Transportation Engineering I Traffic Engineering Characteristics

Traffic Engineering:
Traffic Engineering is the branch of engineering which deals with planning and geometric design of
streets/highways and adjoining lands and with traffic operations thereon, as their use is related to the
safe, convenient and economic transportation of passenger and goods.

Traffic Engineering Characteristics:

The major aspects of Traffic Engineering depends upon the correlation between three primary
elements, namely the vehicles, the roadways, and the road users. Their characteristics affect the
performance of the transportation system and it is essential to have good understanding about them.

Vehicular Characteristics:
The major parameter for which a roadway is designed is the vehicle and the roads are designed for
any vehicle but not for an indefinite one. The road should be such that it should cater to the needs of
existing and anticipated vehicles. The major characteristics of vehicle that influence the traffic
engineering are as follows.
Design vehicles
A Highway systems is designed to accommodate a wide variety of sizes and types of vehicles,
from smallest compact passenger cars to the largest double and triple tractor-trailer
combinations. The different geometric features of highways, like the lane width, lane
widening on curves, minimum curb and corner radius, clearance heights etc are strongly
related with some standard physical dimensions for the vehicles. Accordingly limits on
certain vehicular characteristics are introduced mainly –
 to provide practical limits for road designers to work to,
 to ensure availability of the road space and geometry for normal vehicles,
 to implement traffic control effectively and efficiently,
 to take care of other road users.
Taking these into consideration, in general, the vehicles can be grouped into –
 motorized two wheeler
 motorized three wheeler
 passenger car
 bus
 single axle trucks
 multi axle trucks
 truck trailer combinations
 slow non-motorized vehicles
and for deign purpose, the “passenger car” type of vehicles are considered as standard vehicle
and the rest are standardized to the passenger car equivalent by considering the amount of
disturbance created in an existing traffic stream due to the introduction of one particular type
of vehicle. The standardized unit is called Passenger Car Unit (PCU).
Passenger Car Unit (or PCU) of a vehicle type is defined as the ratio of the disturbance
created due to the introduction of the vehicle in a particular traffic stream to the disturbance
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created due to the introduction of one standard passenger car in the same traffic stream. It is
influenced by all the traffic characteristcs.
Dimension of Vehicle
The vehicular dimensions which mainly affect the road and traffic design are – width, height,
length, rear overhang, and ground clearance.
The width of vehicle affects the width of lanes, shoulders and parking facility. The lane width
in turn affects the carriageway width, roadway width and finally right of way for construction.
For a fixed lane width, the capacity of the road decreases with increase in width exceeding the
design values. The design vehicle width is 2.44m.
The height of the vehicle affects the clearance height of structures like over-bridges, under-
bridges and electric and other service lines and also placing of signs and signals. The
permissible height for single and double decked vehicles are 3.8m and 4.7m respectively.
The length of the vehicle affects the extra width of pavement, minimum turning radius, safe
overtaking distance, capacity and the parking facility. The permissible lengths are: Single unit
Two axle – 10.7m; Single unit Multi-axle – 12.2m; Tractor semi-trailer – 15.2m; Tractor and
Trailer – 18.3m.
The rear overhang control defined as the length of the portion of the vehicle beyond the rear
most axle is mainly important when the vehicle takes a right/left turn from a stationary point.
The ground clearance of vehicle is important in designing ramps and property access and as
bottoming out on a crest can stop a vehicle from moving under its own pulling power.
Vehicular Weight and Axle Load
The weight of the vehicle is a major design parameter during the structural design of
pavements. The weight of the vehicle is transferred to the pavement through the axles and so
the design parameters are fixed on the basis of the actual load transfer to pavement that
depend on gross vehicular weight (GVW) and number & type of axles.
Maximum permissible GVW is given by 465(24 + 3.28𝐿) − 14.6𝐿2 𝐾𝑔 where L is the
Distance between extreme axles in meter and L > 2.44m. For L<2.44m, GVW=14515Kg
Power of the vehicle and operating efficiency
The power of a vehicle to its gross vehicular weight is a measure of the ease with which a
vehicle can move. It determines the operating efficiency of vehicles on the road. The ratio is
more important for heavy vehicles. The power to weight ratio is the major criteria which
determines the length to which a positive gradient can be permitted taking into consideration
the case of heavy vehicles.
Turning radius and turning path
The minimum turning radius is dependent on the design and class of the vehicle. The
effective width of the vehicle is increased on a turning. This is important at an intersection,
round about, terminals, and parking areas.
Visibility
The visibility of the driver is influenced by the vehicular dimensions. The forward visibility is
influenced by the dimension of the vehicle and the slope and curvature of wind screens,
windscreen wipers, door pillars, etc should be such that –
Transportation Engineering I Traffic Engineering Characteristics

 visibility is clear even in bad weather conditions like fog, ice, and rain;
 it should not mask the pedestrians, cyclists or other vehicles especially during
intersection maneuvers.
The side and rear visibility are also equally important when maneuvering especially at
intersections when the driver adjusts his speed in order to merge or cross a traffic stream.
Rear vision efficiency can be achieved by proper positioning of the rear view mirrors.
Acceleration characteristics
The acceleration capacity of vehicle is dependent on its mass, the resistance to motion and
available power. The acceleration rates are highest at low speeds and decreases as speed
increases. Heavier vehicles have lower rates of acceleration than passenger cars. The
difference in acceleration rates becomes significant in mixed traffic streams and strongly
influences the overtaking.
Braking performance
The braking performance and deceleration characteristics of vehicles are of prime importance
regarding highway safety. The time and distance taken to stop the vehicle is very important as
far as the design of various traffic facilities are concerned. The factors on which the braking
distance depend are the type of the road and its condition, the type and condition of tire and
type of the braking system. The distance to decelerate from one speed to another is given by –
𝑣 2 − 𝑢2
𝑑=
𝑓+𝑔
where d is the braking distance, v and u are the initial and final speed of the vehicle, f is the
coefficient of forward rolling and skidding friction and g is the grade in decimals. The main
characteristics of a traffic system influenced by braking and deceleration performance are:
 Safe stopping sight distance (SSD): The minimum stopping sight distance is the
minimum distance a vehicle will move forward before coming to a stop at an
emergency which includes both the reaction time and the distance covered in
stopping. Thus, the driver should see the obstruction from at least SSD away in time
to react to the situation and stop the vehicle.
 Clearance and change interval: The Clearance and change intervals of a signal cycle
are related to safe stopping distance. All vehicles at a distance further away than one
stopping sight distance from the signal when the Yellow is flashed is assumed to be
able to stop safely. Such a vehicle which is at a distance equal or lesser than the
stopping sight distance will have to travel a distance equal to the stopping sight
distance plus the width of the street, plus the length of the vehicle. Thus the yellow
and all red times should be calculated to accommodate the safe clearance of those
vehicles.
 Sign placement: The placement of signs again depends upon the stopping sight
distance and reaction time of drivers. The driver should see the sign board from a
distance at least equal to or greater than the stopping sight distance.

Road User Characteristics

Road users are the drivers, passengers, pedestrians etc. who use the streets and highways. Together,
they form the most complex element of the traffic system - the human element - which differentiates
Transportation Engineering I Traffic Engineering Characteristics

Transportation Engineering from all other engineering fields. It is said to be the most complex factor
as the human performances varies from individual to individual and the actual users are unidentified
large mass with every element of which behaves differently. Thus, the transportation engineer need to
deal with a variety of road user characteristics which are absolutely random in nature and thus a
solution, safe and comfortable to one, may be most hazardous to the other. For example, a traffic
signal timed to permit an average pedestrian to cross the street safely may cause a severe hazard to an
elderly person. Thus, the domain of highway design should focus on analysis of random variable and
optimization design and so at micro level problems become stochastic in nature.
Variability is the most complex problem while dealing with road user characteristics. The ability to
react to a situation, vision and hearing, and other physical and psychological factors vary from person
to person and depends on age, fatigue, nature of stimuli, presence of drugs/alcohol etc. A design
cannot consider extreme cases of the variability and so an optimum balance is drawn based upon
probability of road user characteristics. A standardized value is often used as the design value and the
85th percentile value of different characteristics is taken generally as a standard. It represents a
characteristic that 85 per percent of the population can meet or exceed. For example. The 85th
percentile value of walking speed is about 2 m/s means that 85 per cent of people has walking speed
more than or equal to 2 m/s.
The road user characteristics are complex mixes of psychological and physiological characteristics of
the user, that includes Intelligence, Motivation, Emotion etc in psychological domain and perception,
volition, visual & hearing ability, physical power, fatigue etc, in physiological domain. The
characteristics can be broadly classified into two groups as – i) quantifiable and ii) less-quantifiable
Quantifiable characteristics
Reaction time is the time taken to perform an action according to the stimulus, both
expected and unexpected, a road user is subjected to during his journey. The process
involve a series of stages which is best described by the PIEV theory comprising of
the stages like –
 Perception, which is the process of perceiving the sensations received
through the sense organs, nerves and brains. It is actually the recognitions
that a stimulus on which a reaction is to happen exists.
 Intellection that involves the identification and understanding of stimuli.
 Emotion, which involves the judgment of the appropriate response to be
made on the stimuli like to stop, pass, move laterally etc.
 Volition, which is the execution of the decision that is the result of a physical
actions of the driver.
Vision is the most important physical factor for road users. The perception-reaction
time depends greatly on the effectiveness of drivers’ vision in perceiving the objects
and traffic control measures. The PIEV time will be decreased if the vision is clear
and accurate and will increase with not so satisfactory vision. Different visual
characteristics play simultaneous role in managing the proper characteristics.
 Visual acuity is the ability to focus quickly and see an object without blur. It
is measured as a ratio of the distance from where a standard object (forming
an angle of 5 with eye) is clearly visible to the distance from where the same
should normally be visible by a standard eyesight. Thus a 6/6 vision is
considered as standard, which indicates that a standard object which should
Transportation Engineering I Traffic Engineering Characteristics

be clearly visible by a standard eye from 6m is actually visible clearly from

6m.
 Field of vision relates to the angular periphery within which objects are
normally visible. The most acute vision is within a cone of 3 to 5, fairly
clear vision within 10 to 12 and the peripheral vision will be within 110 to
115 in vertical axis and 165 to 180 along horizontal axis. This is very
important for planning the proper location of traffic signs and signals.
 Glare vision is also equally important. Glare vision is greatly affected by
age. Glare recovery time is the time required to recover from the effect of
glare after the light source is passed, and will be higher for elderly persons.
This strongly influences perception time during night driving
 Problems like Tunnel Vision (when Field of Vision is more like a
cylindrical region instead of standard conical), Colour blindness (problem in
separating different colours) Night Blindness (problem in vision during night
time) are very important as those may influence problems in all stages of
travelling including sign and signal recognition.
Hearing is required for detecting sounds and although not essential but it is desirable
for the drivers to be physiologically normal of hearing.
Walking is the prime character for the pedestrians. Transportation planning and
design cannot be limited to drivers and vehicular passengers alone. The most
prevalent of the road users are the pedestrians. Pedestrian traffic along footpaths,
sidewalks, crosswalks, safety zones, islands, and over and under passes should be
considered and the most important character for that is the walking ability of the
pedestrians. On an average, the pedestrian walking speed can be taken between 1.5
m/sec to 2 m/sec. But the influence of physical, mental, and emotional factors need to
be considered. Parking spaces and facilities like signals, bus stops, and over and
under passes are to be located and designed according to the maximum distance to
which a user will be willing to walk, which may be determined from road user
survey.
Less-Quantifiable characteristics
Strength is a desirable character for drivers, which is less quantifiable in comparison
to the others. It is important as manoeuvring and parking/unparking of vehicles,
especially heavy vehicles sometime require strength. Although with development of
power steering, this requirement decreases with time.
Fatigue may be considered as the most important deterrent road user character, which
although not easily quantifiable, but influences almost all characters of road user
including perception, reaction, volition, vision, walking, strength etc. Driver/Road
user fatigue is globally considered as one of the major catalyst towards road user
induced hazards. Survey results showed that the drivers who did not undergo any type
of fatiguing conditions performed significantly better than those who were subjected
to fatiguing conditions. Fatigue may be considered of two types – physical and
mental. The later one is more influential and even shows strong influence on the
former. The variability of attitude of drivers with respect to age, sex, knowledge,
intelligence, driving skill as well as motivation of journey, emotion of user etc. all
plays important role behind user fatigue.
Transportation Engineering I Traffic Engineering Characteristics

Road Characteristics
Road characteristics has a large role in influencing the traffic characteristics as well as the mental and
skill set of the road users. The major ones are as follows –
Road surface
Movement of vehicles are strongly dependent upon the road surface characteristics like
surface friction, tire wear, tractive resistance, noise, light reflection, electrostatic properties
etc. These should be given special attention in the design, construction and maintenance of
highways for their safe and economical operation. The surface should be chosen to retain
these qualities so that maintenance cost and interference to traffic operations are kept to a
minimum. Designing all the properties for best performance may not be possible
simultaneously (e.g.- increase in surface friction may help movement of vehicles as well as
keeping them on track but at the same time this may increase possibility of wearing of tire or
noise) so an optimisation is targeted. Among different characters most important is surface
friction – lack of which may lead to problems like, skid and slip
Skid is the phenomenon when the vehicle continues in its longitudinal or lateral
motion even after application of break and stopping of the rotation of the wheels.
Since movement of vehicle can only be stopped by stopping the movement of wheels
so skid cannot be prevented without proper surface friction. Skid is of three types –
Straight skidding occurs after sudden application of the break along the
original direction of motion.
Impending skidding occurs after gradual application of the break along the
original direction of motion when the wheels are still rotating but the
longitudinal distance travelled by the vehicle is more than the circumferential
distance rotated by the wheels.
Sideway skidding occurs generally at the curves across the original direction
of motion.
Slip is the phenomenon when the vehicle is not moving but the wheel(s) are rotating.
This is more a functional problem and less hazardous as the vehicle normally remains
stationary or almost not moving.
Lighting
Illumination is used to illuminate the physical features of the road way and to aid in the
driving task. A luminaire is a complete lighting device that distributes light into patterns much
as a garden hose nozzle distributes water. Proper distribution of the light flux from luminaires
is one of the essential factors in efficient roadway lighting. It is important that roadway
lighting be planned on the basis of many traffic information such as night vehicular traffic,
pedestrian volumes and accident experience. Although transportation system is designed
considering no illumination so vehicular safety may not be strongly influenced in non-
illuminated roads but safety of pedestrians and slow moving non-motorized vehicles may be
at risk. Further improper lighting may create non-uniform illumination affecting the visual
ability of the drivers strongly.
Roughness
This is one of the main factors of importance during the design, construction, and
maintenance of a highway system. Drivers tend to seek smoother surface when given a
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choice. Shoulders or even speed change lanes may be deliberately roughened as a means of
delineation. Roughness is measured by a non-dimensional index (Roughness Index)
expressed as the ratio of cumulative vertical deformation over unit length of the road and is
normally presented in cm/Km unit, with roads characterised into four groups as –
 Good – R.I. ≤ 150 cm/Km
 Satisfactory – 150 cm/Km < R.I. ≤ 250 cm/Km
 Tolerable – 250 cm/Km < R.I. ≤ 300 cm/Km
 Uncomfortable – R.I. > 300 cm/Km
Pavement Colours
When the pavements are light coloured (e.g., cement concrete pavements) there is better
visibility during day time whereas during night dark coloured pavements like bituminous
pavements provide more visibility. At the same time light coloured pavement have a tendency
to generate more surface glare at day time. So normally dull non-reflective dark coloured
pavements are preferred.
Night Visibility
Improving night time visibility is a big challenge to transportation engineers. As the night
driving is planned through vehicle headlight so reducing surface glare or headlight of vehicles
coming from opposite lane are very important to ensure safety. Glare caused by the reflection
of oncoming vehicles is negligible on a dry pavement but is an important factor when the
pavement is wet. So ensuring dry and dull surface and also small raisers / obstructions
between opposing lanes help improving night visibility.
Geometric aspects
The roadway geometry has the largest role to play in transportation system and thus elements
such as pavement slope, gradient, right of way etc are designed separately and they also have
a strong correlation with other characteristics.
Central portion of the pavement is slightly raised and is sloped to either sides so as to prevent
the ponding of water on the road surface and subsequent failures like potholes etc.
Minimum lane width should be provided to reduce the chances of accidents and maintenance
of proper speed of the vehicles thus the journey time.
Right of way width should be properly provided. If the right of way width becomes less,
future expansion will become difficult and the development of that area will be adversely
affected.
The gradient if too steep reduces the tractive effort of large vehicles. Again the fuel
consumption of the vehicles climbing a gradient is more.
Curves both in horizontal and vertical plane are integral part of highway geometry and need
proper design keeping in view the safety aspects.