)

41
Density and Spacing Represented on The Time-Space Diagram
V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9
90
V10
80
V11
70

60
V12
Roadway

50
Space (m)

40 V13
30
V14
20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (s)

42
How Are The Different Traffic Parameters Measured?

❑ Different traffic sensors are used to obtain the various traffic parameters in
the field

❑ Each traffic sensor has advantages and disadvantages. Some sensors can
only capture specific traffic parameters, but not all of them

❑ In the upcoming lectures, we will learn about the different types of traffic
sensors and the data they can provide.

43
Reflection Questions

❑ Imagine at one point in the future, we reached a point where all vehicles
on our highways become Autonomous vehicles (AV). One of the many
benefits that are expected from such transition is increasing the capacity
of our roads. Based on what you have learned in Lecture 2, can you show
mathematically how are we going to achieve this objective?

❑ In this hypothetical scenario, how will the time-space diagram in slide 40

change if all vehicles become Autonomous?

44