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International Journal of Pavement Engineering

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Development of simplified traffic loading for secondary

road pavement design
a

Qiang Joshua Li , Kelvin C.P. Wang , Shi Qiu , Zhongjie Doc Zhang & Mike Moravec
a

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK

74078, USA
b

Louisiana Department of Transportation, Baton Rouge, LA 70804, USA

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Washington, DC 20590, USA

Published online: 11 Jun 2014.

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To cite this article: Qiang Joshua Li, Kelvin C.P. Wang, Shi Qiu, Zhongjie Doc Zhang & Mike Moravec (2015) Development of
simplified traffic loading for secondary road pavement design, International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 16:2, 97-104,
DOI: 10.1080/10298436.2014.926446
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2014.926446

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International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 2015

Vol. 16, No. 2, 97104, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2014.926446

Development of simplified traffic loading for secondary road pavement design

Qiang Joshua Lia, Kelvin C.P. Wanga*, Shi Qiua, Zhongjie Doc Zhangb and Mike Moravecc
a

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA; bLouisiana Department of
Transportation, Baton Rouge, LA 70804, USA; cFederal Highway Administration (FHWA), Washington, DC 20590, USA

Downloaded by [Universidad de los Andes] at 20:51 17 March 2015

(Received 27 December 2012; accepted 24 June 2013)

How to recognise traffic loading clusters and estimate load spectra using historical weigh-in-motion (WIM) data is critical to
pavement mechanistic-empirical (ME) design. Various clustering approaches have been proposed in recent years mainly for
high-volume roads. These methods require site-specific information to determine the design location cluster. In most cases for
secondary road pavements, such data are missing due to resource constraints. In this paper, a simplified approach is developed to
generate traffic loading for secondary road pavement design. With WIM data in Arkansas, the K-means cluster algorithm is
applied and simplified Truck Traffic Classification clusters are developed. This method only requires prior knowledge of the
dominant truck distributions on the design location and will alleviate the work related to traffic load data preparation. A case study
is provided to illustrate the applicability of using the simplified clusters to generate Level 2 traffic inputs for DARWin-ME.
Keywords: traffic loading; pavement ME design (DARWin-ME); cluster analysis; secondary road pavements

Background
The 3 million miles of secondary low-volume roads under
the control of over 35,000 local government agencies in the
USA constitute 70% of roadway mileage, but they carry
only 15% of all traffic (Li et al. 2011). Although their daily
traffic volume is relatively low, these roads could carry
significant levels of heavy trucks for industry, agriculture
and logging industries. Unfortunately, design and performance issues related to secondary road pavements have
gained only limited attention. The next-generation pavement ME design (DARWin-ME) represents a major change
in the way pavement design is performed, but it is targeted
for mostly major high-volume roads.
Traffic loading data are one of the most critical inputs
for DARWin-ME. It accepts hierarchical traffic data which
provide the designer with flexibility in obtaining the design
inputs based on the criticality of the project and the
available resources (NCHRP 1-37A 2004). Ideally, Level 1
traffic inputs are obtained from a weigh-in-notion (WIM)
system operating continuously at the design site over
extended periods of time. In practice, however, when new
pavements are designed, no prior Level 1 traffic WIM data
are available. In such cases, Level 2 or 3 (regional and statewide average) traffic inputs are considered by combining
existing site-specific data from WIM systems located on
sites that exhibit similar traffic characteristics and
developing loading clusters. For secondary roads, Level 2
or 3 traffic inputs are anticipated for pavement design.
How to qualify traffic characteristic similarities and
develop loading clusters for pavement design is a recent
interest in the USA as more state agencies implement

*Corresponding author. Email: kelvin.wang@okstate.edu

q 2014 Taylor & Francis

DARWin-ME with WIM data. The Traffic Monitoring

Guide (TMG) [Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
2001] recommends a combination of (objective) statistical
cluster analysis and (subjective) analyst knowledge or
expertise to create factor groups of sites with similar truck
traffic patterns. Truck weight road groups are then
developed based on a combination of known geographic,
industrial, agricultural and commercial patterns, along
with knowledge of the trucking patterns that occur on
specific roads. Papagiannakis et al. (2006) are among the
first to adopt clustering techniques to establish similarities
in vehicle classification and axle load distributions using
the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) database, to
estimate traffic input for DARWin-ME with limited sitespecific traffic data. Various State Departments of
Transportation deployed clustering algorithms to develop
traffic inputs in different regions to support the new design
(Prozzi and Hong 2005, Lu and Harvey 2006, Wang et al.
2007, 2011, Lu et al. 2009, Sayyady et al. 2010). This
research is intended to simplify the understanding and
applicability of traffic patterns and ultimately ease the
preparation of traffic load spectra inputs based on WIM
data for the DARWin-ME procedure. However, these
approaches are computationally extensive and require
pre-design site-specific truck data to determine the
corresponding clusters.
DARWin-ME has proposed a relatively straightforward Truck Traffic Classification (TTC) grouping
approach to describe the commonly encountered distribution spectra of trucks travelling on roadways (NCHRP
1-37A 2004). During pavement design, engineers identify

98

Q.J. Li et al.

the TTC group for the design location so that the traffic
data inputs required in DARWin-ME can be generated
from historical databases. However, it should be noted that
the differences in truck distributions among some of the 17
DARWin-ME TTC groups are insignificant. Pre-design
truck distribution data are needed to determine the TTC
group for a design location.

The values dij are distances to measure the similarity.

The greater the distance, the less similar are the objects.
The most typical distance measures can be generated by
Euclidean distance:




d ij
xi 2 xj
r

p
X

)1=r
r

jxik 2 xjk j

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k1

Motivation and problem statement

In most cases for designing secondary road pavements,
site-specific traffic composition data are not available due
to resource constraints. As a result, neither a sophisticated
clustering approach nor the DARWin-ME TTC approach
can be applied easily for routine pavement design. The
objective of this paper was to develop a simplified truckgrouping technique for DARWin-ME design when such
information is missing or inadequate as for secondary
roads. The simplified approach to be developed in the
paper will combine statistical cluster method and the
DARWin-ME TTC approach. In this paper, cluster
analysis methodology is implemented to establish
similarities among TTC groups, and simplified TTC
clusters are developed using historical WIM data from the
Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department
(AHTD). A case study is provided to compare data results
and illustrate the applicability of using the simplified
clusters to generate Level 2 traffic inputs for DARWin-ME
pavement design for secondary roads.

Cluster analysis methodology

Cluster analysis is a multivariate technique to identify
homogenous groups of objects as clusters. Cluster
analysis can be divided into three fundamental steps
regardless of the type of approaches used (Wang et al.
2011).

Step 2: determine the optimal number of clusters

The Wards minimum-variance method is widely adopted
to calculate the sum of squares between any two clusters
(11). At each generation, the within-cluster sum of squares
is minimised over all partitions obtainable by merging two
clusters from the previous generation. By examining the
relationship between the sum of squares within clusters
and the numbers of clusters, the optimal number of clusters
can be determined.
Step 3: choose a group-building algorithm
On the basis of the proximity measures, the objects are
assigned to clusters so that differences between groups are
significant and observations within a group become as
close as possible.
In this study, the K-means procedure, a non-hierarchical
approach, is utilised to generate clusters. Under this
procedure, the number of clusters needs to be pre-specified.
It starts with an initial partition with K clusters and assigns
patterns to clusters so as to reduce the squared error. Let
X {xi}, i 1, . . . , n be the set of nd-dimensional points to
be clustered into a set of K clusters, C {ck}, k 1, . . . , K.
The K-means algorithm finds a partition such that the squared
error between the empirical mean of a cluster and the points in
the cluster is minimised. Let mk be the mean of cluster ck.
Minimising this objective function is shown in Equation (3)
known to be an Non-deterministic Polynomial-time hard
problem (Hardle and Simar 2003):

Step 1: define a proximity measure

A proximity (similarity) measure is defined to measure the
closeness of the objects. Assuming an original data
matrix X(n p) with n measurements (objects) of p
variables (cluster attributes), measures of similarity among
objects can be described in a cluster analysis by a matrix
D(n n):
3
2
d11 d 12 d1n
6 .
.. 7
7
6 .
6 .
d 22
. 7
7
6
D6 .
:
1
.. 7
..
..
7
6 .
. 7
.
.
6 .
5
4
dn1 d n2 dnn

JC

K X
X
k1 xi [ck

2
k xi 2 mk k :

Data sources and analysis results

TTC in DARWin-ME
In DARWin-ME, 17 TTC groupings are defined to
represent the range of commonly encountered vehicle
distribution spectra and are developed primarily around
vehicle Classes 4, 5, 9 and 13. Default truck distribution
values for these 17 TTCs are developed in DARWin-ME
based on the data from the LTPP program, as shown in
Figure 1. It can be seen that the differences of some TTC

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International Journal of Pavement Engineering

Figure 1.

DARWin-ME TTC groupings (NCHRP 1-37A 2004).

Figure 2.

WIM stations with good data in Arkansas.

99

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100

Figure 3.

Q.J. Li et al.

Determination of the number of clusters.

groupings are insignificant. When site-specific truck traffic

data are absent, it is challenging to determine the TTC
group that most closely describes the design traffic stream
for a roadway under design.

with good truck classification data. Station ID numbers

are shown in the figure for those sites that only passed the
weight data check.

Cluster analysis results

WIM data
The AHTD operates 55 WIM data collection sites. WIM
traffic data often have errors (Tam and Von Quintus 2003;
Hallenbeck and Weinblatt 2004; Al-Yagout et al. 2005;
Tran and Hall 2007), and it is critical to conduct rigorous
quality checks before the data-sets are used for cluster
development. The TMG (FHWA 2001) recommends a
four-step data check procedure for vehicle classification
data and a two-step procedure to evaluate vehicle weight
data. As a result of processing multiple gigabytes of WIM
data provided by AHTD, 22 WIM stations passed the
vehicle classification data check and 10 stations were
considered good for truck weight data. Only the data-sets
that passed the data check were used in the following
cluster analysis. Figure 2 shows the location of the sites

Figure 4.

Simplified TTC clusters.

Before the K-means approach can be applied, it is

necessary to determine the optimal number of clusters.
The statistical information between the number of clusters
and the weighted sum of squares within clusters is
calculated and the relationship is plotted in Figure 3. The
point of maximum curvature change from this graph is
generally used as the optimal number of clusters. In this
case, the optimal number of clusters is set to be 4.
With the predetermined optimal number of clusters,
the K-mean approach is coded and implemented. The
simplified four clusters developed to characterise truck
traffic are illustrated in Figure 4, which shows that the
truck traffic patterns of the simplified clusters can be
distinguished by the relative proportion of Classes 4, 5 and
9 trucks. Based on the cluster analysis results, the criteria

International Journal of Pavement Engineering

Table 1.

Simplified TTC cluster criteria.

Per cent of AADTT

Cluster #

Cluster description

VC4

VC5

VC9

Cluster 1

Bus Dominant
Route
Single-Unit Truck
Dominant Route
Multi-Unit Truck
Dominant Route
Mixed Truck Route

.35

.30

,30

,30

.50

30 50

Cluster 2
Cluster 3

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Cluster 4

Figure 5.

Comparisons of truck distribution factors in Arkansas.

101

used for differentiating these four TTC clusters are

proposed in Table 1.
With the simplified TTC clusters developed, pavement
designers can make Level 2 traffic inputs using existing
WIM data based on prior engineering knowledge of the
traffic spectra for major truck types rather than depending
on site-specific truck data at a design location. Either
short- or long-term traffic counts are expensive, and these
resources are generally not available for secondary roads.
Even though this approach cannot provide traffic data as
robust as Level 1 site-specific traffic data, this simplified
approach will generate more accurate traffic data than state

Q.J. Li et al.

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102

Figure 6.

Comparisons of truck loading spectra in Arkansas.

average Level 3 input, as shown subsequently in this

paper.

Evaluation of the results

Data analysis
The AHTD traffic characteristic data for the 10 WIM
stations with good data were analysed. Figure 5 shows the
results of this analysis including the annual normalised
truck traffic adjustment factors, vehicle class distributions,
monthly adjustment factors and hourly distribution factors.
The axle load spectra for the most two dominant truck
classes (Classes 5 and 9) are shown in Figure 6. There are

only seven DARWin-ME TTC groups and three simplified

clusters with the good WIM data-sets in Arkansas. It is
observed that the simplified TTC clusters still provide
good representations of major truck traffic patterns
compared with those based on the DARWin-ME TTC
groupings.

DARWin-ME case study

The case study is located in Fort Smith near Newberry
Castle Road Overpass in Northwest Arkansas. WIM
station 170064 was installed, and site-specific truck traffic
data were obtained. For this case study, three different

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International Journal of Pavement Engineering

Figure 7.

103

Comparisons of case study results.

types of traffic inputs are compared:

. Scenario 1 Site specific data (WIM station

170064, Level 1 input).

. Scenario 2 DARWin-ME TTC-based approach

(Level 2 input).
Based on historic truck count data, the TTC group
for this site is classified as TTC 7: Major Mixed
Truck Route (Type I). The AHTDs historical traffic
data from the WIM stations that are classified as
TTC7 traffic pattern are identified and averaged to
generate the traffic inputs for this scenario.
. Scenario 3 Simplified cluster-based approach
(Level 2 input).
In order to determine the simplified cluster for this
site, prior engineering knowledge of the traffic
composition for this case study site should be
obtained. The fast-growing Fort Smith metropolitan
area is the home of Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods and J.B.
Hunt Transport Services Inc. As a result, it is
estimated that a significant amount of freight truck
traffic (mostly Class 9) is expected at WIM station
170064. Furthermore, to support the business
activities in the area, various vendors have
established corporate offices. The area includes
ranches, poultry industry and agriculture. This area
is also the home of the University of Arkansas.
Therefore, it is anticipated that the route have
significant amount of Class 5 local truck traffic, as
well as Class 9. If site-specific truck data or shortterm count data are not available for the design, it
can be assumed that the traffic on that location is a
Cluster 4 route Mixed Truck Route. The AHTDs

historical traffic data from the WIM stations that are

classified as the simplified Cluster 4 traffic pattern
are identified and averaged to generate the traffic
inputs for this scenario.
Other design inputs for this site were collected from
various pavement management systems provided by
AHTD. DARWin-ME runs are performed, and the
pavement performance in terms of fatigue cracking, total
rutting and international roughness index were predicted.
The comparisons of pavement performance and predicted
pavement lives for these three scenarios are shown in
Figure 7. It can be seen that the pavement does not reveal
significant differences in performance among these three
scenarios, especially those between the TTC-based
approach and the simplified cluster approach. The
simplified cluster-based approach provides slightly worse
performance. For example, at the end of 20-year design
life, the pavement section is predicted to have 2.98%,
2.51% and 2.06% of fatigue cracking, respectively, for the
simplified cluster-based approach, TTC-based approach
and site-specific scenario. As a result, the simplified
cluster-based approach generates a shorter pavement
predicted life of 7.67 years, compared with 9.75 years for
Scenario 1 analysis (site-specific data) and 7.92 years for
Scenario 2 analysis (DARWin-ME TTC-based approach).
Therefore, it can be concluded that for this case, the
simplified cluster approach can be used as a surrogate
grouping method to generate traffic inputs with reasonable
accuracy if truck traffic data were not available. The case
suggests that pavement or traffic engineers only need to
apply prior engineering judgements for a site under design
to determine whether the major truck composition of the

104

Q.J. Li et al.

site is Bus Dominant (Class 4), Single-Unit Truck

Dominant (Class 5), Multi-Unit Truck Dominant
(Class 9) or Mixed Truck (Classes 5 and 9).

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Conclusions and recommendations

In order to use historical WIM traffic data for DARWinME pavement design, it is important to quantify traffic
similarities and develop truck clusters. Rather than
addressing this problem based on sophisticated statistical
theory using mostly short-term site-specific truck-monitoring data, this paper has developed a simplified TTC
grouping method. This approach does not rely on sitespecific truck traffic distribution spectra data which are
generally not available for secondary roads. Instead, it
depends on prior engineering judgement of major truck
compositions for the site under design. For example, this
paper used AHTD WIM data and grouped the WIM sites
into four simplified TTC clusters: Bus Dominant Route
(Class 4), Single-Unit Truck Dominant Route (Class 5),
Multi-Unit Truck Dominant Route (Class 9) or Mixed
Truck Route (Classes 5 and 9).
A case study illustrates that using the traffic data inputs
based on the simplified cluster approach generates
performance predictions comparable to DARWin-ME
analysis. It is anticipated that the simplified approach can
be adopted as a surrogate clustering technique to prepare
Level 2 traffic inputs for DARWin-ME using historical
WIM data-sets, especially for less important projects such
as low-volume roads and secondary roads. This simplified
approach will likely generate more accurate traffic inputs
than those from the state or national average Level 3
inputs.
It should also be noted that the observations presented
in the paper originated from only a single case, and thus
more further research is needed.

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