Traffic Engineering

Dr. Eng Yonas Minalu

[email protected]
 Content
1. Traffic engineering basics
2. Traffic flow theories and models
3. Junction type selection and design
4. Intersection control
5. Basic principles of intersection signalization and
signal timing design
6. Capacity and level of service analysis
7. Introduction to ITS
 Evaluation
1. Article review 20%
2. Semester project 20%
3. Assignment, test, quiz and attendance 10%
4. Final exam 50%
 4 Traffic Engineering

Chapter 1. Traffic
Engineering Basics

Dr. Yonas Minalu

[email protected]
 Introduction to traffic engineering
5

What is traffic engineering ??

 The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) defines

Traffic Engineering as follows:
“Traffic engineering is a component of
transportation engineering which deals with the
planning, geometric design, and traffic operations
of roads, streets, and highways, their networks,
terminals, abutting lands, and relationships with
other modes of transportation.”
 Introduction to traffic engineering
6

 Objectives of traffic engineering

 Safety – primary objective

 Speed – limited by technology, human characteristics

and safety
 Comfort – physical characteristics of vehicles and
roadways
 Convenience – ease with which trips are made

 Economy – provide the best possible system for the

money. “cheap”
 Environmental compatibility – minimize impacts
 Introduction to traffic engineering
7

 Elements of traffic engineering

 Traffic studies and characteristics – data collection and
analysis to characterize traffic (volume, speed, delay, etc)
 Performance evaluation – rating operating characteristics of
facilities (capacity and level of service)
 Facility design – functional and geometric design of
highways and other traffic facilities
 Traffic control – establishment of traffic regulations and
their communication to drivers through control devices such
as signals, markings, etc.
 Traffic flow theory is a complex matter
8

 Main components
 Interaction between:
Driver
 Vehicle

 Road

 Driver

 Every vehicle is controlled by a

driver who makes individual
choices how to control the vehicle
 The driver is the main reason why
traffic flow is such a complex
matter
 Two types of traffic facilities
9

 Uninterrupted flow
 Freewayswhere there are no intersections at grade,
no STOP & YIELD signs, etc.
 Some rural highways
 Interrupted flow
 Incorporate fixed external interruptions such as
traffic signals, STOP & YIELD signs, etc
 Traffic Stream Parameters
10

 Macroscopic – describe the traffic stream as a whole

 Volume or rate of flow
 Average Speed
 Density (concentration)
 Microscopic – describe behavior of individual vehicle or
pairs of vehicles in a stream
 Speed of individual vehicles
 Time Headway
 Distance Headway (Spacing)
 Traffic flow (q)
11

 Traffic flow (q) is defined as the number of vehicles

per time unit
q=n/T
(where n is the number of vehicles and T is the time period)
 Unit is often vehicle per hour (veh/hour), but other
units are also possible (veh/day, veh/minute, etc)
 The number of vehicles during a short period is often
called traffic intensity or flow rate instead of flow or
volume
 Heavy vehicles and passenger car units (pcu)
12

 The proportion of heavy vehicles is calculated as a percentage

of the total traffic
 However, automatic classifying systems are usually using vehicle
length instead of vehicle weight (it is easier to measure length
than weight of moving vehicles)
 Heavy vehicles and passenger cars have very different
characteristics
 For evaluation of traffic flow, the traffic volume should be
converted from vehicles (veh) to passenger car units (pcu)
 Equivalent factors are used for each vehicle type, for example
1 passenger car = 1.0 pcu
1 motorcycle = 0.5 pcu
1 bus = 2.0 pcu
1 lorry = 2.5 pcu
1 lorry with trailer = 3.0 pcu
 Daily Volume Parameters
13

 Establish trends over time & used for general planning purposes
 Average annual daily traffic (AADT) – the average of 24-hour
counts collected every day of the year. AADTs are used for:
 Estimation of highway user revenues
 Computation of crash rates (# of crashes per 100 million veh-kms)
 Establishment of traffic volume trends
 Evaluation of the economic feasibility of highway projects
 Development of freeway and major arterial street systems
 Development of improvement and maintenance programs

 Average annual weekday traffic (AAWT) – number of vehicles on

weekdays in a year divided by number of weekdays (260)
 Daily Volume Parameters, Cont’d
14

 Average daily traffic (ADT) – the average of 24-hour

counts collected over a number of days greater than one
but less than a year. ADTs may be used for:
 Planning of highway activities
 Measurement of current demand
 Evaluation of existing traffic flow

 Average weekday traffic (AWT) – the average 24-hr

weekday volume over a defined time period less than one
year (commonly for each month)
 Daily Volume Parameters - Example
15
 Traffic variation
16

 Traffic variation might be explained by the purpose of the trip,

for example:
 Travel to/from work
 Deliver of goods
 Shopping
 Leisure trips
 Holiday trips
 On a specific road there is a mixture of different trip purposes
 For practical use, traffic variation is usually connected to
different road types with specific characteristics
 Example of monthly variation
17

Mean daily traffic Variation over year

50000

45000
Daily traffic (Vehicles / day)

40000

1999
35000 2000
2001
30000 2002
2003
25000
Jan Feb Mar Apr Mai Jun Jul Aug Sep Okt Nov Des
Month
 Example of daily variation
18

Daily traffic. Variation over weekdays

60000

50000

40000
`

30000

20000

10000

0
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 Example of hourly variation
19

Hourly traffic. Variation over day

5000
Direction 1
4500 Direction 2
Sum both directions
4000

3500
Vehicles / hour

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
00- 01- 02- 03- 04- 05- 06- 07- 08- 09- 10- 11- 12- 13- 14- 15- 16- 17- 18- 19- 20- 21- 22- 23-
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
 AADT and traffic variation
20

 AADT can be estimated from short volume counts as follows:

AADT = q * (HEF) * (DEF) * (MEF)

Hourly Expansion Factors (HEF)

 used to expand counts of durations shorter than 24 hour to 24-hour volumes
by multiplying the hourly volume for each hour during the count period by the
HEF for that hour and finding the mean of these products.
 AADT and traffic variation, Cont’d
21

Daily Expansion Factors (DEF)

 used to determine weekly volumes from counts of 24-hour duration by
multiplying the 24-hour volume by the DEF.

Monthly Expansion Factors (MEF)

 used to determine AADT for a given year from ADT for a given month by
multiplying this volume by the MEF.
 Speed (u)
22

 Speed might be defined as the relationship between distance

and time when an object is moving
 The unit for speed is kilometers per hour (km/h) or meters per
second (m/s)
u [km/hr] = u [m/s] * 3.6
u [m/s] = u [km/t] / 3.6
(1 hour = 3600 seconds and 1 km = 1000 m)
 Example:
72 km/hr = 72/3.6 = 20 m/s
30 m/s = 30*3.6 = 108 km/t
5 km/hr = 5/3.6 = 1.4 m/s (typical pedestrian speed)
 Point Speed
23

 Point speed is measured at a point (short distance)

 Average point speed is a.k.a time mean speed
 Often measured by inductive loops or a radar
 Average point speed is calculated by adding all
the individual speeds and divide by the number of
vehicles
upavg = (u1+u2+u3+… + un) / n
 Section Speed
24

 Section speed is measured over a longer distance

 Section speed is a.k.a. travel speed or space speed
 Average section speed is a.k.a space mean speed
 Section speed of a specific vehicle is found by
measuring the time (t) used to drive a distance (L)
v = L/t (speed = distance / time)
 Note that average section speed (vs) should be based
on the individual travel times for each vehicle:
vs = L / tavg , where tavg = (t1+t2+…+tn)/n
 Time Headway (TH)
25

 Time headway is the time interval (in seconds) between

consecutive vehicles
 This headway is measured as the time interval between front of
one vehicle to front of the next vehicle
 There is a relationship between Average Time Headway (ATH)
and Traffic flow (q):
ATH = 3600 / q or q = 3600 / ATH
(1 hour = 60*60 = 3600 seconds)
 Example:
q=600 veh/h -> ATH = 3600/600 = 6 seconds
ATH = 3 seconds -> q = 3600/3 = 1200 veh/h
 Concentration or density (k)
26

 Concentration (k) is defined as the number of

vehicles on a specific length of the road
 Concentration is also often called density
k = n/L
 The unit is usually veh/km
 It is difficult to measure density directly !!
 Distance Headway (DH)
27

 Distance headway is the distance (in meters) between

consecutive vehicles
 This distance is measured between front of one vehicle to
front of the next vehicle
 There is a relationship between Average Distance
Headway (ADH) and density (k):
ADH = 1000 / k or k = 1000 / ADH (1 km = 1000m)
 Capacity
28

 Capacity may be defined as:

The maximum sustainable flow rate at which vehicles or
persons can be expected to reasonably traverse a point or
uniform segment of a lane or roadway during a specified
time period under given roadway, geometric, traffic,
environmental and control conditions.
 Capacity is usually expressed as vehicles per hour,
passenger cars per hour, or persons per hour.
 Capacity is a dynamic (and not a constant) parameter
 Capacity and quality of traffic flow
29

 If traffic demand exceeds capacity, we will get an

overloaded traffic system with long queues & delays.
 But even if traffic volume is well below capacity,
there will be conflicts between vehicles.
 These conflicts lead to temporary queues and delays,
and the drivers interpret this as a reduced quality of
traffic flow.
 ”Freedom to maneuver”
and quality of traffic flow
30

 You will have large freedom to maneuver and excellent

quality of traffic flow if …
 You are able to decide your own speed

 You are not influenced by other vehicles

 There is no problem to overtake other vehicles

 You have a limited freedom to maneuver and poor quality of

traffic flow if ….
 You have no possibility to decide your own speed

 You are driving in a slow moving queue

 Due to heavy traffic it is difficult to overtake other vehicles

 Level of service (LOS)
31

 Highway Capacity Manual defines 6 different levels to

describe quality of traffic flow. These 6 levels of service are:
 Level of service (LOS)
32
 Recommended Additional Reading
33

 Traffic Engineering (By Roess), Chapters 5, 8, 9

 Traffic and Highway Engineering (By Garber), Chapter 4
34

Thank you,
any question ??