CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

TRAFFIC FLOW THEORY

PARAMETERS CONNECTED WITH TRAFFIC
FLOW
(i) Speed (v)
- defined as rate of motion, as distance per unit time,
generally in miles per hour (mph) or kilometers per hour
(km/hr)

Space mean speed,

where vs = average travel speed or space mean speed

(km/hr)
L = length of the highway segment (km)
ti = travel time of the ith vehicle to traverse the section
(hours)
n = number of travel times observed
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

TRAFFIC PARAMETERS

Another way of defining average speed is by finding the

time mean speed.

Time mean speed,

where vt = time mean speed (km/hr)

vi = spot speed (km/hr)
n = number of vehicles observed
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

TRAFFIC PARAMETERS

the approximate relationship between the two mean speeds is:

where

σs2= variance of the space mean speed

σt2 = variance of the time mean speed

 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Example:
Three vehicles pass a kilometer post at 60, 75 and 54 km/hr,
respectively. What is the time mean speed of the three vehicles?
Also, find the approximate space mean speed.

Solution:
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

TRAFFIC PARAMETERS

(ii) Volume (V)

-is the actual number of vehicles observed or predicted to be
passing a point during a given time interval

(iii) Flow Rate(q)

- represents the number of vehicles passing a point during a
time interval less than 1 hour, but expressed as an equivalent
hourly rate
Thus, a volume of 200 vehicles observed in a 10-minute
period implies a rate of flow of (200 × 60)/10 = 1200 veh/hr.
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

TRAFFIC PARAMETERS N

(vi) DENSITY (k)

Density is ......
the number of vehicles occupying
a given length of lane or
roadway, averaged over time.

Usually expressed in vehicles/km.

500 m
Density can be measured directly
through aerial photography.
What is the
Density can also be calculated using density of
the equation: southbound
traffic on
k = q/v where, q = rate of flow this highway?
v = speed
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

TRAFFIC PARAMETERS

(v) Spacing (s)

- is defined as the distance between successive vehicles in

a traffic stream as measured from front bumper to front
bumper
-can be generally observed from aerial photographs

(vi) Headway (h)

- is the corresponding time between successive vehicles as
they pass a point on a roadway
- can be measured using stopwatch observations as
vehicles pass a point on a lane
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

TRAFFIC PARAMETERS

(vii)Clearance (c)
-is defined as the distance between successive vehicles in
a traffic stream as measured from front bumper to back
bumper

(viii) Gap (g)

- is the corresponding time between successive vehicles as
they pass a point on a roadway
The difference between spacing and clearance, and
headway and gap are as
follows:
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Clearance (m) /
Gap (s)

Spacing (m) /
Headway (s)
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

TRAFFIC PARAMETERS

Both spacing and headway are related to speed, flow rate and
density:

Average density, k (veh/km) = 1000 (m/km) .

Average spacing, s (m/veh)

Average headway, h (sec/veh) = Average spacing, s (m/veh)

Average speed, v (m/s)

Average flow rate, q (veh/hr) = 3600 (sec/hr) .

Average headway, h (sec/veh)
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

(vii) Lane Occupancy (LO)

- lane occupancy (LO) can be described as the ratio of the time

that vehicles are present at a detection station in a traffic lane
compared to the time of sampling

LO = Total time vehicle detector is occupied = Σto

Total observation time T
to = L + C
vs
L = average length of vehicle
C = distance between the loop of the detector
Density can be calculated by using the expression:
k =LO x 1000
L+C
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

TRAFFIC PARAMETERS

Lane occupancy may also be expressed by R, which is …

R = Sum of lengths of vehicles = ΣLi

Length of roadway section D

then R could be divided by the average length of a vehicle

(L) to give the estimate of density (k): k=R
L
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Example:
During a 60-sec period, a detector is occupied by vehicles for
the following times: 0.34, 0.38, 0.40, 0.32 and 0.52 sec.

(i) Determine the lane occupancy.

(ii) Estimate the values of q, k and v.
(Assume that the loop-detector length is 3 m and the
average length of vehicles is 8 ft)
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

CATEGORIES OF TRAFFIC FLOW

Uninterrupted Flow
- occurs on facilities that have no fixed elements, such as
traffic signals or stop signs, external to the traffic stream,
that cause interruptions to traffic flow
- traffic flow conditions are thus the result of interactions
among vehicles in the traffic system and between vehicles
and the geometric characteristics of the roadway/guideway
system
- the driver of the vehicle does not expect to be required to
stop by factors external to the traffic stream
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

CATEGORIES OF TRAFFIC FLOW

Interrupted Flow
- occurs on facilities that have fixed elements causing
periodic interruptions to traffic flow
- traffic is stopped or significally slowed down periodically
irrespective of how much traffic exists
- the driver expects to be required to stop as and when
required by fixed elements that are part of the facility
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies
Answer This!
What type of facilities are these?
Uninterrupted flow facility or Interrupted flow facility?

UNINTERRUPTED FLOW INTERRUPTED FLOW

FACILITY FACILITY

p/s: kahoot.it
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

UNINTERRUPTED FLOW INTERRUPTED FLOW

FACILITIES FACILITIES

p/s: kahoot.it

Note:
Uninterrupted flow and interrupted flow are terms that describe
the facility and not the quality of flow!
For instance, a congested freeway where traffic is almost coming
to a halt is still classified as an uninterrupted flow facility.
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

UNINTERRUPTED TRAFFIC FLOW MODEL

Traffic lane at flows

of about 900
veh/hr or less,
Imagine several vehicles, driven by rational drivers along a section of
freeway.

As vehicles speed and spacing increases, the speeds approach the free
speed, and drivers adopt their own speed when uninfluenced by other
vehicles in the traffic stream (point C).

The dashed curve represents the normal flow behaviour if all drivers
were to have the same free speed (point D).

It has been observed that drivers are uninfluenced by other vehicles in

the traffic lane at flows about half the capacity flow (point B).

Maximum traffic density occurs (point A) when traffic has virtually

come to a complete stop.

In the forced flow region, each vehicle adopts its minimum spacing and
clearance distance.
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

ANALYSIS OF SPEED, FLOW AND DENSITY

RELATIONSHIP
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies
Speed-Density (v-k) Relationship
A linear relationship exists between the speed of traffic
on an uninterrupted traffic lane and the traffic density.
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Speed-Density (v-k) Relationship

As density increases:
• flow increases to an optimum with more vehicles on the
road
• speed decreases due to the interaction of vehicles
With uninterrupted steady state flow, a zero rate of flow can
occur in two ways:
• traffic density is zero (k = 0): speed is free flow (vf)
• traffic speed is zero (v = 0): density is jam density (kj)
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Flow-Density (q-k) Relationship

 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Speed-Flow (v-q) Relationship

 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Speed-Flow (v-q) Relationship

Capacity (qmax) = the maximum flow for the facility:

• when area under the q-k curve is at maximum
• reached when the product of increasing density and
decreasing speed result in the maximum number of vehicles
passing a certain point
Congested unstable flow = high density, low speed:
• no available gaps for entering vehicles
• any vehicle that do enter create a disturbance that is not
easily dissipated
Uncongested stable flow = low density, high speed:
• plenty of gaps available for merging traffic
 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Speed-Flow (v-q) Relationship

Derivation of speed and density at maximum flow, (vm and km):

qmax = vm x km

= vf x k j
dk 2 2

= vf x kj
4

Optimal Speed, vm Optimal Density, km

 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Relationship between Speed, Flow and Density

 CHAPTER 1: Traffic Studies

Example:
A traffic stream is moving at a steady state when entering a mountain
grade. Upon entering the grade, the speed, density and flow are 72
km/h, 25 veh/km and 1800 veh/hr respectively. On the grade, a truck
drops to a speed of 15 km/h causing traffic to bunch up to a density
of 85 veh/km. When the truck pulls over, traffic accelerates to the
maximum flow until steady state flow conditions resume.

Calculate
(a) the flow of traffic behind the truck on the mountain grade
(b) the jam density and free flow speed for this road
(c) the density and speed when traffic resumes a steady state flow
(d) the maximum flow