Traffic Engineering – Traffic Control and Intersection Design

LECTURE – 10

Traffic Engineering – Traffic Control & Intersection Design

Traffic Control:

The objects of having effective traffic controlling devices are as follows:

(i) To develop free and rapid flow of traffic on roads and streets in towns; and
(ii) To prevent the rapid traffic flow from being in undue danger either to its own units
or to the public at large.

The traffic control is achieved either by means of ‘Constructive Measures’ or ‘Restrictive

measures’.

‘Constructive Measures’ include design of junctions, number of traffic lanes, layout of curves,
etc. and they are looked after by the town planners and road engineers. The ultimate aim of the
constructive measures is to make the roads as safe for movements.

‘Restrictive Measures’ include traffic rules and regulations, traffic signs and signals, etc. and
these measures are enforced by the police department of the government. The ultimate aim of
the restrictive measures is to maintain public safety until such time as the roads have been made
structurally safe and adequate.

Various methods of traffic control adopted in practice can be enlisted as follows:

(i) Achieving segregation of traffic;

(ii) Imposing heavy penalties on the defaulters of traffic rules and regulations;
(iii) Imposing speed restrictions as in case of road over a bridge;
(iv) Installing devices consisting of signs, signals and marking placed on or adjacent to
a street or a road for the purpose of regulating, warning or guiding the traffic;
(v) Making proper design of junctions i.e., providing them with traffic islands,
roundabouts, subways or bridges;
(vi) Making the streets one-way;
(vii) Providing good visibility, easy curves, sufficient widths and parking places;
(viii) Regulating turning of vehicles at junctions manually by policemen; etc.

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 Traffic Engineering – Traffic Control and Intersection Design

Design of Intersections:

An intersection is where two or more roads join or cross. At the intersection there are through,
turning and crossing traffic and these traffic movements may be handled in different ways
depending on the type of intersection and its design. The operating efficiency of a highway and
the safety there-of depend on the number and types of intersections en-route and the efficiency
of the design of these intersections. The efficiency, safety, speed, cost of operation and capacity
of road system very much depend on the planning and design of the intersections there-in.
Pedestrian movements at intersection cause increased potential hazards and delays.

Intersections may be classified into two broad groups:

1. Intersection at-grade:

Various forms of Intersections are shown in Fig: 10.1.

Fig: 10.1 Various forms of Intersections

The Intersections at-grade are further classified as

a. Un-channelized Intersections:

In Un-channelized intersections, the entire intersection area is paved and there is

absolutely no restriction to the vehicles to use any part of intersection area. These are
the lowest class of intersection and may be adopted only on road intersections with very
low traffic volume.

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 Traffic Engineering – Traffic Control and Intersection Design

Fig: 10.2 Un-channelized Intersections

b. Channelized Intersections:
Channelized intersection is achieved by introducing islands into the intersection area in
order to channelize the traffic flow into appropriate streams. The size and shape of the
channelizing islands are so designed as to control and regulate the approach angle and
relative speed of vehicles. The radius of the entrance and exit curves and the area are
suitably designed to accommodate the channelizing islands of proper size and shape.

Fig: 10.3 Typical channelized intersections

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 Traffic Engineering – Traffic Control and Intersection Design

c. Rotary Intersection:
A rotary intersection or traffic rotary is an enlarged road intersection where all
converging vehicles are forced to move round a large central island in one direction
before they can weave out of traffic flow into their respective directions radiating from
the central island.

Fig: 10.4 Different shapes of rotary island and layout of intersections

The main objects of providing a rotary are to eliminate the necessity of stopping even
for crossing streams of vehicles and to reduce the area of conflict.
Various factors to be considered in the design of a traffic rotary are:
(i) Design speed
(ii) Shape of central island
(iii) Radius of rotary roadway
(iv) Weaving angle and weaving distance
(v) Width of carriageway at entry and exit
(vi) Width of rotary roadway
(vii) Radius of entrance and exit curves
(viii) Capacity of the rotary roadway
(ix) Radius of entrance and exit curves
(x) Capacity of the rotary intersection
(xi) Channelizing islands
(xii) Camber and superelevation
(xiii) Sight distance and grade
(xiv) Lighting and traffic signs.

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 Traffic Engineering – Traffic Control and Intersection Design

Apart from these provision for cyclists and pedestrians also may be considered,
if required.

In a rotary roadway as it is not possible to provide adequate superelevation, it is safer

to neglect the superelevation and to take only the friction factor into consideration in
the design. Therefore the minimum radius of horizontal curve when superelevation is
zero is obtained as:

V2
R = 127f

The values of the design coefficient of friction ‘f’ are taken as 0.43 and 0.47 in rotary
intersection for the speeds 40 and 30 kmph respectively. The IRC has suggested the
radius of entry curve to be 20-35m for rotary design speed of 40 kmph and a radius of
15-25m for rotary design speeds of 30 kmph. The radius of entry curve for rotary design
speed of 40 kmph works out to about 30 m and about 15 m for rotary design speed of
30 kmph
d. Signalized Intersections:
Intersections at-grade that are controlled by traffic signals are called ‘signalized
intersections’ or ‘signal controlled intersections’. The automatic traffic control signals
are operated by electric power to alternately stop and let go the traffic entering the
intersection from the approach legs, thus preventing the crossing conflicts by ‘time
separation’.
The main objectives of signal control in intersections at –grade are to:
(i) Prevent traffic conflicts
(ii) Reduce accidents
(iii) Minimise overall delay and
(iv) Economise on the time spent by police personnel on traffic control.

2. Grade Separated Intersections:

Grade separated intersection design is the highest form of intersection treatment. This type
of intersection causes least delay and hazard to the crossing traffic and in general is much
superior to intersections at-grade from the point of view of traffic safety, operation and
capacity.

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 Traffic Engineering – Traffic Control and Intersection Design

Advantages:

a. Uninterrupted flow is possible for the crossing traffic. As the roads are separated at two
levels, there is no crossing conflict thus avoiding accidents while crossing with no need
to stop while crossing
b. There is increased safety for turning traffic and by indirect interchange ramp even right
turn movement is made quite easy and safe by converting into diverging to left and
merging from left.
c. There is overall increase in comfort and convenience to the motorists and saving in
travel time & vehicle operation cost.
d. The capacity of the grade separated intersection can practically approach the total
capacity of the two cross roads.

Disadvantages:

a. It is very costly to provide complete grade separation and interchange facilities

b. In flat or plain terrain, grade separation may introduce undesirable crests and sags in
the vertical alignment

Interchanges:

Grade separated intersection with complete interchange facility is essential to develop a

highway with full control of access. When there is intolerable congestion and accidents at
the intersection at-grade of two highways carrying very heavy traffic there is no better
solution than to provide grade separated intersection with interchanges.

Of the different types of interchanges ramps, indirect interchange ramp provides the most
convenient and conflict-free traffic manoeuvres consisting of diverging to the left and
merging from the left-side. Some patterns of grade separated intersections with different
types of interchanges are shown in Fig: 10.5. Of all these types, complete or full ‘clover
leaf’ with four indirect interchange ramps fulfils all the requirements of turning traffic
involving the simplest traffic manoeuvres with least conflicts.

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Fig: 10.5 Different types of Interchanges

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