University of Basrah

College of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING
MODULE 2: TRAFFIC FLOW
I- TRAFFIC FLOW ELEMENTS

DR. ZAID F. ABDULABBAS

 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF TRAFFIC FLOW
 Traffic flow theory involves the development of mathematical
relationships among the primary elements of a traffic stream: flow,
density, and speed.
 These relationships help the traffic engineer in planning,
designing, and evaluating the effectiveness of implementing traffic
engineering measures on a highway system.
 Another important application of traffic flow theory is simulation
where mathematical algorithms are used to study the complex
interrelationships that exist among the elements of a traffic stream.
 Understanding the basic principles of traffic flow theory is only
way to traffic engineer to be able to design and operate the
transportation system with greatest possible efficiency and safety.
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 PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW
 Speed
 Volume or Flow
 Density or Concentration
 Headway
 Spacing
 Occupancy
 Clearance
 Gap

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 PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW
 Speed (V):- is defined as the rate of movement of a vehicle
which is expressed by distance per unit time (mph or km/hr).
 Volume or Flow (Q):- is defined as the number of vehicles
passing a given section during a specified period of time
(veh/hr).
 Density or Concentration (D):- is the number of vehicles
occupying a given length of road at a specific instant (veh/km).

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 PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW
 Considering the speed, density and flow units, it is obvious that
the relationship between the three parameters is as shown in
Equation below:

𝑄 = 𝑉. 𝐾

Where:
𝐾: 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 (veh/km)
𝑉: 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 (km/hr)
𝑄: 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 (veh/hr)
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 PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW
 Headway (h):- is the difference between the time the front of
a vehicle arrives at a point on the highway and the time the front
of the next vehicle arrives at that same point. The headway is
usually expressed in seconds.
 Spacing (S):- is the distance between the front of a vehicle and
the front of the following vehicle and is usually expressed in meter.

Headway (sec) , Spacing (m)

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 PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW
 Clearance:- is the distance (in meter) for the front axle of the
second of two successive vehicles to reach the starting point of the
second axle of the first vehicle.
 Gap:- is the time (in seconds) between the passage of leading
vehicle and the passage of following vehicle in traffic flow.

Clearance (m) ,
Gap (sec)

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PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW

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 PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW
 Spacing is a distance, measured in meter. It can be determined
directly by measuring the distance between common points on
successive vehicles at a particular instant. This generally requires
complex aerial photographic techniques, so that spacing usually
derives from other direct measurements.
 Headway, in contrast, can be easily measured with stopwatch
observations as vehicles pass a point on the roadway.
 The average vehicle spacing in a traffic stream is directly
related to the density of the traffic stream, as determined by
Equation below:
1000
𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑣𝑒𝑕/𝑘𝑚) =
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝑚/𝑣𝑒𝑕)
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 PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW
 Flow rate is related to the average headway of the traffic
stream with Equation below:

3600
𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 (𝑣𝑒𝑕/𝑕𝑟) =
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦 (𝑠𝑒𝑐/𝑣𝑒𝑕)

 This relationship also holds for individual headways and

spacing between pairs of vehicles. The speed is that of the second
vehicle in a pair of vehicles.

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 PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW
 The relationship between average spacing and average
headway in a traffic stream depends on speed, as indicated in
Equation below:

𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝑚/𝑣𝑒𝑕)
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦(𝑠𝑒𝑐/𝑣𝑒𝑕) =
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑(𝑚/𝑠𝑒𝑐)

 This relationship also holds for individual headways and

spacing between pairs of vehicles. The speed is that of the second
vehicle in a pair of vehicles.

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PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW

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 PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC FLOW
 Lane Occupancy:- is a measure used in freeway surveillance
(is the proportion of roadway length covered by vehicles)

𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑕 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑒𝑕𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 (𝐿𝑂) =
𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑕 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

1000
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝐿𝑂 ∗
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑕𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑕𝑠

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 EXAMPLE
The figure below shows vehicles traveling at constant speeds on a
two-lane highway between sections X and Y with their positions and
speeds obtained at an instant of time by photography. An
observer located at point X observes the four vehicles passing
point X during a period of 4.8 sec. The velocities of the vehicles
are measured as 45, 45, 40, and 30 mi/h, respectively. Calculate
the flow, density, time mean speed, and space mean speed. Also,
calculate average headway, spacing, gap, clearance and lane
occupancy.

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EXAMPLE

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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
 Flow calculations:

𝑛 ∗3600
𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤 =
𝑇

4 ∗3600
𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤 = = 3000 veh/hr
4.8

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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
 Density calculations:

𝑛
𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝐿

4
𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 = = 44.4 veh/km
300 ∗(30/100,000)

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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
 Time mean speed calculations:

𝑛
1
𝑉= 𝑣𝑖
𝑛
𝑖<1

30:40:45:45
𝑉= = 40 mph ====> 40*1.6 = 64 km/hr
4

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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
 Space mean speed calculations:

𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 𝑛 .
𝑡

300 ∗(30/100)
𝑡𝐴 = = 4.5 sec
45 ∗(1600/3600)
300 ∗(30/100)
𝑡𝐵 = = 4.5 sec
45 ∗(1600/3600)

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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
 Space mean speed calculations:

300 ∗(30/100)
𝑡𝐶 = = 5.1 sec
40 ∗(1600/3600)
300 ∗(30/100)
𝑡𝐷 = = 6.8 sec
30 ∗(1600/3600)
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 300 ∗(30/100)
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 𝑛 . = 4.
𝑡 (4.5:4.5:5.1:6.8)

𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 17.2 𝑚/𝑠𝑒𝑐 ====> 17.2 *(3600/1000)

𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 62 km/hr
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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
 Spacing calculations:

20:85 ∗30
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝐴 − 𝐵) = = 31.5 m
100
20:35 ∗30
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝐵 − 𝐶) = = 16.5 m
100
20:30 ∗30
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝐶 − 𝐷) = = 15.0 m
100

𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 = (31.5 + 16.5 + 15)/3 = 21 m

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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
 Headway calculations:

𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴;𝐵 31.5

𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝐴 − 𝐵 = = = 1.57 sec
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝐵 45 ∗(1600/3600)
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵;𝐶 16.5
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝐵 − 𝐶 = = = 0.92 sec
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝐶 40 ∗(1600/3600)
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶;𝐷 15.0
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝐶 − 𝐷 = = = 1.12 sec
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝐷 30 ∗(1600/3600)

𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦 = (1.57 + 0.92 + 1.12)/3 = 1.2 sec

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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
 Clearance calculations:

85 ∗30
𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 (𝐴 − 𝐵) = = 25.5 m
100
35 ∗30
𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒(𝐵 − 𝐶) = = 10.5 m
100
30 ∗30
𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒(𝐶 − 𝐷) = =9m
100

𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = (25.5 + 10.5 + 9)/3 = 15 m

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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
 Gap calculations:

𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐴;𝐵 25.5

𝐺𝑎𝑝 𝐴 − 𝐵 = = = 1.27 sec
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝐵 45 ∗(1600/3600)
𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐵;𝐶 10.5
𝐺𝑎𝑝 𝐵 − 𝐶 = = = 0.59 sec
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝐶 40 ∗(1600/3600)
𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐶;𝐷 9
𝐺𝑎𝑝 𝐶 − 𝐷 = = = 0.68 sec
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝐷 30 ∗(1600/3600)

𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐺𝑎𝑝 = (1.27 + 0.59 + 0.68)/3 = 0.85 sec

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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑕 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑒𝑕𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 (𝐿𝑂) =
𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑕 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

(20:20:20:20)
𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 (𝐿𝑂) = = 0.267
300

1000
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝐿𝑂 ∗
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑕𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑕𝑠

1000
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 0.267 ∗ = 44.5 veh/km
20 ∗(30/100)
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 EXAMPLE
Solution:
3600
𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 (𝑣𝑒𝑕/𝑕𝑟) =
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑦 (𝑠𝑒𝑐/𝑣𝑒𝑕)

3600
𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 (𝑣𝑒𝑕/𝑕𝑟) = = 3000 veh/hr
1.2

1000
𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑣𝑒𝑕/𝑘𝑚) =
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝑚/𝑣𝑒𝑕)

1000
𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑣𝑒𝑕/𝑘𝑚) = = 47.6 veh/km
21
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 CATEGORIES OF TRAFFIC FLOW
Traffic flow may be generally classified into two categories:
 Uninterrupted flow:
• These facilities are those on which no external factors cause
periodic interruption to the traffic stream, where there are no
traffic signal, stop or yield signs, or surface intersections.

Examples freeways, limited-

access facilities, it may also
exist in long sections of rural
highway between signalized
intersections.

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 CATEGORIES OF TRAFFIC FLOW
 Interrupted flow:
• These facilities have external devices that periodically interrupt
traffic flow (the principal device creating interrupted flow is the
traffic signal).

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FUNDAMENTAL DIAGRAM OF TRAFFIC FLOW

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 FUNDAMENTAL DIAGRAM OF TRAFFIC FLOW
 When the flow is very low, there is little interaction between
individual vehicles.
 Drivers are therefore free to travel at the maximum possible
speed. The magnitude of the mean free speed depends (uf) on the
physical characteristics of the highway.
 Continuous increase in flow will result in a continuous decrease
in speed.
 A point will be reached, however, when the further addition of
vehicles will result in the reduction of the actual number of vehicles
that pass a point on the highway (that is, reduction of flow). This
results in congestion, and eventually both the speed and the flow
become 0.
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FUNDAMENTAL DIAGRAM OF TRAFFIC FLOW

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 FUNDAMENTAL DIAGRAM OF TRAFFIC FLOW
 When the density on the highway is 0, the flow is also 0
because there are no vehicles on the highway.
 As the density increases, the flow also increases.
 It follows that as density increases from 0, the flow will also
initially increase from 0 to a maximum value. Further continuous
increase in density will then result in continuous reduction of the
flow, which will eventually be 0 when the density is equal to the
jam density.
 However, when the density reaches its maximum, generally
referred to as the jam density (kj), the flow must be 0 because
vehicles will tend to line up end to end (looks like a parking lot).
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 FUNDAMENTAL DIAGRAM OF TRAFFIC FLOW
 The slope of any ray line drawn from the origin of the speed-
flow curve to any point on the curve represents density.
 Similarly, a ray line in the flow density graph represents speed.
 The speed-density function is used mostly for theoretical work;
the other two are used to define LOS.
 As shown in the Figures, any flow rate other than capacity can
occur under two different conditions, one with a high speed and
low density and the other with high density and low speed.
 The high-density, low-speed side of the curves represents
oversaturated flow.

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 FUNDAMENTAL DIAGRAM OF TRAFFIC FLOW
 Sudden changes can occur in the state of traffic (i.e., in speed,
density, and flow rate).
 LOS A though E are defined on the low-density, high-speed side
of the curves, with the maximum-flow boundary of LOS E placed at
capacity; by contrast, LOS F, which describes oversaturated and
queue discharge traffic, is represented by the high-density, low-
speed part of the functions

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