Modelling congestion along urban corridors in Thiruvananthapuram city using

Acceleration noise
Sethulekshmi V. S. Dr. Ashalatha R. Midhun Babu N. T.
M. Tech. Student Associate Professor Former B. Tech. Student
College of Engineering College of Engineering College of Engineering
Trivandrum Trivandrum Trivandrum
sethu.cet@gmail.com ashu.cet@gmail.com ntmidhun.cet@gmail.com

Abstract
Congestion is a situation in which demand for road
space exceeds supply. It is affected by various factors like
roadway parameters, driver influence, vehicular
characteristics etc. Quantifying congestion is an important
step towards identifying the factors which contribute
towards congestion and their extent. For congestion
modelling, acceleration noise has been highlighted as a
critical variable by most researchers. The main advantage
of using acceleration noise as the critical variable is that
it facilitates in the quantification of congestion within a
limited period of analysis, as acceleration noise (AN) may
be correlated with net acceleration over the period. A
model is developed for predicting the congestion along
roads in Thiruvananthapuram city based on the value
acceleration noise by relating it with traffic composition
and carriageway width of road. Based on the model
developed, congestion index in terms of acceleration noise
all roads in Thiruvananthapuram city are determined and
displayed on a GIS map. An attempt is also made to
develop Passenger Car Unit (PCU) using acceleration
noise.
road. A journey at a steady speed will have a low value of
AN, a journey involving a considerable amount of stop-
start driving with other periods of high-speed travel will
have a large value of the AN index. AN is given in
equation 1:
1 n
v 2i

AN 2
 (1)
Tr i 1  ti
where ∆t is the time interval taken for a speed change ∆
and Tr is the running time, which is the difference between
actual travel time and the stopped time. Running Time is
the time period when the vehicle is in motion.
For collecting speed data and its variation for each
vehicle type, Global Positioning System (GPS). Data on
position and speed collected at one-second intervals can be
obtained by GPS.
The Passenger Car Unit of a vehicle type has been
found to depend upon the size and speed of the vehicle,
type and kind of road environment (eg. rural road, urban
street, roundabout, traffic signal). Acceleration noise can
be used as an effective tool to determine PCU of a vehicle
as both are indicators of turbulence in the traffic stream.

1. Introduction 1.1 Objectives

Congestion is a condition at which speed of a vehicle is The following are the objectives set for this study
influenced by other vehicles in the traffic stream. It is a 1. To plot speed- distance and time-distance of 5
condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, different vehicle types (Old technology car, new
and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, technology car, bus, three- wheeler and two-
and increased vehicular queuing. Traffic congestion wheeler) along selected stretches of
occurs when the volume of traffic that is generated Thiruvananthapuram city.
demands for space greater than the available road 2. To determine the effect of driver characteristics
capacity. Determination of speed of individual vehicles on the speed profile of vehicle and to determine
over a period of time can help in determining speed variation of congestion before and after widening
variation and other associated parameters like acceleration of road.
noise, mean velocity gradient etc; which can be linked to 3. To model congestion relating acceleration noise
congestion. with traffic composition and width of
AN is a parameter derived from the acceleration pattern carriageway width.
contained within the speed-time profile for the journey. It
may be seen as a measure of the amount of acceleration
and deceleration used by a driver when travelling along a

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 4. To predict the level of congestion along all major
roads in Thiruvananthapuram city and to display
it on a GIS map.
5. To determine PCU of different vehicles using
acceleration noise.
2. Review of literature
The growth of traffic congestion on many streets and
highways is a major concern to travellers, administrators,
merchants, developers, and the community at large. Its
detrimental impacts in terms of longer journey times,
higher fuel consumption, increased emissions of air
pollutants; greater transport and other affected costs are
increasingly recognized and felt across the country. The
congestion reflected in travel times, rates, and delays that
are acceptable to travellers can vary by city size, location
in the urban (or rural) area, and time of day or year
(Lomax and Levinson 1996).
The speed variation is an effective measure for the
quantification of congestion. At lower volume the
variation of speed is less due to fewer interactions between
the vehicles. As the volume increases the interactions
between the vehicles built up and there is a steep rise in
the variation and this happens because the driver’s
unwillingness to follow traffic. On further increase in
traffic driver is forced to follow the traffic and thus
variation decreases (Anjaneyulu and Nagaraj, 2009).
Acceleration noise was considered as a performance
measure nearly half a century ago to define the driver-road
interaction. Ravishankar et.al., (2008) found that the
speeding behaviour increased acceleration noise.
Acceleration noise on roadways having worst geometric
conditions was found to be higher. Based on these
characteristics, the researchers used acceleration noise to
define the traffic flow quality or level of service. Babu and
Pattnaik, (1997) also observed that acceleration noise
increased with traffic congestion.
The higher degree of speed variation indicates poorer
quality of service, and thus, driver discomfort.
Acceleration noise has received attention as a possible
measure of traffic flow quality for two important reasons:
(i) it explains the basic elements of traffic, viz. driver,
road, and traffic interaction collectively and individually
and (ii) it is a measure of smoothness of flow in a traffic
stream, which is a good qualitative indicator through
specified quantitative ranges. (Akhilesh and Satish, 2010)
Joonho Ko (2006) found that acceleration noise
depends on traffic, roadway, and driver/vehicle. Of this
traffic was found to be the most influential factor. The
variation in acceleration noise was found to be more for
road having more number of curves, when compared to a
straight road. In case of urban areas the roadside
development was found to increase the speed variation.
The driver characteristics like his experience, physical and
2
mental state etc; were also found to affect the way in
which the driver behaved in the traffic stream and this was
found to cause variation in speed.
The global positioning system (GPS) technology, has
received much attention for transportation studies and
traffic management. Compared with conventional traffic
data collection techniques, the GPS technique is able to
provide both positioning and timing information in a
continuous manner. In the traffic surveys, the GPS
receiver will be fixed on the vehicle called the probe
vehicle. To obtain an accurate position and time data the
receiver should get information from at least four
satellites.
The GPS receiver used in this study is Smart
Antenna. NovAtel’s StarView graphical user interface
software running on a PC allows to control the receiver
and to display its outputs. The NMEA output messages
obtained from the receiver are GGA, ZDA, GLL and VTG
data.
 GGA refers to the Global Positioning system
fixed data
 ZDA refers to the Date and Time
 GLL refers to the Geographic position-
latitude/longitude
 VTG refers to the course over ground and ground
speed.(Smart Antennae user manual)
3. Data Collection and Extraction
The present study aims at quantifying the congestion
experienced along certain selected stretches of
Thiruvananthapuram city. The data required for
quantifying congestion was taken using Smart Antenna
GPS receiver which provides accurate travel time and
speed data in one second interval. Traffic and geometric
characteristics were also collected.
The routes of Thiruvananthapuram city selected for the
study are (a) Sreekaryam-Ulloor (b) Pattom –Plamood (c)
PMG-Vazhuthacaud (d) Palayam-Eastfort. Each route was
further divided into smaller sections for analysis purpose.
The data collection was done for different set of
vehicles like old engine car (Ambassdor), new generation
car (WagonR), three-wheeler, two-wheeler and bus. Smart
antenna receiver was attached to each of these vehicles so
that maximum number of satellites was always tracked.
Each vehicle was driven through all the selected routes. In
order to eliminate the driver characteristics on the speed
variation, it was ensured that the same driver drove each
vehicle type.
The GPS data was collected during the morning and
evening traffic peak hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday, which are considered typical weekdays for
traffic analysis. Traffic volume was also collected using
video recording.
4. Data Analysis
The GPS data logged in .log format was extracted in an
Excel sheet. The values position (latitude & longitude),
speed and the time of one second interval were obtained.
The time taken for the vehicle to travel along each
segment and the average velocity was computed. The
traffic congestion of each road segment was found using
acceleration noise. Congestion parameters like average
velocity, acceleration noise etc. were found out for each
type of vehicle.

4.1 Analysis of data obtained for new technology

car Figure 1 Comparison of travel time for new technology
car
The congestion parameters for New Technology car is
shown in Table 1. The total travel time in seconds
obtained along the selected routes while travelling in new
technology car during peak and off – peak hours are
shown in Figure 1.

Table 1 Congestion Parameters for new technology car

Figure 2 Combined speed – distance graphs for new

technology car (Vazhuthacaud – Vellayambalam stretch)

Figure 3 Combined distance – time graphs for new

technology car (Vazhuthacaud – Vellayambalam stretch)

Similar analyses were done for all other types of

vehicles. Acceleration noise for each stretch was
calculated. Stopped time and running time for each type of
vehicle were noted. Combined speed - distance and
distance – time plots were also drawn.

Combined distance- speed and distance- time graphs
were plotted for all five types of vehicles at free flow
conditions, off-peak and peak conditions in all stretches
(both directions). The distance – velocity and distance -
time graphs for new technology car at freeflow, offpeak
and peak combined for Vazhuthacaud – Vellayambalam
stretch is shown in Figures 2 and 3.
4.2 Effect of driver characteristics on speed
profile
The speed data along Vazhuthacaud - Vellayambalam
road stretch was taken by using a non - professional driver
and by a professional driver during peak hour. The
variations of speed with distance are plotted for both the

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cases as shown in Figure 4. The acceleration noise created
by a professional driver is 0.439 and the mean velocity is
40 to 45kmph. The acceleration noise created by a non –
professional driver is 0.586 and the mean velocity is
between 25 and 30kmph.
Figure 4 Variation in speed with change in driver
characteristics
4.3 Effect of widening of road on speed
To determine the effect of increase in width of
road on speed of vehicles, time- distance plot of new
technology car before and after widening is shown in
Figure 5. The data was collected along Pongumood -
Ulloor stretch using new technology car.
Figure 5 Distance – Time plot before and after widening
5. Modeling of congestion
The developing of model for congestion was primarily
based on considering acceleration noise as the key
parameter which indicates congestion. Proportion of
different types of vehicles and width of roads were also
considered for developing the model.
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5.1 Specific models
Two separate models were developed for four lane
divided carriageway and six lane divided carriageway.
Equation 2 gives the model for four lane divided
carriageway.
AN = 0.362 + 0.295Pcar + 0.523P2w + 0.155P3w +0.274 Pb
+0.045W (2)
The R2 value obtained for the model is 0.562.
Equation 3 gives the model for six lane divided
carriageway.
AN = 0.268 + 0.346Pcar + 0.285P2w + 0.544P3w +0.532 Pb
+0.137W (3)
The R2 value obtained for the model is 0.723.
where,
AN is the Acceleration Noise
Pcar is the proportion of car
P2w is the proportion of two – wheeler
P3w is the proportion of three – wheeler
Pb is the proportion of bus
W is the width of the road
5.2 Generalized model
A generalised multiple linear regression model was
developed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social
Science) taking acceleration noise as independent variable
and the proportion of vehicles (car, bus, two – wheelers,
three – wheelers), the width of the road as the independent
variables. The model developed is given in Equation 4.
AN = 0.135 + 0.644Pcar + 0.018P2w + 0.518P3w +0.2315 Pb
+0.001W (4)
The R2 value obtained for the model is 0.622.
Using the generalized model the acceleration noise was
determined for various road stretches of
Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
5.3 Display in GIS
If the speed variation is represented along a road on a
map it will be more understandable to the planners and
decision makers for identifying those sections which need
immediate attention for improvement/ widening/repair.
Representing the speed ranges in different color make it
easy to identify places having more congestion. ARCGIS
software is used for representing speed variation along the
road in Thiruvananthapuram city.
Based on the generalized model developed in
equation 4, acceleration value is predicted for all roads in
Thiruvanathapuram city by inputting carriageway width distribution of a real-valued random variable. The
and composition of each vehicle type (car, bus, two- skewness between two sets of numbers is a
wheeler and three wheeler) plying along that stretch. The characterization of the degree of asymmetry of a
data required for input into the model were obtained from distribution around its mean. Figure 7 shows the plot
NATPAC report 2010. between expected frequency and observed frequency
The important links and junctions of Trivandrum distribution for car. Similar curves were drawn for all
Corporation were digitized from a base map. The variables other types of vehicles. Table 2 shows the skewness values
required to model the equation were found out and joined for different vehicles.
with attribute table of roads using the Join and Relate tool.
The congestion of each route was displayed based on
acceleration noise. According to the variation in
congestion, the roads were categorized into highly
congested, medium congested and low congested. For
stretches with acceleration noise greater than 0.5 was rated
highly congested and those with values in the range 0.4 to
0.5 was rated as medium congested and less than 0.4 as
low congested. It is represented in a GIS map as shown in
Figure 6. Figure 7 Skewness curve for new technology car

Table 2 Skewness values for different vehicles

TYPE of VEHICLE SKEWNESS

AMBASSADOR 1.40826
WAGON R 1.01707
BUS 1.78984
TWO – WHEELERS 0.95718
THREE – WHEELERS 1.53244

The PCU for different vehicle types is calculated

using the equation 5:
PCU = (5)

where,
S represents the skewness and i represent the vehicle type.
Table 3 gives the PCU values so calculated for different
vehicle types.

Table 3 PCU values determined

Figure 6 Representation of congestion severity of roads of
Thiruvananthapuram city on a GIS map. TYPE of PCU
VEHICLE
5.4 Determination of Passenger Car Unit AMBASSADOR 1.38
WAGON R 1
PCU was determined using acceleration noise. The BUS 1.76
frequency distribution of acceleration noise is expected to TWO – 0.94
follow a normal distribution if the vehicle is unaffected by WHEELERS
other vehicles of the traffic stream. If the frequency THREE - 1.51
distribution is skewed, that indicates the effect of other WHEELERS
vehicles of the traffic stream on the test vehicle.
Skewness is a measure of the asymmetry of the probability

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1. Results and Conclusions
From the present study, the following conclusions can be
drawn.
1. Combined speed – distance plot shows that high speed
are attained and maintained during off peak hours due to
less traffic.
then two-wheeler. In generalised model car contributed
significantly followed by three-wheelers, bus and two-
wheelers.
10. Two wheelers show the least inference to the traffic
stream with a PCU of 0.96 and buses has the highest
inference to the traffic stream with a PCU of 1.76.

2. Plot for peak hours clearly shows frequently dropping
speed curve, indicating high traffic.
3. Acceleration noise for bus has a larger variation from
0.26 to 0.89 compared to other vehicle types.
4. Travel time along selected stretches does not vary to a
larger extent for two wheelers compared to other vehicle
types. This is due to the high manoeuverability of two
wheelers.
5. From the combined distance – time plot, it is clear that
time taken during the peak hour to cover a stretch is
significantly more when compared to off-peak and peak
hours.
6. Comparing the speed distance plot of professional and
non- professional driver, it was observed that the speed
maintained by a professional driver is greater and
fluctuations in speed is comparatively less when compared
to a non-professional driver. The acceleration noise
created by a professional driver is 0.439 and the mean
velocity is 40 to 45kmph. The acceleration noise created
by a non – professional driver is 0.586 and the mean
velocity is between 25 and 30kmph.
7. The sudden accelerations and decelerations as observed
in an non-professional driver’s speed distance plot
indicates that driver characteristics have a significant
influence on the mean velocity value as well as
acceleration noise.
11. Variation of speeds along different stretches is also
represented in GIS maps for which helps in easy
understanding. That road stretches with acceleration noise
values greater than 0.5 needs immediate improvements
followed by those with acceleration noise between 0.40
and 0.50.
References
[1] Akhilesh Kumar Maurya and Satish Kumar Jha,
“Acceleration Noise Behavior in India Traffic Streams”,
International Conference on Materials Mechanics and
Management, Trivandrum. pp. 339-346, 2010.
[2]Anjaneyulu M.V.L.R., and Nagaraj B.N., “ Modelling
Congestion on Urban Roads using Speed Profile Data”,
Journal of Indian Road Congress,IRC, New Delhi, pp.65-
74, 2009.
[3]Babu, Y. and Pattnaik, S., “Acceleration noise and
Level of Service of Urban Roads - A Case Study." Journal
of Advanced Transportation, Vol. 31(3), pp. 325-342,
1997.
[4] Joonho Ko, “Measurement of Freeway Traffic Flow
Quality Using GPS-Equipped Vehicles”, Georgia Institute
of Technology, 2007.
[5] Lomax T. J. and Levinson H. S.,Developing a Travel
Time Congestion Index”, Transportation Research Record
1564, TRB. pp.1-10, 1996.
[6] Ravi Shankar,K.V.R., Tom V. Mathew and Aditya
Venkatesan(2008). “Traffic Flow Quality Parameters for
Urban Arterials”. TPMCD, IIT Bombay.

8. The impact of road widening on reduction in travel time

is clearly understood from Figure 5. According to this
figure, the time taken to cover Pongumood – Ulloor
stretch after repair is comparatively less when compared to
the time taken to cover the stretch before repair. Before
widening the time- distance plot remains almost horizontal
significant time duration. The curve obtained after
widening shows nearly a linear variation which depicts
that vehicles are able to maintain a constant velocity along
this stretch.
9. Among the various types of vehicles two-wheelers
contribute significantly to acceleration noise experienced
on a four lane divided carriageway followed by car and
bus. Where as in a sixlane divided carriageway three-
wheelers contributes significantly followed by bus, car and