Traffic and Transportation Planning (CE– 635) Graduate Report-2018

TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS,TRAFFIC
STUDIES AND ANALYSIS
PG SECTION IN URBAN PLANNING (2018-19)

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

SEMESTER-I

Guided By: Prepared By:

Dr. Krupesh A. Chauhan Himanshu Bhardwaj
(P18UP008)
CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS
 ROAD USER CHARACTERISTICS
 VEHICULAR CHARACTERISTICS
• TRAFFIC STUDIES AND ANALYSIS
 TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDY
 SPOT SPEED STUDY
 ORIGIN & DESTINATION (O & D) STUDY
 SPEED AND DELAY STUDY
 TRAFFIC FLOW CHARACTERISCTIC STUDY
• CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
• Study of Traffic characteristics is the most essential prerequisite for any improvement

of traffic facilities.

• The traffic characteristics are quite complex with various types of road users in the

roads.

• Apart from these the various studies to be carried out on the actual traffic include speed,

traffic volume, origin and destination, traffic flow characteristics, traffic capacity.

• Traffic studies are carried out to analyze the traffic characteristics. These studies help in

deciding the geometric design features and traffic control for safe and efficient traffic

movements.
TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS

Traffic Characteristics

Road User Vehicular

Characteristics Characteristics

Physical Static

Mental Dynamic

Psychological

Environment
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
• The physical characteristics of the road user may be either permanent or temporary.
• The permanent characteristics are the vision, hearing strength and general reaction to
traffic situations.
• Vision plays the most important role of all these.
• Sharper vision is concentrated in the zone formed by a cone, whose angle is 3° about
centre of retina, this zone is called as Zone of Acute Vision.
• However, vision is still satisfactory up to an angle of 10°-12°.
• Angle of Peripheral Vision is the total visual field for both the eyes.
• Angle of Peripheral Vision in horizontal plane is 130° and 115° in vertical plane.
• Within this zone eyes of a normal person is able to see any object but not with clear
details and colour.
CONT’D
• As the speed increases, angle of peripheral vision reduces. Hence this emphasises the
driver to move at safer speed.
• These factors are particularly taken care of while designing and installing control
devices.
• The temporary physical characteristics are fatigue, alcohol, drugs and illness. All these
reduce alertness and increase the reaction time and also affect the quality of judgment
in some situations.
MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Knowledge, skill, intelligence, experience and literacy can affect the road user

characteristics.

• Knowledge of vehicle characteristics, traffic behavior, driving practice, rules of road

and psychology of road users will be quite useful for safe traffic operations.

• Reactions to certain traffic situations become more spontaneous with experience.

• Understanding the traffic regulation, special instruction and timely action depend on

intelligence and literacy.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

• The emotional factor such as attentiveness, fear, anger, superstition, impatience, general

attitude towards traffic & regulations and maturity also come under this.

• Distractions by non-traffic events and worries reduce attentiveness to traffic situations.

• Dangerous actions are likely due to impatience. Some roads users do not pay due regard

to the traffic regulations and do not have the right attitude towards the traffic.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

• The various environmental conditions affecting the behavior of road user are traffic

stream characteristics, facilities to the traffic, atmospheric conditions and the locality.

• The time, place and route are fundamentally chosen by the road user based on the

needs.

• The environmental factors are the weather visibility and other atmospheric conditions.
VEHICULAR CHARACTERISTICS

• It is quite important to study various vehicular characteristics which affect the design

and traffic performance, because it is possible to design a road for any vehicle but not

for an indefinite vehicle.

• The various vehicular characteristics affecting the road design can be classified as Static

and Dynamic Characteristics of the vehicle.

• Static Characteristics include dimensions, weight and maximum turning angle.

• Dynamic characteristics of vehicles includes speed, acceleration, braking characteristics

and some aspects of vehicle body design.

CONT,D

Maximum Height Clause Check

TRAFFIC STUDIES AND ANALYSIS

 TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDY

 SPOT SPEED STUDY

 ORIGIN & DESTINATION (O & D) STUDY

 SPEED AND DELAY STUDY

 TRAFFIC FLOW CHARACTERISTICS

 TRAFFIC CAPACITY STUDY

TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDY

• Traffic Volume is defined as the number of vehicles crossing a particular section of

the road per unit time.

Here,
 q=traffic volume
q = n * 3600  n=number of vehicles crossing
T a particular sections in T
seconds

METHOD OF COUNTING TRAFFIC VOLUME

• Manual Method

• Mechanical Method
SPOT SPEED STUDY

• Spot Speed is the instantaneous speed of a vehicle at any specified point.

• There are a number of methods to measure spot speed.

a) Enoscope Method or Mirror Box Method.

b) Radar Speed Meter Method.

c) Photographic Method.
ENOSCOPE METHOD or MIRROR BOX METHOD

Vs = d + L
b-a
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.
ORIGIN & DESTINATION (O & D) STUDY

• O-D study is performed for planning of new highway facility or for improving new

existing road system.

• It is also used for planning of Mass Rapid Transit System.

• O-D study gives information like the actual direction of travel, selection of routes and

length of trip.

• O-D study provides the basic data for determining the desired direction of flow or the

desire line.
METHODS FOR COLLECTING O & D DATA

1. Vehicle Number or License Plate Method

2. Road Side Interview Method

3. Return Postcard Method

4. Tag On Car Method

5. Photographic Method
TRAFFIC FLOW CHARACTERISCTIC STUDY
• Traffic flow characteristics can be divided as:

 Macroscopic Characteristics (q, k, and v)

 Microscopic Characteristics (Space headway and Time Headway)

MACROSCOPIC CHARACTERISTICS
Traffic Volume = Traffic Density * Space Mean Speed
q=k*v
Here,
q = veh/hr
k = veh/km
v = km/hr
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

SPEED AND DELAY STUDIES

• It is performed to measure travel time and to detect spots of congestion

METHODS

1. Floating Car Method

2. License Plate Method

3. Photographic Method

4. Elevated Observation Method

FLOATING CAR METHOD
• In this method, test vehicle is driven over a given course of travel at an average

speed of traffic.

• A number of test runs are performed along the study stretch and group of four

observers measures the data.

Here,
Tw = avg. journey time of test vehicle along the traffic flow
Ta = avg. journey time of test vehicle against the traffic flow
T = Tw - Ny
Na = no. of vehicles travelling in the direction of flow when test
q
vehicle travels against the flow
q = Na + Ny Ny = no. of vehicles overtaking the test vehicle – no. of vehicles
Ta + Tw overtaken by the test vehicle
q = no. of vehicles per minute along the direction of flow
CONT’D

PROBLEM: The data collected from speed and delay

studies by floating car method, running North-South on
a stretch of 3.5 km are given below. Find out the
average journey speed, running speed and volume of
traffic speed along both the directions.
CONCLUSION
• Traffic studies are useful to deciding the geometric design features and traffic control
for safe & efficient traffic movements.
Traffic studies are major activity in the whole planning process and require lot of time
resources and efforts.
• An accurate and large database is required to clearly assess the problems and
formulate policies and plans for future.
• A large amount of data is required for planning purpose, therefore its proper
organization becomes very important, especially when the same kind of data is
collected from various sources.
• There are various traffic surveys that are carried out to assess two main components
of transport planning, viz., transport demand and transport supply.
REFERENCE

Kadiyali L. R., (2007), “Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning”,

Seventh Edition, Khanna Publishers, Delhi.

Madeasy Publication, (2017), “Highway Engineering”

Khanna S. K. and Justo C. E. G., (2001), “Highway Engineering”,

Eighth Edition, Nemchand and bros., Roorkey (U. A.)

THANK YOU