Traffic Studies

1. Traffic Volume Study

2. Speed Study
a. Spot Speed Study
b. Speed and Delay Study
3. Traffic Capacity Study
4. Origin and Destination Study
5. Parking Study
6. Accident Study

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1. Traffic Volume Study

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 Traffic Volume
Four variables are related to volume:
Volume
Rate of flow
Demand
Capacity

1. Volume is the number of vehicles (or persons)

passing a point during a specified time period,
which is usually one hour but need not be.

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 Traffic Volume….
2. Rate of Flow is the rate at which vehicles (or
persons) pass a point during a specified time
period less than one hour, expressed as an
equivalent hourly rate.
3. Demand is the number of vehicles (or
persons) that desire to travel a point during a
specified period (also usually one hour).
Demand is frequently higher than actual
volumes where congestion exists.
4. Capacity is the maximum rate at which
vehicles can traverse a point or short segment
during a specified time period. It is a
characteristic of the roadway.
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 Traffic Volume
One of the fundamental measures of traffic on a
road system is the volume of traffic using the road
in a given interval of time.
When the traffic is composed of a number of types
of vehicles, it is the normal practice to convert the
flow into equivalent passenger car unit (PCUs), by
using certain equivalency factors.
The flow is then expressed as PCU per day or PCU
per hour.

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Objective and Use of Traffic Volume
Traffic volume is the true measure of
relative importance of roads, which is
important for road improvement and
expansion.
It is used in planning, traffic
operation/control of existing facilities and
for planning new facilities.
Classified volume is used for structural
design of pavements.
It is used to analyze traffic pattern and
trends.
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 Objective….
It is used for design intersections, signal
timings, and other control devices.
For the determination of one-way street or
other regulatory measures.
Pedestrian traffic volume is uses for
planning and design of sidewalks, cross
walks, subways, and pedestrian signals.

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 Types of Traffic Volume
Average Annual Traffic Flow: expressed in
vehicle per year.

Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT):

expressed in vehicles per day. It is (1/365) th of the
total annual traffic flow. Total number of vehicles
passing in a year is divided by 365 days. All
vehicles are converted into passenger car unit.

Average Daily Traffic (ADT): If the flow is not

measured for all the 365 days, but only for few
days (less than one year) the average flow is
known as Average Daily Traffic (ADT).
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 Types…
Average Annual Weekday Traffic (AAWT):
is the average 24 hour traffic volume
occurring on weekdays over a full year.

Average Weekday Traffic: is an average 24

hour traffic volume occurring on weekdays
for some period less than one year, such as
one month or one season.

Hourly flow: vehicle/hour, peak hour

volume.
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 Types of Traffic Counts
Short term counts:
◦ For determining traffic flow in peak hours.
◦ To measure saturation flow at signalized intersection
Count for full day
◦ To determine hourly fluctuation of flow
◦ Used intersection counts
Count for full week:
◦ To determine hourly and daily fluctuation of flow
◦ For traffic survey in urban highways.
Continuous count:
◦ To determine fluctuation daily, weekly, seasonal and yearly flow.
◦ To determine annual traffic growth rate
◦ Very commonly used in developed countries at selected sections.
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Methods of Traffic Counts
Manual count
Combined Manual and mechanical
counter
Automatic devices
Photographic Method.
Moving observer method

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Manual Count

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Automatic Devices

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Manual and Automatic Counter

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 Traffic count analysis sheet
Road Link: AB Highway, Station:

Name of Road: xxxx Surveyed by: ABC

Seasonal Variation Factor: 0.85 Supervised by: XYZ

Motorized Vehicle Non Motorized

Truck Bus

Car/Jeep/Taxi

Auto Rikshaw
Utility/Pick up
Total

Motor Cycle
Power triller

Animal cart

Rikshaw
Start Time

Tractor

Bicycle
3-Axle

2-Axle

Large

Micro
Mini

Mini
a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b (a+b)

06:00 - 18:00 2108

24 19 77 81 16 19 96 83 41 40 112 108 90 82 16 16 42 59 52 52 4 1 625 594 18 8 38 38 857 888 2088 4196

18:00 - 06:00 585

41 40 46 39 10 3 103 60 12 5 16 13 17 21 8 5 6 7 31 31 3 0 87 134 11 2 7 9 187 169 538 1123
Sub-Total 65 59 123 120 26 22 199 143 53 45 128 121 107 103 24 21 48 66 83 83 7 1 712 728 29 10 45 47 1044 1057 2693 2626 5319
Total (a+b) 124 243 48 342 98 249 210 45 114 166 8 1440 39 92 2101 5319
Composition,
2.3 4.6 0.9 6.4 1.8 4.7 3.9 0.8 2.1 3.1 0.2 27.1 0.7 1.7 39.5 100
%

PCU Factors 4 3 1.5 3 2.5 1.5 1 1 0.75 1.5 1.5 1.5 8 1 0.5

PCU, ADT 496 729 72 1026 245 374 210 45 86 249 12 2160 312 92 1051 7158
AADT, PCU 422 620 61 872 208 317 179 38 73 212 10 1836 265 78 893 6084
Note:
Diection a: East to west
Diection b: West to East 3/6/2018 Traffic Engineering 16
 Variation in traffic flow and accuracy of
counts

Traffic counts carried out over a very short

time period can produce large errors because
traffic flows often have large hourly, daily,
weekly, monthly and seasonal variations.
These variations are described in the following
sections.

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 Hourly Variations

1000

900

800
No. of vehicles

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Hours
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 Hourly Variations
Major traffic flow occurs between 05 and 21 hours. (in above
example)
Typically, in tropical countries, a 12 hour traffic count (from
6:00 to 18:00) will measure approximately 80 % of the day’s
traffic.
16 hour count ( from 6: 00 to 22:00) will measure over 90
percent.
In order to obtain estimates of 24 hour flows from counts of
less than 24 hours duration, it is necessary to scale up the
counts of shorter duration according to the ratio of flow
obtained in 24 hours and the flows measured in the shorter
counting period.
Scale factor (converting a partial day’s count into a full day’s
traffic count)

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Daily and weekly variation
The amount and type of traffic will also
vary through the week.
For example on Saturdays number of
commercial vehicles will often decrease
significantly.
In rural areas traffic flows can often be
higher at weekends but in urban areas this
is often reverse

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 Daily and weekly variation

Daily variation of traffic volume

7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
SAT SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI

The day to day traffic flows tend to vary more than the week to week flows over the year.

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 Monthly and seasonal variation
Traffic flows will rarely be the same throughout the
year and will usually vary from month to month and
from season to season.
It is caused by many factors. For example, an
increased traffic flow usually occurs at a harvest
time, and a reduced traffic flow is likely to occur in
a rainy season.
A series of weekly traffic counts repeated at
intervals throughout the year will provide a much
better estimate of the annual traffic volume than a
continuous traffic count of the same duration.
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 Seasonal Factor
A seasonal factor (SF) of unity (one)
indicates average flow.

A seasonal factor lower than

unity, indicates a higher proportion of
traffic than the average daily traffic (ADT).

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 Seasonal Variation
1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0
Jan Feb March Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1.60
1.50
1.40
1.31 1.25 1.31
1.20
1.07 1.13
1.00
0.92 0.96
0.80 0.80 0.83 0.84
0.71
0.60

0.40
seasonal factors
0.20

0.00
Jan Feb March Apr May Jun Jul 3/6/2018 SepTraffic Engineering
Aug Oct Nov Dec 24
 Seasonal factor
2.00

1.50 1.50 1.31

1.31 1.25
1.07 1.13
1.00
0.92 0.83 0.96 0.84
0.50 0.80 0.71
0.00

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 Common Errors in Traffic Count Surveys
and Data Analysis
Not carrying out a classified traffic count
Not distinguishing between two-way traffic data
and one-way traffic data
Not distinguishing between directions in a traffic
count
When using an automatic traffic counter, not
correcting axle count to give vehicle count
Incorrect converting a partial day traffic count to a
full day count
Incorrect counting through lack of concentration

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Presentation and Analysis of Traffic Volume
Data
Data collected during the traffic volume study
are sorted out and are presented in any of the
following forms depending upon requirements:
◦ Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT)
◦ Trend Chart:
◦ Variation Chart:
◦ Traffic flow at intersection shown by thick
lines:
◦ Traffic Flow Maps:
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 Trend chart
4500
yearly trend of AADT (Trend Chart)
4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

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 Hourly Variation

Hourly variation of traffic flow

1000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

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Count at Intersection

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Traffic flow map

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Vehicle Trip Desire Line

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 Traffic Projection Factor
Normal increase in traffic volume for long
term can be expected to be about 5%
compound.
But the actual growth may vary due to
development and vehicle ownership.
Traffic projection factor gives the ultimate
volume at the end of the design period
generally taken as 20 years in terms of
present traffic.

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Following elements should be considered.
Normal traffic growth: is the increase in
traffic volume due to increase in the number of
transport vehicle.
Generated growth: is due to extra facility
provided.
Development Traffic: is the traffic due to
improvements carried out in adjacent area.
Current traffic: is the traffic which would
immediately use a newly constructed road.

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 Future Traffic Estimation
n
A = P(1 + r )
A -is the number of vehicles per day for design;
P - is the number of vehicles per day at the last
census;
r – Annual rate of increase in traffic

n – Number of years between last census and

years of consideration for design.

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 Models of Traffic Flow
To describe traffic flow model, a simplified
approach would be to assume that the
vehicle arrivals are uniform.
However, this does not match the arrival
pattern, that we observe in the field.
The observed pattern more closely follow
a Poisson’s Probability Distribution.

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 Poisson’s Probability Distribution
Probability of having n vehicles arriving in time t
n − λ t
(λ t) e
P (n ) =
n!
t – Duration of the time interval over which vehicles
are counted, second;
n – Vehicles number;
λ – Average flow rate in vehicle per unit time; veh/sec.

Empirically, the Poisson distribution arrival time is

most realistic in lightly congested traffic conditions.
As traffic flows become heavily congested, this
model is not appropriate

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 Example 2.1
A roadway has an average hourly volume
of 360 vehicles/hour. Assuming the arrival
of vehicles in Poisson distributed, estimate
the probability of having 0, 1, 2, 4, and 5 or
more vehicles arriving over a 20 sec time
interval.

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 Solution: 360 veh/h=0.1 veh/sec.
(0.1 * 20) 0 * e −0.1*20
P ( 0) = = 0.135
0!
P(1) = 0.271
P(2) = 0.271
P(3) = 0.18
P(4) = 0.09
For five or more vehicles P(5) = 1-P(n<5)
= 1-0.135-0.271-0.271-0.18-0.09=0.053.

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Speed Study

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 Speed Study
Importance:
Traffic operation like sign location and
timings, establishing speed zones etc.
Geometric design of elements like
curvatures, super elevation, stopping sight
distance etc.

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Spot speed
Spot speed is affected by physical of road like
pavement width, curve, sight distance and grade.
Running speed
It is useful for assessing traffic capacity of roads.
Length of Route Lenght of Route
Running Speed = =
Running Time Journey time - delay time
Journey speed
Length of Route
Journey Speed =
Total journey including delay

Average speed:
average spot speed of several vehicles passing a
specific section

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There are two types of average speed
Space mean speed : Average speed of
vehicles over a certain road length at any time.
It is the harmonic mean of speeds observed at
a point. It is calculated using the average travel
time and length of the roadway.
n * L
V s = n

∑i = 1
ti

n - Number of individual vehicle observation;

L- Length of the road section; m
ti - observed travel time in sec for the i th vehicle to travel L m.
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Time mean speed (spot speed): Average speed
at a point over a period of time. It is the
arithmetic mean of the speeds observed at a
point. It represents speed distribution of
vehicles at a point. n
∑ Vi
i =1
Vt =
n

Vi observed instantaneous speed of the i th vehicle

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 Example 2.2
Three cars with speed 20kmph, 40kmph
and 60kmph travelling length L. Determine
the time mean speed and space mean
speed.

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 Types of speed studies

Spot speed study

Speed and delay study

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 Uses of spot speed study
Geometric design of roads
Regulation and control of traffic operation;
Analyzing the causes of accidents;
Before and after study of improvement
projects;
Determining the problems of congestion in
the road section;
Capacity study

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Uses of speed and delay study

Find the cost of journey during economic

study;
Evaluate congestion, capacity, service level
and improvement needs;
Traffic planning studies for the
determination of travel time for carrying
out trip assignments;
Delay studies at intersection for traffic
control devices

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Methods of spot speed measurement

◦ Direct timing procedure;

◦ Enoscope
◦ Pressure contact tube
◦ Radar speed-meter which automatically records
the instantaneous speed;
◦ Photographic method

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Site selection for spot speed measurement

Location selection should be according to

the specific purpose;
Minimum influence to the traffic flow and
their speed by the survey team and
equipments;
Generally straight, level and open section
should be selected.

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 Direct timing procedure
Simple method
Two reference points are marked on the pavement at a
suitable distance apart and an observer starts and stops
an accurate stopwatch as a vehicle crosses these two
marks.
From the known distance and measured time intervals
spot speed is calculated;
Large effects may occur due to the parallax effect;
Reaction of individual observer may affect the result.
One observer stands at the first reference point and
gives signal to the observer standing at last reference
point (with stopwatch).

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 Enoscope method
It is a simple device consisting of L-shaped
mirror box, open at both ends. It has a mirror
set fixed at 45 degree to the arms of the
instrument as in figure

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 Pressure contact tubes

In this method detectors are used to

indicate the time of entering and leaving
the base length by the vehicle.

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 Radar speed meter
This automatic device works on the
Doppler principle that the speed of a
moving body is proportional to the change
in frequency between the radio wave
transmitted to the moving body and the
radio wave received back. It directly
measures speed.

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Photographic and video camera method

Time-lapse camera photography has been

used to determine the speed of the
vehicles. In this method, photographs are
taken
By projecting the film on the screen, the
passage of any vehicle can be traced with
reference to time.
Video camera also can be used to measure
the speed of the vehicle

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Presentation and analysis of spot speed data
Tabular presentation:
grouping of spot speeds into speed ranges to facilitate easy
computation.
Graphical presentation: (Histogram and cumulative frequency
curves)
Modal speed: peak of the frequency curve. (Mode of the
distribution)
Median Speed: 50th percentile speed
98th percentile speed: below this speed 98% of vehicles move, and
it is taken as design speed for the geometric design.
85th percentile speed: 85% of the vehicles move below this speed.
It is used to establish upper speed limit for traffic management. It is
taken as limit of safe speed in the road.
15th percentile speed: 15% of vehicles move below this speed. It is
used for determining minimum speed limit for major highways.
Arithmetic mean or average spot speed: Summation of all
variable speed divided by the number of observations.

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Speed and Delay Study(Travel time study )

Travel time study is conducted for

significant lengths of a facility or group of
facilities forming a route.
The information on the travel time between
key points within a study area is found and
is used to identify those segments in need
of improvements.
Travel time studies are often coordinated
with delay observations at points of
congestion along the study route.
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 Use of travel time information:
To identify problem locations on facilities
To measure arterial level of service
To provide necessary input to travel
assignment models, which focus on link travel
time
To provide travel time data for economic
evaluation
To develop time contour maps and other
depictions of traffic congestion in an area

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 Use of travel time study

Travel time study including information of

location, duration and cause of delays is called speed
and delay study.
Running speed is useful for highway planner, where
as a passenger is more concerned to journey time.
Journey time that considers both speed and
delays, gives measure of traffic congestion and
adequacy of road system including basis for
transportation economic studies.
It gives running speed, overall speed, and delays
between two terminals.
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 Speed and delay data can be used

◦ for traffic control selection, evaluation and

revision
◦ Used for determining spots of congestion its
causes and possible remedies including
required improvements like signal
timings, parking prohibitions, turning
prohibitions etc

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 Methods for speed & Delay study

Registration number plate method

Elevated observer method
Moving car observer method

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 Moving car observer Method
Three observers on a test vehicle:
First observer: counts opposite traffic using hand tallies.
Second observer: with two stopwatches records time for each
individual delays (at intersections or on bridges) and total time
duration for the trip of predefined route.
Third observer: records the number of overtaking and
overtaken vehicles.
The speedometer of the test vehicle measures distance.
Generally 12-16 runs in each direction along the route be
made and the results averaged to estimate speed and flow.
It gives mean value of flow and speed over a section, rather
than at a point.

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 Moving car observer Method

q- flow of vehicles in one direction of the stream

x- average number of vehicles met in the section when
the test vehicle travelling against the stream
y- average number of vehicles overtaking the test
vehicle minus the number of vehicles overtaken when
the test vehicle travelling with the stream
ta - average journey time in minute when the test
vehicle is travelling against the stream q
tw - average journey time in minute when the test
vehicle is travelling with the stream
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 Mean journey time of all the
vehicles in the stream

Mean Journey Speed =distance /average t

Mean running Speed =distance /(average t –delay)

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 Example 2.3
The following tables give the particulars
collected for a section of road 0.7km long
during the course of a moving observer study:
◦ Calculate the flow in PCU per hour in both
directions of traffic assuming an equivalency factor
of one per car, 3 for bus and 2 for trucks.
◦ Calculate the journey speed and running speed.

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 Journey: North bound

Run no Journey Stopped Vehicles met with in the opposing direction Vehicles in the same
time(min) time(min) direction

Car Bus Truck Overtaking Overtaken

vehicles Vehicles

1 1.01 0.04 11 0 5 1 0
2 0.92 0.1 13 0 0 2 1
3 0.77 0.08 19 2 11 1 1
4 1.03 0.14 14 2 4 1 0
5 0.84 0.08 2 0 11 0 1
6 1.06 0.13 19 1 7 2 1

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 South Bound Journey
Run Journey Stopped Vehicles met with in the opposing Vehicles in the same
no time(min) time(min) direction direction
Car Bus Truck Overtakin Overtake
g vehicles n
Vehicles
1 1 0.05 10 0 2 1 1
2 0.87 0.07 2 0 3 1 0
3 1.2 0.11 23 1 6 2 1
4 1.18 0.12 7 0 1 2 0
5 1.06 0.09 8 0 1 1 1
6 1.02 0.1 11 0 8 2 0

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 Journey: North bound
Run no Journey Stopped Vehicles met with in the opposing direction Vehicles in the same
time(min) time(min) direction

Car Bus Truck Overtaking Overtaken

vehicles Vehicles

1 1.01 0.04 11 0 5 1 0
2 0.92 0.1 13 0 0 2 1
3 0.77 0.08 19 2 11 1 1
4 1.03 0.14 14 2 4 1 0
5 0.84 0.08 2 0 11 0 1
6 1.06 0.13 19 1 7 2 1

Total 5.63 0.57 78 5 38 7 4

PCU= 78 + 5x3 +38x2=169

Av 0.94 0.1 169/6=28 1.2 0.7

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 South Bound Journey
Run Journey Stopped Vehicles met with in the opposing Vehicles in the same
no time(min) time(min) direction direction
Car Bus Truck Overtakin Overtake
g vehicles n
Vehicles
1 1 0.05 10 0 2 1 1
2 0.87 0.07 2 0 3 1 0
3 1.2 0.11 23 1 6 2 1
4 1.18 0.12 7 0 1 2 0
5 1.06 0.09 8 0 1 1 1
6 1.02 0.1 11 0 8 2 0

Total 6.33 0.54 61 1 21 9 3

PCU = 61 + 1x3 +
21x2=106
Av 1.06 0.09 106/6=18
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=
q- flow of vehicles in one direction of the
stream

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==

= 0.89min

=0.99min

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Mean journey speed in North bound direction

Mean journey speed in South bound direction

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 Mean running time in north bound direction:
=average tn-Stoped time=0.89-0.1=0.79min
So; Running speed in North bound direction=

Mean running time in South bound direction

= average ts-Stoped time=0.99-0.09 =0.9min
So running speed in North bound direction=

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Presentation of the Travel time and Journey speed:
graphical representation

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 Time-
Time-
Zone
map

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 Delay study

Delay studies along routes are best done by the

moving observer method described earlier. The
delays (time and reason) occurring due to
stopping can be recorded

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 Types of Delay
Fixed delays (stopped delay): delays at the
intersections, traffic signals, stop signs, railway
crossings, etc. that exists due to fixed roadway
conditions and does not depend on the traffic density.
Operational delay (congestion delay): they are
caused by the interference of traffic movements, such
as crossing and turning vehicles, parking and
pedestrians, accidents etc. Uncontrolled intersections
adjacent to each other and carrying heavy turning
movements can be the cause of a considerable
amount of weaving within the stream as vehicle
attempt to enter and leave the main road.
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Capacity and Level of Service

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 Capacity and LOS
Capacity and Level of service are two related
terms.
Capacity analysis tries to give a clear
understanding of how much traffic a given
transportation facility can accommodate.
Level of service tries to answer how good is
the present traffic situation on a given facility.
Thus LOS gives a qualitative measure of
traffic, where as capacity analysis gives a
quantitative measure of a facility.
Capacity and level of service varies with the
type of facility, prevailing traffic and road
conditions etc.
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 Capacity
Capacity is defined as the maximum number of
vehicles, passengers, or the like, per unit time,
which can be accommodated under given
conditions with a reasonable expectation of
occurrence.
Capacity is independent of the demand. It speaks
about the physical amount of vehicles and
passengers a road can afford. It does not depend on
the total number of vehicles demanding service.
On the other hand, it depends on traffic conditions,
geometric design of the road etc. For example, a
curved road has lesser capacity compared to a
straight road.
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 Level of Service
When capacity gives a quantitative
measure of traffic, level of service or LOS
tries to give a qualitative measure.
A service volume is the maximum number
of vehicles, passengers, or the like, which
can be accommodated by a given facility
or system under given conditions at a given
level of service.

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 Level of…..
For a given road or facility, capacity could be
constant. But actual flow will be different for
different days and different times in a day itself.
The intention of LOS is to relate the traffic service
quality to a given flow rate of traffic. It is a term
that designates a range of operating conditions on a
particular type of facility.
Highway capacity manual (HCM) developed by
the transportation research board of USA provides
some procedure to determine level of service. It
divides the quality of traffic into six levels ranging
form level A to level F.

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 LOS
Level A represents the best quality of traffic
where the driver has the freedom to drive with
free flow speed and level F represents the
worst quality of traffic.
Level of service is defined based on the
measure of effectiveness or (MOE). Typically
three parameters are used under this and they
are speed and travel time, density, and delay.
One of the important measures of service
quality is the amount of time spent in travel.
Therefore, speed and travel time are
considered to be more effective in defining
LOS of a facility.
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 LOS
Density gives the proximity of other
vehicles in the stream. Since it affects the
ability of drivers to maneuver in the traffic
stream, it is also used to describe LOS.
Delay is a term that describes excess or
unexpected time spent in travel.
Many specific delay measures are defined
and used as MOE's in the highway capacity
manual.

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 Highway Capacity
Highway capacity is defined by the
Highway Capacity Manual as the
maximum hourly rate at which persons or
vehicles can be reasonably expected to
traverse a point or a uniform segment of a
lane or roadway during a given time period
under prevailing roadway, traffic and
control conditions.

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 Highway Capacity
The highway capacity depends on certain conditions:
1. Traffic conditions: It refers to the traffic
composition in the road such as the mix of cars,
trucks, buses etc in the stream. It also include
proportions of turning movements at intersections
etc.
2. Road way characteristics: This points out to
the geometric characteristics of the road. These
include lane width, shoulder width, lane
configuration, horizontal alignment and vertical
alignment.
3. Control conditions: This primarily applies to
surface facilities and often refer to the signals at
intersections
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Level of Service A to F

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 Factors affecting LoS
The factors affecting level of service:
1. Speed and travel time
2. Traffic interruptions/restrictions
3. Freedom to travel with desired speed
4. Driver comfort and convenience
5. Operating cost.

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