Module -III

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 1

Traffic engineers collect data for many reasons and applications:

• Managing the physical system.

• Understanding the needs and choices of the public and industry.
• Calibrating basic relationships or parameters.
• Assessing the effectiveness of improvements.
• Assessing potential impacts.
• Evaluating facility or system performance.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 2

Types of Studies

Inventories studies provide a list or graphic display of existing information, such as street
widths, parking spaces, transit routes, traffic regulations, and so forth. Some inventories—
for example, available parking spaces and traffic regulations—change frequently and
therefore require periodic updating; others, such as street widths, do not.

Administrative studies use existing engineering records, available in government agencies

and departments. This information is used to prepare an inventory of the relevant data.
Inventories may be recorded in files but are usually recorded in automated data
processing (ADP) systems. Administrative studies include the results of surveys, which
may involve field measurements and/or aerial photography.

Dynamic traffic studies involve the collection of data under operational conditions and
include studies of speed, traffic volume, travel time and delay, parking, and crashes.
Dynamic studies are carried out by the traffic engineer to evaluate current conditions and
develop solutions.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 3
It would be literally impossible to list all of the studies in which traffic engineers get
involved. Some of the most common include:

• Volume studies.
• Speed studies.
• Travel-time studies.
• Delay studies.
• Density studies.
• Accident studies.
• Parking studies.
• Goods movement and transit studies
• Pedestrian studies.
• Calibration studies.
• Observance studies.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 4

Traffic stream parameters
The traffic stream includes a combination of driver and vehicle behavior. The driver or
human behavior being non-uniform, traffic stream is also non-uniform in nature. It is
influenced not only by the individual characteristics of both vehicle and human but also
by the way a group of such units interacts with each other. Thus a flow of traffic through a
street of defined characteristics will vary both by location and time corresponding to the
changes in the human behavior.
The traffic engineer, for the purpose of planning and design, assumes that these changes
are within certain ranges which can be predicted. For example, if the maximum
permissible speed of a highway is 60 kmph, the whole traffic stream can be assumed to
move on an average speed of 40 kmph rather than 100 or 20 kmph.

Thus the traffic stream itself is having some parameters on which the characteristics can
be predicted. The parameters can be mainly classified as:
• Measurements of quantity, which includes density and flow of traffic
• Measurements of quality which includes speed.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 5
The traffic stream parameters can be
• macroscopic which characterizes the traffic as a whole
• microscopic which studies the behavior of individual vehicle in the stream with
respect to each other.

As far as the macroscopic characteristics are concerned, they can be grouped as

measurement of quantity or quality as described above, i.e. flow, density, and speed.

While the microscopic characteristics include the measures of separation, i.e. the
headway or separation between vehicles which can be either time or space headway.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 6

Volume Study
The most fundamental measurement in traffic engineering is counting, counting vehicles,
passengers, and/or people. Various automated and manual counting techniques are used
to produce estimates of
• Volume
• Rate of flow
• Demand
• Capacity
Sometimes these are used in conjunction with other measures or conditions. The four
parameters listed are closely related, and all are expressed in terms of the same or
similar units. They are not, however, the same.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 7

Relation between Volume and Rate of Flow
Traffic volume is defined as the number of vehicles passing a point on a highway, or a
given lane or direction of a highway, during a specified time interval. The unit of
measurement for volume is simply “vehicles/ PCU” although it is often expressed as
“vehicles per unit time.” Units of time used most often are “per day” or “per hour.” Daily
volumes are used to establish trends over time, and for general planning purposes.
Detailed design or control decisions require knowledge of hourly volumes for the peak
hour(s) of the day.

Rates of flow are generally stated in units of “vehicles per hour/ PCU per hour” but
represent flows that exist for periods of time less than one hour. A volume of 200 vehicles
observed over a 15-minute period may be expressed as a rate of 200 X 4 = 800
vehicles/hour, even though 800 vehicles would not be observed if the full hour were
counted. The 800 vehicles / hour becomes a rate of flow that exists in a particular 15-
minute interval.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 8

Variations of Volume
• with time
• season to season
• month to month
• day to day
• hour to hour
• within an hour

Weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays will also have difference in pattern. But comparing
day with day, patterns for routes of a similar nature often show a marked similarity,
which is useful in enabling predictions to be made.

The most significant variation is from hour to hour. The peak hour observed during
mornings and evenings of weekdays, which is usually 8 to 10 per cent of total daily flow
or 2 to 3 times the average hourly volume. These trips are mainly the work trips, which
are relatively stable with time and more or less constant from day to day.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 9
Types of volume measurements
Daily volumes are used to document annual trends in highway usage. Forecasts based
upon observed trends can be used to help plan improved or new facilities to
accommodate increasing demand. There are four daily volume parameters that are
widely used in traffic engineering:
Average annual daily traffic (AADT) The average 24-hour volume at a given location
over a full 365-day year; the number of vehicles passing a site in a year divided by 365
days (366 days in a leap year).
Average annual weekday traffic (AAWT) The average 24-hour volume occurring on
weekdays over a full 365-day year; the number of vehicles passing a site on weekdays in
a year divided by the number of weekdays (usually 260).
Average daily traffic (ADT) The average 24 hour volume at a given location over a
defined time period less than one year; a common application is to measure an ADT for
each mom h of the year.
Average weekday traffic (AWT) The average 24 hour weekday volume at a given
location over a defined time period less than one year; a common application is to
measure an AWT for each month Prof. S.of the
S. Das, year.of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla
Department 10
Hourly Volumes
Daily volumes, while useful for planning purposes, cannot be used alone for design or
operational analysis purposes. Volume varies considerably over the 24 hours of the day, with
periods of maximum flow occurring during the morning and evening commuter “rush
hours.” The single hour of the day that has the highest hourly volume is referred to as the
peak hour. The traffic volume within this hour is of greatest interest to traffic engineers for
design and operational analysis usage. The peak-hour volume is generally stated as a
directional volume (i.e., each direction of flow is counted separately).

In design, peak-hour volumes are sometimes estimated from projections of the AADT. Traffic
forecasts are most often cast in terms of AADTs based on documented trends and/or
forecasting models due to its more stability than hourly volumes, projections can be more
confidently made using them. AADTs are converted to a peak-hour volume in the peak
direction of flow. This is referred to as the “directional design hour volume” (DDHV), by
DDHV = AADT * K * D
where: K = proportion of daily traffic occurring during the peak hour (30th peak hour)
D = proportion of peak hour traffic travelling in the peak direction of flow
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 11
For design, the K factor represented by the proportion of AADT occurring during the 30 th
peak hour of the year. For rural facilities, the 30th peak hour may have a significantly lower
volume than the worst hour of the year, as critical peaks may occur only infrequently. In
such cases, it is not considered economically feasible to invest large amounts of capital in
providing additional capacity that will be used in only 29 hours of the year. In urban cases,
where traffic is frequently at capacity levels during the daily commuter peaks, the 30 th
peak hour is often not substantially different from the highest peak hour of the year.

The D factor tends to be more variable and influenced by a number of factors. Again, as
development density increases, the D factor tends to decrease. As density increases, it is
more likely to have substantial bi-directional demands. Radial routes (i.e. those serving
movements into and out of central cities or other areas of activity), will have stronger
directional distributions (hip, her D values) than those that are circumferential, (i.e.., going
around areas of central activity).

The K factor ranges from 0.15 to 0.25, and the D factor ranges from 0.65 to 0.80.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 12
Sub-hourly Volumes and Rates of Flow
While hourly traffic volumes form the basis for traffic design and analysis, the variation of
traffic within a given hour is also of considerable interest. The quality of traffic flow is
often related to short-term fluctuations in traffic demand. A facility may have sufficient
capacity to serve the peak-hour demand, but short term peaks of flow within the hour
may exceed capacity and create a breakdown.

Volumes observed for periods of less than one hour are generally expressed as equivalent
hourly rates of flow. For example, 1,000 vehicles counted over a 15 minute interval could
be expressed as 1,000 veh/0.25 h = 4,000 veh/h. The rate of flow of 4,000 veh/h is valid
for the 15-minute period in which the volume of 1,000 vehicles was observed.

The full hourly volume is the sum of the four 15 minute volume observations,( 5:00-5:15
PM – 1000, 5:15-5:30 PM – 1100, 5:30-5:45 PM – 1200, 5:45- 6:00 PM - 900) or 4,200
veh/h. The rate of flow for each 15 minute interval is the volume observed for that
interval divided by the 0.25 hours over which it was observed. In the worst period of time,
5:30-5:45 PM, the rate of flow is 4,800 vehh. This is a flow rate, not a volume. The actual
volume for the hour is only 4,200
Prof. S. S.veh/h.
Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 13
It is often necessary to design facilities and analyze traffic conditions for a period of
maximum rate of flow within the peak hour. For most practical purposes, 15 minutes is
considered to be the minimum period of time over which traffic conditions are statistically
stable.
While rates of flow can be computed for any period of time and researchers often use rates
for periods of one to five minutes, rates of flow for shorter periods often represent transient
conditions that defy consistent mathematical representations. In recent years, however, use
of five minute rates of flow has increased, and there is some thought that these might be
sufficiently stable for use in design and analysis. Despite this, most standard design and
analysis practices continue to use the 15-minute interval as it base period.

The relationship between the hourly volume and the maximum rate of flow within the hour
is defined by the peak hour factor, as follows:

PHF =(Hourly Volume)/(Max. rate of flow)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 14

The maximum possible value for the PHF is 1.00, which (occurs when the volume in
each interval is constant. For 15-minute periods, each would have a volume of exactly
one quarter of the full hour volume.
This indicates a condition in which there is virtually no variation of flow within the hour.
The minimum value occurs when the entire hourly volume occurs in a single 15-minute
interval. In this case, the PHF becomes 0.25, and represents the most extreme case of
volume variation within the hour. In practical terms, the PHF generally varies between a
low of 0.70 for rural and sparsely developed areas to 0.98 in dense urban areas.
The peak-hour factor is descriptive of trip generation patterns and may apply to an area
or portion of a street and highway system. When the value is known, it can be used to
estimate a maximum flow rate within an hour based on the full-hour volume:
v =V/PHF
where: v = maximum rate of flow within the hour, veh/h; V = hourly volume, veh/h; PHF
= peak-hour factor.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 15

Methods of Conducting Volume Counts
Traffic volume counts are conducted using two basic methods: manual and automatic. A
description of each counting method follows.
Manual Method
Automatic Method

Manual Method
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. Note that in general, the inclusion of pickups and light trucks with
four tires in the category of passenger cars does not create any significant deficiencies in the
data collected, since the performance characteristics of these vehicles are similar to those
of passenger cars. In some instances, however, a more detailed breakdown of commercial
vehicles may be required which would necessitate the collection of data according to
number of axles and/or weight. However, the degree of truck classification usually depends
on the anticipated use of the data collected.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 16
The data for each movement can be recorded in 1, 5, 15, 30, or 60 minute intervals,
although the default value is 15 minutes. The recorded data can be viewed as data
collection proceeds by using either the status screen which indicates the current time
and amount of time left in the interval, or a TAB key which shows totals for each of the
primary movements. The stored data either can be extracted manually or transferred
to a computer. An associated software can be used to read, edit, store, or print a variety
of reports and graphs.

The main disadvantages of the manual count method are that

(1) it is labour intensive and therefore can be expensive,
(2) it is subject to the limitations of human factors, and
(3) it cannot be used for long periods of counting.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 17

Automatic Method
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. Automatic counters that require the laying of surface detectors (such as
pneumatic road tubes) or subsurface detectors (non invasive, such as magnetic or electric
contact devices) on the road, detect the passing vehicle and transmit the information to a
recorder, which is connected to the detector at the side of the road.

Automatic counters that do not require the laying of detectors use one of many
technologies including electronics: Doppler principles, laser scanning, and infrared. An
accompanying PC program is available that can be used to stipulate the required
parameters during setup locally or remotely. This equipment analyzes and processes all
data internally and the data collected can be displayed on the screen or stored in a PC.
Depending on the setup, it can obtain data on traffic density, speed, and number of
vehicles.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 18
TYPES OF VOLUME COUNTS
Different types of traffic counts are carried out, depending on the anticipated use of the data to be
collected. These different types will now be briefly discussed.
Cordon Counts
When information is required on vehicle accumulation within an area such as the central business district
(CBD) of a city, particularly during a specific time, a cordon count is undertaken. The area for which the
data are required is cordoned off by an imaginary closed loop; the area enclosed within this loop is defined
as the cordon area.
The intersection of each street crossing the cordon line is taken as a count station; volume counts of
vehicles and/or persons entering and leaving the cordon area are taken. The information obtained from
such a count is useful for planning parking facilities, updating and evaluating traffic operational techniques,
and making long-range plans for freeway and arterial street systems.
Screen Line Counts
The study area is divided into large sections by running imaginary lines, known as screen lines, across it. In
some cases, natural and manmade barriers, such as rivers or railway tracks, are used as screen lines. Traffic
counts are then taken at each point where a road crosses the screen line. It is usual for the screen lines to
be designed or chosen such that they are not crossed more than once by the same street. Collection of
data at these screen-line stations at regular intervals facilitates the detection of variations in the traffic
volume and traffic flow direction due to changes in the land-use pattern of the area.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 19
Intersection Counts
Intersection counts are taken to determine vehicle classifications, through movements,
and turning movements at intersections. 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.

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. Such facilities may include
pedestrian overpasses or underpasses.
The locations at which pedestrian counts are taken also include intersections, along
sidewalks, and mid-block crossings. These counts can be used for crash analysis, capacity
analysis, and determining minimum signal timings at signalized intersections.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 20

Periodic Volume Counts
In order to obtain certain traffic volume data, such as AADT, it is necessary to obtain data
continuously. However, it is not feasible to collect continuous data on all roads because of
the cost involved. 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. The periodic counts usually conducted are continuous, control, or coverage
counts.
Continuous Counts. These counts are taken continuously using mechanical or electronic
counters. Stations at which continuous counts are taken are known as permanent count
stations. In selecting permanent count stations, the highways within the study area must
first be properly classified. Each class should consist of highway links with similar traffic
patterns and characteristics. A highway link is defined for traffic count purposes as a
homogeneous section that has the same traffic characteristics, such as AADT and daily,
weekly, and seasonal variations in traffic volumes at each point. Broad classification
systems for major roads may include freeways, expressways, and major arterials. For minor
roads, classifications may include residential, commercial, and industrial streets.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 21
Control Counts. These counts are taken at stations known as control-count stations, which
are strategically located so that representative samples of traffic volume can be taken on each
type of highway or street in an area-wide traffic counting program. The data obtained from
control counts are used to determine seasonal and monthly variations of traffic
characteristics so that expansion factors can be determined. These expansion factors are used
to determine year-round average values from short counts. Control counts can be divided into
major and minor control counts. Major control counts are taken monthly, with 24-hour
directional counts taken on at least three days during the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday) and also on Saturday and Sunday to obtain information on weekend volumes. It is
usual to locate at least one major control-count station on every major street. The data
collected give information regarding hourly, monthly, and seasonal variations of traffic
characteristics. Minor control counts are five-day weekday counts taken every other month
on minor roads.
Coverage Counts. These counts are used to estimate ADT, using expansion factors developed
from control counts. The study area is usually divided into zones that have similar traffic
characteristics. At least one coverage count station is located in each zone. A 24-hour non-
directional weekday count is taken at least once every four years at each coverage station.
The data indicate changes in area-wide traffic characteristics.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 22
TRAFFIC VOLUME DATA PRESENTATION
The data collected from traffic volume counts may be
presented in one of several ways, depending on the type of
count conducted and the primary use of the data.
Descriptions of some of the conventional data presentation
techniques follow.

Traffic Flow Maps

These maps show traffic volumes on individual routes. The
volume of traffic on each route is represented by the width
of a band, which is drawn in proportion to the traffic
volume it represents, providing a graphic representation of
the different volumes that facilitates easy visualization of
the relative volumes of traffic on different routes.

When flows are significantly different in opposite directions

on a particular street or highway, it is advisable to provide a
separate band for each direction. In order to increase the
usefulness of such maps, the numerical value represented
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla
by each band is listed near the band. A typical traffic flow map
23
Intersection Summary Sheets
These sheets are graphic representations
of the volume and directions of all traffic
movements through the intersection.
These volumes can be either ADTs or
PHVs, depending on the use of the data.

A typical intersection summary sheet.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 24
Time-Based Distribution Charts
These charts show the hourly, daily,
monthly, or annual variations in traffic
volume in an area or on a particular
highway. Each volume is usually given
as a percentage of the average
volume.

Traffic Volumes on an Urban Highway

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 25
Summary Tables
These tables give a summary of traffic volume data such as PHV, Vehicle Classification
(VC), and ADT in tabular form.

Summary of Traffic Volume Data for a Highway Section

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 26

Adjustment of periodic Counts
Expansion factors are used to adjust periodic counts, which can be determined
either from continuous count stations or from control count stations.

Expansion factor from continuous count station:

1. Hourly Expansion factor (HEF)
2. Daily Expansion Factor (DEF)
3. Monthly Expansion Factor (MEF)

1. HEF = (total volume for 24-hrperiod / volume for particular hour)

Used to expand counts of durations shorter than 24-hrs to 24 hrs volumes by
multiplying the hourly volume for each hour during the count period by the HEF for
that hour and finding the means of these products.

2. DEF = (Average total volume for week / Average volume for particular day)
Used to determine weekly volumes from counts of 24-hr duration by multiplying the
24-hr volume by the DEF.

3. MEF = (AADT / ADT for particular month)

The AADT for a given year may be obtained from the ADT for a given month by
multiplying this volume by the MEF.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 27
SPEED AND TRAVEL TIME
Speed
Speed is the macroscopic parameter describing the state of a traffic stream. Speed is
considered as a quality measurement of travel as the drivers and passengers will be
concerned more about the speed of the journey than the design aspects of the traffic.
It is defined as the rate of motion in distance per unit of time. Mathematically speed or
velocity v is given by,

v= d/t (1)

where, v is the speed of the vehicle in m/s, d is distance traveled in m in time t

seconds. Speed of different vehicles will vary with respect to time and space. To
represent these variations, several types of speed can be defined. Important among
them are spot speed, running speed, journey speed, time mean speed and space
mean speed.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 28

Spot Speed
Spot speed is the instantaneous speed of a vehicle at a specified location. Spot speed
can be used to design the geometry of road like horizontal and vertical curves, super
elevation etc. Location and size of signs, design of signals, safe speed, and speed zone
determination, require the spot speed data. Accident analysis, road maintenance, and
congestion are the modern fields of traffic engineer, which uses spot speed data as the
basic input. Spot speed can be measured using an enoscope, pressure contact tubes or
direct timing procedure or radar speedometer or by time-lapse photographic methods.
It can be determined by speeds extracted from video images by recording the distance
travelling by all vehicles between a particular pair of frames.
Running speed
Running speed is the average speed maintained over a particular course while the
vehicle is moving and is found by dividing the length of the course by the time duration
the vehicle was in motion. i.e. this speed doesn't consider the time during which the
vehicle is brought to a stop, or has to wait till it has a clear road ahead. The running
speed will always be more than or equal to the journey speed, as delays are not
considered in calculating the running speed
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 29
Journey speed
Journey speed is the effective speed of the vehicle on a journey between two points and is the
distance between the two points divided by the total time taken for the vehicle to complete the
journey including any stopped time. If the journey speed is less than running speed, it indicates
that the journey follows a stop-go condition with enforced acceleration and deceleration. The
spot speed here may vary from zero to some maximum in excess of the running speed. A
uniformity between journey and running speeds denotes comfortable travel conditions.
Time mean speed
Time mean speed is defined as the average speed of all the vehicles passing a point on a
highway over some specified time period.
Space mean speed
Space mean speed is defined as the average speed of all the vehicles occupying a given section
of a highway over some specified time period.
Both mean speeds will always be different from each other except in the unlikely event that all
vehicles are traveling at the same speed. Time mean speed is a point measurement while space
mean speed is a measure relating to length of highway or lane, i.e. the mean speed of vehicles
over a period of time at a point in space is time mean speed and the mean speed over a space
at a given instant is the space mean speed.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 30
Derived characteristics
From the fundamental traffic flow characteristics like flow, density, and speed, a few other
parameters of traffic flow can be derived. Significant among them are the time headway, distance
headway and travel time. They are discussed one by one below.
Time headway
Time headway is defined as the time difference between any two successive vehicles when they cross
a given point. Practically, it involves the measurement of time between the passage of one rear
bumper and the next past a given point. If all headways h in time period, t, over which flow has been
measured are added then,
(4)
But the flow is defined as the number of vehicles measured in time interval t, that is,
(5)
where, is the average headway. Thus average headway is the inverse of flow. Time headway is often
referred to as simply the headway.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 31

Distance headway
Another related parameter is the distance headway. It is defined as the distance between
corresponding points of two successive vehicles at any given time. It involves the
measurement from a photograph, the distance from rear bumper of lead vehicle to rear
bumper of following vehicle at a point of time. If all the space headways in distance x over
which the density has been measured are added,

But the density (k) is the number of vehicles nx at a distance of x, that is

Where, Sav is average distance headway. The average distance headway is the inverse of
density and is sometimes called as spacing.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 32

Travel time
Travel time is defined as the time taken to complete a journey. As the speed increases, travel
time required to reach the destination also decreases and vice-versa. Thus travel time is
inversely proportional to the speed. However, in practice, the speed of a vehicle fluctuates
over time and the travel time represents an average measure.

Time-space diagram
Time space diagram is a convenient tool in understanding the movement of vehicles. It shows
the trajectory of vehicles in the form of a two dimensional plot. Time space diagram can be
plotted for a single vehicle as well as multiple vehicles. They are discussed below.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 33

Single vehicle
Taking one vehicle at a time, analysis carried out on the
position of the vehicle with respect to time will generate a
graph which gives the relation of its position on a road stretch
relative to time. This plot thus will be between distance x and
time t and x will be a functions the position of the vehicle for
every t along the road stretch. This graphical representation of x
(t) in a (t, x) plane is a curve which is called as a trajectory. The
trajectory provides an intuitive, clear, and complete summary
of vehicular motion in one dimension.
From the figure, steeply increasing section of x (t) denote a
rapidly advancing vehicle and horizontal portions of x (t)
denote a stopped vehicle while shallow sections show a slow-
moving vehicle. A straight line denotes constant speed motion
and curving sections denote accelerated motion; and if the Figure 1: Time space diagram for a
curve is concave downwards it denotes acceleration. But a single vehicle
curve which is convex upwards denotes deceleration.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 34
Multiple Vehicles
Time-space diagram can also be used to determine the fundamental
parameters of traffic flow like speed, density and volume. It can also
be used to find the derived characteristics like space headway and time
headway. Figure 2 shows the time-space diagram for a set of vehicles
traveling at constant speed. Density, by definition is the number of
vehicles per unit length. From the figure, an observer looking into the
stream can count 4 vehicles passing the stretch of road between x1and
x2at time t. Hence, the density is given as

We can also find volume from this time-space diagram. As per the
definition, volume is the number of vehicles counted for a particular Figure 2: Time space
interval of time. From the figure 2 we can see that 3 vehicles are diagram for many vehicles
present between the time t1 and t2. Therefore, the volume q is given as

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 35

Time mean speed (vt)
As noted earlier, time mean speed is the average of all vehicles passing a point over
duration of time. It is the simple average of spot speed. Time mean speed vt is given
by,

where vi is the spot speed of ith vehicle, and n is the number of observations. In many
speed studies, speeds are represented in the form of frequency table. Then the time
mean speed is given by,

where qi is the number of vehicles having speed vi, and nis the number of such speed
categories.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 36

Space mean speed (vs)

The space mean speed also averages the spot speed, but spatial weightage is given instead of temporal. This is
derived as below. Consider unit length of a road, and let vi is the spot speed of ith vehicle. Let ti is the time the vehicle
takes to complete unit distance and is given by 1/vi. If there are n such vehicles, then the average travel time ts is
given by,

If tav is the average travel time, then average speed vs = 1/ts . Therefore, from the above equation,

This is simply the harmonic mean of the spot speed. If the spot speeds are expressed as a frequency table, then,

Where qi vehicle will have vi speed and ni is the number of such observations.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 37

Relation between time mean speed and space mean speed
The relation between time mean speed (vt) and space mean speed(vs) is given by the following
relation:

where, is the standard deviation of the spot speed. The derivation of the formula is given in
the next subsection. The standard deviation () can be computed in the following equation:

where, qi is the frequency of the vehicle having vi speed.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 38

SPOT SPEED STUDIES
Spot speed studies are conducted to estimate the distribution of speeds of vehicles in a stream of traffic at a
particular location on a highway, expressed in km/h. A spot speed study is carried out by recording the speeds
of a sample of vehicles at a specified location. 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 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.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 39
• Determine whether complaints about speeding are valid.
Locations for Spot Speed Studies
The following locations generally are used for the different applications listed:
1. Locations that represent different traffic conditions on a highway or highways are used
for basic data collection.
2. Mid-blocks of urban highways and straight, level sections of rural highways are sites for
speed trend analyses.
3. Any location may be used for the solution of a specific traffic engineering problem.
When spot speed studies are being conducted, it is important that unbiased data be obtained.
This requires that drivers be unaware that such a study is being conducted.
Equipment used therefore, should be concealed from the driver, and observers conducting
the study should be inconspicuous. Since the speeds recorded eventually will be subjected
to statistical analysis, it is important that a statistically adequate number of vehicle speeds
be recorded.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 40
Time of Day and Duration of Spot Speed Studies
The time of day for conducting a speed study depends on the purpose of the study. In general, when
the purpose of the study is to establish posted speed limits, to observe speed trends, or to collect
basic data, it is recommended that the study be conducted when traffic is free-flowing, usually
during off-peak hours. However, when a speed study is conducted in response to citizen complaints,
it is useful if the time period selected for the study reflects the nature of the complaints. The duration
of the study should be such that the minimum number of vehicle speeds required for statistical
analysis is recorded. Typically, the duration is at least 1 hour and the sample size is at least 30
vehicles.
Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies
The calculated mean (or average) speed is used to represent the true mean value of all vehicle speeds
at that location. The accuracy of this assumption depends on the number of vehicles in the sample.
The larger the sample size, the greater the probability that the estimated mean is not significantly
different from the true mean. It is therefore necessary to select a sample size that will give an
estimated mean within acceptable error limits. Statistical procedures are used to determine this
minimum sample size.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 41
1. Average Speed which is the arithmetic mean of all observed vehicle speeds (which is the sum of
all spot speeds divided by the number of recorded speeds). It is given as
(1)
where
= arithmetic mean, = number of observations in each speed group
= mid value for the ith speed group, N = number of observed values

The formula also can be written as

(2)
where
= speed of the ith vehicle
N = number of observed values
2. Median Speed which is the speed at the middle value in a series of spot speeds that are arranged
in ascending order. 50 percent of the speed values will be greater than the median; 50 percent will
be less than the median.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 42
3. Modal Speed which is the speed value that occurs most frequently in a sample of spot
speeds.
4. The ith percentile Spot Speed which is the spot speed value below which i percent of
the vehicles travel; for example, 85th percentile spot speed is the speed below which 85
percent of the vehicles travel and above which 15th percentile of the vehicles travel.
5. Pace which is the range of speed—usually taken at 10-km/h intervals—that has the
greatest number of observations. For example, if a set of speed data includes speeds
between 30 and 60 mi/h, the speed intervals will be 30 to 40 km/h, 40 to 50 km/h, and 50
to 60 km/h, assuming a range of 10 km/h. The pace is 40 to 50 km/h if this range of speed
has the highest number of observations.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 43

6. Standard Deviation of Speeds which is a measure of the spread of the individual speeds. It is
estimated as
(3)
where
S = standard deviation
= arithmetic mean
uj = jth observation
N = number of observations
However, speed data are frequently presented in classes where each class consists of a range of
speeds. The standard deviation is computed for such cases as
(4)
where
ui =mid value of speed class i, fi =frequency of speed class i

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 44

Methods for Conducting Spot Speed Studies
The methods used for conducting spot speed studies can generally be divided into
two main categories: manual and automatic. Since the manual method is seldom
used, automatic methods will be described.
Several automatic devices that can be used to obtain the instantaneous speeds of
vehicles at a location on a highway are now available on the market. These
automatic devices can be grouped into three main categories:
(1) Using road detectors,
(2) Using radar-based, and
(3) Using the principles of electronics.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 45

RADAR SPEED METER METHOD

• This is the most efficient method for measuring spot speed.

• In this method, radar waves are emitted from Radar Guns and reflected back after
striking the vehicle.

• Radar Guns works on the principle of Doppler

effect.

• Difference in frequency between emitted and

reflected radar waves is directly proportional to
the speed of the Vehicle.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 46

 Car No. Km/h Car No. Km/h Car No. Km/h Car No. Km/h
Example Determining Speed 1 35.1 23 46.1 45 47.8 67 56.0
Characteristics from a Set of 2 44.0 24 54.2 46 47.1 68 49.1
3 45.8 25 52.3 47 34.8 69 49.2
Speed Data Table 1 below shows 4 44.3 26 57.3 48 52.4 70 56.4
the data collected on a rural 5 36.3 27 46.8 49 49.1 71 48.5
6 54.0 28 57.8 50 37.1 72 45.4
highway in Kolkata during a speed 7 42.1 29 36.8 51 65.0 73 48.6
study. Develop the frequency 8 50.1 30 55.8 52 49.5 74 52.0
9 51.8 31 43.3 53 52.2 75 49.8
histogram and the frequency 10 50.8 32 55.3 54 48.4 76 63.4
distribution of the data and 11 38.3 33 39.0 55 42.8 77 60.1
12 44.6 34 53.7 56 49.5 78 48.8
determine: 13 45.2 35 40.8 57 48.6 79 52.1
14 41.1 36 54.5 58 41.2 80 48.7
1. The arithmetic mean speed, 2. 15 55.1 37 51.6 59 48.0 81 61.8
The standard deviation, 3. The 16 50.2 38 51.7 60 58.0 82 56.6
17 54.3 39 50.3 61 49.0 83 48.2
median speed, 4. The pace, 5. The 18 45.4 40 59.8 62 41.8 84 62.1
mode or modal speed, 6. The 85th- 19 55.2 41 40.3 63 48.3 85 53.3
20 45.7 42 55.1 64 45.9 86 53.4
percentile speed 21 54.1 43 45.0 65 44.7
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil
22 Engineering,
54.0VSSUT, Burla
44 48.3 66 49.5 47
The speeds range from 34.8 to 65.0 km/h, Speed Class Frequency fi u i % of Cumulative
giving a speed range of 30.2. For eight Class Mid fi observation % of all
Km/h value, ui in class observation
classes, the range per class is 3.75 km/h; for
20 classes, the range per class is 1.51 km/h. 34 –35.9 35.0 2 70 2.3 2.30 420.5
36 –37.9 37.0 3 111 3.5 5.80 468.75
It is convenient to choose a range of 2 km/h 38–39.9 39.0 2 78 2.3 8.10 220.50
per class which will give 16 classes. A 40 – 41.9 41.0 5 205 5.8 13.90 361.25
42– 43.9 43.0 3 129 3.5 17.40 126.75
frequency distribution table can then be 44 – 45.9 45.0 11 495 12.8 30.20 222.75
46 – 47.9 47.0 4 188 4.7 34.90 25.00
prepared, as shown in Table, in which the 48– 49.9 49.0 18 882 21.0 55.90 9.0
speed classes are listed in column 1 and the 50 –51.9 51.0 7 357 8.1 64.0 15.75
52–53.9 53.0 8 424 9.3 73.3 98.00
mid values are in column 2. The number of 54 –55.9 55.0 11 605 12.8 86.1 332.75
observations for each class is listed in 56 –57.9 57.0 5 285 5.8 91.9 281.25
58–59.9 59.0 2 118 2.3 94.2 180.50
column 3; the cumulative percentages of all 60 – 61.9 61.0 2 122 2.3 96.5 264.50
observations are listed in column 6. The 62– 63.9 63.0 2 126 2.3 98.8 364.50
64 – 65.9 65.0 1 65 1.2 100.0 240.25
values in columns 2 and 3 of Table 2 are Total 86 4260 3632.00
used to draw the frequency histogram, where
the abscissa represents the speeds and the
ordinate the observed frequency in each
class. Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 48
• The arithmetic mean speed is computed from

=86, =4260, = 49.5 km/h,

The standard deviation is computed from Eq.
= 3632, N-1 = -1=85, S2 = 3632/85 = 42.73, S = 6.5 km/h
• The median speed is obtained from the cumulative frequency
distribution curve as 49 km/h, the 50th-percentile speed.
• The pace is obtained from the frequency distribution curve
(Figure 2) as 45 to 55 km/h.
• The mode or modal speed is obtained from the frequency
histogram as 49 mi/h (Figure 1). It also may be obtained from
the frequency distribution curve shown in Figure 2, where the
speed corresponding to the highest point on the curve is taken
as an estimate of the modal speed.
• 85th-percentile speed is obtained from the cumulative
frequency distribution curve as 54 km/h

Figure 1 Histogram of Observed Vehicles’

Speeds
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 49
Figure 2: Frequency Distribution Figure 3 Cumulative Distribution

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 50

MICROSCOPIC CHARACTERISTICS

• Space Headway :- It may be defined as the average space interval between

two successive vehicle moving in the same lane and measured from head to

head or tail to tail or centre to centre.

• Time Headway :- It may be defined as the average time interval between

two successive vehicle moving in the same lane and measured from head to

head or tail to tail or centre to centre at a particular section

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 51

 Some Terms
Speed (u) Speed is considered as a quality measurement of travel as the drivers and passengers will
be concerned more about the speed of the journey than the design aspects of the traffic. It is
defined as the rate of motion in distance per unit of time. Mathematically speed or velocity ‘U’ is
given by, where, ‘u’ is the speed of the vehicle in m/s, ‘d’ is distance traveled in m in time ‘t’
seconds.

Flow (Q) There are practically two ways of counting the number of vehicles on a road. One is flow or
volume, which is defined as the number of vehicles that pass a point on a highway or a given lane or
direction of a highway during a specific time interval. The measurement is carried out by counting
the number of vehicles, ‘nt’, passing a particular point in one lane in a defined period ‘t’. Then the
flow ‘q’ expressed in vehicles/hour is given by

Density (k) Density is defined as the number of vehicles occupying a given length of highway or lane
and is generally expressed as vehicles per km. One can photograph a length of road ‘x’, count the
number of vehicles, ‘nx’, in one lane of the road at that point of time and derive the density ‘k’ as,

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 52

Fundamental relations of traffic flow
The relationship between the fundamental variables of traffic flow,
namely speed, volume, and density is called the fundamental relations of
traffic flow. This can be derived by a simple concept. Let there be a road
with length u km, and assume all the vehicles are moving with u km/hr
(Fig ).
Let the number of vehicles counted by an observer at A for one hour be
n1. By definition, the number of vehicles counted in one hour is flow (q).
Therefore,
Illustration of relation
n1 = q (1)
between fundamental
Similarly, by definition, density is the number of vehicles in unit distance.
parameters of traffic
Therefore number of vehicles n2 in a road stretch of distance v will be
flow
density multiplied by distance. Therefore,
n2 = k v (2)
Since all the vehicles have speed v (u), the number of vehicles counted in
1 hour and the number of vehicles in the stretch of distance v will also be
same.(i.e. n1 = n2 ). Therefore,
q=kv (3)
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 53
This is the fundamental equation of traffic flow.
Fundamental diagrams of traffic
flow
The relation between flow and density,
density and speed, speed and flow, can be
represented with the help of some curves.
They are referred to as the fundamental
diagrams of traffic flow. They will be
explained in detail one by one.

Flow-density curve
The flow and density varies with time and
location. The relation between the density Flow density relationship curve
and the corresponding flow on a given stretch
of road is referred to as one of the
fundamental diagram of traffic flow.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 54

Flow – density (and speed)

qm

Slope of these lines is the

space mean speed at this
density

Flow (veh/hr)
B

0 km KB kj
0
Concentration (veh/mi)
Concentration (vhe/km)
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 55
Do the dimensional analysis
Flow-Density Relationship
3000
2500
Flo w (pc phpl) 2000
Flow (PCU/hr/lane)

1500
1000
500
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

De ns ity (pc pmpl)

Concentration (PCU/km/lane)
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 56
Speed-density diagram
Similar to the flow-density relationship,
speed will be maximum, referred to as
the free flow speed, and when the
density is maximum, the speed will be
zero. The most simple assumption is that
this variation of speed with density is
linear as shown by the solid line in figure
5. 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-density diagram
It is also possible to have non-linear
relationships as shown by the dotted
lines.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 57
Speed-Density Relationship
90

Ave rag e s pe e d (mph)

80
70
Average Speed (Kmph)

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

De ns ity (pc pmpl)

Density (PCU/km/lane)
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 58
Speed flow relation

The relationship between the

speed and flow can be
postulated as follows. The flow
is zero either because there is
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. Speed-flow diagram

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 59

Speed-Flow Relationship

90
Ave ra g e s pe e d (mph)

80
70
Average Speed (Kmph)

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Flo w (pc phpl)

Flow (PCU/h/lane)
60
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla
Combined diagrams
The diagrams shown in
the relationship
between speed-flow,
speed-density, and
flow-density are called
the fundamental
diagrams of traffic flow.
These are as shown in
figure. One could
observe the inter-
relationship of these
diagrams.
Fundamental diagram of traffic flow

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 61

Origin and Destination Study
There are many instances in which normal point counts of vehicles must be supplemented with
knowledge of the origins and destinations of the vehicles counted. In major regional planning
applications, origin and destination studies involve massive home-interview efforts to establish
regional travel patterns. In traffic applications, the scope of origin and destination counts are
more limited.
Common applications include:
• Weaving-area studies
• Freeway studies
• Major activity center studies
• To judge the adequacy of existing Routes
• To establish preferential routes for various categories of vehicles
• To location of new proposed roads
• To location of parking palaces
• To locate expressway
• To regulate movement of heavy vehicles
• To locate new bridge as per traffic demands 62
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla
Method of O & D survey

• Registration number/ License plate survey

• Tag survey
• Post card questionnaire surveys
• Interview studies
• Road side interview surveys
• Home-interview surveys
• Telephone surveys
• Taxi surveys
• Public transport survey
• Commercial vehicle survey

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 63

INFORMATION COLLECTED

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 64

Advantages & disadvantages road side interview surveys

Advantages :
• Data is collected quickly in short duration
• Field organization is simple

Disadvantages:
• The vehicles are stopped for interview and there is delay to the vehicular movement

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 65

HOME-INTERVIEW SURVEY

• In this method random sample of 0.5 to 10% of the population is selected and the
residence are visited by the trained person who collect the travel data from each
member of the household.
• Detailed information regarding the trips made by the members is obtained on the spot.
• The data collected may be useful either for planning the road network and other
roadway facilities.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 66

TELEPHONE SURVEY

• This method interview are conduct with computer assisted telephone interview
technology.
• A complete system might include automatic dailing of next household to the
interviewer to ask the next question automatic skipping and branching within
the list of questions depending on the answer to the previous question,
immediate logic checks on answer provided.

ADVANTAGES:
Saving the time

DISADVANTAGES:
Information responce not good

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 67

TAXI SURVEY
• Large urban areas usually have a sizeable amount of travel by taxis.
• In such cases, a separate taxi survey is necessary .
• The survey consists of issuing questionnaires or log sheets to the taxi drivers
and requesting them to complete the same.

POST CARD
In this method reply-paid questionnaires are handed over to each of the drivers at
the survey points and requesting them to complete the information and return by
post.

Advantages:
• This method are simpler and cheaper than many others.
Disadvantages:
• Response may not a good
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 68
Registration number plate survey

• Registration number plate survey consists of noting the registration number of

vehicles entering or leaving an area at survey points located on the cordon line.
• By matching the registration number of the vehicles at the point of entry and exit
from the area , one is enabled to identify two points on the paths of the vehicles.

Advantages:
• Work does not interfere with the traffic in any way.
Disadvantages:
• Large number of observers are needed
• Analysis of the results can be complicated.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 69

Tag survey
• In this method at each point where the Roads cross the cordon line, vehicles are stopped
and a tag is affixed ,usually under a wind screen wiper.
• The tags for different surveys stations have different shapes/colour to identify the survey
station.
• The vehicles are stopped again at the exit points where the tags are removed.
• The time of entering and leaving the area may be marked on the tags in order to enable
the journey time to be determined

Advantages:
• This method is simple and error are not very large.
Disadvantages:
• It is not possible to handle all the vehicles, sampling may be restored to done.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 70

Public Transport Surveys
• In this method interviewer may enter the vehicle and carry out the interviews when
the vehicles is in motion.
• Post-card questionnaires eliminate delays, but are likely to evoke poor response or
contain an element or bias.
• These questionnaires may also be collected at the stations inside the survey area.

Commercial Vehicle Surveys

• Commercial vehicle surveys are conducted to obtain information on journeys made
by all commercial vehicles based within the study area.
• The addresses of the vehicles operators are obtained and they are contacted .
• Form are issued to drivers with a request that they record particulars of all the trips
they would make.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 71

Consider the situation illustrated in Figure below. It shows a small local downtown street
network with four entry roadways and four exit roadways. Thus, there are 4 * 4 = 16
possible origin-destination pairs for vehicles accessing or traveling through the area. The
data shown reflect both the observed origins and destinations (using license-plate samples)
and the full-volume counts observed on each entry and exit leg. If the columns and rows are
totalled, the sums should be equal to the observed total volumes, assuming that a 100%
sample of license plates was obtained at each location. This is obviously not the case. Thus,
the origin-destination volumes must be expanded to reflect the total number of vehicles
counted. This can be done in two ways: (1) origin-destination cells can be expanded so that
the row totals are correct (i.e., match the measured volume), or (2) origin-destination cells
can be expanded so that the column totals are correct.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 72

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 73
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 74
Parking Study
Any vehicle traveling on a highway will at one time or another be parked for either a
relatively short time or a much longer time, depending on the reason for parking.

The provision of parking facilities is an essential element of the highway mode of

transportation.

The need for parking spaces is usually very great in areas where land uses include
business, residential, or commercial activities.

Providing adequate parking space to meet the demand for parking in the Central
Business District (CBD)

Solution is not simple, Parking studies are used to determine the demand for and the
supply of parking facilities.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 75
The growing use of the automobile as a personal feeder service to transit systems
(“park-and-ride”) has increased the demand for parking at transit stations.

Space provided for automobiles usually divided

• Allocated for movement
• Allocated for parking

Providing adequate parking space to meet the demand for parking in the CBD
• This affects the mode choice
• This has a great economical impact

The solution is not simple, allocation of available space depend on the goals of the
community

Parking studies used to determine the demand and the supply of parking facilities

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 76

Types of Parking Facilities
On-Street Parking Facilities
• also known as curb facilities. Parking bays are provided
alongside the curb on one or both sides of the street.
• unrestricted parking
• unlimited and free
• Restricted parking facilities
• limited to specific times for a maximum duration.
• may or may not be free.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 77

Figure :1: Illustration of parallel parking

Figure :4: Illustration of 600 parking

Figure :2: Illustration of 300 parking

Figure :5: Illustration of 900 parking

Figure :3: Illustration of 450 parkingProf. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 78
Off-Street Parking Facilities
• privately or publicly owned
• surface lots and garages
• Self-parking garages
• attendant-parking garages

Illustration of off-street parking

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 79

Ill effects of parking
1. Congestion
2. Accidents
3. Environmental pollution:
4. Obstruction to firefighting operations:

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 80

Definitions of Parking Terms
1. A space-hour is a unit of parking that defines the use of a single parking space for a period of 1
hour.
2. Parking volume is the total number of vehicles that park in a study area during a specific
length of time, usually a day.
3. Parking accumulation is the number of parked vehicles in a study area at any specified time.
4. parking load the number of space-hours used during the specified period of time.
5. Parking duration length of time a vehicle is parked at a parking indication of how frequently a
parking space becomes available.
6. Average parking duration: It is the ratio of total vehicle hours to the number of vehicles
parked. parking duration = parking load/parking volume
7. Parking turnover rate of use of a parking space. Obtained by dividing the parking volume for a
specified period by the number of parking spaces.
8. Parking index: Parking index is also called occupancy or efficiency. It is defined as the ratio of
number of bays occupied in a time duration to the total space available. It gives an aggregate
measure of how effectively the parking space is utilized. Parking index can be found out as
follows parking index = (parking load/parking capacity) × 100
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 81
Methodology of Parking Studies
(1) inventory of existing parking facilities,
(2) collection of data on parking accumulation, parking turnover and
parking duration,
(3) identification of parking generators,
(4) collection of information on parking demand. Information on related
factors, such as financial, legal, and administrative matters, also may
be collected.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 82

Inventory of Existing Parking Facilities
• detailed listing of the location and all other relevant characteristics of each legal
parking facility, private and public.
• The study area includes both on- and off-street facilities.
• Type and number of parking spaces at each parking facility
• Times of operation and limit on duration of parking, if any
• Type of ownership (private or public)
• Parking fees, method of collection
• Restrictions
• Other restrictions, loading and unloading zones, bus stops, taxi ranks
• Permanency
• The inventory should be updated at regular intervals of about four to five years.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 83

Collection of Parking Data
Accumulation:
• by checking the amount of parking during regular intervals on
different days of the week.
• Carried out on an hourly or 2-hour basis
• used to determine hourly variations of parking and peak periods
of parking demand.
Turnover and Duration:
• collecting data on a sample of parking spaces in a given block.
• recording the license plate of the vehicle parked on each parking
space in the sample at the ends of fixed intervals during the
study period.
• The length of the fixed intervals depends on the maximum
permissible duration.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 84
Turnover and Duration:
• For example, if the maximum permissible duration of parking at a curb
face is 1 hour, a suitable interval is every 20 minutes.
• If the permissible duration is 2 hours, checking every 30 minutes would
be appropriate. Turnover is then obtained from the equation

𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑

𝑇=
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 85

Figure: Parking Accumulation at a Parking Lot
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 86
Parking interviews using the postcard technique, in which stamped postcards
bearing the appropriate questions and a return address are handed to drivers
or placed under windshield wipers.

When this technique is used, usually only about 30 to 50 percent of the cards
distributed are returned.

It is therefore necessary to record the time and the number of cards

distributed at each location, because this information is required to develop
expansion factors, which are later used to expand the sample.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 88

Analysis of Parking Data
Number and duration for vehicles legally parked
Number and duration for vehicles illegally parked
Space-hours of demand for parking
Supply of parking facilities

The space-hours of demand for parking are obtained from the expression
(1)
where
D = space vehicle-hours demand for a specific period of time
N = number of classes of parking duration ranges
ti = mid parking duration of the ith class
ni = number of vehicles parked for the ith duration range

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 89

Parking surveys
Parking surveys are conducted to collect the above said parking statistics. The most
common parking surveys conducted are

• in-out survey,
• fixed period sampling
• license plate method

In-out survey
In this survey, the occupancy count in the selected parking lot is taken at the
beginning. Then the number of vehicles that enter the parking lot for a particular time
interval is counted. The number of vehicles that leave the parking lot is also taken.
The final occupancy in the parking lot is also taken. Here the labor required is very
less. Only one person may be enough. But we won’t get any data regarding the time
duration for which a particular vehicle used that parking lot. Parking duration and
turnover is not obtained. Hence we cannot estimate the parking fare from this survey.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 91
Fixed period sampling
For quick survey purposes, it can also be done. This is almost similar to in-out
survey. All vehicles are counted at the beginning of the survey. Then after a fixed
time interval that may vary between 15 minutes to i hour, the count is again taken.
Here there are chances of missing the number of vehicles that were parked for a
short duration.

License plate method of survey

This results in the most accurate and realistic data. In this case of survey, every
parking stall is monitored at a continuous interval of 15 minutes or so and the
license plate number is noted down. This will give the data regarding the duration
for which a particular vehicle was using the parking bay. This will help in calculating
the fare because fare is estimated based on the duration for which the vehicle was
parked. If the time interval is shorter, then there are less chances of missing short-
term parkers. But this method is very labor intensive.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 92
Parking use surveys
Information about the amount, location and duration of parking is clearly essential to the
formulation of parking policy and to proper management of the parking stock. An
important preliminary to any parking use survey is the careful definition of the survey
area and of the best time to conduct the study. The survey area may need to be more
extensive than first envisaged because drivers may be walking considerable distances
from their parking space to their final destination. The timing of parking surveys is
dependent on objectives of the surveys, the characteristics of the survey area, and the
variation in usage likely to be experienced throughout the week. In most British towns,
seasonal demand for parking is at an 'average' level in September and October. Days
immediately preceding or following holidays, special shopping days, or days when
shopping hours differ from the usual are not normally selected; however, there may well
be instances when it is appropriate to carry out a special study on, say, a market day or,
in the case of a holiday resort, at special times of the year. Where the survey area
includes fringe residential areas, care should be taken to ensure that the results can also
be considered separately from the remainder of the data.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 93
Parking use surveys
The simplest form of parking use survey is the accumulation survey (sometimes known as
a concentration survey). This survey, which provides information regarding the total
parking accumulation within the survey area at any given time, can be obtained by
making a tour around the area and noting the number of vehicles parked in each part of
the area or by drawing a cordon around the area and counting the number of vehicles
entering or leaving the cordon (the accumulation of vehicles inside the cordon at any given
moment can be deduced from the difference between the numbers entering and leaving).
The cordon count is usually started early in the morning when the numbers of vehicles
already within the cordon are most easily estimated, and continued through the day. The
total parking accumulation at any given time (usually every hour) is then the previous
accumulation plus the vehicles entering the cordoned area minus the number of vehicles
exiting the area less an allowance for the number of vehicles estimated to be circulating
within the survey area.

• provides information total number of parked vehicles

• provides no data regarding their duration of stay
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 94
To obtain duration of stay information it is necessary to carry out a duration survey. The
simplest form of duration survey is equivalent to the input-output survey and uses average
entry times and average exit times to produce an average duration of stay.
If more detailed information is required on the distribution of durations of stay then it is
necessary to identify individual vehicles by noting their licence plates.
The most straightforward method of doing this is the entry survey whereby the surveyors
are positioned where they can record, using either pencil and paper, audio tape recorders or
hand-held computers, the licence plates, and entry and exit times, of all vehicles entering or
leaving the parking area.
Matching software can then be used to deduce the length of stay of each vehicle in the
same way as was done to deduce journey times. This technique is very efficient for studying
large car parks with a limited number of entry/exit points or for area studies when the area
can be defined by a cordon with a limited number of entry/exit points.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 95

If parking use data required for individual on-street spaces or for small car parks,
the sentry method is not efficient and the preferred method is the parking beat
survey.
This method requires surveyors to patrol a predefined beat at a fixed interval and to
record the registration plates of vehicles which are parked when the surveyor
reaches them.
The duration of stay of each vehicle at a given location can then be estimated by
multiplying the number of occasions on which their presence was noted at that
location by the beat interval. The method is, of course, not completely accurate and
can produce unrealistically low estimates of usage and unrealistically high estimates
of average duration if the beat interval is too long to pick up the more transient
parkers.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 96

The traditional version of the parking beat survey, based on pencil and paper records,
records on each visit to ascertain whether a given car was 'newly arrived' or 'still there’
the licence plates of newly arrived vehicles were recorded, while for each 'still there'
vehicle a tick was added to show that it was present for another interval.

This method was well suited to semi-manual analysis (the number of ticks for each
vehicle indicated the number of visits for which it was present) but the method was
slow and error prone- particularly when one surveyor passed records to another at the
change of shift. More recent practice involves keying in all licence plates to a portable
computer on each visit and then allowing specialist software to do all the necessary
matching and analyses.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 97

Parking beat surveys the surveyors to note
• the licence numbers
• the vehicle type,
• Legality of parked vehicle,
• the type of space,
• displaying a disabled badge or other permit and so on.
Collection of such data enables separate estimates to be made of the parking behaviour of
different categories of user and the usage of different categories of space.
At the increasing number of sites where a fee is payable, or access/egress are controlled
for some other reason, it may be possible to obtain data on parking usage, and perhaps on
durations of stay, direct from the car park operators. Ticket receipts may record the
numbers of parkers and the amount of parking time purchased.
Where the payment is made on exit, data on precise durations of stay may be available.
Factors are required to correct for underestimation of parking volume due to failure by
some drivers to buy tickets, or of some attendants to issue them, and to correct for over-
purchase of time at pay-on-entry car parks, on-street meters, or other pre-purchase
systems.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 98
Data from any of these sources can be processed to produce estimates of a number of
useful quantities including:
(a) space occupancy, i.e. the proportion of spaces occupied at any time (this is the
concentration divided by the total number of spaces);
(b) turnover, i.e. the average number of vehicles using each space throughout the survey
(this is the total number of vehicles observed divided by the total number of spaces);
(c) turnover rate, i.e. the turnover divided by the number of hours over which the survey
was carried out;
(d) average duration, which is the summation of all vehicle-hours of parking divided by
the total number of vehicles observed;
(e) the proportion of overtime parkers, i.e. the number of vehicles with durations in
excess of the legal parking time-limit divided by the total number of vehicles parked in
legal spaces.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 99

Example
The owner of a parking garage located in a CBD has observed that 20% of those wishing
to park are turned back every day during the open hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. because of
lack of parking spaces. An analysis of data collected at the garage indicates that 60% of
those who park are commuters, with an average parking duration of 9 hr, and the
remaining are shoppers, whose average parking duration is 2 hr.

If 20% of those who cannot park are commuters and the rest are shoppers, and a total of
200 vehicles currently park daily in the garage, determine the number of additional
spaces required to meet the excess demand. Assume parking efficiency is 0.90.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 100

Solution:
Calculate the space-hours of demand using Eq.

Commuters now being served = 0.6 * 200 * 9 = 1080 space-hr

Shoppers now being served= 0.4 * 200 * 2 = 160 space-hr
Total number of vehicles turned away _
Commuters not being served = 0.2 * 50 * 9 = 90 space-hr
Shoppers not being served = 0.8 * 50 * 2 = 80 space-hr
Total space-hours of demand = (1080 + 160 + 90 + 80) =1410
Total space-hours served = 1080 + 160 = 1240
Number of space-hours required = 1410 - 1240 = 170
Determine the number of parking spaces required from Eq.

Use the length of time each space can be legally parked on (8 a.m. through 6 p.m. = 10 hr) to determine the number
of additional spaces.
0.9 * 10 * N = 170
N = 18.89
At least 19 additional spaces will be required, since a fraction of a space cannot be used.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 101

Example
From an in-out survey conducted for a parking area consisting of 40 bays, the
initial count was found to be 25. Table gives the result of the survey. The
number of vehicles coming in and out of the parking lot for a time interval of
5 minutes is as shown in the table below. Find the accumulation, total parking
load, average occupancy and efficiency of the parking lot.

Time (min) 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
In (vehicle) 3 2 4 5 7 8 2 4 6 4 3 2
Out (vehicle) 2 4 2 4 3 2 7 2 4 1 3 5

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 102

Solution:

Time (min) 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

In (vehicle) 3 2 4 5 7 8 2 4 6 4 3 2

Out (vehicle) 2 4 2 4 3 2 7 2 4 1 3 5

Accumulation 26 24 26 27 31 37 32 34 36 39 39 36

Parking Index 65 60 65 67.5 77.5 92.5 80 85 90 97.5 97.5 90

Parking Load 130 120 130 135 155 185 160 170 180 195 195 180

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 103

Accident Study
The problem of accident is a very acute in highway transportation due to complex flow
pattern of vehicular traffic, presence of mixed traffic along with pedestrians. Traffic accident
leads to loss of life and property.
Traffic engineers have to undertake a big responsibility of providing safe traffic movements
to the road users and ensure their safety.
Road accidents cannot be totally prevented but by suitable traffic engineering and
management the accident rate can be reduced to a certain extent. For this reason
systematic study of traffic accidents are required to be carried out. Proper investigation of
the cause of accident will help to propose preventive measures in terms of design and
control.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 104

Objectives of accident studies
Some objectives of accident studies are listed below:
• To study the causes of accidents and suggest corrective measures at potential
location
• To evaluate existing design
• To compute the financial losses incurred
• To support the proposed design and provide economic justification to the
improvement suggested by the traffic engineer
• To carry out before and after studies and to demonstrate the improvement in
the problem.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 105

Key risk factors
Speed
• An increase in average speed is directly related both to the likelihood of a crash
occurring and to the severity of the consequences of the crash.
• An adult pedestrian’s risk of dying is less than 20% if struck by a car at 50 km/h
and almost 60% if hit at 80 km/h.
• 30 km/h speed zones can reduce the risk of a crash and are recommended in
areas where vulnerable road users are common like residential and schools areas.
• Apart from reducing road traffic injuries, lower average traffic speeds can have
other positive effects on health outcomes (e.g. by reducing respiratory problems
associated with car emissions).

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 106

Drink–driving
• Drinking and driving increases both the risk of a crash and the likelihood that death
or serious injury will result.
• The risk of being involved in a crash increases significantly above a blood alcohol
concentration (BAC) of 0.04 g/dl.
• Laws that establish BACs of 0.05g/dl or below are effective at reducing the number of
alcohol-related crashes.
• Enforcing sobriety checkpoints and random breath testing can lead to reductions in
alcohol-related crashes of about 20% and have shown to be very cost-effective.
• Young and novice drivers are subject to an increased risk of road traffic crashes, when
under the influence of alcohol, compared to older and more experienced drivers.
• Laws that establish lower BACs (≤0.02 g/dl) for young and novice drivers can lead to
reductions in the number of crashes involving young people by up to 24%.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 107

Motorcycle helmets
• Wearing a motorcycle helmet correctly can reduce the risk of death by almost
40% and the risk of severe injury by over 70%.
• When motorcycle helmet laws are enforced effectively, helmet wearing rates can
increase to over 90%.
• Requiring helmets to meet recognized safety standards ensures that helmets can
effectively reduce the impact of a collision to the head in the event of a crash.

Seat-belts and child restraints

• Wearing a seat-belt reduces the risk of a fatality among front-seat passengers by
40–50% and of rear-seat passengers by between 25–75%.
• Mandatory seat-belt laws and their enforcement have been shown to be very
effective at increasing seat-belt wearing rates.
• If correctly installed and used, child restraints reduce deaths among infants by
approximately 70% and deaths among small children by between 54% and 80%.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 108

Distracted driving
• There are many types of distractions that can lead to impaired driving, but
recently there has been a marked increase around the world in the use of mobile
phones by drivers that is becoming a growing concern for road safety. The distraction
caused by mobile phones can impair driving performance. Drivers using mobile phones
may have: slower reaction times (notably braking reaction time, but also reaction to
traffic signals), impaired ability to keep in the correct lane, and shorter following
distances.
• Text messaging also results in considerably reduced driving performance, with
young drivers at particular risk of the effects of distraction resulting from this use.
• Drivers using a mobile phone are approximately 4 times more likely to be
involved in a crash than when a driver does not use a phone. Hands-free phones are not
much safer than hand-held phone sets.
• While there is little concrete evidence on how to reduce mobile phone use while
driving, governments need to be proactive. Actions that can be taken include: adopting
legislative measures, launching public awareness campaigns, and regularly collecting
data on distracted driving to better understand the nature of this problem.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 109
Causes of road accidents
The various causes of road accidents are:
• Road Users - Excessive speed and rash driving, violation of traffic rules, failure to
perceive traffic situation or sign or signal in adequate time, carelessness, fatigue,
alcohol, sleep etc.
• Vehicle - Defects such as failure of brakes, steering system, tyre burst, lighting
system.
• Road Condition - Skidding road surface, pot holes, ruts.
• Road design - Defective geometric design like inadequate sight distance,
inadequate width of shoulders, improper curve design, improper traffic control devices
and improper lighting.
• Environmental factors -unfavorable weather conditions like mist, snow, smoke
and heavy rainfall which restrict normal visibility and makes driving unsafe.
• Other causes -improper location of advertisement boards, gate of level crossing
not closed when required etc.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 110
Accident Analysis
The statistical analysis of accident is carried out periodically at critical locations or
road stretches which will help to arrive at suitable measures to effectively decrease
accident rates. It is the measure (or estimates) of the number and severity of
accident. These statistics reports are to be maintained zone-wise. Accident prone
stretches of different roads may be assessed by finding the accident density per length
of the road. The places of accidents are marked on the map and the points of their
clustering (BLACK SPOT) are determined. By statistical study of accident occurrence at
a particular road or location or zone of study for a long period of time it is possible to
predict with reasonable accuracy the probability of accident occurrence per day or
relative safety of different classes of road user in that location. The interpretation of
the statistical data is very important to provide insight to the problem.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 111

Accident data collection
The accident data collection is the first step in the accident study. The data collection of the accidents is
primarily done by the police. Motorist accident reports are secondary data which are filed by motorists
themselves. The data to be collected should comprise all of these parameters:
General - Date, time, person involved in accident, classification of accident like fatal, serious, minor
Location - Description and detail of location of accident
Details of vehicle involved - Registration number, description of vehicle, loading detail, vehicular defects
Nature of accident - Details of collision, damages, injury and casualty
Road and traffic condition - Details of road geometry, surface characteristics, type of traffic, traffic density
etc.
Primary causes of accident - Details of various possible cases (already mentioned) which are the main
causes of accident.
Accident cost - Financial losses incurred due to property damage, personal injury and casualty

These data collected need proper storing and retrieving for the following purpose. The purposes are as
follows:
• Identification of location of points at which unusually high number of accident occur.
• Detailed functional evaluation of critical accident location to identify the causes of accidents.
• Development of procedure that allows identification of hazards before large number of accidents
occurs.
• Development of different Prof.
statistical measures
S. S. Das, Department of Civil of various
Engineering, accident
VSSUT, Burla related factors to give insight
112 into
general trends, common casual factors, driver profiles, etc.
Accident investigation
The accident data collection involves extensive investigation which involves the following
procedure:
Reporting: It involves basic data collection in form of two methods:
•Motorist accident report - It is filed by the involved motorist involved in all accidents fatal or
injurious.
•Police accident report - It is filed by the attendant police officer for all accidents at which an
officer is present. This generally includes fatal accidents or mostly accidents involving serious injury
required emergency or hospital treatment or which have incurred heavy property damage.
At Scene-Investigation: It involves obtaining information at scene such as measurement of skid
marks, examination of damage of vehicles, photograph of final position of vehicles, examination of
condition and functioning of traffic control devices and other road equipments.
Technical Preparation: This data collection step is needed for organization and interpretation of the
study made. In this step measurement of grades, sight distance, preparing drawing of after accident
situation, determination of critical and design speed for curves is done.
Professional Reconstruction: In this step effort is made to determine from whatever data is
available how the accident occurs from the available data. This involves accident reconstruction. It
is professionally referred as determining “behavioral” or “mediate” causes of accident.
Cause Analysis: It is the effortProf.made to determine
S. S. Das, Department why
of Civil Engineering, the
VSSUT, Burlaaccident occurred from the
113 data
Accident data analysis
The purpose is to find the possible causes of accident related to driver, vehicle, and
roadway. Accident analyses are made to develop information such as:
Driver and Pedestrian - Accident occurrence by age groups and relationships of accidents
to physical capacities and to psychological test results.
Vehicle - Accident occurrence related to characteristic of vehicle, severity, location and
extent of damage related to vehicles.
Roadway conditions - Relationships of accident occurrence and severity to characteristics
of the roadway and roadway condition and relative values of changes related to roadways.

It is important to compute accident rate which reflect accident involvement by type of

highway. These rates provide a means of comparing the relative safety of different
highway and street system and traffic controls. Another is accident involvement by the
type of drivers and vehicles associated with accidents.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 114
Types of Accident Statistics
Accident statistics generally address and describe one of three principal informational elements:
• Accident occurrence
• Accident involvements
• Accident severity
Accident occurrence relates to the numbers and types of accidents that occur, which are often
described in terms of rates based on population or vehicle-miles travelled.
Accident involvement concerns the numbers and types of vehicles and drivers involved in accidents,
with population-based rates a very popular method of expression.
Accident severity is generally dealt with by proxy: the numbers of fatalities and fatality rates are often
used as a measure of the seriousness of accidents.
Statistics in these three categories can be stratified and analyzed in an almost infinite number of
ways, depending upon the factors of interest to the analyst. Some common types of analyses include:
• Trends over time
• Stratification by highway type or geometric element
• Stratification by driver characteristics (gender, age)
• Stratification by contributing cause
• Stratification by accident type
• Stratification by environmental conditions
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 115
These analyses allow the correlation of accident types with highway types and specific
geometric elements, the identification of high-risk driver populations, quantifying the
influence on accidents and fatalities, and other important determinations.

Many of these factors can be addressed through policy or programmatic approaches.

Changes in the design of guardrails have resulted from the correlation of accident and
fatality rates with specific types of installations. Changes in the legal drinking age and in
the legal definition have resulted partially from statistics showing the very high rate of
involvement of this factor in fatal accidents. Improved national requirements on vehicle
safety features (air bags, seat belts and harnesses, energy-absorbing steering columns,
padded dashboards) have occurred partially as a result of statistics linking these features
to accident severity.

All of these changes also involved heavy lobbying of interested groups and special studies
demonstrating the impact of specific vehicle and/or highway design changes.

These types of statistics, however, direct policy makers to key areas requiring attention
and research. Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 116
Accident Rates
Simple statistics citing total numbers of accidents, involvements, injuries, and or deaths can
be quite misleading, as they ignore the base from which they arise. An increase in the
number of highway fatalities in a specific jurisdiction from one year to the next must be
matched against population and vehicle-usage patterns to make any sense. For this reason,
many accident statistics are presented in the form of rates.

Population-Based Accident Rates

Accident rates generally fall into one of two broad categories: population-based rates, and
exposure-based rates. Some common bases for population-based rates include:
• Area population
• Number of registered vehicles
• Number of licensed drivers
• Highway mileage

These values are relatively static (they do not change radically over short periods of time)
and do not depend upon vehicle usage or the total amount of travel. They are useful in
quantifying overall risk to individuals on a comparative basis. Numbers of registered
vehicles and licensed drivers may also
Prof. S. S. Das,partially reflect
Department of Civil usage.
Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 117
Exposure-Based Accident Rates
Exposure-based rates attempt to measure the amount of travel as a surrogate for the
individual’s exposure to potential accident situations. The two most common bases for
exposure-based rates are:
• Vehicle-km travelled
• Vehicle-hours travelled
The two can vary widely depending upon the speed of travel, and comparisons based on
km can yield different insights from those based on hours of exposure. For point locations,
such as intersections, vehicle-kms or vehicle-hours have very little significance. Exposure
rates for such cases are “event-based” using total volume passing through the point to
define “events.”
True “exposure” to risk involves a great deal more than just time or km. Exposure to
vehicular or other conflicts that are susceptible to accident occurrence varies with many
factors, including volume levels, roadside activity, intersection frequency, degree of access
control, alignment, and many others. Data requirements make it difficult to quantify all of
these factors in defining exposure. The traffic engineer should be cognizant of these and
other factors when interpreting exposure based accident rates.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 118
Common Bases for Accident and Fatality Rates
In computing accident rates, numbers should be scaled to produce meaningful values. A
fatality rate per mile of vehicle-travel would yield numbers with many decimal places before
the first significant digit, and would be difficult to conceptualize. The following list indicates
commonly used forms for stating accident and fatality rates:
Population-based rates are stated according to:
• Fatalities, accidents, or involvements per 100,000 area population
• Fatalities, accidents, or involvements per 10,000 registered vehicles
• Fatalities, accidents, or involvements per 10,000 licensed drivers
• Fatalities, accidents, or involvements per 1,000 Km of highway
Exposure-based rates are stated according to:
• Fatalities, accidents, or involvements per 100,000,000 vehicle-km travelled
• Fatalities, accidents, or involvements per 10,000,000 vehicle-hours travelled
• Fatalities, accidents, or involvements per 1,000,000 entering vehicles (for
intersections only)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 119

Accident Rate per Kilometre: On this basis the total accident hazard is expressed as the
number of accidents of all types per km of each highway and street classification.
(1)
where, R = accident rate per km for one year, A = total number of accident occurring in
one year, L = length of control section of road in kms
Accident involvement Rate: It is expressed as numbers of drivers of vehicles with
certain characteristics who were involved in accidents per 100 million vehicle-kms of
travel.
(2)
where, R = accident involvement per 100 million vehicle-kms of travel, N = total
number of drivers of vehicles involved in accidents during the period of investigation
and V = vehicle-kms of travel on road section during the period of investigation
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 120
Death rate based on population: The traffic hazard to life in a community is expressed as the number of traffic fatalities per
100,000 populations. This rate reflects the accident exposure for entire area.
(3)
where, R = death rate per 100,000 population, B = total number of traffic death in one year and P = population of area
Death rate based on registration: The traffic hazard to life in a community can also be expressed as the number of traffic
fatalities per 10,000 vehicles registered. This rate reflects the accident exposure for entire area and is similar to death rate
based on population.
(4)
where, R = death rate per 10,000 vehicles registered, B = total number of traffic death in one year and M = number of motor
vehicles registered in the area
Accident Rate based on vehicle-kms of travel : The accident hazard is expressed as the number of accidents per 100 million
vehicle km of travel. The true exposure to accident is nearly approximated by the miles of travel of the motor vehicle than
the population or registration.
(5)
where, R = accident rate per 100 million vehicle kms of travel, C = number of total accidents in one year and V = vehicle
kms of travel in one year
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 121
Severity Index
A widely used statistic for the description of relative accident severity is the severity
index (SI), defined as the number of fatalities per accident. For the data of the previous
example, there were 75 fatalities in a total of 2,360 accidents. This yields a severity index
of

The severity index is another statistic that should be compared with previous years and
state and national norms, so that conclusions may be drawn with respect to the general
severity of accidents in the subject jurisdiction.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 122

Statistical Displays and their Use
Graphic and tabular displays of accident statistics can be most useful in transmitting
information in a clear and understandable manner. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then
a skilfully prepared graph or table is at least as useful in forcefully depicting facts.
The combined presentation of fatalities, fatality rates, and vehicle-miles travelled on a
single graph pointsout that the most significant underlying problem in reducing fatalities
is the ever-rising trend in vehicle miles travelled. While engineers have been able to
provide a safer environment for motorists, increased highway travel keeps the total
number of fatalities high.
Careful displays of accident statistics can tell a compelling story, identify critical trends,
and spotlight specific problem areas. Care should be taken in the preparation of such
displays to avoid misleading the reviewer of such information, analyzing what the data
says, and (more importantly), what it does not say.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 123
Identifying High-Accident locations
A primary function of an accident record system is to regularly identify locations with an
unusually high rate of accidents and/or fatalities. Accident spot maps are a tool that can be
used to assist in this task. Coded pins or markers are placed on a map. Colour or shape
codes are used to indicate the category and/or severity of the accident, such maps can be
electronically generated.
Computer record systems can also produce lists of accident locations ranked by either total
number of accidents occurring or by defined accident or fatality rate. It is useful to examine
both types of rankings, as they may yield significantly different results. Some locations with
high accident numbers reflect high volumes and have a relatively low accident rate.
Conversely, a small number of accidents occurring at a remote location with very little
demand can produce a very high accident rate. While statistical rankings give the engineer
a starting point, judgment must still be applied in the identification and selection of sites
most in need of improvement during any given budget year.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 124
Figure : Accident spot map
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 125
Before-and-After Accident, Analysis
When an accident problem has been identified, and an improvement implemented, the
engineer must evaluate whether or not the remediation has been effective in reducing the
number of accidents and/or fatalities. A before-and-after analysis must be conducted. The
length of time considered before and after the improvement must be long enough to observe
changes in accident occurrence. For most locations, periods ranging from three months to
one year are used. The length of the “before” period and the “after” period must be the same.
The normal approximation test is often used to make this determination. The statistic is
computed as:
( 4)
where: = number of accidents in the “after” period
= number of accidents in the “before” period
1 = test statistic representing the reduction in accidents on the standard normal
distribution
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 126
Site Analysis
One of the most important tasks in traffic safety is the study and analysis of site-specific
accident information to identify contributing causes and to develop site remediation
measures that will lead to improved safety.
Once a location has been statistically identified as a “high-accident” location, detailed
information is required in two principal areas:
1. Occurrence of accidents at the location in question
2. Environmental and physical conditions existing at the location
The analysis of this information must identify the environmental and physical conditions
that potentially or actually contribute to the observed occurrence of accidents.
Armed with such analyses, engineers may then develop countermeasures to alleviate the
problem(s).
The best information on the occurrence of accidents is compiled by reviewing all accident
reports for a given location over a specified study period. The most detailed data will be
available from the actual police accident reports on file used for it with environmental and
physical conditions of accident site. Two primary graphical outputs are then prepared:
1. Collision diagram
2. Condition diagram Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 127
Collision Diagrams
Collision diagrams are used to display and identify similar accident patterns. They
provide information on the type and number of accidents; including conditions such as
time of day, day of week, climatic conditions, pavement conditions, and other
information
critical to determining the causes of safety problems.

Accident reports should be organized by year of occurrence and accident type for the
analysis period. Accidents that occurred after significant changes in highway or local
land use should not be included.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 128

Construction of Collision Diagram
Sketch of the collision diagram for either an intersection or a roadway section using a standard form as shown
below.
1. The sketch need not be to scale.
2. Show the path of each vehicle involved in the accident with adequate room for information.
3. Place a north arrow for orientation and any other descriptive information:
a) Location identification
b) Period of analysis
c) Label the roads
4. Sketch the path of each vehicle to show vehicle maneuver, type of collision and accident severity, and;
a) Time of day
b) Day of week
c) Date
d) Lighting condition
e) Pavement condition
f) Other important information, e.g., alcohol involvement
B. Symbols
Symbols representing the nature of operation, vehicle or object involved and severity of the accident are
adopted. These are shown in the example collision diagram below. Symbols to represent types of collisions
diagrams are also standardized.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 129
Figure: Prof.
Collision diagram
S. S. Das, Department for an
of Civil Engineering, VSSUT,intersection
Burla 130
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 131
Condition Diagrams
A condition diagram describes all physical and environmental conditions at the accident site.
The diagram must show all geometric features of the site, the location and description of all
control devices (signs, signals, markings, lighting, etc.), and all relevant features of the
roadside environment, such as the location of driveways, roadside objects, land uses, etc. The
diagram must encompass a large enough area around the location to include all potentially
relevant features. This may range from several hundred meter on intersection approaches to
0.25-0.50 km on rural highway sections.
Interpretation of Condition and Collision Diagrams
The objective in analyzing collision and condition diagrams is straight forward: find
contributing causes to the observed accidents shown in the collision diagram among the
design, control, operational, and environmental features summarized on the condition
diagram. Doing so involves virtually all of the traffic engineer’s knowledge, experience, and
insight, and the application of professional judgment.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 132

Accident reconstruction
Accident reconstruction deals with representing the accidents occurred in schematic diagram
to determine the pre-collision speed which helps in regulating or enforcing rules to control or
check movement of vehicles on road at high speed. The following data are required to
determine the pre-collision speed:
 Mass of the vehicle
 Velocities after collision
 Path of each vehicle as it approaches collision point
Schematic diagram of collision of two vehicles is shown that occur during turning
movements. This diagram is also known as collision diagram. Each collision is represented
by a set of arrows to show the direction of before and after movement. The collision diagram
provides a powerful visual record of accident occurrence over a significant period of time.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 133

 The collision may be of two
types collinear impact or angular
collision. Below each of them
are described in detail. Collinear
impact can be again divided into
two types:
 Rear end collision
 Head-on collision.
It can be determined by two
Figure : Collision diagram of two vehicles theories:
 Poisson Impact Theory
 Energy Theory
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 134
Poisson impact theory
Poisson impact theory, divides the
impact in two parts - compression
and restitution. The Figure shows
two vehicles travelling at an
initial speed of and collide and
obtain a uniform speed say u at
the compression stage. And after
the compression stage is over the
final speed is and . The
compression phase is cited by the Figure : Compression Phase
deformation of the cars.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 135

From the Newton’s law ,
(1)
where, and are the masses of the cars and F is the contact force. We know that every reaction
has equal and opposite action. So as the rear vehicle pushes the vehicle ahead with force F.
The vehicle ahead will also push the rear vehicle with same magnitude of force but has
different direction. The action force is represented by F, whereas the reaction force is
represented by -F as shown in Figure.

Figure : Force applied on each vehicle

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 136
In the compression phase cars are deformed. The compression phase terminates when the
cars have equal velocity. Thus the cars obtain equal velocity which generates the following
equation:
(2)
where, which is the compression impulse and is the compression time. Thus, the velocity
after collision is obtained as:
(3)
The compression impulse is given by:
(4)
In the restitution phase the elastic part of internal energy is released
(5)
(6)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 137

where, is the restitution impulse and is the restitution time. According to Poisson’s hypothesis
restitution impulse is proportional to compression impulse

Restitution impulse e is given by:

(7)
(8)
The total impulse is
(9)
The post impact velocities are given by:
(10)
(11)
where . But we are required to determine the pre-collision speed according to which the safety on the
road can be designed. So we will determine and from the given value of and .

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 138

Energy theory
Applying principle of conservation of energy or conservation of momentum also the
initial speed of the vehicle can be computed if the skid marks are known. It is based on
the concept that there is reduction in kinetic energy with the work done against the skid
resistance. So if the vehicle of weight W slowdown from speed to , then the loss in
kinetic energy will be equal to the work done against skid resistance, where work done is
weight of the vehicle multiplied by the skid distance and the skid resistance coefficient.
(12)
where, f is the skid resistance coefficient and S is the skid distance. It also follows the law
of conservation of momentum (, are the mass and velocity of first vehicle colliding with
another vehicle of mass and velocity , respectively)
(13)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 139

Angular collision
Angular collision occurs
when two vehicles coming at
right angles collies with each
other and bifurcates in
different direction. The
direction of the vehicles after
collision in this case depends
on the initial speeds of the
two vehicles and their
weights. One general case is
that two vehicles coming
from south and west direction
after colliding move in its
resultant direction as shown
Figure : Angular collision of two vehicles
in Figure.
resulting in movement in resultant direction
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 140
The mass of the car 1 is kg and the car 2 is kg and the initial velocity is m/s and m/s
respectively. So as the momentum is the product of mass and velocity. The momentum of
the car 1 and car 2 is kgm/s and kgm/s respectively. By the law of conservation of
momentum the final momentum should be equal to the initial momentum. But as the car
are approaching each other at an angle the final momentum should not be just mere
summation of both the momentum but the resultant of the two, Resultant momentum
= kg m/s. The angle at which they are bifurcated after collision is given by where h is
the hypotenuse and b is the base. Therefore, the cars are inclined at an angle. Inclined at
an angle = . Now, since the mass of the two vehicles are same the final velocity will
proportionally be changed. The general schematic diagrams of collision are shown in
Figs. 1 to 3.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 141

Figure 1: After collision movement of
car 1 north of west and car 2 in east of Figure 2: After collision movement of
car 1 and car 2 in north of east
north

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 142

Figure 3: After collision movement of car 1 north of east and car 2
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of in south of
Civil Engineering, east
VSSUT, Burla 143
Numerical Example Solution

Two vehicles travelling in Given that the: mass of the first vehicle () = 3000 kg, mass of
the same lane have masses the second vehicle () = 2500 kg, final speed of the rear
3000 kg and 2500 kg. The vehicle () = 25 kmph, and final speed of the leader vehicle ()
velocity of rear vehicles = 56 kmph. Let initial speed of the rear vehicle be , and let
after striking the leader initial speed of the leader vehicle be .
vehicle is 25 kmph and the Step 1: From equation. 10,
velocity of leader vehicle
is 56 kmph. The
coefficient of restitution of
------(a)
the two vehicle system is
assumed to be 0.6.
Determine the pre-
collision speed of the two
vehicles. Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 144
Step 2: From equation. 11,

---------(b)

Step 3: Solving equations. a and b, We get the pre collision speed of two vehicles
as: = 73 kmph, and = 62 kmph.
Step 4: Initial speed of the rear vehicle, = 73 kmph, and the initial speed of leader
vehicle, = 62 kmph. Thus from the result we can infer that the follower vehicle was
travelling at quite high speed which may have resulted in the collision. The solution
to the problem may be speed restriction in that particular stretch of road where
accident occurred.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 145

 Solution: Let the weight of the moving vehicle is , let the
Numerical example
weight of the stationary vehicle is , skid distance before and
A vehicle of 2000 kg after collision is and respectively, initial speed is , speed after
skids a distance of 36 applying brakes before collision is and the speed of both the
m before colliding vehicles A and B after collision is , and the final speed is 0.
with a stationary Then:
vehicle of 1500 kg
After collision: Loss in kinetic energy of both cars = Work
weight. After
done against skid resistance (can be obtained from equation
collision both vehicle
mentioned below). Substituting the values we obtain .
skid a distance of 14
m. Assuming
coefficient of friction
0.5, determine the
initial speed of the
vehicle.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 146
At collision: Momentum before impact = momentum after impact (using equation. 13)

Before collision (using equation): Loss in kinetic energy of moving vehicle = work done
against braking force in reducing the speed

Ans: The pre-collision speed of the moving vehicle is 100 kmph

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 147

CAPACITY OF A ROADWAY
The relationships between volume (flow rate), speed, and density are among the most
fundamental in transportation engineering. Traffic Flow and Capacity Concepts, describes
how these basic relationships apply to the four modes covered by the Highway Capacity
Manual (HCM): automobiles, pedestrians, bicycles, and on-street transit. Details of these
relationships specific to automobiles operating on a particular system element (for example,
speed flow curves for freeways).

Capacity represents the maximum sustainable hourly flow rate at which persons or vehicles
reasonably can be expected to traverse a point or a uniform section of a lane or roadway
during a given time period under prevailing roadway, environmental, traffic, and control
conditions. Reasonable expectancy is the basis for defining capacity. The stated capacity for a
given system element is a flow rate that can be achieved repeatedly for peak periods of
sufficient demand, as opposed to being the maximum flow rate that might ever be observed.
System elements that have different prevailing conditions will have different capacities, and
the maximum flow rate observed on a given system element may vary from day to day.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 148
Capacity definition
The term capacity when referring to a highway link or junction is its ability to carry,
accommodate or handle traffic flow. Traditionally, capacity has been expressed in numbers of
vehicles or passenger car units (PCU). Vehicles vary in their performance and the amount of
road space they occupy.
The capacity of a system element is the maximum sustainable hourly flow rate at which
persons or vehicles reasonably can be expected to traverse a point or a uniform section of a
lane or roadway during a given time period under prevailing roadway, environmental, traffic,
and control conditions.
Vehicle capacity is the maximum number of vehicles that can pass a given point during a
specified period under prevailing roadway, traffic, and control conditions. This assumes that
there is no influence from downstream traffic operation, such as queues backing into the
analysis point.
Person capacity is the maximum number of persons that can pass a given point during a
specified period under prevailing conditions. Person capacity is commonly used to evaluate
public transit services, high -occupancy - vehicle lanes, and pedestrian facilities.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 149
Issues of traffic capacity analysis
 How much traffic a given facility can accommodate?
 Under what operating conditions can it accommodate that
much traffic?

Highway Capacity Manual (HCM)

 1950 HCM by the Bureau of Public Roads
 1965 HCM by the TRB
 1985 HCM by the TRB (Highway Capacity Software
published)
 1994 updates to 1985 HCM
 1997 updates to 1994 HCM
 2001 updates to 2000 HCM
 2010 updates to 2000 HCM
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 150
 The capacity concept HCM analyses are
usually for the peak
(worst) 15-min period.

The capacity of a facility is:

“the maximum hourly rate at which persons or vehicles can be
reasonably expected to traverse a point or uniform segment of a
lane or roadway during a given time period under prevailing
conditions.”

Sometimes
Some regularity using With different
 Traffic
expected persons prevailing
 Roadway (capacity is not a makes conditions,
 Control fixed value) more different capacity
sense, like results.
transit

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 151

Base Conditions
Many of the procedures in this manual provide a formula or simple tabular or graphic
presentations for a set of specified standard conditions, which must be adjusted to
account for prevailing conditions that do not match. These standard conditions are
termed base conditions.

Base conditions assume good weather, good and dry pavement conditions, users who
are familiar with the system element, and no impediments to traffic flow.

In most capacity analyses, prevailing conditions differ from the base conditions (e.g.,
there are trucks in the traffic stream, lanes are narrow). As a result, computations of
capacity, service flow rate, and LOS must include adjustments. Prevailing conditions are
generally categorized as roadway, traffic, or control.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 152

Roadway Conditions
Roadway conditions include geometric and other elements. In some cases, they influence the
capacity of a system element; in others, they can affect a performance measure such as speed,
but not the roadway’s capacity or maximum flow rate.
Roadway factors include the following:
• Number of lanes,
• The type of system element and its development environment,
• Lane widths,
• Shoulder widths and lateral clearances,
• Design speed,
• Horizontal and vertical alignments, and
• Availability of exclusive turn lanes at intersections.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 153

The horizontal and vertical alignments of a highway depend on the design speed and the
topography of the land on which it is constructed.
In general, as the severity of the terrain increases, capacity and service flow rates are
reduced. This is significant for two lane rural highways, where the severity of terrain can
affect the operating capabilities of individual vehicles in the traffic stream and restrict
opportunities for passing slow moving vehicles. Traffic Conditions that influence
capacities and service levels include vehicle type and lane or directional distribution.
Effect of width on capacity
The capacity of a traffic lane is, within limits, proportional to its width. Clearly, there is a
lower limit to the width of a lane below which it is operationally impractical to run
vehicles. Below a lane width of about 2.0 metres capacity deteriorates rapidly. As lane
widths approach the point where two narrow lanes can be marked or vehicles tend to
form up in two lanes there is a rapid increase in capacity. In urban areas and at road
junctions traffic will tend to form up in two lanes when the lane width exceeds 5.0
metres.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 154
Effect of gradient
A steep uphill gradient can significantly affect the acceleration rate of all vehicles when
pulling away from stationary at road junctions. Heavy vehicle speed also deteriorates on a
combination of gradient and length of gradient. Additional crawler lanes are provided on
long steep gradients on motorways and other heavily trafficked roads to maintain speeds
and capacity.

Effect of alignment
A tightly curving alignment in rural areas can cause a reduction in free-flow speeds. On
existing roads tight curves are often accompanied by poor sight lines and forward visibility
that prevents slow moving vehicles from being overtaken and reduces overall capacity.
Bunching of vehicles, with reduced headways, can cause excessive delays at side road
junctions.
In urban areas, curvature has been used to contain speeds in new residential areas and
artificial curves, chicanes and horizontal deflection are used to reduce vehicle speeds as
part of traffic calming schemes.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 155
Vehicle Type
The entry of heavy vehicles—that is, vehicles other than passenger cars (a category that
includes small trucks and vans) into the traffic stream affects the number of vehicles that
can be served. Heavy vehicles are vehicles that have more than four tires touching the
pavement.
Trucks, buses, and recreational vehicles (RVs) are the three groups of heavy vehicles
addressed by the methods in this manual. Heavy vehicles adversely affect traffic in two
ways:
• They are larger than passenger cars and occupy more roadway space; and
• They have poorer operating capabilities than passenger cars, particularly with respect to
acceleration, deceleration, and the ability to maintain speed on upgrades.
The second impact is more critical. The inability of heavy vehicles to keep pace with
passenger cars in many situations creates large gaps in the traffic stream, which are difficult
to fill by passing maneuvers. Queues may also develop behind a slow‐moving heavy vehicle.
The resulting inefficiencies in the use of roadway space cannot be completely overcome.
This effect is particularly harmful on sustained, steep upgrades, where the difference in
operating capabilities is most pronounced, and on two lane highways, where passing
requires use of the opposing travel
Prof. S. S. lane.
Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 156
Directional and Lane Distribution
Two traffic characteristics in addition to the distribution of vehicle types affect capacity,
service flow rates, and LOS: directional distribution and lane distribution. Directional
distribution has a dramatic impact on two lane rural highway operation, where optimal
conditions are achieved when the amount of traffic is roughly equal in each direction.
Capacity analyses for multilane highways focus on a single direction of flow.
Nevertheless, each direction of the highway is usually designed to accommodate the
peak flow rate in the peak direction. Typically, morning peak traffic occurs in one
direction and evening peak traffic occurs in the opposite direction. Lane distribution is
another factor on multilane facilities. Typically, the right lane carries less traffic than
other lanes.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 157

Driver Population
Studies have noted that non-commuter driver populations do not display the same
characteristics as do regular commuters. For example, for recreational traffic on a
freeway segment, capacities have been observed to be as much as 10% to 15% lower
than for commuter traffic traveling on the same segment. HCM methods include an
adjustment for driver population, for system elements where driver population has
made a difference in the observed capacity.

Control Conditions
For interrupted‐flow facilities, the control of the time that specific traffic flows are
allowed to move is critical to capacity, service flow rates, and level of service. The most
critical type of control is the traffic signal. The type of control in use, signal phasing,
allocation of green time, cycle length, and the relationship with adjacent control
measures all affect operations.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 158

STOP and YIELD signs also affect capacity, but in a less deterministic way. A traffic signal
designates times when each movement is permitted; however, a STOP sign at a two‐way
STOP‐controlled intersection only designates the right of way to the major street.
Motorists traveling on the minor street must stop to find gaps in the major traffic flow.
The capacity of minor approaches, therefore, depends on traffic conditions on the major
street. An all way STOP control requires drivers to stop and enter the intersection in
rotation. Capacity and operational characteristics can vary widely, depending on the
traffic demands on the various approaches.

Other types of controls and regulations can significantly affect capacity, service flow
rates, and LOS. Restricted curb parking can increase the number of lanes available on a
street or highway. Turn restrictions can eliminate conflicts at intersections, increasing
capacity. Lane use controls can allocate roadway space to component movements and
can create reversible lanes. One‐way street routings can eliminate conflicts between left
turns and opposing traffic.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 159
Technology
Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) strategies aim to increase the safety and performance of roadway
facilities. For this discussion, ITS includes any technology that allows drivers and traffic control system
operators to gather and use real time information to improve vehicle navigation, roadway system control, or
both. Research on ITS has grown significantly but cannot be considered comprehensive in terms of evaluating
ITS impacts on roadway capacity and quality of service.
Arterial ITS strategies that have been shown to improve vehicular throughput or reduce vehicular delay are
adaptive signal control and traffic signal interconnection. A freeway ITS strategy, ramp metering, has
demonstrated improved mainline throughput and speed, while incident management techniques have reduced
the time required to identify and clear incidents, thus minimizing the time during which capacity is reduced as
well as the associated delay. Variable freeway speed limits, combined with automated speed limit
enforcement, also show promise but require additional study.
Other ITS strategies seek to shift demand to alternate routes or times, thus making better use of available
system capacity and reducing delay on individual facilities. Techniques include parking availability signs at the
entrances to downtown areas, value pricing, variable message signs, highway advisory radio, real time travel
time and incident information provided to computers and mobile phones, and real time in vehicle navigation
systems
The capacity of a road junction is dependent upon many of the features that govern link capacity with the
addition of the junction type, control method and vehicle turning proportions.
The expression ‘level of service’ when applied to a highway refers to the Highway Capacity Manual approach
which defines a range of levels from the lowest which occurs during heavy congestion to the highest where
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 160
vehicles can travel safely at their maximum legal speed.
Design flows
Design traffic flow is an arbitrary value chosen by the highway authority (HA) to reflect the highway
capacity and prevailing local conditions, and includes a number of parameters, such as the
acceptable journey speed, free-flow conditions, acceptable delay, environmental impact, minimum
levels of safety for vehicular and non-vehicular traffic.
The HA will consider the existing flows on a route, expected traffic growth, traffic generation from
changes in land use and desirable modal split. Where an existing highway is to be improved, the
potential to improve the route and its junctions will affect the decisions on design flow.
The design flows generally apply to a defined design year and usually refer to a minimum traffic-
handling capacity for the improved route. Increasingly, HAs are considering maximum capacity and
insisting that sustainable methods of transport are provided to limit the numbers of vehicle trips.
Restraint on the numbers of car parking spaces at a development and subsidised public transport
services are now an integral part of the design flow selection process. The success of the congestion
charging in London has demonstrated that licensing the use of road space can have a positive effect
on mode choice and reduction in peak traffic flows.
A single minimum figure for design flow is now rarely sufficient to define the design parameters for a
highway scheme. Usually, a designer will be expected to provide space and capacity for alternatives
to private modes of transport.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 161
Flow–capacity relationships
A measure of the performance of a highway or junction is the ratio of demand flow to
capacity (RFC) or traffic intensity. As the RFC approaches 1.0 the level of congestion and
queuing will increase. There are two basic opinions on the effects of traffic intensity on
queue lengths: the steady state theory suggests that as traffic intensity approaches 1.0,
queue length will approach infinity; and the deterministic theory assumes that no queuing
occurs until the RFC exceeds 1.0. In practice it can be easily observed that queuing starts to
occur well before an RFC of 1.0 is reached and it is equally clear that queue length does not
approach infinity at this point. The Transport Research Laboratory (formerly Transport and
Road Research Laboratory), in its junction modelling computer programs ARCADY and
PICADY, has used a transformed curve for time-dependent queuing theory. This curve
approximates to observable queues.

Density (D) = Average number of vehicles in a length of highway (L) /L

When density is zero flow is also zero; when density increases to a maximum there is no
flow. Maximum flow occurs at some point between these values.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 162
Freeways and multilane highways
Basic freeway segments: Segments of the freeway that are
outside of the influence area of ramps or weaving areas.
The capacity analysis of divided road focuses on traffic flow in
one direction. Why?
The maximum service flow rate is simply the maxim flow rate
under base conditions that can sustain for given level of
service.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 163

Basic freeway and multilane highway characteristics

Speed-Flow Curves for Basic freeway Sections Source HCM 2000

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 164
Speed-Flow Curves
Prof. S. S.for
Das, multilane Highway
Department of Civil Engineering, Sections
VSSUT, Burla Source HCM 2000 165
 LOS Criteria

LOS B

LOS C or D

LOS A

LOS E or F

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 166

Analysis methodologies
Most capacity analysis models include the determination of
capacity under ideal roadway, traffic, and control
conditions, that is, after having taken into account
adjustments for prevailing conditions.
Multilane 12-ft lane width, 6-ft lateral clearance, all vehicles are
highways passenger cars, familiar drivers, free-flow speeds >=
60 mph. Divided. Zero access points. Capacity used is
usually average per lane (e.g. 2400 pcphpl in one
direction)

Basic freeway segments

Min. lane widths of 12 feet
Min. right-shoulder lateral clearance of 6 feet (median  2 ft)
Traffic stream consisting of passenger cars only
Ten or more lanes (in urban areas only)
Interchanges spaced every 2 miles or more
Level terrain, with grades no greater than 2%, length affects
Driver population dominated by regular and familiar users
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 167
 Prevailing condition types considered:

Lane width
Lateral clearances
Number of lanes (freeways)
Type of median (multilane highways)
Frequency of interchanges (freeways) or access points (multilane highways)
Presence of heavy vehicles in the traffic stream
Driver populations dominated by occasional or unfamiliar users of a facility

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 168

Factors affecting: examples

Trucks occupy more space:

length and gap

Drivers shy away from

concrete barriers

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 169

 Types of analysis
V
v 
PHF * N * f * f
p

H p

• Operational analysis (Determine speed

v
and flow rate, then density and LOS) D p

SF  MSF * N * f
i i HV
* f p

• Service flow rate and service volume SV  SF * PHF

analysis (for desired LOS) MSF = Max service flow rate i i

DDHV
N 
PHF * MSF * f * f
i

• Design analysis (Find the number of lanes i H p

needed to serve desired MSF)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 170
Service flow rates vs. service volumes
What is used for analysis is service flow rate. The actual
number of vehicles that can be served during one peak hour is
service volume. This reflects the peaking characteristic of traffic
flow.

Stable flow
SFE Unstable
flow
E F
Flow

D
C SVi = SFi * PHF
SFA
Congested
B
A Peak _ hourly _ volume
PHF 
4  V15 _ peak
Uncongested Density
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 171
Operational analysis steps
Free-flow speed (read carefully definitions of variables):

FFS  BFFSi  f LW  f LC  f N  f ID Basic freeway segments, eq.

FFS  BFFSi  f LW  f LC  f M  f A Multilane highway sections, eq.
Passenger car equivalent flow rate:

v p  V /( PHF  N  f HV  f p )
Use either
the graph or
compute:

vp
D
S
Then Table 12.2 for LOS.

See Figure for multilane highway sections.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 172
 (cont.)

Density criteria are independent of FFS level

Table for basic freeway segments Table 12.4 for multilane highways

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 173

Heavy-vehicle adjustment factor
1
f HV 
1  PT ( ET  1)  PR ( E R  1)
1

PP  1  PT ET  PR E R
1

1  PT  PR 1  PT ET  PR ER

PP = percent passenger cars

Grade and slope length
PT = percent trucks & buses affects the values of ET
and ER.
PR = percent recreational vehicles (RVs)
ET = PCE for trucks and buses
ER = PCE for RVs
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 174
 How we deal with long,
sustaining grades…
There are 3 ways to deal with long, sustaining grades: extended general
freeway segments, specific upgrades, and specific downgrades.

(1) Extended segments: where no one grade of 3% or greater is longer than ¼

mi or where no one grade of less than 3% is longer than ½ mi. And for
planning analysis.

Extended Type of Terrain

segments Level Rolling Mountains

ET (trucks & buses) 1.5 2.5 4.5

ER (RVs) 1.2 2.0 4.0

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 175

How we deal with long, sustaining grades…(cont)

(2) Specific upgrades: Any freeway grade of more than ½ mi

for grades less than 3% or ¼ mi for grades of 3% or more.
(For a composite grade, refer to page 313.) Use the tables for
ET and ER for specific grades.

(3) Specific downgrades:

 If the downgrade is not severe enough to cause trucks to
shift into low gear, treat it as a level terrain segment.
 Otherwise, use the table for downgrade ET
 For RVs, downgrades may be treated as level terrain.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 176

 Average grade or composite grade?
• In a basic freeway segment analysis, an overall average grade can be
substituted for a series of grades if no single portion of the grade is steeper
than 4% or the total length of the grade is less than 4,000 ft.
• For grades outside these limits, the composite grade procedure is
recommended. The composite grade procedure is used to determine an
equivalent grade that will result in the same final truck speed as used to
determine an equivalent grade that will result in the same final truck speed
as would a series of varying grades. (page 313-314: read these pages
carefully for strength and weakness of this method)
• For analysis purposes, the impact of a grade is worst at the end of its
steepest (uphill) section. (e.g. if 1000 ft of 4% grade were followed by 1000
ft of 3% rade, passenger-car equivalents would be found for a 1000 ft, 4%)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 177

 Determining the driver population factor

• Not well established

• Between a value of 1.00 for commuters to 0.85 as a lower limit for other driver
populations
• Usually 1.00
• If there are many unfamiliar drivers use a value between 1.00 and 0.85
• For a future situation 0.85 is suggested

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 178

 Planning analysis

You want to find out how many lanes are needed for the targeted level of service.

Step 1: Find fHV using for ET and ER.

Step 2: Try 2 lanes in each direction, unless it is obvious that more lanes will be needed.
Step 3: Convert volume (vph) to flow rate (pcphpl), vp, for the current number of lanes in
each direction.
Step 4: If vp exceeds capacity, add one lane in each direction and return to Step 2.
Step 5: Compute FFS.
Step 6: Determine the LOS for the freeway with the current number of lanes being
considered. If the LOS is not good enough, add another lane and return to Step 3.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 179

QUALITY OF SERVICE
Quality of service describes how well a transportation facility or service operates from a
traveler’s perspective. Quality of service can be assessed in a number of ways. Among them
are directly observing factors perceivable by and important to travelers (e.g., speed or delay),
surveying travelers, tracking complaints and compliments about roadway conditions,
forecasting traveler satisfaction by using models derived from past traveler surveys, and
observing services not directly perceived by travelers (e.g., average time to clear an incident)
that affect measures they can perceive (e.g., speed or arrival time at work).

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 180

Factors that influence traveler perceived quality of service have been found to include
• Travel time, speed, and delay;
• Number of stops incurred;
• Travel time reliability;
• Maneuverability (e.g., ease of lane changing, percent time‐spent‐following other
vehicles);
• Comfort (e.g., bicycle and pedestrian interaction with and separation from traffic,
transit vehicle crowding, ride comfort);
• Convenience (e.g., directness of route, frequency of transit service);
• Safety (actual or perceived);
• User cost;
• Availability of facilities and services;
• Facility aesthetics; and
• Information availability (e.g., highway way finding signage, transit route and schedule
information).

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 181

The HCM’s scope, measuring the multimodal performance of highway and street facilities, is
narrower than the list of quality of service aspects listed above.
The HCM focuses particularly on the travel time, speed, delay, maneuverability, and comfort
aspects of quality of service, although a limited number of the HCM’s performance
measures address some of the other aspects listed above.

Level-of-Service
There are many ways to measure the performance of a transportation facility or service and
many points of view that can be considered in deciding which measurements to make. The
agency operating a roadway, automobile drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, bus passengers,
decision makers, and the community at large all have their own perspectives on how a
roadway or service should perform and what constitutes “good” performance. As a result,
there is no one right way to measure and interpret performance. Quality and Level-of-
Service Concepts, presents the concepts that the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) uses to
describe performance from the traveler point of view in a way that is designed to be useful
to roadway operators, decision makers, and members of the community.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 182

The v/c ratio and its use in capacity analysis

The comparison of true

Rate of flow demand flows to capacity is a
v/c =
Capacity principal objective of capacity
and LOS analysis.
The volume capacity ratio indicates the proportion of the
facility’s capacity being utilized by current or projected traffic.
 Used as a measure of the sufficiency of existing or
proposed capacity.

v/c is usually less than or equal to 1.0. However, if a projected

rate of flow is used, it may become greater than 1.0. The
actual v/c cannot be greater than 1.0 if departure volume is
used for v.

A v/c ratio above 1.0 predicts that the

planned design facility will fail! Queue will
form.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 183
 Level of service

“Level of service (LOS) is a quality measure describing operational conditions within a

traffic stream, generally in terms of such service measures as speed and travel time,
freedom to maneuver, traffic interruptions, and comfort and convenience.”

LOS A (best) LOS F (worst or system breakdown)

A Free flow: Freedom to speed maneuvers and Excellent comfort and

convenience level for drivers.
SFA
B Reasonably free flow: The presence of other vehicles noticeable.
Light decline in the level of convenience and comfort SFB
C Stable flow: Near Free flow speed but noticeable restrictions. Lane
changes require careful attentions. SFC
D Approaching unstable flow: Speed begins to slow. Freedom
becomes more restricted. Incidents generate long queues. SFD
E Unstable flow: Operating near roadway capacity. Minor disruption can
cause delays. Extremely limited maneuverability. SFE
F Forced flow: Breakdown in vehicle
Prof. S. S. Das, Department flow.
of Civil Slow VSSUT,
Engineering, speed
Burlaor compete halt. 184
SFF
DEFINITION

LOS is a quantitative stratification of a performance measure or measures that represent

quality of service. The measures used to determine LOS for transportation system
elements are called service measures. The HCM defines six levels of service, ranging from
A to F, for each service measure, or for the output from a mathematical model based on
multiple performance measures. LOS A represents the best operating conditions from the
traveler’s perspective and LOS F the worst. For cost, environmental impact, and other
reasons, roadways are not typically designed to provide LOS A conditions during peak
periods, but rather some lower LOS that reflects a balance between individual travelers’
desires and society’s desires and financial resources. Nevertheless, during low‐volume
periods of the day, a system element may operate at LOS A.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 185

Level of service A is intended to describe free-flow operations. At these low densities, the operation
of each vehicle is not greatly influenced by the presence of others. Speeds are not affected by flow in
this level of service, and operation is at the free-flow speed. Lane changing, merging, and diverging
maneuvers are easily accomplished, as many large gaps in lane flow exist. Short-duration lane
blockages may cause the level of service to deteriorate somewhat, but do not cause significant
disruption to flow. Average spacing between vehicles is a minimum of 167m, or approximately 24 car
lengths at this level of service.

Level of service B, drivers begin to respond to the existence of other vehicles in the traffic stream,
although operation is still at the free flow speed. Maneuvering within the traffic stream is still
relatively easy, but drivers must be more vigilant in searching for gaps in lane flows. The traffic
stream still has sufficient gaps to dampen the impact of most minor lane disruptions. Average
spacing is a minimum of 100m, or approximately 15 car lengths.

Level of service C, the presence of other vehicles begins to restrict maneuverability within the traffic
stream. Operations remain at the free flow speed, but drivers now need to adjust their course to
find gaps they can use to pass or merge. A significant increase in driver vigilance is required at this
level. While there are still sufficient gaps in the traffic stream to dampen the impact of minor lane
blockages, any significant blockage could lead to breakdown and queuing. Average spacing
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 186
is a
minimum of 67m, or approximately 10 car lengths.
Level of service D is the range in which average speeds begin to decline with increasing flows.
Density deteriorates more quickly with flow in this range. At level of service D, breakdowns
can occur quickly in response to small increases in flow. Maneuvering within the traffic stream
is now quite difficult, and drivers often have to search for gaps for some time before
successfully passing or merging. The ability of the traffic stream to dampen the impact of even
minor lane disruptions is severely restricted, and most such bloclkages result in queue
formation unless removed very quickly. Average spacing is a minimum of 50m, or
approximately seven car lengths.

Level of service E represents operation in the vicinity of capacity. The maximum density limit
of level of service E is capacity operation. For such an operation there are few or no usable
gaps in the traffic stream, and any perturbation caused by lane-changing or merging
maneuvers will create a shock wave in the traffic stream. Even the smallest lane disruptions
may cause extensive queuing. Maneuvering within the traffic stream is now very difficult, as
other vehicles must give way to accommodate a lane-changing or merging vehicle. The
average spacing is a minimum of 35m, or approximately six car lengths.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 187

Level of service F describes operation within the
queue that forms upstream of a breakdown point.
Such breakdowns may be caused by accidents or
incidents, or may occur at locations where arrival
demand exceeds the capacity of the section on a
regular basis. Actual operating conditions vary
widely, and are subject to short term
perturbations. As vehicles “shuffle” through the
queue, there are times when they are standing
still, and times when they move briskly for short
distances. Level of service F is also used to
describe the point of the breakdown, where
demand flow (v) exceeds capacity (c). In reality,
operation at the point of the breakdown is usually
good, as vehicles discharge from the queue.
Nevertheless, it is insufficient capacity at the point
of breakdown that causes the queue, and level of
service F provides an appropriate descriptor
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civilfor
Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 188
USAGE
LOS is used to translate complex numerical performance results into a simple A - F system
representative of travelers’ perceptions of the quality of service provided by a facility or
service. The LOS letter result hides much of the complexity of facility performance. This
feature is intended to simplify decision making on whether facility performance is generally
acceptable and whether a future change in performance is likely to be perceived as
significant by the general public. The language of LOS provides a common set of definitions
that transportation engineers and planners can use to describe operating conditions;
however, it is up to local policy makers to decide the appropriate LOS for a given system
element in their community. One reason for the widespread adoption of the LOS concept by
agencies is the concept’s ability to communicate roadway performance to nontechnical
decision makers. However, LOS has other strengths and weaknesses, described below, that
both analysts and decision makers need to be mindful of.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 189

Step Function Nature of LOS
LOS is a step function. An increase in average control delay of 12 s at a traffic signal, for
example, may result in no change in LOS, a drop of one level, or even a drop of two
levels, depending on the starting value of delay, as illustrated in Exhibit below.
From a traveler perception standpoint, the condition shown in Exhibit below is not
necessarily inconsistent. A change of LOS indicates that roadway performance has
transitioned from one given range of traveler perceivable conditions to another range,
while no change in LOS indicates that conditions have remained within the same
performance range as before. Service measure values indicate where conditions lie
within a particular performance range.
However, because a small change in a service measure, or the output from a
mathematical model based on multiple performance measures, can sometimes result
in a change from one LOS to another, the LOS result could imply a more significant
effect than actually occurred.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 190

Example of the Step Function Nature of LOS
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 191
Variability of the Inputs to LOS
Although computer software that implements HCM methodologies can sometimes report results to many
decimal places, three major sources of uncertainty influence service measure values and, thus, the LOS
result:
1. The models used to estimate service measure values have confidence intervals associated with their
outputs;
2. These models may, in turn, rely on the output of other models that have their own associated confidence
intervals; and
3. The accuracy of input variables, such as demand flow rate, is taken to be absolute when, in fact, there is a
substantial stochastic variation around the measured values.

Thus, any reported service measure value, whether resulting from an HCM methodology, an alternative tool,
or even field measurement, potentially has a fairly wide range associated with it in which the “true” value
actually lies. The LOS concept helps to downplay the implied accuracy of a numeric result by presenting a
range of service measure results as being reasonably equivalent from a traveler’s point of view.
Nevertheless, the same variability issues also mean that the “true” LOS value may be different from the one
predicted by a methodology. In addition, for any given set of conditions, different travelers may perceive
their LOS to be different from one another, as well as different from the LOS estimated by an HCM method.
One way of thinking about reported service measure values and the corresponding LOS result is that they
are the statistical “best estimators” ofProf.
conditions and aggregate traveler perception.
S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 192
Beyond LOS F
The HCM uses LOS F to define operations that have either broken down (i.e., demand
exceeds capacity) or have exceeded a specified service measure value (or combination of
service measure values) that most users would consider unsatisfactory. However,
particularly for planning applications where different alternatives may be compared,
analysts may be interested in knowing just how bad the LOS F condition is. Several
measures are available to describe individually, or in combination, the severity of a LOS F
condition:

• Demand-to-capacity ratios describe the extent to which capacity is exceeded during the
analysis period (e.g., by 1%, 15%, etc.).
• Duration of LOS F describes how long the condition persists (e.g., 15 min, 1 h, 3 h).
• Spatial extent measures describe the areas affected by LOS F conditions.
These include measures such as the back of queue and the identification of the specific
intersection approaches or system elements experiencing LOS F conditions.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 193

Highway intersection
• at-grade intersections
• grade-separated
In at-grade intersections, all roadways join or cross at the same vertical level.
Grade separated intersections allows the traffic to cross at different vertical levels.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 194

In at-grade intersections,
all the areas/legs of the
intersection join or cross at
the same level.

Basic form of at-grade intersections

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 195
Grade separated intersections
Grade-separated intersections are provided to separate the traffic in the vertical grade. But
the traffic need not be those pertaining to road only. When a railway line crosses a road, then
also grade separators are used.
Different types of grade-separators are flyovers and interchange.

Flyovers itself are subdivided into overpass and underpass. When two roads cross at a point,
if the road having major traffic is elevated to a higher grade for further movement of traffic,
then such structures are called overpass. Otherwise, if the major road is depressed to a
lower level to cross another by means of an under bridge or tunnel, it is called under-pass.

Interchange is a system where traffic between two or more roadways flows at different levels
in the grade separated junctions. Common types of interchange include
• trumpet interchange
• diamond interchange
• cloverleaf interchange
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 196
 Trumpet interchange: Trumpet interchange
is a popular form of three leg interchange.
If one of the legs of the interchange meets
a highway at some angle but does not
cross it, then the interchange is called
trumpet interchange. A typical layout of
trumpet interchange is shown in figure

Diamond interchange: Diamond interchange

is a popular form of four-leg interchange
found in the urban locations where major
and minor roads crosses. The important
feature of this interchange is that it can be
designed even if the major road is relatively
narrow. A typical layout of diamond
interchange is shown in figure
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 197
Clover leaf interchange: It is also a
four leg interchange and is used
when two highways of high volume
and speed intersect each other
with considerable turning
movements. The main advantage
of cloverleaf intersection is that it
provides complete separation of
traffic. In addition, high speed at
intersections can be achieved.
However, the disadvantage is that
large area of land is required.
Therefore, cloverleaf interchanges
are provided mainly in rural areas.
A typical layout of this type of
interchange is shown in figure.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 198
Grade-Separated Rotary
Interchange:

This can serve as a four-leg

interchange or as a multi-leg
interchange; a typical form of the
latter is shown in Figure

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 199

Channelisation:

Channelisation means “directing the traffic flow at intersections to specified paths by means
of traffic markings, traffic islands, or such traffic control aids.”

An intersection that is channelised to direct traffic into definite paths by markings and islands
is referred to as a channelised intersection.

An intersection that is not treated in this manner and left in its bare form is said to be
unchannelised.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 200

The objectives of channelisation of intersections are:
(i) Reducing the number of possible vehicle conflicts and areas of conflicts in the
carriageway, and presenting the drivers with only one option at a time.
(ii) Controlling the angles of crossing such that acute crossings, which are hazardous, are
avoided.
(iii) Reducing the approach speeds of vehicles at the intersection and increasing the exit
speeds from the intersection.
(iv) Providing separate storage pockets for right turning traffic at the time of leaving or
crossing the main traffic flow.
(v) Providing a channelising island to serve as a refuge and as a protection for pedestrians
crossing the intersection.
(vi) Reduction of large paved areas in order to curb the driver’s tendency to make
hazardous movements.
(vii) Making prohibited movements impossible or at least inconvenient.
(viii) Providing space for erection of traffic control devices such as direction signs and
other informatory signs.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 201
Channelizing devices
A channelizing device can be defined as any structure which helps in providing
Channelization. These can be wide raised medians, non-traversable road islands,
traversable raised curbs or even flush channelizing devices. A brief description of the
various devices which are used for the purpose of Channelization are given.

1. Wide Raised Medians

In this case raised wide separator is constructed between the
two opposing lanes and the space on the median is used
either for planting some trees and/or for providing space for
traffic signs etc. Fig. shows a typical wide raised median on a
freeway. A median varying between 1.2 m and 30 m in width
may be employed. The higher values of width are adopted on
freeways, where sufficient space is available for the
construction of these. In addition, a well-landscaped wide
median also provide aesthetic benefits to the surrounding
neighborhood.
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 202
2. Non- traversable Raised Islands
In this type of device, a narrower and a higher
median than the traversable island is constructed
between the opposing lanes. This class of device
has the advantage of a narrower median, but its
use should be restricted to approach roadways
with vehicle speeds of 60 kmph or below. These
are generally 15 to 20 cm high and about 60 cm in
width. Due to the height, most of the vehicles are
not able to cross the median, and hence the
name. Fig. shows a non-traversable raised island
constructed on a roadway. These devices are
substantial enough that each installation should
be carefully designed, as an inappropriately
placed median can constitute a hazard if struck by
an errant vehicle and hence the severity and
crash risk is highly increased on the roadways
having non-traversable raisedProf.
islands.
S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 203
3. Traversable Raised Curb Systems
In this device, a narrow and mountable type of
raised curb is constructed to separate the traffic
moving in the opposing lanes. This class of
channelizing device is the narrowest, and
therefore the easiest to fit in a wide range of
roadway cross-section widths. The curb is up to
10 cm in height and up to about 30 cm in width. Traversable Raised Curb System (without vertical panels)
Curbs are formed with a rounded shape that
will create minimal vehicle deflection upon
impact. Generally, it is used with reboundable,
reflectorized vertical panels to provide a visual
deterrent to the drivers to cross over to
opposite traffic lane. The main advantage of
this type of device is that it can be installed on
existing roadway centerlines, without the need
for widening the roadway approaches to the
crossing. Figs. shows traversable raised curbs Traversable Raised Curb System (with vertical panels)
with and without vertical panels. Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 204
Flush Channelization
In this type of Channelization, a variety of
treatments, including raising them above
the pavement just slightly (2 to 5 cm); the
application of pavement markings and
other types of contrasting surfaces etc are
possible. These may also be unpaved
where they are formed by the pavement
edges of existing roadways. In areas where
snow plowing may be necessary, flush
islands are the preferred design. Fig.
shows how flush islands can also be used
for achieving channelizing objectives. The
area seen flushed with the road surface in
Fig. is the flush island.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 205

Traffic Islands
A principle concern in Channelization is the design of the islands. An island is a defined
area between traffic lanes for control of vehicle movements. Within an intersection
area, a median or an outer separation is considered to be an island. It may range from
an area delineated by barrier curbs to a pavement area marked by paint.

Classification of Islands
Traffic islands usually serve more than one function, but may be generally classified in
three separate types:

1. Channelizing Islands
2. Divisional Islands
3. Refuge islands

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 206

Channelizing Islands

Refuge Islands

Divisional Islands
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 207
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 208
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 209
Traffic signal design

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 210

 Overview
• For conflict resolution
– Time sharing principle

• Advantages
– Orderly movement of traffic
– Simple geometric & high capacity
– Response to traffic fluctuations

• Disadvantages
– Large stopped delay
– Complex signal design
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 211
 Definitions and notations
• Cycle
– One complete rotation through all the indications
provided
• Cycle length C
– Time in seconds that it takes a signal to complete one full
cycle of indications
– Time interval between start of a green till next green
for a any approach

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 212

 Definitions and notations
• Interval
– Indicates change from one stage to another

• Change interval
– Yellow or Amber Yi
– Interval between the green and red

• Clearance interval
– All-Red
– After each yellow all signals show red
– Used for clearing off the vehicles
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 213
 Definitions and notations
• Green interval Gi
– Duration the green light of a traffic signal is turned on
– Actual green time

• Red interval Ri
– Duration the red light of a traffic signal is turned on

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 214

 Definitions and notations
• Phase
– Green interval + change interval + clearance interval
– During green interval non-conflicting movements are
cleared
• Lost time
– Time during which intersection is not effectively
utilized for any movement
– E.g. reaction time of the first driver in the queue

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 215

 Signal Design Stages
1. Phase Design

2. Interval Design

3. Cycle Length Determination

4. Green Splitting

5. Pedestrian Requirements

6. Performance Evaluation
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 216
 Phase Design
• Objective
– Separate the conflicting movements into various
phases
– Complete separation implies large number of phases
results in large cycle time
– So design phases with minimum conflicts or with less
severe conflicts

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 217

 Phase Design
• Major conflicts

– Through –Through
• E.g 1-3

– Through – Right
• E.g 3-5

– Right – Right
• E.g 8-5

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 218

 Phase Design
• Two phase signals

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 219

 Phase Design
• Four phase signal: Option I

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 220

 Phase Design
• Four phase signal: Option II

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 221

 Phase Design
• Four phase signal: Option III

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 222

 Phase Design
• Four phase signal
– Comparison of all options

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 223

 Signal Design Stages
1. Phase Design

2. Interval Design

3. Cycle Length Determination

4. Green Splitting

5. Pedestrian Requirements

6. Performance Evaluation
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 224
 Interval Design
• Change Interval
– Yellow time / Amber time
– To warn a driver of the end of a green time
– Given after green time (3- 6 Sec)
• Clearance Interval
– All-Read
– to clear off vehicles already in the intersection
– Given after Yellow time (2-4 Sec)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 225

 Interval Design: Amber
• Design Consideration
– a driver approaching the intersection with design speed
should be able to stop at the stop line of the
intersection before the start of red time
– the length of yellow interval 𝒚 in seconds

𝑆𝑆𝐷
𝒚=
𝑣

• 𝑆𝑆𝐷 is the stopping sight

distance
• 𝑣 is the speed of the
vehicle Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 226
 Interval Design: Amber
• Design Consideration
– ITE’s recommendation

– y length of yellow interval in seconds

– t reaction time of the driver
– v85 85th percentile speed (m/sec)
– a deceleration rate of vehicles in m/sec2
– g grade of approach expressed as a decimal
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 227
 Signal Design Stages
1. Phase Design

2. Interval Design

3. Cycle Length Determination

4. Green Splitting

5. Pedestrian Requirements

6. Performance Evaluation
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 228
 Cycle Time
• Definitions
– Saturation headway for ith lane 𝒉𝒊
– Saturation flow rate for ith lane 𝒔𝒊
– Lost time for ith phase 𝒍𝒊
– Effective green time for ith phase 𝒈𝒊
– Capacity of the ith lane 𝒄𝒊

– Critical volume for ith phase 𝒗𝒄𝒊

– Critical intersection volume 𝑽𝑪

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 229

 Cycle Time
• Saturation headway
– Imagine a group of n vehicles waiting for green

Saturation Headwa.y

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 230

 Cycle Time
• Saturation Flow

– Saturation flow rate 3600

𝒔𝒊 = 𝒉𝒊

– 𝒔𝒊 is the saturation flow rate in veh / hour / lane

– 𝒉𝒊 is the saturation headway in seconds

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 231

 Cycle Time
• Lost time per phase

Extra time taken

𝒏 by fist vehicle
.

𝒍𝒊 = ∑
𝒆𝒋
𝑗=1

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 232

 Cycle Time
• Effective green time

– Actual time available for the vehicles to cross the

intersection
– Actual green time 𝑮𝒊 + yellow 𝒀𝒊 - lost times 𝑻𝑳

𝒈𝒊 = 𝑮𝒊 + 𝒀𝒊 - 𝑻𝑳

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 233

 Cycle Time
• Lane capacity
– Green ratio: ratio of eff. green time to cycle length
– Capacity is saturation flow time green ratio

𝒊
𝒈
𝒄𝒊 = 𝒔𝒊 𝑪
– ci = capacity of lan. e in veh/hr
– si =the saturation flow rate in veh/hr/lane
– C = cycle time in seconds

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 234

 Cycle Time
• Critical Lane and critical lane volume
– The lane that has maximum flow in a phase

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 235

 Cycle Time
• Determination of cycle length
– time taken for complete indication of signals
𝑵
– Start up lost time per cycle 𝑳 = ∑ 𝒍𝒊
𝑖=1
– or if all lost times are same 𝒍𝒊 = 𝒍, 𝑳=𝒏𝒍
then
.
– No of cycles per hour 3600/C

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 236

 Cycle Time
• Determination of cycle length

– Total lost time per hour 𝟑𝟔𝟎𝟎 𝑳 ×

𝟑𝟔𝟎𝟎
𝑳 × 𝑪 = 𝑵𝒕 𝑪

– Total effective green time per hour Tg

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 237

 Cycle Time
• Determination of cycle length
– maximum volumes per hour
– Vc

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 238

 Cycle Time
• Determination of cycle length

– To account for hourly variation of traffic

• PHF (peak Hour Factor)
• Ratio of hourly volume to the maximum flow rate

– Introducing quality of service

• The Volume to Capacity Ratio v/c

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 239

 Cycle Time
• Determination of cycle length
No. of phases
Lost time in each phase

Critical lane volume

v/c ratio < 1

Saturation flow Peak hour factor

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 240

 Cycle Time
• Peak Hour Factor Total = 620
Average = 620 / 4 = 155
Peak rate = 190 x 4 = 760
PHF = 620 /
190 760
160
150
120 = 0.816

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla

 Cycle Time
• Determination of cycle length
– Highway capacity manual (HCM)

Degree of saturation
𝑁𝐿𝑋𝑐
𝑪= 𝑉𝑖
𝑋𝑐 − ∑𝑁
𝑖= 𝑠𝑖
1

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 242

 Signal Design Stages
1. Phase Design

2. Interval Design

3. Cycle Length Determination

4. Green Splitting

5. Pedestrian Requirements

6. Performance Evaluation
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 243
 Green Splitting
• Definition
– Green splitting or apportioning of green time
– Splitting of effective green time into each phase

– Total effective green time 𝒕 in a cycle

𝒈

𝑵
𝒕𝒈 = 𝑪 − ∑ 𝒕𝑳𝒊 = 𝑪 − 𝑵𝒕𝑳
𝒊=𝟏

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 244

 Green Splitting
• Effective green time 𝒈𝒊
– Proportional to the critical volume for each phase

𝑽𝒄𝒊
𝒈𝒊 = 𝒕𝒈 𝑵 𝑽
∑𝒊=𝟏 𝒄𝒊

• Actual green time 𝑮𝒊

𝑮𝒊 = 𝒈𝒊 − 𝒀𝒊 + 𝑻𝑳𝒊

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 245

 Signal Design Stages
1. Phase Design

2. Interval Design

3. Cycle Length Determination

4. Green Splitting

5. Pedestrian Requirements

6. Performance Evaluation
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 246
 Pedestrian
• Crossing requirements

– Exclusive Pedestrian Phase or by Phase Design

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 247

 Pedestrian
• Green time for Exclusive Pedestrian Phase

– Gp Pedestrian green time in seconds

– ts start-up lost time (4-7 seconds)
– dx crossing distance
– up walking speed (1.2 m/sec)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 248

 Signal Design Stages
1. Phase Design

2. Interval Design

3. Cycle Length Determination

4. Green Splitting

5. Pedestrian Requirements

6. Performance Evaluation
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 249
 Performance Evaluation
• Parameters
– Average delay per vehicles
– Queue length in no. of vehicles
– Average No. of Stops

• Delay
– Most perceived impact by the driver
– Direct correlation to fuel consumption and emission

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 250

 Performance Evaluation
• Types of Delay

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 251

 Performance Evaluation
• Webster’s Stopped Delay Model
– Vehicle arrival uniform and not random
– Vi arrival rate

– S discharge
rate or saturation
flow
– gi eff. green time
– Ri effective red
time
– C cycle length
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 252
 Performance Evaluation
• Webster’s Delay Model
– Average stopped delay per
vehicle per cycle

𝑪 2
𝒈𝒊
1−
𝒅𝒊 = 2 𝑪
1−𝑉
𝑠𝑖𝑖

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 253

 Performance Evaluation
• Cycle time verses Stopped Delay

C
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 254
 Signal Design Stages
1. Phase Design

2. Interval Design

3. Cycle Length Determination

4. Green Splitting

5. Pedestrian Requirements

6. Performance Evaluation
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 255
Numerical Example

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 256

25
Example 1 Inputs
Flow as per figure
Lost time per phase 2.4 sec
140 196 367 170 Saturation h/w = 2.2 sec
400
215 Amber per phase = 3 sec v/c
187 ratio = 0.9
433
120 417 233 220 Assume free left
Phase plan:

P1 P2
P3 P4

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 257

Example 1 1. Traffic Volume on each phases

P1 P2 P3 P4

140 196 367 170 400 367 196 215

400 433 417 233 187
215
187 2. Compute Critical Volumes
433
120 417 233 220
V1 V2 V3 V4
400 367 196 215
433 417 233 187

Critical volume Vc = 1298 vphpl

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 258

Example 1 3. Saturation flow rate

Saturation headway h = 2.2 sec

Saturation flow rate S = 3600/2.2
140 196 367 170 = 1636 vphpl
400
215
4. Compute v/s ratio
187
433
120 417 233
220 V/S

433 417 233 215

vi
1637 1637 1637 1637 si

Total v/s = 0.793

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 259
Example 1 5. Compute cycle length

𝑁𝐿𝑋𝑐
𝑪= 𝑉𝑖
140 196 367 170
𝑋𝑐 − ∑𝑁𝑖 = 𝑠𝑖
400
1
215
C = ( 4 x 2.4 x 0.9 ) / (0.9 - 0.793)
187
433 = 80.75
120 417 233 220
6. Compute available green time

tg = C – NL
= 80.75 – ( 4 x 2.4 )
= 71.15 sec

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 260

Example 1 7. Effective green time for each phase

Critical volume Vc = 1298 vphpl

tg = 71.15 sec
140 196 367 170
400
215 𝑽𝒄𝒊
187
𝒈𝒊 = 𝒕𝒈 𝑵 𝑽
120 417 233
433
220
∑𝒊=𝟏 𝒄𝒊

g1 = 71.15 x 433 / 1298 = 23.73 sec

g2 = 71.15 x 417 / 1298 = 22.86 sec

g3 = 71.15 x 233 / 1298 = 12.77 sec
g4 = 71.15 x 215 / 1298 = 11.78 sec
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 261
Example 1 8. Actual green time for each phase

140 196 367 170

400 Actual green time
215
187 G1 = 23.73 – 3 + 2.4 = 24 sec
433
120 417 233 220 G2 = 22.86 – 3 + 2.4 = 23 sec
G3 = 12.77 – 3 + 2.4 = 13 sec
G4 = 11.78 – 3 + 2.4 = 12 sec
(rounded to next second)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 262

Example 1 9. Pedestrian timing

140 196 367 170

400
Gp = 4 + (6x3.5/1.2)
215 = 21.5 sec
187
433 = 22 sec (rounded)
120 417 233 220
10. Actual cycle length

C = G1+G2+G3+G4 + Gp +
4xY
= 23+23+13+12+22+(4x3)
= 106 sec
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 263
Example 1
P1 24 3 79

P2 23 3

P3 13 3

P4 12 3

84 4 18
Pp

C = 106

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 264

Example 1

C = 106 C = 106 C = 106

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 265

Example 1 11. Delay for each approach
140 196 367 170
2
400 C  g i 
 1 
215
di  2  C 
187 V
433 1  si
120 417 233 220
2
106  24.6 
1
dWE  2  106
 1  4 3 3
1636

dWE = 42.5 sec/veh.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 266

Example 1 11. Delay for each approach
140 196 367 170
2
400 C  gi 
215  1 
di  2  C 
187 V
433 1  si
120 417 233 220
2
106  24.6 
1
d EW  2  106
 1  4 0 0
1636

dWE = 41.37 sec/veh.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 267

Example 1 Intersection Delay sec/vehicle
140 196 367 170
400


215
187
433
dT 
q
120 417 233 220

d q i i i

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 268

26
Example 1
No Movement Lane Flow (fi) Phase gi di
1 W-E Left 1 140 0 84.6 2.4
2 E-W Left 4 220 0 84.6 2.5
3 S-N Left 7 120 0 84.6 2.3
4 N-S Left 9 170 0 84.6 2.4
5 W-E Through 2 400 1 24.6 41.4
6 E-W Through 5 433 1 24.6 42.5
7 S-N Through 7 417 2 23.6 43.0
8 N-S Through 9 367 2 23.6 41.3
9 S-N Right 8 233 3 13.6 47.0
10 N-S Right 10 196 3 13.6 45.8
11 W-E Right 3 215 4 12.6 47.4
12 E-W Right 6 187 4 12.6 46.5
Intersection delay (weighted average in sec/vehicle) 34.98
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 269
26
 Example 2
P1 P2 P3 P4

Option 1 (Free Left, Ped. Phase)

140 196 267 170

300
215 Option 2 (No Free Left&Ped. Phase)
187
333
120 317 233 220

Option 3 (Ped. Phase, no Free Left)

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 270

27
 Example 2
Delay
P1 P2 P3 P4 (sec/veh.)
Option 1 (Free Left, Ped. Phase)

24.6
140 196 267 170
300
215 Option 2 (No Free Left&Ped. Phase)
187
333
120 317 233 220
14.7

Option 3 (Ped. Phase, no Free Left)

31.8

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 271

27
 Special cases
Lane distribution
Left turn 10 %
Right turn 20 %
2300
Left turn utilization factor = 0.2
Right turn utilization factor = 0.1

Left turn = 2300*0.1 = 230 Through traffic in Left lane = 1610 * 0.2 = 322 Right
turn = 2300*0.2 = 460 Through traffic in Right lane = 1610 * 0.1 = 161 Through =
2300*0.7 = 1610 Through traffic in Mid. lane = 1610 * 0.7 = 1127

Left lane = 230 + 322 = 552 230 + 322 = 552

Right lane= 460 + 161 = 621 2300 1127
Mid. Lane = 1127 460 + 161 = 621
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 272
27
 Special cases
230 + 322 = 552
2300 1127
460 + 161 = 621

Right turn adjustment factor Left turn adjustment factor

fRT = 1.4 approx fLT = 1.1 approx
Right turn flow=460*1.4+161= 805 Left turn flow = 230*1.1+322=575

575
2300 1127 2507
805
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 273
27
 Special cases
Passenger Car Units

CAR = 1.0
Auto = 0.7
TW = 0.4
Bus = 2.8 etc.

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 274

27
Traffic signs

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 275

Traffic signs are divided into three categories:
regulatory
Warning
guide

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 276

Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 277
Prof. S. S. Das, Department of Civil Engineering, VSSUT, Burla 278
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