Pr

act
icalNo.01:RoadTr
aff
icChar
act
eri
sti
c

I Pr
act
icalsi
gni
fi
cnce
Study of t r
aff
ic characteri
stics ist he mostessent i
alpr e-
r equisi
tef orany
i
mpr ovementoft raffi
cfacil
iti
es.Thet raff
icchar acteristicsar equi tecompl exwi th
vari
oust ypesofroaduser sont her oadsmov i
ngwi thdi fferentmot i
ves.Thehuman
psychology ist o be gi ven a par ticular attention.The st udy of v ehicular
characteri
sti
csisanessent ialpart.Apar tfrom t hese,t hev ari
ousst udiest obe
carri
edoutont heact ualtrafficincludespeed,v olume,capaci ty,travelpat erns,
ori
ginanddest i
nation,tr
affi
cf l
owchar acteri
stics,parkingandacci dentst udies.
Thispar t
icul
arpracti
calwillhelpt oknowact ualroadt rafficchar acteri
sticsdur i
ng
tr
affi
cf low.Also itwi l
lpr oducei nfor mation regar ding t het ypesoft raff
icon
parti
cul
art ypeofr oad.Basedont hispr acticalthe mostpossi bl
eandf easible
solut
ioncanbedr awnt omi nimi sethecommonpr oblemsi ntr
af f
icEngi neer i
ng.

I
I Rel
evantPr
ogr
am Out
comes(
POs)
PO1.Basicknowl edge:Anabi litytoappl yknowl edgeofbasi cmat hematics,
scienceandengi neeri
ngt osol v
et heengi neeringpr obl
ems.
PO2.Disciplineknowl edge:Anabi li
tytoappl ydi scipl
ine-speci fi
cknowl edgeto
solvecor eand/orappl iedengi neeringpr oblems. .
PO3.Exper i
ment sandpr acti
ce:Anabi li
tyt opl anandper form experi
ment sand
practi
cesandt ouset her esultstosol veer i
gineeringprobl
ems.
PO4.Engineer i
ngt ools:Applyr elevantciviltechnologiesandt ool
swi t
han
under standingofthel i
mi tati
ons.
PO8.I
ndiv
idualandTeam Wor k:Funct ioneffectivel
yasl eaderandteam member
inDi verse/mul ti
disciplinaryteam.

I
IIRel
evantCour
seOut
coms
Anal
yzet
her
oadt
raf
fi
cchar
act
eri
sti
cs.

I
V Pr
act
icalOut
comes
I
dent
if
yther
oadt
raf
fi
cchar
act
eri
sti
csf
oranyexi
sti
ngr
oad.

V Compet
encyandPr
act
icalski
ll
s
Thi
spr
act
ical
isexpect
edt
odev
elopt
hef
oll
owi
ngski
l
lsf
ort
hei
ndust
ryi
dent
if
i ency‘
edcompet Under
standt
he
t
raf
fi
cfl
owchar
act
eri
sti
cs.
’
Obser
vet
hemovi
ngvehi
clescont
inuousl
yatr
oadi
nter
sect
ion/
road&
obser
vet
her
oadtr
aff
ccharact
eri
sti
cs.

VI Rel
evantAff
ecti
vedomainrel
ated
a.Fol
lowsafet
ypract
ices&precaut
ionsregar
dingt
raf
fi
c.
b.Demonstr
ateworki
ngasal eader
/ateam member.
c.Maint
aint
oolsandequipment.
VI
I Mi nimum Theor eti
cal Backgr ound
Thisphaseoft raffi
cengi neer i
ngconst i
tutesvehi
cularli
mitati
onssuchaswei ght,
sizeandpoweroft hev ehicleandhumanl i
mitati
onssuchasphy si
calli
mitat i
on
(e.g. v i
sion,
heari
ng, f atigue et c.)
, ment al li
mitati
on ( e.
g. intel
l
igence,skil
l,
exper i
ence ofdr i
versetc.)emot i
onall imit
ati
on (e.g.
att
ent i
veness,impatience,
abili
tyt o f ol
low r egulations et c.
).Their st
udy is most essent i
alf or any
i
mpr ovementoft raffi
cfaci l
i
ties.

TRAFFI
CCHARACTERI
STI
CS

1RoadUserChar acteri
sti
cs
Thehumanel ementisinvolvedinallacti
onsoft her oaduserseitheraspedestr
ian,
cycl
ist,
car tdri
verormot ori
st.Thephy si
cal,mentalandemot ionalchar
acter
ist
ics
ofhumanbei ngsaffectt heirabil
it
yt o operatemot orvehiclesafel
yorasa
pedestrian.Hence i t 1st i mport
ant tot he traffi
c engineer to study the
characteristi
csandlimitati
onsoft heroaduser s.
Thev ar
iousf act
orswhichaf fecthumanchar acter
isticsasroaduser smaybroadly
beclassi f
iedunderfourheads:

(
a)Phy
sical (
c)Psychol
ogi
cal
'and
(
b)Mental (
d)Env
ironment
al

(a)Physi
calcharacter
isties
The physicalcharact
eristi
cs ofthe road user
s maybe eitherpermanentor
temporary.Thepermanentchar act
eri
sti
csarethevi
sion,
hear
ing,st
rengt
handthe
generalr
eactiont
ot r
afti
csituati
ons.

(b)Ment alfactor
s
Knowledge,ski ll
,intel
li
genceexper ienceandl it
eracycanaf fecttheroaduser
characteri
stics.Knowledgeofv ehiclechar acter
isti
cs,traf
fi
cbehav i
our,dri
v i
ng
practi
ce,rul
esofr oadsandpsy chologyofr oaduserswi l
lbequiteusef
ulfort
raffi
c
operati
ons.React i
onst ocert
aintraf
f icsit
uat i
onsbecomemor espontaneouswith
experi
ence.Under st
andingthetrafficr egulati
onandspeci alinstr
uct
iontor oad
usersandt i
mel yactiondependsoni nt el
li
genceandl it
eracy.

(c)Psychologicalf
act
ors
Theseaf f
ectreacti
ontot
rafi
icsi
tuat
ionsofroaduser
stoagreatextent
.The
emot i
onalfactorssuchasat t
enti
veness,fear
,danger
,super
sti
tionimpati
ence,
generalatt
it
udet owar
dstraf
fi
candr egul
ati
onsandmaturi
tyal
socomeundert hi
s
category.

(d)Envi
ronmentalfactor
s
Thev ar
iousenv i
ronmentalconditi
onsaffect
ingthebehavi
ourofroaduserare
traf
fi
cstream charact
eri
sti
cs,roadsidef
eatur
es,atmospher
iccondi
ti
onsandthe
l
ocalit
y.Thet r
afii
cstream mayconsi
stofmi xedt
raff
icorheavyt
raf
fi
c.Ift
he
percentageofsl ow movi
ngtraf
fi
cishigh,t
heneedforover
taki
ngi
ncr
easesf
or
thefastervehi
cles.

2.Vebicul
arCharacteristi
es
Iti
squiteimport
antt ostudyt hev ariousv ehicul
archaract
er i
sti
cswhichaffectthe
designoftheroadf aci
li
tiesandt het raffi
cper f
ormancet here-
on.Thisisbecause
i
tispossibletodesignar oadf or'any 'vehicl
ebutnotf or'i
ndefini
tevehi
cletypes.
Thebasicapproachi ntraf i
i
cengi neeringist ocatertotheneedsofexi stingand
anti
cipat
edStandardsandt hicknessofpav ementsf r
om t i
met otimetomeett he
needsofaf ewvehicleswhosedi mensi onsandwei ghtareincreased.

Someoft heimport
antstati
canddy namiccharacter
ist
icsofroadvehi
clestobe
consi
deredintr
aff
icengineeri
ngare:(i
)vehi
cledimensions(i
)weightofloaded
vehi
cles(i
i)powerofvehicle(i
v)speedofv ehicl
e(v)braki
ngcharacteri
sti
csand
(vi
)off-
tr
acki
ngarepresentedbelow.

(i
)Vehicledimensi
ons
Thedimensionsofv ehicl
esthatsi
gnif
icantl
ycontr
olthedesignofhighway
geometricel
ementsar etheoveral
lwidth,l
engthandheightofdi
fferentv
ehicl
es,
part
icul
arlyofthelargestones.Thewi dt
hoft hevehicl
eaffect
st hewidthofthe
tr
aff
iclanes,shoul
dersandpar ki
ngfacil
it
ies.

(i
i)Wei ghtofloadedv el
hicles
Themaxi mum wei ghtofl oadedvehi
cleandt heloadont hewheel
sandaxles
affectt he desi
gn ofpav ementthi
ckness and gradi
ent
s.Infactthe l
i
mit
ing
gradientsar egovernedbybot ht
hewei ghtandt hepuli
ngpoweroftheheavy
vehicle

(i
ii
)Powerofv ehicle
The poweroft he heaviestv ehicles and t hei
rl oaded wei ght
s gov ernthe
permissi
bleand l i
mitng valuesofgr adientonr oads.I nthisregardt hetotal
resi
stancestotracti
onconsi sti
ngofi nerti
a,roli
ngr esist
ance,airr
esistanceand
graderesist
ancear econsidered.Fr om thet otalhaulingcapacityandt hepower
requi
redtoov er
comet hetotaltract i
v eresist
ance,itispossi bl
etodeterminethe
speedandaccel erat
ionoft hev ehiclewhi chint urnareusef uli
nplanning,desi
gn
ofroadgeomet r
icsandt r
afficregulat i
on.

(
iv)Speedofv
ehi
cle

Thev ehi
clespeedaff
ectsdesignof :(i)sightdi
stances( i
i)superelevat
ion,l
ength
ofransit
ioncur
veandlimit
ingradiusonhor i
zont
al cur
ves( i
ii
)lengthoftransi
ti
on
Curves on vert
icalval
ley curves and on humps ( iv)wi dth ofeach t r
atfi
c
l
ane/pavementandshoul dersonst raightandonhor izontalcurv es(v)design
gradi
ent( vi
)capacit
y oft raff
icl ane ( vi
i)design and cont rolmeasur es at
 i
nter
sect
ions.Thust
hedesi
gnspeedcont
rol
smostoft
hegeomet
ri
cel
ement
sof
hi
ghways.

(v)Br
akingchar acteristi
cs
Thedecelerati
onandbr akingcharact
eri
sti
csofv ehi
clesdependont hedesignand
typeofbrakıngsy stenm (suchasmechani cal,
fluidorairbrake)anditseff
ici
ency
.
Thesafetyofv ehi cl
eoper ati
on,stoppi
ngdi st
anceandt hespacingbet weenthe
twoconsecut i
vev ehiclesinat r
affi
cstream areaf fect
edbyt heeffici
encyofthe
brake

(vi
)Off-t
racki
ng
Whenaf ourwheeledv ehiclesuchascarorasi xwheeledvehicl
esuchast ruckor
busegouat esahor izontalcur v
eatr elati
velyslow speed,therearwheelsdonot
al
lowt hepatht r
acedbyt hecor respondi ngfrontwheels,asexplai
nedinArt.44.6
underMechani calWi dening'.Atrelati
velyslowspeedswhent hecentr
if
ugalforce
devel
oped1Stl essert hant hecount eractingforcesduet othesuperel
evati
onand
tr
ansverseiri
cti
ont her earwheel sf ol
lowpat hsont heinnersideofthehorizontal
curveascompar edwi thThepat hal lowedbyt hecor r
espondingsetoff r
ont
wheels.

VI
II Resour
cesr
equi
red

Sr
.No. Par
ti
cul
ars Speci
fi
cat
ion Quant
it
y Remar
k

I
X Pr
ocedur
e
X Pr
ecaut
ionst
obef
oll
owed

1)Obser
vet
hev
ehi
cleswi
thoutdi
stur
bingt
het
raf
fi
cfl
ow.

2)Thereshouldbemut
ualcoor
dinat
ionbet
weent
eam member
sthr
oughout
thi
spract
ical
.

3)Thesaidworkshoul
dbedivi
dedtogroupofmi ni
mum twomember
sat
eachcountpost
s,sot
hatnov
ehi
clewi
ll
remainuncount
ed.

4)Theextr
acar
eshoul
dbet akendur
ingpeakhour
sandr
ecor
dthesamei
n
appropr
iat
ecol
umnsofenumerat
orsf
orm.

XI Obser
vat
ions

XI
I Resul
ts

XI
II I
nter
pret
ati
onofr
esul
ts(
Giv
emeani
ngoft
heabov
eobt
ainedr
esul
ts)

XI
V Conclusi
onsandRecommendati
ons(ifany
)(Tobewr i
ttenbystudent
s)
(Act
ions/
deci
sionst
obetakenbasedontheint
erpr
etat
ionofresul
ts)
.
XV Ref
erences/Suggest
ionsf
orf
urt
herReadi
ng

Sr
.
Ti
tl
eofBook Aut
hor Publ
icat
ion
No
KhannaS.K.,Justo,CNem ChandandBr other
s,
Highway
1 EGandVeer aragavan,
Roorkee,2010,I
SBN978-
Engi
neeri
ng
A. 8185240800
Traff
icEngineer
ing Kadi
yal
i,
L.R. KhannaPubl i
shers,NewDelhi
,
2 andTr anspor
t 2008,ISBN:978-8174092205
Planni
ng

XVI Suggest
edAssessmentScheme

PerformanceI ndi
cator
s Wei
ghtage%
Pr ocessr elated:15Mar ks 60%
1 Surv
ey 20%
2 Anal
ysi s 30%
3 Workingi nteam 10%
Productr elated:10Marks 40%
4 Conclusions 20%
5 Answert opr acticalr
elat
edquestions 10%
6 Submi ssi
onofr eportint
ime 10%
Total :25Mar ks

Li
stofSt
udentTeam Member
s
1………………………….
.
2………………………….
.
3.………………………….
.
4.
.………………………….
.

Mar
ksObt
ained Dat
edsignatur
eof
Teacher
Pr
ocess Pr
oduct Total
Rel
ated(
15 Rel
ated(
10 (25)
) )