University of Diyala

College of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department

Traffic Engineering
TRAFFIC Flow
ELEMENTS
 Flow Rate(q):
The equivalent hourly rate at which vehicles pass a point
on a highway lane during a time period less than one
hour.
q = n \T

8
q  1152 (veh/hr or vph)
25 / 3600
 Density (K)
Number of vehicles traveling over a unit length of
highway at an instant in time, expressed as vehicles
per time per distance in a lane (veh/hr/km)
k = n \ L
Density (K)
Speed (u)
The distance traveled by a vehicle during a unit of time,
expressed as distance per time.
u = L \ ti

Time of Location (ft) Speed

Passing (sec) 600 700 (ft/sec)
1 0.0 2.0 50.0
2 4.4 6.7 45.0
3 6.0 8.0 50.0

Vehicle
4 11.4 14.3 35.0
5 15.0 17.5 40.0
6 17.5 20.0 40.0
7 21.1 23.3 45.0
8 23.3 25.0 60.0

700  600
v1   50 ft/sec
2.0  0.0
 50 * 3600 / 5280  34.09 (mi/hr or mph)
 Time Mean Speed (ūt)
The arithmetic mean of the speeds of vehicles passing
a point on a highway during an interval of time.
ūt = Ʃui / n

Mile
post

Observation Period
50  45  50  35  40  40  45  60
vt   45.6 (ft/sec)
8
 Space Mean Speed (ūs)
The harmonic mean of the speeds of vehicles passing a
point on a highway during an interval of time.
ūs = nL/ Ʃti
Observation Distance

Observation Period
100 * 8
vs   44.2(ft/sec)  30.1(mi/hr)
 2  2.3  2  2.9  2.5  2.5  2.2  1.7 
 Time Headway (h)
The difference between the time the front of
a vehicle arrives at a point on the highway and
the time the front of the next vehicle arrives
at that same point, expressed in second (s).

T=0 sec T=3 sec

h1-2=3sec
Space Headway (d)
The distance between the front of a vehicle
and the front of the following vehicle,
expressed in meter (m , ft , in).

d2-3 d1-2
Gap(g)
The difference between the time the back of a
vehicle arrives at a point on the highway and
the time the front of the next vehicle arrives
at that same point, expressed in second (s).
g = h – (l\ ūs)
 Clearance(c)

The distance between the back of a vehicle and

the front of the following vehicle.
c = g x ūs
 The time-space diagram:
It is a graph that describes the relationship between
the location of vehicles in traffic stream and time as
the vehicles progress along the highway.
1 2 3 4
5

h3-4

d1 6
Distance

d2 d3-4

d3

d4

t3 t3 " t5 t6
Time
 Example-1
What are the individual headways and the average
headway measured at location A during the 25 sec
period?

A
Example-1

Time of Location (ft)

Passing (sec) 600 700
1 0.0 2.0
h1-2
2 4.4 6.7
3 6.0 8.0 h2-3

Vehicle
4 11.4 14.3
5 15.0 17.5
6 17.5 20.0
7 21.1 23.3
8 23.3 25.0
 Example-2
Vehicles traveling at constant speeds on a 2-lane
highway between sections X & Y with their positions and
speeds obtained at an instant of time by photography.
An observer located at point X with observer the four
vehicles passing point X during a period of time, T sec,
with velocities 110, 100, 90, and 75 km/hr, respectively.
15m 5m 45m 5m 50m 5m 100m 5m 70m

75 km\hr 90 km\hr 100 km\hr 110 km\hr

X Y

300 m
Example-3

A section of highway having a length 60 m. The

observed data are 6 vehicles cross over it in a
period of 148 sec., for the following duration:
2.4, 2.8, 3.0, 2.1, 2.2, and 3.5 sec. Estimate the
values of the flow rate, density, space-mean
speed, time-mean speed, average gap, and
average clearance. If the length of vehicles
?are 6, 5.4, 6.6, 4.8, 7.5, and 6 m respectively
H.W-1
A vehicles Platoon was observed over a distance of 1000 ft
on a single lane on a street, entering at point (A) and
departing at point (B)
Time at (A) Time at (B)
Vehicle
sec. sec.
1 0 35
2 2 37
3 3 39
4 5 42
5 6 44
6 8 48
•Plot the trajectories of these six vehicles on graph paper
•Calculate the flow rate , density , speed , time mean speed ,
space mean speed , time headway , space headway , gap and
clearance
Assuming the first 10 second at (A) as the period of
observation, and the length of vehicle is 20 ft.
 Fundamental Relationships
The relation between
 Flow and Density,
Density and Speed,
Speed and Flow,
They are referred to as the fundamental diagrams of
traffic flow.
 Flow - Density
 The flow and density varies
with time and location.
 Some characteristics of an
ideal flow-density relationship
are listed below:
1- When the density is zero,
flow will also be zero, since
there are no vehicles on the
road.
2- When the number of vehicles
gradually increases the density
as well as flow increases.
 Flow - Density

3- When more and more

vehicles are added, it reaches a
situation where vehicles can't
move. This is referred to as
the jam density or the
maximum density. At jam
density, flow will be zero
because the vehicles are not
moving.

4- There will be some density

between zero density and jam
density, when the flow is
maximum.
 Speed - Density
 Speed will be maximum, referred to as the free flow speed.

 When the density is maximum, the speed will be zero.

 Speed - Density
Corresponding to the zero density, vehicles will be flowing with
their desire speed, or free flow speed.
 When the density is jam density, the speed of the vehicles becomes
zero.
 Speed - Flow
 The flow is zero either because there are no vehicles or there are too
many vehicles so that they cannot move.
At maximum flow, the speed will be in between zero and free flow
speed.
 The maximum flow qmax occurs at speed u.
 Speed - Flow
It is possible to have two different speeds for a given flow.

The high speed u2 refer to low density but the lower speed u1 refer to
high density with flow is constant.
 Traffic Stream Models
Speed - Density

K = 0 <…….> Us = Uf
Uf : Free flow speed K = Kj <……> Us = 0
Kj : Jam density
Us : Space mean speed
K: Density
 Traffic Stream Models
Flow - Density

Q = Us * K

K = 0 <…….> Q = 0
K = Kj <……> Q = 0 Qmax = Um * Km
K = Km <……> Q = Qm

Qm: Optimal flow = maximum flow = capacity

Km : Optimal density = critical density
Um : Optimal speed = critical speed
 Traffic Stream Models
Speed - Flow

Q = Us * K

Qmax = Um * Km
K = 0 <…….> Us = Uf <…….> Q = 0
K = Kj <……> Us = 0 <…….> Q = 0
K = Km <……> Us = Um <…….> Q = Qm
Example-3
Considering linear relationship between density
and speed, if the number of vehicle observed
on a segment of road with length 1.2 km is 96
veh. Knowing that the jam density is 100
veh./km, calculate the following:
1. The Spacing ?
2. The free flow speed when the flow rate is
1600 veh/hr ?
3. Space mean speed ?
 Example-4
Considering linear relationship between density
and speed, you are required to estimate the
corresponding flow and speed values to
densities of (10 , 20 , 30 , 40 , 50 , 60 , and 70)
veh/km if the free flow speed is 90 km/hr and
at critical situation, it is founded that there
are 110 vehs on a section of road with length
2.0 km. using the estimated values, draw a
sketch showing the speed-flow-density
relationships ?
Example-5
The relation between the traffic flow
characteristics for a highway follows the
relation

Us = 100 – 0.8 k
Derivate the main relations between the
traffic flow characteristics for this highway
using sketches to show your answer?
Determine the speed and density at Q = 2000
veh/hr?
 H.W-1
A traffic stream displays average vehicle time
headway of 2 sec at space mean speed 60 km/hr.
compute average space headway, flow rate and
density for traffic stream?

H.W-2
A sample of data collected for a portion of highway
indicated that the maximum free flow was 2000 veh/hr
and the jam density was 100 veh/km. determine the
free flow speed on the portion of the highway. Then
construct a linear relationship between the space mean
speed and the density for this portion of highway?