PRINCIPLES OF TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

Fundamental of Traffic Flow

CIV0325 - 4 | ENGR. Armando N. Victoria Jr. | SEM 2 2023
This is referred to as the time-mean speed and is
FUNDAMENTALS OF TRAFFIC FLOW
expressed as:
The primary function of a highway is to provide
mobility with safety in mind while achieving an
acceptable level of performance. The analysis of
vehicle traffic provides the basis for measuring
the operating performance of highways. This
chapter focuses on models of traffic flow and
queuing, providing the groundwork for quantifying
measures of performance.

TRAFFIC FLOW, SPEED AND DENSITY

The primary function of a highway is to provide
mobility with safety in mind while achieving an
acceptable level of performance. The analysis of
vehicle traffic provides the basis for measuring
the operating performance of highways. This
chapter focuses on models of traffic flow and
queuing, providing the groundwork for quantifying
measures of performance.

Aside from the total number of vehicles passing a

point in some time interval, the amount of time
between successive vehicles passing (or time
between successive vehicles arriving) is also of
interest. The time headway is the interval
between the passage of successive vehicles'
front bumpers at some designated highway point.

There are two ways to define

average traffic speed. The
first is the arithmetic mean of vehicle speeds
measured at various points along the roadway.

1
PRINCIPLES OF TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING
Fundamental of Traffic Flow
CIV0325 - 4 | ENGR. Armando N. Victoria Jr. | SEM 2 2023
Vehicle time headways and spacings were
measured at a point along a highway, from a
single lane, over the course of an hour. The
average values were calculated as 2.5 s/veh for
headway and 60 m/veh for spacing. Calculate the
average speed of the traffic.

Sample Problem
The speeds of five vehicles were measured (with
radar) at the midpoint of a 0.5-mile section of
roadway. The speeds for vehicles 1, 2, 3, 4, and
5 were 70, 67, 82, 78, and 74 km/h, respectively.
Assuming all vehicles were traveling at constant
speed over this roadway section, calculate the
time-mean and space-mean speeds.

Sample Problem: