Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Traffic Engineering
Lecture 1: Outline-Traffic
System Components
Hoda Talaat, PhD
Assistant Professor
Public Works Dept.
Faculty of Engineering
Cairo University

Course Information
 Instructors
 Hozayen A. Hozayen,
Professor, Cairo University, Egypt

 Dalia Said,
Assistant Professor, Cairo University, Egypt

 Hoda Talaat,
Assistant Professor, Cairo University, Egypt

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Course Information
 Grading
 50 Final Exam
 25 Mid-term/Assignments/Attendance

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Course Information
 Acknowledgment
 Prof. Hozayen A. Hozayen, Cairo University.
 Prof. Baher Abdulhai, University of Toronto.
 Prof. Essam Radwan, University of Central Florida.

 References
 Roess, R., Prassas, E., and McShane, W. (2011).
Traffic Engineering. Pearson.
 Garber, n., & Hoel, L. (1988). Traffic and Highway
Engineering. West Publishing Company.
 Adolf, M. (1990) “Traffic Flow Fundamentals”.
Prentice Hall.
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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Transportation Profession
 “Application of science, math, and technologies to the basic
functions of planning, design, operation, and management of
any mode to provide safe, efficient, rapid, economical,
comfortable, and environmentally acceptable movement of
people and goods”. (Institute of Transportation Engineers)

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Basic Concepts
 Demand Vs. Capacity
 Demand: refers to number of vehicles that desire to travel a specific
1
highway
2 lanesstretch during a specific time period.
2

 Capacity: refers to the maximum number of vehicles that could travel a

specific highway stretch during a specific time period.

 What happens when the Demand

exceeds the Capacity??
 Delays
 Traffic System
Failure
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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Basic Concepts

 Mobility Vs. Accessibility

 Mobility: refers to the ability to travel to many different destinations

 Accessibility: refers to the ability to gain entry to a particular site or

area

 Examples…

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Basic Concepts
 Vehicles Vs. Persons Movement

 1 Lane of Freeway could carry 2200 passenger car per hour

(pcph)
2200*1.2 passenger/hr
(for an average occupancy of 1.2 person per car)

 1 bus lane that handle 100 buses/hr

100*50 passenger/hr
 Light Rail Transit Capacity  around 20,000 pass/hr
 Heavy Rail Transit Headway of 2000 passenger @ 2
minutes  around 60,000 pass/hour
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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Basic Concepts
 Supply/Demand/Land-use Interactions

Passengers/
Demand Vehicles

Supply Land-use

Land-use
Road /Traffic
characteristics
Network

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Time Frame???
Supply Management
Traffic System Data Collection
• Users
• Traffic Surveillance
• Vehicles
• Information/commun
• Traffic Network ication technologies

Decisions

System Evaluation
• Data Analysis (studies)
Info
• Actual Performance
Measures

Control Options System Control

Evaluation • Geometry
• Traffic Simulations Demand /
• Expected Performance Models • Controls Integration
Measures land-use
• Evaluation Schema • Operations 10

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

WHAT?
WHY?
Course Syllabus HOW?

Traffic System Data Collection

• Users
• Traffic Surveillance
• Vehicles
• Information/communi
• Traffic Network cation technologies

Decisions

System Evaluation
• Data Analysis (studies)
Info
• Actual Performance
Measures

Control Options System Control

Evaluation • Geometry
• Traffic Simulations
• Expected Performance Models •
Demand /
Measures
Controls Integration land-use
• Evaluation Schema • Operations
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Traffic System Basic Components

 Road Users
 Vehicles
 Traffic System (Road Traffic)
 Roadways
 Controls

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Road Users
 What?
The main users of a traffic system are:
 Drivers
 Pedestrians
 Bicyclists
 …
 Why?
Users directly impact traffic system operations through:
 Perception and Reaction process
 Decision making process (route choice, departure time choice, driving
behavior compliance to recommendations…)
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Road Users

 How?
Users Perception and Reaction Process incorporates:
 Detection
 Identification Perception and Reaction Time (PRT)
 Decision
 Response

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Road Users

 How?
Recommendations:
 Drivers PRT
 2.5 sec for stopping sight distance
 1 sec for signal stopping
 Pedestrians PRT
 7 sec

 Pedestrians Walking Speed

 4 – 5 feet per second

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Vehicles

 What?
Vehicles are the most dominantly used mode of travel.

 Why?
Vehicles characteristics and dynamics directly impact traffic system
operations.
Characteristics
 Dimensions: clearances, sight distances, geometric design…etc.
 Weight: structural design, grades…etc.

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Vehicles

 Why?
Dynamics
 Air Resistance
 Grade Resistance
 Rolling Resistance
 Curve Resistance

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Vehicles

 How? Design Vehicles Specs.

 Passenger car
 Single Unit Truck
 Pickup .
 Single unit Bus .
 Semi-Trailer .
 Full-Trailer .
 Others: Fire Fighting , Ambulance…etc

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Vehicles
 How? Study vehicle dynamics
Stopping Sight Distance (SSD)=
Distance traveled during PRT + Braking Distance
1.47 UtPRT+ (U2 - V2) / 30(f+g)

U: Starting Speed (mph)

V: final speed (mph)
g: grade
f: coefficient of skidding friction (0.28 – 0.4)
tPRT: Perception and reaction time (sec)

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Vehicles
 Example applications
 Example 1:
Estimating the speed of a vehicle involved in an accident

 Thoughts?

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Vehicles
 Example applications:
 Example 2: Dilemma Zone (vehicle cannot stop before the
intersection or clear the intersection within the available
yellow interval).

 Thoughts?

SSD
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Roadways
 What?
Roadways are carriers of vehicular movements

 Why?
Roadways characteristics directly impacts traffic system operations, through;
 Physical characteristics (such as lane width, radius of curvatures,
slopes…etc).
 Operational characteristics (such as speed limit).

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Roadways
 How?
Functional Classification of Roads
 Urban
 Freeway

 Arterial

 Collector

 Local

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Roadways
 How?
Functional Classification of Roads
 Rural
 Interstate

 Primary

 Secondary

 Tertiary

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Greater Cairo Region Road classification

(JICA, 2002)
 Inter-Urban Primary
Arterial Highway
 Regional Primary Arterial
Highway
 Urban Expressway
 Urban Primary Arterial
Street
 Urban Secondary Arterial
 Collector/Distributor Street
 Local Street

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Controls
 What?
Interference to control vehicles’ movements, such as:
 Marking
 Signs
 Signals
 Pre-timed: Fixed signal plan ( red, green and yellow time intervals).
 Actuated: Signal plan is subject to limited changes based on inputs
from traffic sensors.
 Adaptive: Signal plan is continuously changing based on a self-learning
optimization algorithm.

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Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University Traffic Engineering- Lecture 1

Controls
 Why?
Operational Management

 How?
 Considerations:
 Design
 Placement
 Operation
 Maintenance
 Uniformity

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