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A

Project Report on

TIME HEADWAY DISTRIBUTION OF VEHICLES


Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
(Civil Engineering)

To

Dr. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW


Submitted By
SARIKA SINGH 1773600047
SATYANASH SINGH 1773600049
SHIVAM CHAUDHARY 1773600050
SATYAM KUMAR 1773600048

Under the Supervision of


Mr. VISHAL KUMAR
(ASSISTANT PROFESSOR)

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING


RAJKIYA ENGINEERING COLLEGE AZAMGARH 276201

i
DECLARATION
We hereby certify that the work which is being presented in the Project Report
entitled Time Headway Distribution of Vehicles in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology and submitted
in the Department of Civil Engineering, REC Azamgarh, is an authentic record of
our own work carried out during a period from August 2020 to July 2021under the
supervisions of Mr. Vishal Kumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, REC Azamgarh.

Sarika Singh-1773600047
Satyanash Singh- 1773600049
Shivam Chaudhary-1773600050
Satyam Kumar- 1773600048

This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is correct to the
best of my knowledge.

Mr. VISHAL KUMAR


(Assisstant Professor)
Department of Civil Engineering
Rajkiya Engineering College, Azamgarh

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, we would like to thanks the almighty for providing us with the strength
and courage to present this project work. We avail this opportunity to express my
sincere gratitude to our project guide Mr. Vishal Kumar, Assistant Professor,
Department of Civil Engineering for permitting us to work on the project.

Once again, we thank and express my profound gratitude to Mr. Anoop Narayan
Singh, Head of Department, Civil Engineering, Rajkiya Engineering College,
Azamgarh, for providing facilities to accomplish the project work.

We sincerely thanks to Prof. B.K. Tripathi, Director, Rajkiya Engineering


College, Azamgarh for his special help and we are also indebted to all the
teaching and non- teaching staff members of the department of Civil engineering
for their cooperation and suggestions, which is the spirit behind this report. Last
but not the least, I wish to express my sincere thanks to all my friends for their
goodwill and constructive ideas.

Sarika Singh
Satyanash Singh
Shivam Chaudhary
Satyam Kumar

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RAJKIYA ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AZAMGARH
CIVIL ENGINEERING
CERTIFICATE
Certified that the project entitled Time Headway Distribution of Vehicles
submitted by Sarika Singh (1773600047), Satyanash Singh (1773600049),
Shivam Chaudhary (1773600050), Satyam Kumar (1773600048) in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology
(Civil Engineering) of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University is a record of
students own work carried under our supervision and guidance. The project report
embodies results of original work and studies carried out by students and the contents do
not form the basis for the award of any other degree to the candidate or to anybody else.

Guide External Examiner

Mr. Vishal Kumar


Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department

Mr. Anoop Narayan Mishra Prof. B.K. Tripathi


(Assistant Professor & Head) (Director)
Civil Engineering Department. REC Azam

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Contents
Front page i
Candidate Declaration ii
Acknowledgement iii
Certificate iv
Contents v
List of Figures vi
List of Tables vii

Chapter 1
1,1Introduction 1
1.2 Literature review 2
Chapter 2
2.1 Basic Definitions 4
2.2 Methodology 5
Chapter 3
3.1 Fundamental relationships 7
3.2 Graphical Representation of Speed v/s Flow 7
3.3 Graphical Representation of Flow v/s Density 8
3.4 Graphical Representation of Speed v/s Density 9
Chapter 4
4.1 Time headway 11
4.2 Time headway Distribution 12
Chapter 5
5.1 Result 14
5.2 Conclusion 14
5.3 Scope of work 14
References 15

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List of Figures
Fig1: Flow v/s Speed Away Camera
Fig2: Flow v/s Speed Toward Camera
Fig3: Flow v/s Density toward Camera
Fig4: Flow v/s Density Away Camera
Fig5: Speed v/s Density Toward Camera
Fig6: Speed v/s Density Away Camera
Fig7: Negative Exponential Distribution of Time Headway for Toward Camera
Fig8: Negative Exponential Distribution of Time Headway for Toward Camera

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List of Tables
Table1: Speed Calculation
Table2: Flow Calculation
Table3: Density Calculation
Table4: Time Headway Calculation

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ABSTRACT

Studies on a speed and time headway distributions of road traffic are important as the
statistics provide a deeper insight into the combination behavior of vehicles and drivers
& flow of vehicles which have important applications in the capacity estimation, Level
of Service analysis, safety analysis, in several context. An analysis of time headway
and speed of vehicles were calculated on the basis of data collected from four two-lane
bidirectional roads in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India by recording technique.

The paper intends to study time headway distribution of vehicles for the mixed flow
and for different leader-follower vehicle pairs on the basis of low traffic flow levels.
Additionally, speed, flow & density data was also calculated in mixed traffic condition
and speed & flow analysis is performed to identify relation between them. The results
of this paper can find direct relations between basic traffic parameters and headway
distributions for a typical kind of road.

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CHAPTER 1
Introduction
In India (developing country) highly heterogeneous traffic conditions is obtained.
Vehicles have different physical dimensions, axle configurations, weight, power-to-
weight ratio and other dynamic characteristics like breaking power, acceleration, etc.
Due to these characteristics, vehicles do not follow the lane discipline, and occupy any
lateral position along the entire width of the roadway without considering lane
markings. Studies on a speed and time headway distributions of road traffic are
important as the statistics provide a deeper insight into the combination behavior of
vehicles and drivers & flow of vehicles which have important applications in the
capacity estimation, Level of Service analysis, safety analysis, in several context. Time
headway is defined as the difference between the time of any two successive vehicles
when they cross a given cross section of roads.
Study of time headway distribution is key in many traffic applications like capacity and
level of service analysis in several contexts (road segments, priority junctions,
roundabouts, merging maneuvers, etc.). Knowledge of headway distributions plays a
key role in several fields in like traffic flow analysis and simulation. Time headway
between any two successive vehicles is taken into account as an important parameter
affecting capacity, safety, delay, driver behavior and level of service of a transportation
system.
Speed is one of the important fundamental parameters to explain the performance of any
roadway system. Knowledge of speed is extremely important and essential in traffic
engineering as development of a decent transportation is totally obsessed with it. It
plays important role in many areas, ranging from geometric design of road, accident
studies, regulation and control of traffic operations, ascertaining travel time period,
determining capacity, delay and queue analysis, level of service analysis etc. Speed
distribution is important to fix a proper posted speed limit in order to facilitate safe and
efficient movement of drivers.
Methods of research and interpretation allow us to specify, estimate and validate
models, for predicting driver behavior (particularly gap-acceptance behavior) in regards
to several traffic and geometric contexts. Our attention focused on roads near by area
REC Azamgarh, with data from videography and radar sensors. Statistical analysis of
those data allowed us to check the headway distribution model, with their fitness with
according to empirical distributions. The ultimate aim of the analysis is to make an
image of relations between basic traffic parameters and headway distributions for a
typical type of road.

1
Literature review

There is an excellent difference between high-standard and low-standard roads. The


distributions of headway on high standard roads have higher peak values and higher
coefficient of variation. That is, at a given flow level the number of small headways is
more on high-standard roads. On low-standard roads there are few indications of
probable positive autocorrelation under high flow rates. On high-standard roads the
autocorrelation is statistically significant but in very small amount to be helpful, for
example, in traffic control applications. In simulation studies and bunching models, the
stochastic structure of the arrival process should be fully considered.
Time headways maintained by vehicles under heterogeneous conditions are totally
different as compared to those under homogeneous traffic conditions. Very sizable
amount of time headway models has been developed and studied over the previous few
decades to explain the distribution of vehicle headways. This project deals with the
effect of mixed traffic on distribution of time headways of two-lane roads. Presence of
slower vehicles in such traffic results in frequent formation of platoons, thereby,
increases the risk-taking behavior of drivers’ while overtaking. As a result, the ratio of
shorter headways increases leading to highly skewed observations.
The actual distribution of time headways somewhere lies in between negative
exponential and normal distribution. Cowan (1975) takes time headway as a summation
of two components, the tracking component and therefore the free component and
accordingly gives four headway models, M1 yielding the Poisson process, M2 the
shifted exponential distribution, M3 the mixed and exponential distribution, and M4 a
generalized M3 distributions.

However, most of the previous research on headways focuses more about mixed
vehicular flow but ignores the effect of specific type of vehicle on the traffic stream.
Performance and safety of traffic system is tormented by the presence of trucks & heavy
vehicles due to their physical and operational characteristics. Different car-following
and lane-changing behaviors is seen in different vehicles types while following other
vehicles that will result in different headway characteristics

The basic properties of vehicle time headways are fundamental in many traffic
engineering applications. The shape of the experimental headway distributions is
described by different properties like density estimates, coefficient of variation,
skewness, and kurtosis. The results of exponential tail are tested by Monte Carlo
methods. The independence of successive headways is performed using autocorrelation
analysis, run test, and goodness of fit tests for geometric bunch size distribution. The
facility of those tests will enhance by calculating combined significance probabilities.
The variation of significance over flow rates is described by “moving probabilities.” It
is shown the speed limit and road categories have a substantial effect on the statistical
properties of vehicle headway.

2
Chapter2
Basic Definitions

2.1.1 Macroscopic Study:


Macroscopic Study considers the composite behavior of traffic parameters. During this
all vehicles consider together for analysis.

2.1.2 Microscopic Study:


Microscopic Study considers the individual vehicle behavior in traffic parameters.
During this individual vehicle consider for analysis.

2.1.3 Speed:
Distance travel per unit time is understood as speed. It’s a macro in addition as micro
property of traffic. Two type of speed is calculated in traffic like time mean speed &
space mean speed.
2.1.4 Flow:
Traffic flow is that the study of interactions between travelers (including pedestrians,
cyclists, drivers, and their vehicles) and infrastructure (including highways, signage, and
control devices), with the aim of understanding and developing an optimized transport
facility with smooth movement of traffic and minimum traffic hold up
(congestion) problems. It’s measured as vehicle per hour. It’s the overall number of
vehicles passing through a given section in an exceedingly given time.

2.1.5 Density:
Traffic density could be a measure of the quantity of vehicles on the roads per unit
length. It’s measure as vehicles/km.

2.1.6 Time headway:


Time headway is defined as the time difference between any two successive vehicles
when they cross a given point. Practically, it involves the measurement of time between
the passage of one rear bumper and the next past a given point.

.2.1.7 Congestion:
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds,
longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. As demand approaches the capacity
of a road (or of the intersections along the road), extreme traffic congestion sets in.
When vehicles are fully stopped for periods of time, this is known as a traffic jam or
(informally) a traffic snarl-up. Traffic congestion can lead to drivers becoming
frustrated and engaging in road rage.

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2.1.8 PCU/PCE:
Passenger Car Equivalent (PCE) or Passenger Car Unit (PCU) is Equivalent numbers of
cars replaced by one vehicle when it is introduced in the stream, so that overall flow,
speed & density will remain similar.

2.1.9 Capacity of the section:


Maximum Flow that can be accommodated in the section is described as capacity of the
section. Any further increase in density will result in flow breakdown.

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Site Selection


Site is selected near REC Azamgarh which is a two-lane, two-way roads. The site is
chosen such that it is free from any side hindrance such as parking lot, gradient, bus
stop, intersection etc. A section is marked on the road or use software for section
marking is done.

2.2.2 Data Collection


Data collection is done on a two-lane, two-way roads near REC Azamgarh in Uttar
Pradesh. Video recording technique is used for collecting data, the data is collected in
which included both morning and evening peak and off-peak hours. Section width (in
the direction of roads) is collected.

2.2.3 Speed data collection


In order to collect the data following procedure is done.
 Analyze the video for the taken section (that is marked virtually).
 Select the time interval for each minute.
 Next step is repeated for towards camera & away camera.
 Note accurately frame by frame the time(t1) when front bumper of vehicle hit the first
section mark.
 Note accurately frame by frame the time (t2) when front bumper of vehicle hit the
second section mark.
 Calculate the difference between time (t2-t1).
 Divide the section width (in the direction of the roads) with the time difference and
collect the data.
 This data is known as speed of that individual vehicles.
 Calculate the data for each and take the average of the speed for a certain time
interval.

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Table 1 (Speed Calculation)

2.2.4 Flow & density data collection:


In order to collect the data for the Flow & Density following procedure to be followed.
 Select a section mark and count the vehicle for time interval
 Note the number of vehicles per time interval. This is the flow data.
 Density is calculated by using the formula;

Flow = Speed * Density


Or, Density = Flow / Density

Now by using these data sets we are going to create a graph between Flow/ Density, Density v/s
Speed, Flow v/s Speed. Using this we can calculate the capacity of the section. Capacity is
known as a maximum flow that can be accommodated in the section. Any further increase in
density will result in flow breakdown.

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Table 2 (Flow Calculation)

Table 3 (Density Calculation)

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Chapter 3
Fundamental Relationships
3.1 Graphical Representation of Flow v/s Speed

Flow v/s Speed Away Camera


100

90

80

70
Speed (km/hr)

60

50
Series1
40 y = 0.2704x + 30.782 Linear (Series1)
R² = 0.0028
30

20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20
Flow (pcu/min)

Fig:1 Flow v/s Speed Away Camera

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Flow v/s Speed toward camera
90

80

70

60
Speed (veh/km)

50

40 Series1

y = 0.6383x + 24.523 Linear (Series1)


30 R² = 0.0106

20

10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Flow (PCU/MIN)

Fig:2 Flow v/s Speed toward camera

3.2 Graphical Representation of Flow v/s Density

Flow v/s Density Toward Camera


35

30

25 y = 2.1435x + 1.8214
Density ( veh/km)

R² = 0.4765
20

Series2
15
Linear (Series2)
10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Flow (pcu/min)

Fig:3 Flow v/s Density Toward Camera

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Flow v/s Density away camera
100

90

80

70

60
Density (veh/km)

y = 3.1306x - 2.4504
R² = 0.6583
50
Series2
40 Linear (Series2)

30

20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20
-10
Flow ( pcu/min)

Fig:4 Flow v/s Density away camera

3.3 Graphical Representation of Speed v/s Density

Speed v/s Density toward camera


40

35

30

25
Density ( veh/hr)

20 Series1
Linear (Series1)
15
Expon. (Series1)
10

5
y = 14.442e-0.026x
0 R² = 0.2069
0 20 40 y = -0.2076x
60 + 15.066
80 100
R² = 0.1722
-5
Speed (km/hr)

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Fig:5 Speed v/s Density toward camera

Speed v/s Density away camera


100

80

60
density (veh/km)

Series1
40
Linear (Series1)
Linear (Series1)
20

0
y = -0.2756x + 19.115
0 20 40 60
R² = 0.1343 80 100

-20
Speed(km/hr)

Fig:6 Speed v/s Density away camera

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Chapter 4
Time Headway
4.1 Time Headway:
 Time headway is calculated as a time deference between any two successive vehicles
when they crossed the marked (virtually) point
 It involves the measurement of time between the passage of one rear bumper and the
next past a given point. If all headways h in time period, t, over which flow has been
measured are added

∑ hi = t

 But the flow is defined as the number of vehicles measured in time interval nt, that is,
 where hav is the average headway. Thus, average headway is the inverse of flow. Time
headway is often referred to as simply the headway.

Table 4 (Time Headway Calculation)

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4.2 Time headway Distribution
Vehicle arrivals can be modelled in two inter-related ways; namely modelling what is
the time interval between the successive arrival of vehicles or modelling how many
vehicles arrive in a given interval of time.
Here we are distributing based on time interval between two consecutive arrivals of
vehicles. The random variables the time denoting interval between successive arrival of
vehicle is a positive real value and hence some suitable continuous distribution can be
used to model the vehicle arrival.

The inter-arrival time or the time headway is not constant due to the stochastic nature of
vehicle arrival. A common way of modeling to treat the inter-arrival time or the time
headway as a random variable and use some mathematical distributions to model them.
The behavior of vehicle arrival is different at different flow condition. It may be
possible that different distributions may work better at different flow conditions.
Based on the literature review here we are attempting a negative exponential
distribution which is mainly used for low flow data. Our data is up to 300 vehicles/hour
which is categorized as a low flow data.

negative exponential distribution of time headway


Toward camera
1.60

1.40

1.20

1.00
F(t)

0.80 lamda.5

0.60 lamda1
lamda1.5
0.40

0.20

0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time Headway

Fig7: Negative exponential distribution of time headway for toward camera

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-ve exponential distribution of time headway away
camera
1.60

1.40

1.20

1.00
f(t)

0.80 lamda0.5
lamda1
0.60
lamda1.5

0.40

0.20

0.00
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0
Time headway (t)

Fig8: Negative exponential distribution of time headway for away camera

Fig9: Weibull distribution Probabiltiy Distribution function toward camer

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Chapter 5

Result & Conclusion

5.1 Result
Here we get a low traffic flow due to this low traffic flow condition, low risk-taking
ability of driver population increases the safety of drivers. Due to mix traffic, speed of
the drivers is varying. Some are travelling with their desired speed and some are
travelling with low speed. Developing a mathematical model is important to understand
the traffic modeling and simulation.
Here presented data of headway modeling is not captures the mixed traffic
characteristics. Studies shows that variation of flow data play a significant role for
choosing the distribution technique. Here attempted data is negative exponential
distribution which is fit for the low flow data.
With the increase of speed, density is going to lower indicated that vehicle movement is
less so no congestion occurred in the present scenario of roads. It is found that in low
flow, vehicles also maintain a large time headway for more time.

5.2 Conclusion
For different type of flow different type of distribution is needed. In this study we found
that there is no need of expansion of road width. Low flow also helps to reduce the risk
of accidents with interaction to each other. Drivers maintain high headway in case of
low flow. Some times even if a chance of overtaking is high but less drivers take
overtake in case of low flow. Different method of statistical computation is needed to
understand the proper traffic behavior.

5.3 Scope of Work


Our works will help in finding out various type of distribution of time headway and
further check and compare various data so that we can make our understanding about
traffic clear and safe. Just like headway distribution someone can also find the speed,
flow & density distribution which also helps us better to understand the traffic

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References
 Akhilesh Kumar Maurya, (2016). Study on Speed and Time Headway Distribution on
Two-lane Bidirectional Road in Heterogeneous Traffic Condition. Procedia:
transportation research, Elseveir Science, 17, 428-437
 Ali S. Al-Ghamdi, Analysis of Time Headways on Urban Roads: Case Study from
Riyadh, Journal of Transportation Engineering: Journal of the American Society of
Civil Engineering, ASCE,x 2001.
 Dr. V. Thamizh Arasan and R. Z. Koshy, Headway Distribution of Heterogeneous
Traffic on Urban Arterials, IE (I) Journal-CV, Vol. 84, 2003.
 Jinhwan J., (2011). Modeling of Time Headway Distribution on Suburban Arterial:
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247.
 Luttinen, R.T., Statistical properties of vehicle time headways, Transportation
Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No.1365, TRB,
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 Rupali Roy, & Pritam Saha, (2018). Headway distribution models of two-lane roads
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 Serge P. Hoogendoorn and Piet H. L. Bovy, New Estimation Technique for Vehicle-
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Washington D.C. 1998

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