CE242-3

TRAFFIC FLOW
PRINCIPLES OF TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING
BY PARTHA CHAKROBORTY & ANIMESH DAS (1 ST
EDN)
CHAPTER 4, TRAFFIC FLOWS

TAKE DOWN NOTES IN CLASS TO ADD TO THE

REFERRED CHAPTER AND SLIDES. ONLY SLIDES
WILL NOT SUFFICE.

ONLY SLIDES WILL SUFFICE WHEN MARKED

 INTRODUCTION

Prerequisite to designing
traffic facilities is to know
fundamentals of traffic
flows and traffic behavior
under uninterrupted and
interrupted traffic flows.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF TRAFFIC FLOWS

Flow Characteristics
 Condition of traffic stream is defined by stream variables
 Speed (u)
 Density (k)
 Flow/ Volume (q)
 Time Distance Diagram
 Each line represents trajectory of vehicle over time 
 Why straight lines are not shown?
Speed
 Spot speed is instantaneous speed at a point.
 Journey Speed is Distance Travelled/Journey Time (including
stops)
 Running Speed is as above but excluding stops
 85th percentile speed is often used in traffic engineering. The
speed at or below which 85 percent of a sample of free
flowing vehicles is traveling
 Mean Speed is average speed of all vehicles in stream.
 Design speed is defined by the AASHTO Green Book as: ...the
maximum safe speed that can be maintained over a specified
section of highway when conditions are so favorable that the
design features of the highway govern.
 TMS. Vehicles crossing particular Two observers placed 500 m apart
point in certain period of time, provided data to determine SMS
is placed below. Determine SMS.
arithmetic mean
 Determine TMS if Spot speeds are Time Time
70, 66, 64, 60, 65, 62, 65, 66, 61, 64 Observer A Observer B
11:10:15 11:10:40
11:10:17 11:10:46
11:10:18 11:10:47
11:10:21 11:10:51
 SMS. More appropriate for stream 11:10:35 11:11:03
conditions, harmonic mean, 11:10:37 11:11:07
specified distance, individual 11.10.40 11.11.08
travel time 11.10.43 11.11.13
11.10.45 11.11.14
11.10.50 11.11.16
Density
 Average vehicles per unit length.
 Total no in a stream by distance.
 Refer Fig, 5/D
 Distance Headway

 Distance between corresponding

points of two successive vehicles at
a given time
 What is reciprocal of density?
Flow or Volume
 No of vehicles crossing a particular point in unit time for
vehicles, usually expressed as veh/hour (vph) or veh/hour/lane
(vphpl)
 8/T in fig
 Time headway , time difference between two successive
vehicles
 What is reciprocal of flow?
 Flow is highly variable, Time of day, Day of week, Season, Road
characteristics, Direction
 Usually hourly volume
 Which hour? PHV: peak hour
volume
 Average hourly volume –
inadequate design
 Maximum peak hour – not
economical
 Hourly volume used for design
should not be exceeded very often
or by very much
 Usually use 30th highest hourly
volume of the year
 Classification counts: fleet mix
 AADT: Annual average daily
traffic (counted for 365 days)
 ADT: average daily traffic
(counted for > 1 day and < 365)
 On rural roads 30 highest hourly
volume is ~ 15% of ADT
 Tends to be constant year to year
 Highest minute flow rate, why not
to use?
 Generally highest 15 minutes
taken
 PHF
12
 13

DHV = Peak-Hour Volume

PHF
Example
Peak hour volume from previous = 375 vph
PHF = 0.625
DHV = 375 = 600 vph
0.625
Note: the traffic you design for is the busiest 15
minutes during the peak hour … another way to
think of it is 150 vehicles per 15 minutes = 600
vehicles per 60 minutes
Exercise
Calculate PHFt and corresponding peak flow rate
for t=1, 5, 10 and 15 minute from the minute flow
rate data given in the table. Comment on the
difference in peak flow rates obtained for the
different values of t?
i 1-7 8-10 11-20 21 22-32 33-45 46-47 48-55 56-60

Ni 15 25 20 36 9 5 10 25 15
Fundamental Relation of Traffic Flow

 q=uxk
 UNINTERRUPTED TRAFFIC FLOW

Stream Characteristics
 Traffic stream moves with constant speed and density till
interrupted by an other stream or traffic control mechanism.
Collecting Speed Data
 Equipment on principle of Doppler Effect
 Radar based
 Laser based
 Two closely spaced sensors
 Video cameras
 Photographs
 Enoscope
The traveling waves bounce off moving
vehicle and return to the receiving
station. When the waves reflect off a, a
measurable frequency shift, called
Doppler Shift, occurs. The radar
computer then uses the frequency
shift to calculate the speed of the
moving vehicle.
Collecting Density Data
 Tricky, Aerial photography (costly over long duration), input
output studies (inaccurate but prone to errors).
 Placing presence detectors, determining density from occupancy
data (Board)
Using aerial photo for
density determination
Collecting Volume Data
 Easiest, People, video cameras, presence detectors
(classified count if axle distribution is given)
 Moving observer method
 Exercise
The length of a road stretch used for conducting the
moving observer test is 0.5 km and the speed with
which the test vehicle moved is 20 km/hr. Given that
the number of vehicles encountered in the stream
while the test vehicle was moving against the traffic
stream is 107, number of vehicles that had overtaken
the test vehicle is 10, and the number of vehicles
overtaken by the test vehicle is 74, find the flow,
density and average speed of the stream.
Surveys
 Unless there is a specific requirement of traffic speed/ flow
survey on specific places, make an attempt to avoid the
following
 Traffic signals and other junctions
 Intersections
 Work zones
 Curves
 Parking zones
 Active crosswalks
 Consider free flow vehicles only
 Consider date and time
 Typical weekdays (Tues., Wed., Thur.) preferred
 Avoid unusual conditions, including:
 Unique events
 Inclement weather
 Holidays
 Suitable site for equipment installation
 Remember safety first!!!
 TYPICAL PLOTS
Three parameters,
describing
uninterrupted
traffic flow stream
are u, k and q;
these are pair wise
dependent.
Microscopic and
Macroscopic
Models
Model & Modal
 CAPACITY

Capacity. Max number of vehicles expected

to cross a point on the road in unit interval
of time.
Ideal Capacity. Capacity on an ideal road, of
ample width (min 3.5 M lane width, min 1.8
M shoulders & % gradient. Drivers familiar.
Practical Capacity. Capacity under
prevalent conditions.
 
 Ideal Capacity
Freeways: Capacity Multilane
(Free-Flow Speed) Suburban/Rural
2,400 pcphpl (70 mph) 2,200 pcphpl (60 mph)
2,350 pcphpl (65 mph) 2,100 (55 mph)
2,300 pcphpl (60 mph) 2,000 (50 mph)
2,250 pcphpl (55 mph) 1,900 (45 mph)

2-lane rural – 2,800

pcph
Signal – 1,900 pcphgpl

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 Passenger Car Unit
It is a vehicle unit used for expressing
highway capacity. One car is considered
as a single unit, cycle, motorcycle is
considered as half car unit. Bus , truck
causes a lot of inconvenience because of
its large size and is considered
equivalent to 3 cars or 3 PCU.

29
 Equivalent PCU
Vehicles ADT PCU
Factor

Two Wheeler 637 0.5 319

Auto Rickshaw 40 1 40
Car/Jeep/ Taxi 172 1 172
Buses 28 3 84
Truck < 5 Tonne 5 3 15
Truck > 5 Tonne 43 3 129
Multi Axle Truck/ Trailer 123 4.5 554
Tractor Excluding Agriculture
Produce 120 4.5 540
Tractor with Agriculture Produce 160 4.5 720
Cycle 202 0.5 101
Other/ Bullock Cart 14 8 112
    2786

30
LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS).
A qualitative measure describing operational
conditions within a traffic stream and their
perception by drivers and/or passengers

31
 LOS A (Freeway)
Free flow conditions
Vehicles are
unimpeded in their
ability to maneuver
within the traffic
stream
Incidents and
breakdowns are
easily absorbed
32
Flow reasonably free LOS B
Ability to maneuver
is slightly restricted
General level of
physical and
psychological
comfort provided to
drivers is high
Effects of incidents
and breakdowns are
easily absorbed

33
Freedom to maneuver
LOS C
is noticeably
restricted
Lane changes more
difficult
Minor incidents will
be absorbed, but will
cause deterioration
in service
Queues may form
behind significant
blockage

34
Speeds begin to
decline with LOS D
increasing flow
Freedom to maneuver
is noticeably limited
Drivers experience
physical and
psychological
discomfort
Even minor incidents
cause queuing, traffic
stream cannot absorb
disruptions
35
Operations are volatile,
virtually no usable gaps LOS E
Vehicles are closely
spaced
Disruptions such as lane
changes can cause a
disruption wave that
propagates throughout
the upstream traffic
flow
Cannot dissipate even
minor disruptions,
incidents will cause
breakdown
36
Breakdown or forced
flow
Occurs when:
LOS F
 Traffic incidents

cause a temporary
reduction in capacity
 At points of

recurring congestion,
such as merge or
weaving segments
 In forecast

situations, projected
flow (demand)
exceeds estimated
capacity 37
Design Level of Service
(LOS)

38
 FUNDAMENTALS OF INTERRUPTED
TRAFFIC FLOWS

A stream of traffic flowing under certain conditions

of density and speed meets an other stream flowing
under different conditions of speed and density
Shock wave is basically the movement of
demarcation of two stream conditions
Speed of Shock wave