Traffic engineering lec: 3

Traffic characteristics

The design of a highway should be based on the characteristics of traffic to be served.

The main traffic characteristics include traffic volume, composition and directional
distribution. Such traffic characteristics should be obtained from real data.

Traffic volume

Traffic volume is the total number of vehicles that pass over a given point or section
of a lane or roadway during a given time interval; volumes can be expressed in terms
of annual, daily, hourly, or sub hourly periods. Traffic volume could be expressed as:

1- Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) is the average of 24-hour counts

collected every day of the year.

AADT are used in several traffic and transportation analyses for:

 Estimation of highway user.
 Computation of crash rates in terms of number of crashes per 100 million
vehicle miles.
 Establishment of traffic volume trends.
 Evaluation of the economic feasibility of highway projects.
 Development of freeway and major arterial street systems.
 Development of improvement and maintenance programs.

If the average annual daily traffic is not known, it can be estimated from average
weekday traffic (AWDT) using the following Equation:

2- Average Daily Traffic (ADT) is the average of 24-hour counts collected over
a number of days greater than one but less than a year.

7
Traffic engineering lec: 3

ADT may be used for:

 Planning of highway activities.
 Measurement of current demand.
 Evaluation of existing traffic flow.
3- Peak Hour Volume (PHV) is the maximum number of vehicles that pass a
point on a highway during a period of 60 consecutive minutes.
PHV are used for:
 Functional classification of highways
 Design of the geometric characteristics of a highway, for example, number of
lanes, intersection signalization, or channelization.
 Capacity analysis
 Development of programs related to traffic operations, for example, one-way
street systems or traffic routing.
 Development of parking regulations.

4- Vehicle Miles of Travel (VMT) is a measure of travel along a section of road.

It is the product of the traffic volume (that is, average weekday volume or
ADT) and the length of roadway in miles to which the volume is applicable.
VMTs are used mainly as a base for allocating resources for maintenance and
improvement of highways.

( )

Traffic volume fluctuation

Traffic volume is changing throughout the day, the weak and the year (see following
figures for traffic volume fluctuation in Iraq and the USA).

8
Traffic engineering lec: 3

Typical traffic variation in USA

9
Traffic engineering lec: 3

1200

1000

800
Traffic volume

600

400

200

0
5:00 AM
1:00 AM
2:00 AM
3:00 AM
4:00 AM

6:00 AM
7:00 AM
8:00 AM
9:00 AM

1:00 PM
2:00 PM
3:00 PM
4:00 PM
5:00 PM
6:00 PM
7:00 PM
8:00 PM
9:00 PM
12:00 PM

10:00 PM
12:00 AM

10:00 AM
11:00 AM
Hours of the day

140
120
100
% from ADT

80
60
40
20
0

Day of week

Typical hourly and monthly traffic variation in Iraq

Design Hourly Volume (DHV)

The figure below shows the relationship between the highest hourly volume and ADT
on rural arterial. Based on the figure, it is recommended that the hourly traffic volume
that should be used in design is the 30 highest hourly volume of the year (30 HV).
The reason is that curve steepens quickly to the left on the point of 30 HV and
indicates only few hours with higher volume (i.e. it is not economical to design based

01
Traffic engineering lec: 3

on higher traffic volume). The curve flattens to the right and indicates many hours in
which the volume is not much less than the 30 HV.

The DHV is normally expressed as a percentage of ADT (K-factor which is in range

of 0.1-0.2))

Traffic composition

Three types of vehicles are considered for the purpose of traffic analysis. These are:

 passenger cars (pcu)

 trucks and buses
 Recreational vehicles (RVs)

00
Traffic engineering lec: 3

The overall effect of traffic operation for any vehicle type can be expressed in term of
the effect of basic unit – usually passenger car unit (pcu). Therefore, the vehicles
should be converted to pcu as follows:

Example: a rural highway on a level terrain has the following traffic composition:
50% passenger cars
30% trucks
10% buses
10% recreational vehivles
Find the total volume expressed as pcu if the total volume is 5000 veh.

Solution:
Number of passenger cars= 0.5*5000=2500
Number of Trucks =0.3*5000=1500
Number of buses=0.1*5000=500
Number of recreational vehicles=0.1*5000=500
Total pcu = 2500*1 + 1500*1.5 + 500*1.5 + 500*1.2
= 2500 + 2250 + 750 + 600 = 6100 pcu

Directional Distribution

During any particular hour, traffic volume may be greater in one direction than in the
other. Directional distribution is an important factor in highway capacity analysis.
This is particularly true for two-lane highways.

According to the Highway Capacity Manual (2010), the proportion of traffic in peak
direction (i.e. directional distribution, D) is about 0.60.

01
Traffic engineering lec: 3

Therefore, the directional design hourly volume (DDHV) is

or

Example: a two-lane highway is expected to serve ADT of 5000 veh, find DHV and
DDHV in veh and pcu if the following information is given:
 K=0.1, D=0.6
 Traffic composition includes 80 passenger cars and 20% trucks.
Solution:
DHV (veh) =ADT*K
= 5000* 0.1= 500 veh
DHV (pcu) = 500*0.8*1 + 500*0.2*1.5 = 550 pcu

DDHV (veh) = ADT*K*D

=5000 * 0.1 *0.6=300 veh
DDHV (pcu) =300*0.8*1 +300*0.2*1.5 = 240 +90 =330 pcu

Flow rate (q)

Flow rate is the equivalent hourly rate at which vehicles pass over a given point or
section of a lane or roadway during a given time interval of less than 1 hr, usually
15 min.

Peak flow rates and hourly volumes produce the peak-hour factor (PHF), the ratio of
total hourly volume to the peak flow rate within the hour, computed by the following
Equation:

Example: traffic volume data has been collected for 15 min time intervals as shown
below. Find the total hourly volume, flow rate and peak hour factor (PHF).

02
Traffic engineering lec: 3

Time 7:30 – 7:45 7:45 – 8:00 8:00 – 8:15 8:15 – 8:30

Volume 250 350 300 200

Solution:
Volume = 250+350+300+200 = 1100 veh
Flow rate (q) = peak volume * number of intervals per 1 hour
= 350 * 4 = 1400 veh/hr
PHF=1100/1400=0.786
Example: traffic volume data has been collected for 10 min time intervals as shown
below. Find the total hourly volume, flow rate and PHF.
Time 7:30–7:40 7:40–7:50 7:50–8:00 8:00–8:10 8:10–8:20 8:20–8:30
Volume 150 200 300 200 150 100

Solution:
Volume = 150+200+300+200+150+100= 1100 veh
Flow rate (q) = peak volume * number of intervals per 1 hour
= 300 * 6 = 1800 veh/hr
PHF=1100/1800=0.61

Typical values for PHF, K and D

03
Traffic engineering lec: 3

Alternative method for estimating AADT

If the AADT is not given based on the one year of date, AADT can be estimated
based on smaller scale data (e.g. monthly or weekly). The following table provides
an example for the percentage of average monthly daily traffic (AMDT) to AADT for
the months of a year.

Month Jan. Feb. Mar. Ap. May Jo. Ju. Au. Sep. Oc. No. De.
(AMDT/AADT)*100 84 82 94 97 107 107 116 118 107 103 92 90

It was found also that the traffic volume from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. represents about
93% of the 24 hrs volume. In addition, traffic volumes could be assumed to be
constant during week days (i.e. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday).

Example: It was required to estimate AADT for a rural highway. 16 hrs data were
collected for Friday, Saturday and Wednesday during June. The traffic volumes were
as follows:
Friday: 8000 veh
Saturday: 8000 veh
Wednesday: 10000 veh

Answer:
The seven day volume for the 16 hrs=8000+8000+10000*5=66000 veh
The seven day volume for 24 hrs=66000/0.93=70968 veh
Average daily traffic during June=70968/7=10138
AADT=10138*100/107=9474 veh

Methods of traffic counts

Traffic volume counts are conducted using two basic methods: manual and automatic
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. See the following table as an example.

04
Traffic engineering lec: 3

Vehicle type
Time
Cars Trucks and buses

7:30 – 7:45

7:45 – 8:00

8:00 – 8:15

8:15 – 8:30

Automatic Method
Automatic counters can be classified into two general categories:

A- Methods require the laying of detectors (surface or subsurface)

 Surface detector (e.g. Pneumatic road tubes)

 Subsurface detectors (non invasive, such as magnetic or electric contact

devices).

These detectors detect the passing vehicle and transmit the information to a recorder,
which is connected to the detector at the side of the road.

05
Traffic engineering lec: 3

B- Methods do not require the laying of detectors.

Automatic counters that do not require the laying of detectors use one of many
technologies including electronics: Doppler principles, laser scanning, and infrared.

Traffic volume/flow representation

07