Traffic Engineering

Study of Traffic Engineering

 Traffic Characteristics
 Traffic Studies and Analysis
 Traffic Operation-control and
 Regulation
 Planning Analysis
 Geometric Design
 Administration and Management

Traffic Characteristics

Characteristics of the Driver, the Pedestrian, the Vehicle and the Road Main components of the
highway mode
of transportation:

1. Driver
2. Pedestrian
3. Vehicle

Driver Characteristics

Problem -Varying skills and conceptual abilities of drivers on highway Conditions that can affect
the abilities of
drivers:

1.Influence of alcohol
2. fatique
3. Time of the day

The Human Response Process - Actions taken by drivers on the road result
from their evaluation of and reaction to information and reaction they obtain from certain stimuli
that they see or hear.
Visual- ability to see is of fundamental importance in driving task
Visual Perception Principal Characteristics of Eye:

1. Visual Acuity
2. Peripheral Vision
3. Color Vision
4.Glare Vision
5. Recovery
6. Depth Perception
Visual Perception

Principal Characteristics of Eye:

1. Visual Acuity- Ability to see fine details of an object.

2. Peripheral Vision - Ability of people to see objects beyond the cone of clearest vision

Note:
Age also influences peripheral vision

3. Color Vision - ability to differentiate one color from another.

Note:
Deficiency in this ability, usually referred to as color blindness, is not of great
significance in highway driving because other ways of recognizing traffic information
devices (e.g., shape) can compensate for it.

4. Glare Vision

2 Types of Glare Vision

1. Direct Glare Vision - occurs when relatively bright light appears in the individual's field of
vision
2. Specular Flare Vision - occurs when the image reflected by the relatively bright light appears
in the field of vision.

Both types of glare result in a decrease of visibility and cause discomfort to the eyes.

3. Emotion: the driver decides what action to take in response to the stimulus; for example, to
step on the brake pedal, to pass, to swerve, or to change lanes

4. Reaction or volition: the driver actually executes the action decided on during the
emotion sub-process
 Older Driver's Characteristics

As one grows older, his or her sensory, cognitive, and physical functioning ability declines,
which can result in older drivers being less safe than their younger counterparts, and with a
higher probability of being injured when involved in a crash

Pedestrian Characteristics
Pedestrian characteristics may influence the design and location of pedestrian
control devices.
Such control devices include
• special pedestrian signals,
• safety zones and islands intersections pedestrian underpasses,
• elevated walkways, and
• crosswalks.

Walking speeds vary between 3.0 and 8.0 ft /sec.

At intersections, the mean male walking speed has been determined to be 4.93 ft /sec, and for
females, 4.63 ft /sec.
• Rouphail and others have shown that the average walking speed depends on the population of
elderly pedestrians.
• Average walking speed is 4.0 ft /sec when the percentage of elderly pedestrians is 20 percent or
lower, but reduces to 3.0 ft /sec when the percentage of elderly pedestrians is higher than 20
percent.
• Consideration also should be given to the characteristics of handicapped pedestrians, such as
the blind

Vehicle Characteristics

Criteria for the geometric design of highways are partly

based on
1. Static Characteristics - include the weight and size of the vehicle
2. Kinematic Characteristics -involve the motion of the vehicle without considering the forces
that cause the motion.
3. Dynamic Characteristics - involve the forces that cause
the motion of the vehicle.

Since nearly all highways carry both passenger-automobile

and truck traffic, it is essential that design criteria take into
account the characteristics of different types of vehicles.
 Road Characteristics

The characteristics of the highway discussed in this section are related to stopping and passing
because these have a more direct relationship to the characteristics of the driver and the vehicle
discussed earlier.

Sight Distance - is the length of the roadway a driver can see ahead at any particular time.

Two types of sight distance

(1) stopping sight distance and
(2) passing sight distance

Spot Speed Study

are conducted to estimate the distribution of speeds

of vehicles in a stream of traffic at a particular location on a highway.
- is carried out by recording the speeds of a sample of vehicles at a specified location

Speed of a vehicle - is defined as the rate of movement of the vehicle; it is usually expressed in
miles per hour (mi/h) or kilometers per hour (km/h).

Speed characteristics identified by such a study will be valid only for the traffic and
environmental conditions that exist at the time of the study.

Speed characteristics determined from a spot speed study may be used to:

• Establish parameters for traffic operation and control, such as speed zones, speed limits (85th-
percentile speed is commonly used as the speed limit on a road), and passing restrictions.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of traffic control devices, such as variable message signs at work
zones.
• Monitor the effect of speed enforcement programs, such as the use of drone radar and the use of
differential speed limits for passenger cars and trucks.
• Evaluate and or determine the adequacy of highway
geometric characteristics, such as radii of horizontal curves and lengths of vertical curves.
• Evaluate the effect of speed on highway safety through the analysis of crash data for different
speed characteristics.
• Determine speed trends.
• Determine whether complaints about speeding are valid
 Volume, Travel Time and Delay Studies

Volume Studies - This time period varies from as little as 15 minutes to as much
as a year depending on the anticipated use of the data. The data collected also may
be put into subclasses which may include directional movement, occupancy rates,
vehicle classification, and pedestrian age.

1.) Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT)

- Is defined as the average 24-hour traffic volume at a given location over a full
365 days/year.
à. Estimation of highway user revenues
b. Computation of crash rates in terms of number of crashes per 100 million
vehicle miles
c. Establishment of traffic volume trends
d. Evaluation of the economic feasibility of
highway projects
e. Development of freeway
arterial street systems
and major
F. Development of improvement and maintenance programs

2.) Average Daily Traffic (ADT)

- Is the average 24-hour traffic volume at a given location for some period of time
less than a year.

a. Planning of highway activities

b. Measurement of current demand
c. Evaluation of existing traffic flow

3.) Peak Hour Volume (PHV)

- is the maximum number of vehicles that pass a point on a highway during a
period of 60 consecutive minutes.

a. Functional classification of highways

b. Design of the geometric characteristics of a highway
c. Capacity analysis
d. Development of programs related to traffic operations
e. Development of parking regulations
4.) Vehicle Classification (VC)
- Is an underlying approach in an intelligent transportation system and is widely
used in various applications like the monitoring of traffic flow, automated parking
systems, and security enforcement.

a. Design of geometric characteristics, with particular reference to turning-radii

requirements, maximum grades, lane widths, and so forth
b. Capacity analyses, with respect to passenger-car equivalents of trucks
c. Adjustment of traffic counts obtained by machines
d. Structural design of highway pavements, bridges, and so forth

5.) Vehicle Miles of Travel (VMT)

- Is a measure used extensively in transportation planning for a variety of purposes.
It measures the amount of travel for all vehicles in a geographic region over a
given period of time, typically a one- year period.

Methods of Conducting Volume Counts

 Manual Methods

 Automatic Methods

Manual counting involves one or more persons recording observed vehicles using a
counter. With this type of counter, both the turning movements at the intersection
and the types of vehicles can be recorded.

Automatic counters can be classified into two general categories: those that require
the laying of detectors (surface or subsurface) and those that do not require the
laying of detectors.

Types of Volume Counts

1.) Cordon Counts
2.)Screen Line Counts
3.)Intersection Counts
4.)Pedestrian Volume Counts
5.)Periodic Volume Counts
 1. Cordon Counts - Collects information on trips made by persons
and vehicles, in addition to various modes of transportation, such
as cars, buses, taxis, trains, subways, streetcars, and bikes.
2. Screen Line Counts - the study area is divided into large sections
by running imaginary lines, known as screen lines, across it.
3. Intersection Counts - These data are used mainly in determining
phase lengths and cycle times for signalized intersections, in the
design of channelization at intersections, and in the general design
of improvements to intersections.
4. Pedestrian Volume Counts -Volume counts of pedestrians are
made at locations such as subway stations, midblocks, and
crosswalks. The counts are usually taken at these locations when
the evaluation of existing or proposed pedestrian Facilities is to be
undertaken.
5. Periodic Volume Counts -To make reasonable estimates of
annual traffic volume characteristics on an area-wide basis,
different types of periodic counts, with count durations ranging
From 15 minutes to continuous, are conducted; the data from these
different periodic counts are used to determine values that are then
employed in the estimation of annual traffic characteristics.

Traffic Volume Characteristics

A continuous count of traffic at a section of a road will show that traffic volume
varies from hour to hour, from day to day, and from month to month. However, the
regular observation of traffic volumes over the years has identified certain
characteristics showing that although traffic volume at a section of a road varies
from time to time, this variation is repetitive and rhythmic.

The Level of measurements of traffic volume is represented as

1.) Hourly Volume-Volume of traffic of a particular hour

2.) Annual Average Daily Traffic - the total volume of vehicle traffic on a
highway or road for a year divided by 365 days.
3.) Average Annual Flow - Vehicles/year
 Traffic Time and Delay Studies

Data obtained from travel time and delay studies give a good indication
of the level of service on the study section. These data also aid the
traffic engineer in identifying problem locations, which may require
special attention in order to improve the overall flow of traffic on the
route.

Application of Travel Time and Delay Data

• Determination of the efficiency of a route with respect to its ability to carry traffic
• Identification of locations with relatively high delays and the causes for those
delays
• Performance of before-and-after studies to evaluate the effectiveness of traffic
operation improvements
• Determination of relative efficiency of a route by developing sufficiency ratings
or congestion indices
• Determination of travel times on specific links for use in trip assignment models
• Compilation of travel time data that may be used in trend studies to evaluate the
changes in efficiency and level of service with time
• Performance of economic studies in the evaluation of

Definition of Terms Related to Time and Delay Studies

1. Travel time is the time taken by a vehicle to traverse a given section of a

highway.
2. Running time is the time a vehicle is actually in motion while traversing a given
section of a highway.
3. Delay is the time lost by a vehicle due to causes beyond the control of the driver.
4. Operational delay is that part of the delay caused by the impedance of other
traffic. This impedance can occur either as side friction, where the stream flow is
interfered with by other traffic (for example, parking or unparking vehicles), or as
internal friction, where the interference is within the traffic stream (for example,
reduction in capacity of the highway).
5. Stopped-time delay is that part of the delay during
which the vehicle is at rest.
6. Fixed delay is that part of the delay caused by control devices such as traffic
signals. This delay Occurs regardless of the traffic volume or the impedance that
may exist.
7. Travel-time delay is the difference between the actual travel time and the travel
time that will be obtained by assuming that a vehicle traverses the study section at
an average speed equal to that for an uncongested traffic flow on the section being
studied.