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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
(accidents).
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. The speed of a vehicle is defined
as the rate of movement of the vehicle; it is usually expressed in kilometres per hour
(kph).
The ff locations generally are used for the different applications listed:
1. Location 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.
where:
= arithmetic mean
= number of observations in each speed group
= midvalue for the ith speed group
N = number of observed values
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.
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, 85 th-percentile spot speed is the
speed below which 85 percent of the vehicles travel and above which 15 percent
of the vehicles travel.
5. Pace which is the range of speed – usually taken at 10 kph intervals – that has
the greatest number of observations. For example, if a set of speed data includes
speeds between 30-60 kph, the speed intervals will be 30 to 40 kph, 40 to 50
kph, and 50 to 60 kph, assuming a range of 10 kph. The pace is 40 to 50 kph if
this range of speed has the highest number of observations.
6. Standard Deviation of Speeds which is a measure of the spread of the
individual speeds. It is estimated as
where
S = standard deviation
= arithmetic mean
= jth observation
N = number of observations
If spot data are presented in classes where each class consists of a range of speeds, the
SD is computed as
where
= midvalue of speed class i
= frequency of speed class i
VOLUME STUDIES
Traffic volume studies are conducted to collect data on the number of vehicles and/or
pedestrians that pass a point on a highway facility during a specified time period.
Manual Method
Manual method 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.
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.
Those that do not require the laying of detectors use one of many technologies
including electronics: Doppler principles, laser scanning, and infrared.
a. 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.
Figure 4.12 shows such an area where the CBD of a city is enclosed by the
imaginary loop ABCDA.
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.
b. 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.
c. 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 channelization at intersections, and in the
general design of improvements to intersections.
The minimum sample size depends on the precision level desired. The commonly used
precision level for volume counts is 95-5. When the sample size is less than 30 and the
selection of counting stations is random, a student’s t-distribution is used.
where
To use the above equation, estimates of the mean and standard deviation of the link
volume are required. These estimate can be obtained by taking volume counts at a few
links or by using known values for other, similar highways.
Expansion Factors from Continuous Count Stations. Hourly, daily, and monthly expansion
factors can be determined using data obtained at continuous count stations.
These factors are used to expand counts of durations shorter than 24 hours to 24-hour
volumes by multiplying the hourly volume for each hour during the count period by the
HEF for that hour and finding the mean of these products.
Daily expansion factors (DEF) are computed as
These factors are used to determine weekly volumes from counts of 24-hour duration by
multiplying the 24-hour volume by the DEF.
The AADT for a given year may be obtained from the ADT for a given month by
multiplying this volume by the MEF.