TRAFFIC FLOW & TRAFFIC

FLOW ANALYSIS
TRAFFIC STUDIES
TRAFFIC FLOW CHARACTERISTICS
 TRAFFIC FLOW
• STUDY OF MOVEMENT OF INDIVIDUAL DRIVERS AND VEHICLES BETWEEN TWO
POINTS AND THE INTERACTION THEY MAKE WITH ONE ANOTHER.
• TRAFFIC STREAMS TEND TO HAVE SOME REASONABLE CONSISTENCY WHICH
MAKES FLOW OF TRAFFIC BE ROUGHLY REPRESENTED MATHEMATICALLY.
• THREE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS:
a. FLOW
b. DENSITY
c. VOLUME
 TRAFFIC FLOW THEORY

• INVOLVES THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIP AMONG THE

PRIMARY ELEMENTS OF THE TRAFFIC STREAM, FLOW, DENSITY AND SPEED.
• HELPS THE TRAFFIC ENGINEER IN PLANNING, DESIGNING, AND EVALUATING THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF IMPLEMENTING TRAFFIC ENGINEERING MEASURES ON
HIGHWAY SYSTEM.
• THIS IS VITAL TO BE ABLE TO DESIGN AND OPERATE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
WITH GREATEST POSSIBLE EFFICIENCY AND SAFETY.
 NATURE OF TRAFFIC FLOW

• A COMPLEX PHENOMENON. (NOTE: FLOW IS INVERSELY RELATED TO SPEED)

• STOCHASTIC PROCESS – RANDOM VARIATIONS IN VEHICLE AND DRIVER
- NOT DETERMINISTIC
- VARIABILITY OF POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
• 3 MAIN APPROACHES IN UNDERSTANDING TRAFFIC FLOW:
a. MACROSCOPIC APPROACH
- STEADY-STATE PHENOMENON OF FLOW
- IN AGGREGATE SENSE
B. MICROSCOPIC APPROACH
- RESPONSE OF EACH INDIVIDUAL VEHICLE IN A DISAGGREGATE MANNER
C. HUMAN FACTOR APPROACH
- HOW DRIVER LOCATES HIMSELF WITH REFERENCE TO OTHER VEHICLES AND TO THE
HIGHWAY/GUIDANCE SYSTEM
8 BASIC MEASURES FOR DESCRIBING TRAFFIC
FLOW:

1. SPEED
- RATE OF MOTION, DISTANCE PER UNIT TIME.
- TIME MEAN SPEED – A POINT MEASUREMENT, SUCH THAT OBTAINED BY A
RADAR GUN.
- SPACE MEAN SPEED – ASCERTAINED BY TIMING A VEHICLE OVER A
KNOWN DISTANCE
- AVERAGE OF ALL VEHICLES PASSING A POINT ON A
HIGHWAY OVER SOME SPECIFIED TIME PERIOD. (HARMONIC MEAN)
 SPACE MEAN SPEED
• EXAMPLE: FIVE VEHICLES ARE TRAVERSING A 300-M SEGMENT OF A HIGHWAY
AND THE FOLLOWING OBSERVATION IS MADE:

DATA FOR SPACE MEAN SPEED CALCULATIONS

VEHICLE NUMBER (i) TIME FOR 300 METERS (SEC)
1 16.70
2 15.35
3 18.25
4 14.77
5 15.50

CALCULATE THE SPACE MEAN SPEED. SOLVE IN TWO WAYS BY USING TWO FORMS
OF THE EXPRESSIONS FOR SPACE MEAN SPEED.
 TIME MEAN SPEED

• AVERAGE SPEED OF ALL VEHICLES MOVING OVER A GIVEN SECTION OF A

HIGHWAY OVER SOME SPECIFIED TIME PERIOD. (ARITHMETIC MEAN/ SPOT
SPEED)
• EXAMPLE: FIVE VEHICLES PASS A KILOMETER POST AT 65, 45, 50, 55, AND 70 KPH
RESPECTIVELY. COMPUTE THE TIME MEAN SPEED OF THE THREE VEHICLES IN
M/S.

NOTE: TMS IS ALWAYS HIGHER THAN SMS.

 2. VOLUME (V) AND RATE OF FLOW (

• VOLUME (V): ACTUAL NUMBER OF VEHICLES OBSERVED OR PREDICTED TO BE

PASSING A POINT DURING A GIVEN TIME PERIOD.
• RATE OF FLOW: THE NUMBER OF VEHICLES PASSING APPOINT DURING A TIME
INTERVAL LESS THAN 1 HOUR, BUT EXPRESSED AS AN EQUIVALENT HOURLY
RATE.
• EXAMPLE: VOLUME OF 150 VEHICLES OBSERVED IN 15-MINUTE PERIOD HAS A
FLOW RATE OF (150 X 60)/15 = 600 VEH/HR.
 VOLUME AND RATE OF FLOW

• EXAMPLE: CALCULATE THE RATE OF FLOW OF THE FOLLOWING VEHICLES.

TIME PERIOD (PM) VOLUME (VEHICLES)
4:30 - 4:45 555
4:46 – 5:00 675
5:01 – 5:15 870
5:16 – 5:50 960
 3. DENSITY OR CONCENTRATION (K)

• DEFINED AS THE NUMBER OF VEHICLES OCCUPYING A GIVEN LENGTH OF LANE

OR ROADWAY, AVERAGED OVER TIME (VEH/KM)
• Q = K X V)
• PROXIMITY OF VEHICLES IN A TRAFFIC STREAM IS GIVEN BY DENSITY, WHICH IS
A CRITICAL PARAMETER IN DESCRIBING FREEDOM OF MANEUVERABILITY.
 DENSITY

• EXAMPLE: A DRIVER DECIDES TO MEASURE THE DENSITY ON A 500-

M STRETCH OF A THREE LANE HIGHWAY. HE COUNTS 30 VEHICLES
IN FRONT OF HIM BEFORE LEAVING THE HIGHWAY. WHAT IS THE
HIGHWAY’S DENSITY?
 4. SPACIND AND HEADWAY

• SPACING (S) : DISTANCE BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE VEHICLES

IN ATRAFFIC STREAM AS MEASURED FROM FRONT
BUMPER TO FRONT BUMPER (SPACE HEADWAY)
• HEADWAY (H) : CORRESPONDING TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE VEHICLES AS THEY PASS A POINT ON A
ROADWAY (TIME HEADWAY).
 4. SPACIND AND HEADWAY

• SPACING (S) : OBSERVED FROM AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS

• HEADWAY (H) : OBSERVED THROUGH USING STOPWATCH
OBSERVATIONS.
 5. OCCUPANCY (R) OR LANE OCCUPANCY (

• A MEASURE USED IN FREEWAY SURVEILLANCE R COULD BE

DIVIDED BY THE AVERAGE LENGTH OF A VEHICLE TO GIVE AN
ESTIMATE OF THE DENSITY (K).
• R = SUM OF LENGTHS OF VEHICLES/ LENGTH OF ROADWAY
SECTION =
• = TOTAL TIME VEHICLE DETECTOR IS OCCUPIED/ TOTAL
OBSERVATION TIME =
 OCCUPANCY AND LANE OCCUPANCY

• EXAMPLE 1: FOUR VEHICLES 18, 19, 22 AND 24 FT. LONG, ARE DISTRIBUTED OVER
A LENGTH OF A FREEWAY LANE 500 FT LONG. WHAT IS THE LANE OCCUPANCY
AND DENSITY?
• 2. DURING A 60-SECOND PERIOD, A DETECTOR IS OCCUPIED BY VEHICLES FOR
THE FOLLOWING TIMES: 0.34, 0.38, 0.40, 0.32, AND 0.52 SEC. ESTIMATE THE VALUE
OF Q.
 6. CLEARANCE AND GAP

• HAS CORRESPONDENCE TO PARAMETERS OF SPACING (S) AND HEADWAY (H).