Traffic Flow Theory

Key Concepts and Applications

 Introduction
• Definition of Traffic Flow Theory: developing
mathematical relationships among the
primary elements of a traffic stream: slow,
density, and speed.
• Importance in traffic engineering: planning,
designing, and evaluating traffic engineering
measures.
• Applications in simulation, including changes
in traffic on crashes, travel time, pollution,
emissions, and fuel consumption.
 Fundamental Traffic Variables
• Flow (q): number of vehicles passing a point per
unit time; veh/h
• Density (k): number of vehicles per unit length of
roadway; veh/km or veh/mile
• Speed (u): Average velocity of vehicles on a
roadway; km/h or miles/h

Relationship among variables: q = k × u

• Example: If density = 50 vehicles/km & speed = 60
kph, then q = 50 × 60 = 3000 vehicles/hour.
 Flow
• Flow (q): is the equivalent hourly rate at which
vehicles pass a point on a highway during a time
period less than 1 hour.
𝑛𝑛×3600
𝑞𝑞 = veh/h
𝑇𝑇

where:
n: number of vehicles passing a point in the roadway in T seconds
q: the equivalent hourly flow
 Density
• Density (k): sometimes referred to as
concentration, is the number of vehicles traveling
over a unit length of highway at an instant in time.

• The unit of length is usually 1 km (or 1 mile)

thereby making vehicles per km (or veh/mi) the
unit of density.
 Speed
• Speed (u): is the distance travelled by a vehicle
during a unit of time.
• It can be expressed in miles per hour (mi/h),
kilometers per hour (km/h), or feet per second
(ft/sec).
• Two types of speed:
– Time Mean Speed (�
𝑢𝑢𝑡𝑡 )
– Space Mean Speed (�
𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠 )
 Time Mean Speed
• Time Mean Speed (� 𝑢𝑢𝑡𝑡 ): is the arithmetic mean of
the speeds of vehicles passing a point on a highway
during an interval of time.
• The time mean speed is found by:
𝑛𝑛
1
𝑢𝑢� 𝑡𝑡 = � 𝑢𝑢𝑖𝑖
𝑛𝑛
𝑖𝑖=1
where:
n: number of vehicles passing a point on the highway
𝑢𝑢𝑖𝑖 : speed of the ith vehicle
 Space Mean Speed
• Space Mean Speed (� 𝑢𝑢𝑠𝑠 ): is the harmonic mean of the
speeds of vehicles passing a point on a highway during
an interval of time. This is the speed used in flow-
density relationships.
• The space mean speed is found by:
𝑛𝑛 𝑛𝑛𝐿𝐿
𝑢𝑢� 𝑠𝑠 = = 𝑛𝑛
𝑛𝑛 1 ∑𝑖𝑖=1 𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑖
∑𝑖𝑖=1
𝑢𝑢𝑖𝑖
where:
n: number of vehicles passing a point on the highway
𝑢𝑢𝑖𝑖 : speed of the ith vehicle
𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑖 : time it takes the ith vehicle to travel across a section of highway
L: length of the highway section
 Relationship between both speeds
Time Mean Speed is always higher than the space
mean speed since:
𝜎𝜎 2
𝑢𝑢� 𝑡𝑡 = 𝑢𝑢� 𝑠𝑠 +
𝑢𝑢� 𝑠𝑠

The difference between these speeds tends to

decrease as the absolute values of speeds increase.
 Space Mean Speed Types
• Average running speed = another type of space
mean speed, where only the time while the vehicle
in motion is considered (stopping time is
excluded)
• Average travel speed= average of speeds of a
group of vehicles at long sections (stopping +
moving)
 Time Headway
• Time headway (h): the difference between the time the
front of a vehicle arrives at a point on the highway and
time the front of the next vehicle arrives at that same
point (sec)

• Time headway distribution helps measure platooning in

the traffic stream and can be used to obtain delay
measures due to various traffic control devices.
1
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒: ℎ� =
𝑞𝑞
 Space Headway
• Space headway (d): is the distance between the front
bumpers of successive vehicles at any given instant,
expressed in meters or feet.
• Space headway has a great effect on the driver's choice
of speed.

• Average space headway:

̅ 1
𝑑𝑑 =
𝑘𝑘
Solution: The flow is calculated by
𝑛𝑛×3600 4×3600 14,400
𝑞𝑞 = = = veh/h
𝑇𝑇 𝑇𝑇 𝑇𝑇

With L equal to the distance between X and Y in m:

𝑛𝑛 4 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣
Density= 𝑘𝑘 = = × 1000 = 44.4
𝐿𝐿 90 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘

1 𝑛𝑛
The time mean speed: 𝑢𝑢� 𝑡𝑡 = ∑ 𝑢𝑢
𝑛𝑛 𝑖𝑖=1 𝑖𝑖
30 + 40 + 45 + 45 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘
𝑢𝑢� 𝑡𝑡 = = 40
4 ℎ
𝑛𝑛
The space mean speed: 𝑢𝑢� s = 1
∑𝑛𝑛
𝑖𝑖=1 𝑢𝑢𝑖𝑖
4
= 1 1 1 1 =39 km/h
( + + + )
30 40 45 45
 Flow-Density Relationships
• Flow = density × space mean speed
𝑞𝑞 = 𝑘𝑘𝑢𝑢� 𝑠𝑠

• Space mean speed= flow × average space headway

𝑢𝑢� 𝑠𝑠 = 𝑞𝑞𝑑𝑑̅

• Density= flow × average travel time for unit distance

𝑘𝑘 = 𝑞𝑞𝑡𝑡̅

• Average space headway = space mean speed × average time

headway
𝑑𝑑̅ = 𝑢𝑢� 𝑠𝑠 ℎ�

• Average time headway = average travel time for unit distance

× average space headway
ℎ� = 𝑡𝑡̅𝑑𝑑̅
 Traffic Stream Models
• Macroscopic models: Describe overall traffic
flow (e.g. Greenshields Model)
• Microscopic models: Focus on individual
vehicle interactions (e.g. Car-following
models)
• Mesoscopic models: Hybrid of macro and
micro models
 Traffic Flow Regimes

• Uninterrupted flow (e.g., highways)

• Interrupted flow (e.g., urban streets,
signalized intersections)
• Differences in modelling and control strategies
Fundamental Diagrams of Traffic Flow
Flow-Density Relationship
 Speed-Density Relationship

- The relationship is linear

with a negative slope
- As density increases, the
speed of the vehicles in the
traffic stream decreases
until it reaches zero at jam
density
- Free flow speed occurs at
low densities (approaching
zero)
 Flow-Space Mean Speed Relationship

- When the flow is very low, there is little

interaction between individual vehicles.
Drivers are therefore free to travel at the
maximum possible speed. The absolute
maximum speed is obtained as the flow
tends to 0, and it is known as the mean free
speed (uf). The magnitude of the mean free
speed depends on the physical
characteristics of the highway. Continuous
increase in flow will result in a continuous
decrease in speed.
- A point will be reached, however, when
the further addition of vehicles will result in
the reduction of the actual number of
vehicles that pass a point on the highway
(that is, reduction of flow). This results in
congestion, and eventually both the speed
and the flow become 0.