TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

Explanatory Session:«Traffic Volume Studies»

Contenidos

PURPOSE OF TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDIES

SPOT SPEED
Purpose of Traffic Volume Studies
 Volume Studies
The Purpose is collect data on the number of vehicles and/or pedestrian that pass on a
highway facility during a specified time period. (varies from 15min as much as one year).
Usually these are conducted when certain volume characteristics are needed, such as:

Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) is the average of 24-hr counts collected every
day in the year. It is used for:
a. Estimation of highway user revenues
b. Computation of accident rates in terms of accidents per 100 million vehicle-miles
c. Establishment of traffic volume trends
d. Evaluation of the economic feasibility of highway projects
e. Development of freeway and major arterial street systems
f. Development of improvement and maintenance programs
Volume Studies

Average Daily Traffic (ADT) is the average of 24-hour counts collected over a
number of days greater than 1 but less than a year. ADTs may be used for:

a. Planning of highway activities

b. Measurement of current demand
c. Evaluation of existing traffic flow
 Volume Studies

Peak Hour Volume (PHV) is the maximum number of vehicles that pass a
point on a highway during a period of 60 consecutive minutes. PHVs are used
for:

a. Functional classification of highways

b. Design of the geometric characteristics of a highway, for example, number of lanes,
intersection signalization, or channelization
c. Capacity analysis
d. Development of programs related to traffic operations, for example, one-way street systems
or traffic routing
e. Development of parking regulations
 Volume Studies

Vehicle Classification (VC) records volume with respect to the type of vehicles,
for example, passenger cars, two-axle trucks, or three-axle trucks. VC is used in:

a. Design of geometric characteristics, with particular reference to turning-

radii requirements, maximum grades, lane widths, and so forth
b. Capacity analyses, with respect to passenger-car equivalents of trucks
c. Adjustment of traffic counts obtained by machines
d. Structural design of highway pavements, bridges, and so forth
Volume Studies
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.

The method to calculate daily VKT (VMT) for a segment is to multiply the length
of a roadway segment by the volume of traffic on that segment. The formula for
the daily VKT on a segment calculation is given below:

Daily VKT = Segment length (km) x Volume on segment (vehicles per day)
Methods of Conducting Volume Counts
Manual Method:

• More flexible and in some situations more accurate

• Pedestrian, turning movements, vehicle classification

Electronic Count Boards

• Have different buttons for different maneuvers

• Light weight, compact, usually with an internal clock
• Labor intensive and impractical for large/long counts

Automatic Method:
• Using surface detectors (such as pneumatic road tubes) or subsurface detectors (such
as magnetic or electric contact devices) on the road.
• Good for simple counts for long periods of time
• Lately more complex movements can be done automatically (video cameras).
Types of Volume Counts
Cordon Counts
An imaginary boundary around a region usually a major activity center.
Used for origin-destination studies, trend analysis.
Count tracks both entering and leaving vehicle at stations tracking an accumulation with time.
Same will track license plates.

Signalized Intersections
Most count Board can record turning movements
Held to distribute green time among phases, determine cycle length

Pedestrian Counts
Aids in the design of pedestrian facilities, intersections, workways
Periodic Volume Counts
To obtain certain traffic volume data.
To obtain AADT is necessary to collect data continuously. However, it is not feasible
to on all roads because of the cost involved.
 Traffic Volume Data Presentation

The data collected from traffic volume counts may be presented in one of several
ways, depending on the type of count conducted and the primary use of the data.
• Traffic Flow Maps:
These maps show traffic volumes on individual routes
• Intersection Summary Sheets:

These sheets are graphic-representations of the volume and directions of all traffic movements
through the intersection.

600
200 300
 Traffic Volume Data Presentation
Time-Based Distribution Charts
These charts show the hourly, daily, monthly, or annual variations in traffic volume in an area or on a
particular highway.
Volume

Q: How might this look for the BRT?

Time of day
Time Month of year
Day of week
Summary Tables

These tables give a summary of traffic volume data such as PHV, VC, and ADT in tabular form.
Spot Speed
 Spot speed Studies

• These are conducted to estimate the speed of vehicles in the traffic stream
at a particular location on a highway. Usually expressed in mph or kph
(kilometers per hour).
• 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.
• Carried out by recording the speeds of a sample of vehicles at a specified
location.
 Spot speed Studies

Used to:
• Establish parameters for traffic operation and control, such as:
• speed zones,
• speed limits (e.g. 85th-percentile speed)
 Spot speed Studies

Locations for Spot Speed Studies

• Represent different traffic conditions on a highway for basic data collection.
• Mid-blocks of urban highways and straight, level sections of rural highways for
speed trend analyses.
• Any location may be used for solution of a specific traffic engineering
problem.
Spot speed Studies

Locations for Spot Speed Studies

Should be selected to achieve the following:

• Unbiased data
• Drivers be unaware
• Equipment concealed from the driver,
• Observers inconspicuous.
 Spot speed Studies

• Time of Day and Duration of Spot Speed Studies

• depends on the purpose of the study.
• recommended when traffic is free-flowing,
• during off-peak hours.
• typically:
• the duration is at least 1 hour and
• the sample size is at least 30 vehicles.
 Spot speed Studies

• Sample Size for Spot Speed Studies

• The larger the sample size, will give an estimated mean within acceptable error
limits.

• Average Speed
• Median Speed
• Modal Speed
• The ith-percentile Spot Speed
• Pace
• Standard Deviation of Speeds
 Spot speed Studies

• Methods for Conducting Spot Speed Studies

• manual and automatic
• manual method is seldom used
• automatic devices

1. road detectors
2. radar-based
 Spot speed Studies

• Road Detectors
• pneumatic road tubes & induction loops collect data on speeds &
volume at the same time
• Advantage:
• Human errors are considerably reduced
• Disadvantages:
• expensive
• may, affect driver behavior,
Spot speed Studies

• Pneumatic road tubes

• laid across the lane in which data are to be collected.

• When moving vehicle passes over, an air impulse is transmitted to the counter.

• two tubes are placed across the lane, 2 m apart.

• An impulse is recorded when the front wheels of a moving vehicle pass over the

first tube.
 Spot speed Studies

• Pneumatic road tubes

• a second impulse is recorded when the front wheels pass over the
second tube.

• The time elapsed between the two impulses and the distance between
the tubes are used to compute the speed of the vehicle.
 Spot speed Studies

Inductive loop
• a rectangular wire loop buried under the roadway surface.

• It operates on the principle that a disturbance in the electrical field is

created when a motor vehicle passes across it.

 Spot speed Studies

• Radar-Based Traffic Sensors

• Electronic-Principle Detectors
• traffic characteristics, such as speed, volume, queues, and headways are
computed.

• Using video image processing

Methods for Conducting Spot Speed Studies

Video Taping

• Using machine-vision system. Detected the presence of vehicles

computing traffic characteristics such as volume, queues, and headways
• Record vehicle as they pass through a manual speed trap and extract
speed data from the tape
 Methods for Conducting Spot Speed Studies
Road Detectors

Are used to collect speed data and volume data at the same time.
Two Categories:
1. Pneumatic road tubes: are laid across the lane in which data are be
collected.
2. Inductive loop: rectangular wire loop buried under the road surface.

Peak Traffic Monitors

Inductive loop
Road Detector
Methods for Conducting Spot Speed Studies

Doppler
Work on the principle that when a signal is transmitted onto a moving vehicle, the
change in frequency between the transmitted and reflected is proportional to the
speed of the vehicle in motion.
 Methods for Conducting Spot Speed Studies
Radar Meter (most common)
• The changes in frequency between the transmitted and reflected wave is a
function
• of speed.
• It is also a function of the incidence angle: 0° yields “true” value
90° yields speed of zero
Field Procedures for radar
Layout of site – depends on

1. Capabilities of radar unit

2. Minimum angle of incident
3. Concerning Unit
Measurement of spot
speed using radar speed
detector
Spot speed Studies

(a) RTMS Deployed in the Forward Looking Mode

Spot speed Studies

(b) RTMS Deployed in the Side-fire Mode

 Spot speed Studies

(a) Schematic Illustration of the Auto

scope
(b) The Auto scope Deployed
 Spot speed Studies

• Presentation and Analysis of Spot Speed Data

• Statistical methods
• Analyzing data
• Frequency histogram
• Cumulative frequency distribution curve
Spot Speed Studies
Applications
1. Determining traffic operation and control parameters
• Speed limits
• Advisory speeds
• Critical Intersections Approaches
• No-pass zone markings
• School routes, zones, crossings
• Location and timing of traffic signals
2. Establishing highway design elements
• Horizontal/vertical curves
• Superelevation
• Gradient/length of grade
• Length of passing zones
• Sight distances
Spot Speed Studies
Applications (continued)

3. Analyzing Highway Capacity

4. Assessing Highway Safety
• Hazardous Location Identification
• Accident Analysis
• Compliant Investigation
5. Monitoring speed trends
6. Measuring effectiveness of controls and programs
• Traffic Control Devices
• Operational Changes (e.g. Speed Limits)
• Enforcement Programs
Spot Speed Studies
Locations, Time, and Conditions
• Presence of different traffic conditions (basic data)
• Level sections of rural highways (speed trends analysis)
• Any location (specific problem)
• It is necessary the unaware of the driver keeping the driver
behavior characteristic
Typically a matter of common sense based on the objective and scope of the study.

Example:
Approach Speeds ---------------------------------- Measurements taken upstream prior
to deceleration point
Nighttime acceleration ---------------------------- Collect data at dark

✓ Safety, visibility of study may tamper the data

Sample Size of Spot Speed Studies
Accuracy of a mean increases with the numbers of samples
Statistical procedures are used to determine this minimum sample size.
Speed Characteristics
1. Average speed, which is the arithmetic mean of all observed vehicle speeds
(which is the sum of all spot speeds divided by the number of recorded speeds).
2. Median speed, which is the speed at the middle value in a series of spot speeds
that are arranged in ascending order.
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.
5. Pace, which is the range of speed-usually taken at 10-mi/h intervals-that has the
greatest number of observations.
6. Standard deviation of speeds, which is a measure of the spread of the individual
speeds. It is estimated by statistic formulas.
 Sample Size of Spot Speed Studies

Average Speed
n

 f .u  u
i i
i
fi = number of observations in each group
u i i
 n = number of speed groups
f N i
N = sample size

Standard Deviation

S
 (u  u )
j
2
✓ Note S gets smaller with N
N 1

 ( fi.ui 2 ) 
(  f i.ui ) 2

S
 fi
fi  1

S  σ = standard deviation
Sample Size of Spot Speed Studies
Standard Deviation
Here we will assume that speed are normally distributed about the true mean
probability mass function of a normal distribution
Area (u-σ, u-σ) = 0.6827
(u-1.96σ, u+1.96σ)=0.950
e.g. we can be 95% certain that true mean lies between
((u-1.96σ and u+1.96σ)
Q: How can this help us with sample size?
u A: σ is a function of N
u-σ u+σ
z = standard normal distribution u=0, σ=1
Z 2
N ( ) A reference distribution used to obtain information about other
d normal distributions.
d = limit of acceptance error in speed estimate

x u Shifts mean from u to 0

Z Z = to desired confidence level
 Scales the standard dev. To 1

Cumulative distribution values for Z are given in tables

 Sample Size of Spot Speed Studies

Example: Minimum Sample Size for speed Study

Determine the minimum sample size required for a spot

speed study on a rural two-lane if the confidence level for
the study is 95.0 percent and the tolerance is ±1mph.
Assume a standard deviation of ± 5.30 mph
Methods for Conducting Spot Speed Studies
Selection of target Vehicles
• Random selection is key subject to the population of vehicle under study
i.e. clearly defying study population then obtain sampling scheme to get
random samples of that population
• Selection of every vehicle almost always impossible

Documentation Frequency (%)

Accurate sketch of site
• Number of lanes
• Position of radar unit
Calibration
Read section on presentation of speed data
Speed
Most common is the frequency distribution
 Comparison of Mean Speeds

Test the hypothesis that the means from 2 studies are different
Based on the standard deviation of the difference of 2 means

2 2
S S
Sd  
1 2
n1 n2

If u 1  u 2  Z d . Sd Difference is significant
 Comparison of Mean Speeds
Example: Minimum Sample Size for speed Study

Speed data were collected at a section of highway during and after utility maintenance work. The
speed characteristics are given as show below. Determine whether there was any significant
difference between the average speed at the 95 percent confidence level.

u 1  35.5mph u 2  38.7mph
S 1  7.5mph S 2  7.4mph
n1  250 n 2  280
 Presentation and Analysis of Spot Speed Data
Usually this information is taken only from a sample of vehicles, but these data are used
to determinate the speed characteristics of the whole population traveling on the study
site.
The format most commonly used is the frequency distribution table
Observed
Frequency
Frequency Distribution Table for Set of Speed Data
15
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Class
Frequency Cumulative
(Number of Percentage of Percentage of
Speed Class Observations Observations in All
10
Class Midvalue, ui in Class), fi fi.ui Class Observations f(ui-u)²
34-35.9 35 2 70 2.3 2.3 420.5
36-37.9 37 3 111 3.5 5.8 468.75
5
38-39.9 39 2 78 2.3 8.1 220.5
40-41.9 41 5 205 5.8 13.9 361.25
….

….

….

….

….

….

….
30 40 50 60 70

Vehicle Speed
 Spot speed Studies

Example
Determining Speed Characteristics from a Set of Speed Data.
Table 1 shows the data collected on a rural highway during a speed study. Develop the
frequency histogram and the frequency distribution of the data and determine:

1. The arithmetic mean speed

2. The standard deviation
3. The median speed
4. The pace
5. The mode or modal speed
6. The 85th-percentile speed
Table 1. Speed Data Obtained on a Rural Highway
Figure 2. Histogram of Observed Vehicles' Speeds
• Solution:
The speeds range from 34.8 to 65.0 mph, giving a speed range of
30.2.
For eight classes, the range per class is 3.75 mph; for 20 classes,
the range per class is 1.51 mph It is convenient to choose a range
of 2 mph per class which will give 16 classes.
A frequency distribution table can then be prepared, as shown in
Table 2.
Table 3 Frequency Distribution Table for Set of Speed Data
Figure 3 Frequency Distribution
• The pace is the 10-mph speed range representing the speeds of
the largest percentage of vehicles. The upper limit of this pace is
also a good indicator of an appropriate maximum speed limit.
• Pace: A 10 mile-per-hour increment in speeds that encompasses
the highest portion of observed speeds; often is the mean speed
plus/minus five miles per hour
Figure 3 Cumulative Distribution
• The median speed 49 mph, the 50th-percentile speed.

• 85th-percentile speed is 54 mph

 CONCLUSIONES
Traffic data collection is the most important task when conducting traffic engineering
01 studies.

The purpose of volume studies is obtain number of vehicles (volume) and classification of
02 vehicles, such as light and heavy vehicles.

Traffic data is essential for obtaining traffic parameters like AADT, ADT, PHV, PHF, and
03 vehicle classification.

04 Spot speed studies are important for setting actual speed limits and also for comparing
legal and operating speed for safety purpose.
 REFERENCIAS

▪ Garber and Hoel (2008). Traffic and Highway Engineering, 4th Edition.