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TRAFFIC FLOW AND ANALYSIS OF

ROADS INCLUDING QUEUING
ANALYSIS

HIGHWAY AND RAILROAD ENGINEERING

CE 3146
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Student Learning Outcome (SLO)

Students are able to :

✓ Understand the Fundamentals of Traffic Flow and Queuing Theory.

✓ Solve problems in Traffic Flow, Speed and Density.
✓ Understand and solve problems in Vehicle Arrivals using Poisson Method.

CE 3146 - HIGHWAY AND RAILROAD ENGINEERING

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Fundamentals of Traffic Flow

and Queuing Theory
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INTRODUCTION
 It is important to realize that the primary
function of a highway is to provide mobility.
This mobility must be provided with safety in
mind while achieving an acceptable level of
performance (such as acceptable vehicle
speeds). The analysis of vehicle traffic
provides the basis for measuring the
operating performance of highways. In
undertaking such an analysis, the various
dimensions of traffic, such as number of
vehicles per unit time (flow), vehicle types,
vehicle speeds, and the variation in traffic
flow over time, must be addressed because
they all influence highway design

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INTRODUCTION

CE 3146 - HIGHWAY AND RAILROAD ENGINEERING

(the selection of the number of lanes,
pavement types, and geometric design) and
highway operations (selection of traffic
control devices, including signs, markings,
and traffic signals), both of which impact
the performance of the highway.
In light of this, it is important for the
analysis of traffic to begin with theoretically
consistent quantitative techniques that can
be used to model traffic flow. speed, and
temporal fluctuations. The intent of this
chapter is to focus on models of traffic flow
and queuing, thus providing the
groundwork for quantifying measures of
performance
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TRAFFIC FLOW, SPEED, AND DENSITY

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TRAFFIC FLOW, SPEED, AND DENSITY

 Flow is often measured over the course of an

 Aside from the total number of vehicles
hour; in which case the resulting value is
passing a point in some time interval, the
typically referred to as volume. Thus, when
amount of time between the passing of
the term “volume” is used, it is generally
successive vehicles (or time between the
understood that the corresponding value is in
arrival of successive vehicles) is also of
units of vehicles per hour (veh/h). The
interest. The time between the passage of
definition of flow is more generalized to
the front bumpers of successive vehicles, at
account for the measurement of vehicles over
some designated highway point, is known
any period of time. In practice, the analysis
as the time headway. The time headway is
flow rate is usually based on the peak 15-
related to t, as defined in Eq. 5.1, by
minute flow within the hour of interest.
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TRAFFIC FLOW, SPEED, AND DENSITY

or

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TRAFFIC FLOW, SPEED, AND DENSITY

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TRAFFIC FLOW, SPEED, AND DENSITY

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EXAMPLE 5.1

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EXAMPLE 5.1

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EXAMPLE 5.1

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TRAFFIC FLOW, SPEED, AND DENSITY

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TRAFFIC FLOW, SPEED, AND DENSITY

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EXAMPLE 5.2

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EXAMPLE 5.2

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An observer counts 360 veh/h at a
specific highway location. Assuming
that the arrival of vehicles at this
highway location is Poisson
distributed, estimate the probabilities
of having
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 or more vehicles
arriving over a 20-second time
interval.

The average arrival rate, λ , is 360

veh/h, or 0.1 vehicles per second
(veh/s). Using this in Eq. 5.23 with t
= 20 seconds, the probabilities of
having exactly 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4
vehicles arrive are:

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POISSON MODEL

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END

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TRAFFIC FLOW AND ANALYSIS OF

ROADS INCLUDING QUEUING
ANALYSIS

HIGHWAY AND RAILROAD ENGINEERING

CE 3146