"..

~, ~ ,

,1:,
!,
iI
~ 138
I. Prigogine. R. Herman and R. Anderson,
I,

I, observed. Further. bythethefunctional

collective regime relation form of T determines uniquely the flow in the

1
qcollective = T' Discussion of trafficstream measurements
and definitions
Likewise, T is also determined from the experimental flow curve and once
:It specified, according to our present ideas, it would have to combine with the f. L.C.EDlE
I
to yield
as the individual
a function portion we
of concentration of the
findobserved
that flow curve. Further, knowing T The Port of New York Authority, New York, U.S.A.

Ctransition T(ctransition) = I,
ABSTRACT
and thus we see
the transition thatare
point the all
concentration,
interrelated. speed and the value of the integral I at
The flow, concentration and speed of a traffic stream are
An examination of this model with respect to experimental results indi-
dI meaningful only as averages. The kinds of averages to be
cates a gratifying qualitative agreement with respect to the main features of employed vary. In some instances it is correct to use arith-
I ,tII the flow-concentration curve. The detailed aspects of this problem and some
, of the difficulties are to be presented elsewhere. metic averages, in others harmonic averages, and in still
II~~ others only space or time averages are suitable. In this
il- paper, the correct type of average to use for each situation is
REFERENCES derived from definitions of flow, concentration and speed of

"'-
,I the traffic stream which are tied to two different methods of '

'''- (1) PRIGOGlNE, I., A Boltzmann-like approach to the statistical theory of

traffic flow, Theory of Traffic Flow, Amsterdam, 1961 (Elsevier Publish.
measurement. New definitions, independent of method of
measurement and applicable to all kinds of measurements,
~ c:;
ii,... ing Company) pp.158-164. are then proposed. They consider each vehicle trajectory
'''== through a given area of space and time to be a vector (xi, ti)
(2) PRIGOGINE, I. and F. C. ANDREWS,A Boltzmann-like approach for where xi is the distance traveled and ti is the time taken by
e~ traffic flow, Opns.Res. 1960,8,789-97. the ith vehicle. Average flow and concentration values are
derived by averaging such vectors jointly in space and time.
il: (3) ANDERSON, R. L., R. HERMAN and I. PRIGOGINE,On the statistical dis- This approach unifies the former definitions and eliminates
.""
tribution function theory of traffic flow, Opns.Res. 1962, 10, 180-96. any ambiguity or question about methods of averaging. While
(4) PRIGOGINE, I., R. HERMAN and R. L. ANDERSON,On individual and developed for one-dimensional flow of roadway vehicles, it
collective flow, Proc.of the Belg.Roy.Acad., 1963. could be extended to other types of vehicles and to additional
dimensions of space.
(5) PRIGOGINE, I., P. RESIBOIS, R. HERMAN and R. L. ANDERSON, On a
Roy. Acad.,1Boltzmann-like
generalized 963. __
approach for traffic flow, Proc.of the BeIg.
INTRODUCTION
"
(6) BALESCU, R., I. PRIGOGlNE, R. HERMAN and R. ANDERSON, to be
published. In studying road traffic as a stream, Le., a fluid continuum, one is primari-
ly interested in three characteristics of streams, viz., their flow (quantity per
unit time), concentration (quantity per unit space), and speed (space per unit
time) and how they vary in space and time. In pursuit of this interest, several
methods of observation have been devised by various experimenters. Since
I,
road traffic is actually made up of discrete vehicles, rather than being in fact
," a continuous fluid, these methods generally are concerned with measurements
I: made on individual vehicles to determine the speed or transit time of the
ii
"
vehicle plus either its time headway or its spacing behind the vehicle ahead.
H "
The need to convert these discrete measurements into the desired continuum
,",l characteristics has led to precise definitions of the latter in terms of the for-
II'
mer for two common types of measurements, one type made at a point in space
and the other at a point in time. It is the objective of this paper to explore
certain implications of these definitions and td unify them into a single defini-
tion.

},
\
:1 141
140 L. C.Edie Traffic stream measurements and definitions
L
t PRESENT DEFINITIONS

Lighthill and Whitham1 have supplied precise definitions of the flow q and
the concentration k at a given point x and at a given time t by giving instruc-
-IS -10 -5

iii, tions for measuring them over a short increment of roadway dx, whose mid-
point is located at x, for a long time period T, whose mid-point is located at t,
II as follows:
q=n/T (1)

k='Edti
Tdx
(2)

x
where n is the number of vehicles crossing ~ during time T, and dti (i = 1,2, 10
3, ... n) is the sum of the times taken by the n vehicles to cross. The speed of
.t the stream was defined as

Gat
.., u=9._ndx (3)
k - 'E dti'
Id: In connection with (3), Lighthill and Whitham pointed out that it results in
::II:
the space-mean speed, which had previously been demonstrated by Wardrop2 to
2: be consistent with an average condition of q = u.k.
15
In addition to showing how to compute the space-mean speed from observa-
BC;
~
.
'-'
'.. tions made at a point, Wardrop also showed how to compute the stream speed
: !I:: , from a different set of measurements, using two aerial photographs of a long
..,-- section on roadway X taken a short time apart: In notation similar to the above,
j=:: the stream speed was given by Wardrop as
to- T ~
\f: ~dxi
u=n~' ()4
Fig. 1 Measurement of a traffic stream at point (x, t) by two
methods.
~ii!
where n is the number of vehicles on X at time t; and dxi (i = 1,2,3,... n) is
f--' the sum of the distances traveled by the n vehicles on X during the interval dt
1r::
1 between photographs. Short roadway-long time Short time-long roadway
..
'll: , The definitions of concentration and flow for aerial observations are ~dxi ~ui ~ui (10)
, , obviously the following: q = ~= ~ ~.1 ' (7) q=Xdt =X-=~Si'
n
(5)
it!
I
k=X
~ dxi
~ dti
k=Tdx =r
1
~ U'
~ 1
u:
=ri}' (8)
n '1-, (11)
k=X=~Si
H q = u. k = ""Xdf (6)
ndx n 'E dxi ~ ui
1\1 The foregoing six equations give two sets of definitions, both of which are (9) u = n dt = ---n-. (12)
'1 operational, Le., associated with how the measurements are made. One set is u =~ dti = ~!. '
concerned with stream behavior on a small increment of roadway over a long ui
I; period of time; the other with behavior during a small increment of time In the revised form, it is clear that the stream speed is the harmonic
averaged over a long section of roadway. Both methods are illustrated in mean of vehicle speeds measured at a point and the arithmetic mean of vehicle
Ii

" !'
Fig. 1.
It is easier to conceptualize equations 1-6 if they are not expressed in
terms of differentials dx and dt but instead are expressed in terms of the speed
speeds measured at an instant. It is also apparent that q at a point can be
taken as the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean time headway and that k at an
instant can be taken as the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean spacing. Traffic
al u{ and the headway hi or the spacing si of each vehicle (i = 1,2,3, . . .n). The engineers will recognize equation (10) as that given in the Highway Capacity
modified definitions are given below, where all summations are from i = 1 to Manual: namely, average speed divided by average spacing.3 But how to aver-
1m i =n. ' age k over time at a point or q over space at an instant is not self-evident.
II,

,
r
i.
,)1, 142 L. C. Edie Traffic stream measurements and definitions 143

I. If one has computed averages of qi, ki and ui for groups of ni vehicles ,counted,but with a slight shifting of the trajectories of 6 and -7 we might
passing a point and wishes to combine two or more of them, what kinds of !obtainvalues of 14/T or 12/T. There,is a random source of error which
averages should be taken for each? If ti = ni!qi is the duration of the ith flow :dependson just where T is taken or on small fluctuations in vehicle trajec-
il;, level, the formulas for combining two values or any number of values are as t~ries. A similar source or"error exists for the 'observation in the :Xdt area.
follows, as derived from the original definitions.
TABLE I
Short roadway observations combined for different times
: 11 Average Flow q, Concentration k and Speed u for n Values of qi, ki, ui'
n nl + n2 tlql + t2~
!
q=-=-= =-,2:;tiqi (13) (All summations are from i = 1 to i = n)
T tl + t2 ti + t2 2:; ti
,,1,I n single
2:;!. nl + ~ Measurements vehicles.
k --
- ui -
- ul u2 - tl kl + t2k2 =-,2:;tiki
(14) l at a point
General n equal slices n equal groups
n
n -
II, . 1I'
u n
- ~!. -
T tl + t2

nl + n2
nl + n2 -
tl + t2

tl ql + t2q2
tl kl +
2:; ti

t2k2
--.Z; tiqi
- Z;~ki
(15) I
q

k
Z;tiqi
2:;ti
tiki
Z; qi
n
2:;ki
2:; l/qi
2:;ki/qi
2:;hi
2:;l/ui
, !!!! ui ul u2 ti n 2:; l/qi Z; hi
~ n
,; Short time observations combined for different road sections 2:; tNi qi n -
I ,II! I u 2:; I/Ui
2:; ki Z; ki!qi
lie If xi = ni/ki is the distance over which the concentration ki was measured, 2:; tiki
"
"...I!
" the formulas for combining are
Measurements
~... '
il::J :' q---ui nlul + n2u2
- xl ql + x2q2
--,2:;xiqi (16)
at an instant
k qi/ki Z;ui
~, Ii - si - xl + X2 - Xl + X2 - 2:;Xi L xiqi qi
(==: q n k l/ki Z;si
n nl + n2 xlkl + x2k2 L xi
~~ : k -~,2:;Xiki (17)
- X - Xl + x2 - Xl + x2 - 2:; Xi
ki n -n
!he' k
2:;xiki
". ui nlul + n2u2 xlql + x2~ ~ xiqi n 2:;l/ki 2:;si
u=-= =-. (18) 2:;xi
n nl + n2 xlkl + x2k2 ~ xiki
~i u
Z; xiqi qi -2:;qi/ki 2:;ui
I Thus continuum values for the same roadway taken at adjacent time n n
.III'! Xiki 2:;ki
"~ periods may be combined using a time-weighted average of flow and concen-
tration. Average speed (space-mean) is the harmonic mean or the time-
weighted flow divided by the time-weighted concentration. For adjacent sec- .* Expressed in terms of ui' and either hi = headwaytime, or 8i = spacing.
~ tions of roadway measured during the same time period continuum values may
I,
be combined using a space-weighted average of flow and concentration. Aver- A more serious question arises if one uses too long a strip of roadway dx
age speed (space-mean) is the arithmetic mean or the space-weighted flow
divided by the space-weighted concentration. as shown by the dashed lines. The number of vehicles which fully cross dx
These formulas are retabulated in Table I, which includes rules for aver- during T is then only a fraction of those arriving and departing during this
I, time, and the original definition cannot be used. One definition is not useful for
II aging in three special cases; namely, for equal slices of time or space, for measurements over a long roadway and the other is not useful for measure-
Ii equal size groups of vehicles and for the virtual values of single vehicles. ments over a long time.
The definitions given originally by Wardrop and by Lighthill and Whitham
II have been' put into a variety of forms of possible use to traffic engineers and
I experimenters concerned with different circumstances. The various forms are REVISED DE FINITIONS
11" consistent with the original definitions, but difficulties may arise in applying .
the rules.
Referring again to Fig. 1, one can see that, for the observation on dx for For early investigators, observations made on a short section. of roadway
time T, vehicles from -7 to +5 inclusive traverse dx. The measured flow is over time seemed the easiest way to take data and such measurements were
II therefore q =l3/T. Vehicle #6 fails to make it across and therefore is not adequate to the development of present-day continuum theories. It is becoming
".
11I1

I:
II
It-
.
, 145
144 L. C. Edie Traffic stream measurements and definitions

increasingly desirable, however, to study behavior over longer sections of road. In connection with computing averages using the proposed definitions, one
way for various periods of time. It has also become desirable to observe pIa. ,observes,with reference to the above and Table I, that in all cases flow and
toons of vehicles traveling in space and time and to convert these observations 'concentration are combined by using space-time means and speed is always
into continuum variables. How to do these precisely is not self-evident. There, ithi!meanflow divided by the mean concentration. Thus to combine n values of
appears to be a need for definitions applicable to vehicle trajectories through ;~i'ki,ui for domains of areas ~, the following identical rules apply:
any space-time domain.
If the numerator and denominator of equation (1) are multiplied by dx, we I. aiqi I. aiki L aiqi (23)
obtain q=_'!; ai k=-,L ai u=-' !; aiki
ndx
q=Tdx' (19) I: In connection with generality, one can show, as follows, how the' original
(twosets of definitions can be derived from the proposed definitions.
The numerator is the aggregate distance traveled by all n vehicles on dx,
.!!.
Le., the aggregate vehicular transport, and the denominator is the area of a
rectangular space-time domain of space length dx and time length T in which
they traveled. Equation (2) k = !; dti/Tdx, already gives the concentration as
. Z
:; n
4111 the total time spent on dx by the n vehicles divided by the area of the space-
time domain.
I_II Equation (6) q = L dxi/Xdt, gives the flow as the total distance traveled by
"
the n vehicles on X divided by the area of the rectangular space-time domain
..."
r 11 Xdt. If equation (5) k = n/X is multiplied by dt in both numerator and denomi-
I":: nator, it gives the concentration as total time spent divided by the area of the
j2:: space-time domain.
AtI~j It is, therefore, feasible to combine the original two sets of definitions into
"'11 ..
one set which is independent of methods of measurement. First, we define a
f4-"
~.-II
"
space-time domain as any enclosed portion of a space-time plane such as
jIIO!"
,1 shown in Fig. 1, the area of which is measured in unit rectangles., If we mea-
'1.==:: sure space in miles and time in hours, the area of a space-time domain is
i~:~'1 measured in mile-hours.
The flow q of a traffic stream (measured in vehicles/hour), may then be
i'~" defined as the aggregate distance traveled by all vehicles (measured in vehicle.
,- miles) passing through a space-time domain divided by the area of the domain.

q = L;i (20)
~I"
where xi is the distance traveled in the area A by the ith vehicle.
';I The concentration k of a traffic stream (measured in vehicles/mile) is the
aggregate time spent by all vehicles (measured in vehicle-hours) in passing
~ through a space-time domain divided by the area of the domain.
.. (t
,. = !;Ati T --t
k (21) t-
II' where ti is the time spent in the domain by the ith vehicle. Fig. 2 Trajectories of a group of n vehicles over a distance X.
The speed of a traffic stream in a given space-time domain is the aggre-
gate distance traveled divided by the aggregate time spent by all vehicles
traversing it, Le.,
Fig. 2 shows a space-time domain bounded by a section of roadway of
U -~ LX' (22) length X and by the trajectories of vehicles 0 and n. We assume that one vehi-
- !; t.1 cle is just outside this domain and one vehicle is barely inside, or that both are
These definitions are strange in relation to our general concepts of flow half in 'and half out and count as one vehicle. If the curvature of the trajecto-
and concentration, but they are consistent with previous definitions, independ- ries can be neglected the area is
(
ent of particular methods of measurement, explicit and unvarying in methods L+L '" (24)
I ~ of averaging, and have a reduced sensitivity to random errors which result
from measurements assumed to have been made at a point or for an instant.
A=TX_X2
(
2 Uo un )
!
....
 147
Traffic stream measurements and definitions
146 L. C.Edie
Vehicle 0
where T is the total time of interest and Uo and un are the average speeds In
traversing X for the two boundary vehicles.
2: xi nX
(25) E
q = x- =
TX---n - +-
e
~uo
X2 1)
un .u.
"I fJ;
'I which reduces to equation (1), because as X ~ 0; q ~;. Similarly, Vehicle n

2:X
2: ti ui
(26)
k = A = TX--X2 -1 +-1
2 Uo un. ( )
which reduces to equation (8) as X approaches O.
"
2: xi n
.~ u = T""f.""
1
= -y-
2:- , (27)
ui
dltl_II or the harmonic mean speed.
Equations (25)-(27) can be used to compute average stream values existing
-. " in a platoon of n vehicles traversing a roadway of length X. The flow carried
I =~ by such a platoon Is independent of the speeds of Intermediate vehicles and
4I!'!"
C" depends only on the first and last vehicles, whereas k and u depend on all vehi-
C~ cles. T_ (t)
-II Fig. 3 shows a space-time domain bounded by a period of time T and by
-II
the trajectories of vehicles 0 and n.
L -I
,.
""",.
-II
]~II
The area and stream characteristics described in Fig. 3 are then: Fig. 3 Trajectories of a group of n vehicles over time T.
... " 2S00
... , 1 1
A=XT-- T2 - +-
r.::
!~~~
2uoun ( ) (28)

"Ii
... "
2:xi
2:.!
ui 2:ul
(29) I
.
"
,
f
polnU en at 5-..cond
intervah.
XT-"'I'r-+-
'\,,, q =-r = ~uo
T2 C un
1 ) = X-- 2uo
T C
-+-
1 )
un .c 2000 1 .
,;; 2:ti n
k=-r= T l 1 (30)I lSOO

i! X--
2uo (
-+-
)
un

2: Xi 2: Ui 1000-
If
U = T""f.""
1 = 11 (31)
~
r When T approaches 0, the above equations become identical with the original !.. ~\
definitions for an instant of time. These equations can be used where T is "
\
significantly greater than 0 to compute average stream values existing in a SOO 'r-
'
platoon of n vehicles for the given time period. The concentration in such a I
I
.. platoon depends only on the speeds of the first and last vehicles.
I,
~ Plow Aero.. lnter..ction
,: :.....-

.
I
..
APPLICATIONS TO AERIAL OBSERVATION OF PLATOONS "
.....
.
o. so 100 150 2bO 'SO

~! o concentration (It)
Vehicl../Hl1.
-
...

Ii Fig. 4 shows th. behavior within a platoon of 13 vehicles passing through

an intersection in one lane for a period of 30 seconds. Each point represents Fig. 4 Platoon flow at an intersection when not completely
stopped by the traffic signal.

,"-
 148 L. C.Edie 149
Traffic stream measurements and definitions
2500
an average over 5'seconds. In the first 5 seconds, the first vehicle was just
starting through the intersection on a green light, the next three vehicles were
stopped behind the first and the rest of the vehic1.es were approaching those
stopped. During the last five seconds all but the last vehicle had crossed or ~
entered the intersection. One sees in this curve a flow-concentration relation- 2000 Painu an ae ,~:)ne-"cond
lntervall.
ship much different from the usual ones for averages at a point over long
periods of time. The dashed lines connect points showing the flow-concentra-
tion values existing in the intersection. They are interesting by showing a con'
stant concentration with flow increasing from 45 vehicles/hour in the first 5 1500
seconds to more than 2000 vehicles/hour in the sixth 5-second period, with an
average of 1450.
2500

. phtaon Stopping
~
point.
IncetVah.
are at S-a.cond
~
~
1000

4811 "T
..
2000

GI= f
> . llatoon Expandlna
, '1 500
....
I'~. ~, ,
=: 1500

2:
-. c: $0 11)0-- 1\0 200 - - 2S0

I'-II , Concentration (k) Vehidu/Mlh

. r=:
, ... 141
!!: 1000
;J.
I !J'
..... ,,/ Fig. 6 Platoons compressing and expanding in a traffic wave
;;: I
I
I at the George Washington Bridge.
I~f:
I :.= ~
i lib II'
~
i... II
500 ,
I
I

caused most of the vehicles to come to a full stop for periods of one or a few
" I
I
~. " I~
seconds. These curves describe a situation which is partially like that in Fig. 4
" J Flow Acr'o" Inhnectlon and part like Fig.5. It is interesting in its dissymmetry, however, between the
~"
"",.. compression behavior and expansion behavior. In this case the mean decelera-
JS:' 50 100 1'50
tion was about 20 per cent higher than at the intersection, a result which might
Concentution (k) reasonably occur because a driver does not anticipate a full stop in the center
of a bridge as well as he anticipates it at an intersection with a traffic signal.
.~~ Fig. 5 Platoons stopping and starting at an intersection. The data used in Figs. 4- 6were obtained by high altitude aerial photography
with photos taken at 5-second intervals. For Figs. 4 and 5 no smoothing of the
I data was made. Fig. 6 was developed, however, by drawing smooth curves
through the coordinate (x, t) points for each vehicle. The points plotted in Fig. 6
'fI Fig. 5 shows behavior within a platoon of 14 vehicles coming to a stop at are estimates of platoon behavior at one-second intervals. Without averaging
an intersection and 9 vehicles starting up from a stopped queue. Both are in space and time, one would not obtain such smooth transitions from second to
shown on the same chart to reveal the close ~ymmetry between the two beha- second. At a point, one-second intervals would either pass one vehicle or no
" viors; thus suggesting similar absolute rates of deceleration and acceleration vehicle so that the second-by-second values of flow would be either 3600
at this location. These dynamic q-k curves are also quite different from vehicles per hour or zero.
'!
~
f
, steady-state curves obtained at a point, but are similar to steady-state curves
derived by the Road Research Laboratory from experiments on a closed 100p.1
They agree even more closely with an assumption that speed is a linear func- APPLICATION TO DATA AT A POINT
tion of spacing.
Fig. 6 shows behavior within platoon of 6 and 5 vehicles caught in a decele . It is feasible to deal with single vehicles for some purposes. The proposed
ration-accelerati0i wave on a lane of the George Washington Bridge. The wav definitions suggest implications not yet explored with respect to the virtual

...1... !
 Traffic stream measurements and definitions 151
150 L. C. Edie

traffic flows of single vehicles. Methods for dealing with single vehicles in I-- \+1--i 1
some statistical manner enable estimates to be made of average virtual values! Outflow of Ut'
which are of considerable interest. Such virtual values are important in study- iT
II
- - - --~'
I
ql - hl+1

ing points of a roadway which cannot be properly studied with real flow values (1-1) ( (1) (ll1) h-
hl + hl+1
obtained by averaging over time intervals or groups of vehicles. In situations I'
1
~
like those existing in tunnels, real flow values may not reveal the roadway _u _L_J
capacity at the observed point because they are influenced too much by condI- h1 --i Inflow of ut' ql --.;;-
tions upstream or downstream from the point of observation. Traffic behavior
in a tunnel upstream and downstream from a bottleneck was reported by Edle
and Foote some years ago.5 78.- Average H.adway A..ociated with. Particular Vehicle (1).
Another reason for the use of virtual values is that averages taken over
even a relatively few vehicles in sequence tend to fluctuate considerably and to
hide detail effectE; of individual vehicle speeds on rates of flow..
The usual method of computing virtual values is to classify vehicles by
.
speed and to compute the arithmetic mean spacing of the vehicles foundin eachli Outflow .peed of flow q . +1 ' U . u1_1

fer. speed class. The formulas in Table I under single vehicles may be used, and r---'
the concentration for vehicles at the same speed becomes simply the recipro- / :
,,411' ,1
cal of the average spacing, independently of whether data is taken at a point in (1-1)
/ !--
: (1) 't. (1+1). _
u-r---r-2
space or a point in time. h1+1 --t - +-
When virtual values are computed for single vehicles, it is not obvious that __ _1_ -' 1 ul_1 u1
hi -.t Inflow.peedof flowq -~. U- u1
~i the formulas used imply the assignment of a particular space~time domain to
each vehicle. For example, the formulas in Table I for a point in space imply
-;1 7b.- Avarage Speed A..octated with. Particular H.adway hi-
IC the assignment of a space-time domain on the approach or upstream side of tb
.... point of observation. This results from the use of the time headway in front of
,- the vehicle to compute its virtual flow. If, instead, one used the headway behind Fig. 7 Virtual inflow and outflow for a single measure of
.=:
I- the vehicle, there is an implicit assumption of a space-time domain on the exit headway time at a point.
:= or downstream side of the point. In the first case one is estimating the rate of
f inflow to the point and in the second the rate of outflow. For an estimate of
conditions at the instant the vehicle is observed one would need to average the
two headways.
x
to-hI+l -t
t- h'1 ';--7--'
~ Some of the relationships between the headways used in computing virtual , / I
flow values and the space-time domains implicit in such use are given in b
Figs. 7 and 8. Fig.7a illustrates a method of associating two time headways
with the vehicle they encompass. Fig.7b associates the speeds Of two adjacent o
I vehicles with the headway time between them. An estimate of the throughflow
Fig. 7a involves an arithmetic mean of the two headways or an harmonic mean
of the two virtual flows, and in Fig. 7b it involves the use of an arithmetic me
of the two transit times or an harmonic mean of the two speeds.
~ Fig. 8 illustrates the type of virtual flows measured by associating variou
time intervals with a particular vehicle when both entering and exiting time h1
intervals are observed. It might be noted that conditions within the measured
zone a-b are described by the departure headway time hi" rather than the
approach headway time hi, although the latter seems to be more generally Re8d...y A..ocleted nth Ul T~e of Virtual Flow Me..ured
employed.
Flow lnto Polnt (e)
Figs. 7 and 8 do not include all possible correct ways of computing virtual h1
values for single or paired vehicles. In particular they do not illustrate the h1+l
It out of ..
way to treat two vehicles as a platoon, but how to do this should be obvious Flow lnto Polnt (b)
hI
from the previous discussion. .
It out of It
In general, one would expect little difference between one speed-headway h~+l
combination and another. However, there may be cases where differences are
not small or where small differences would be significant. Fig. 9 illustrates Fig. 8 Virtual inflow and outflow of vehicle (i) for two mea-
one case where the difference between estimated inflow and estimated outflow sures of headway time.

I,
Ii
II
~
 152 L. C.Edie
Traffic stream measurements and definitions 153
2500
GENERAL DISCUSSION
8
In view of the foregoing it appears that definitions of flow, concentration
I andspeed which are usable for any kind of observations are feasible and have
: 2000 practical applications. Without them, the computed results of observations
maybe biased, erroneous or hide some significant feature of the traffic
stream. In reviewing some of the published literature, and some of the com-
.putationsmade in the past at the Port Authority, one can observe errors of
1500 ,twentyper cent or more in averages taken over a number of vehicles or
:periods of time for observations at a point. Most of such errors involve the
~Cr1tl'" =:~7' 23 H P H .incorrect use of arithmetic averages when harmonic or time or space averages

i4l1
~
!..
1000 / ~..;ri~: W'.
wouldbe correct. Such errors now arise mostly in averaging values of q and
'ksince Wardrop made it clear2 that speeds observed at a point in space should
:beaveraged harmonically. As with speed, the use of arithmetic averages for q
andk values also results in overestimates. If the value of flow is derived from
a product of u. k, and both u and k are overestimated, a large error can result.
d~
,-,. 500 . InflowV.11l" In connection with the reduction of random and non-random errors, if the
~ Outflow V.l""8 proposed definitions are applied to rectangular space-time domains, the mea-
surement accuracy increases with the number of vehicles involved on each
[~~~ axis. With point or instant observations slight shifts of the time period or
'.'~I. space length can affect the count by one or two vehicles causing differences in
~fr: o r
o 2> measurements Of.!.,
Ice: 50 75 100 125 n or! n for n vehicles. However, if one employs a rectangu-
Concentration (It) Vehlcl../Hile
lar domain covering several vehicles in both directions a slight shift in any
I~:"
.1=2 dimension would have a small effect on the measurement.
,i "'1" Fig. 9 Inflow-outflow analysis of bottleneck at the Holland
tl=:: Tunnel during police waving experiments.
...~ FUTURE WORK
1:"
,-
This paper has covered only a small part of the question of traffic stream
e for a given speed may be significant. This figure shows data taken at the measurement and definition. The definitions proposed herein for q, k and u
bottleneck location in the Holland Tunnel when police were waving vehicles to suggest a new way of looking at these stream values. The flow q has become
move faster. Under these circumstances, the sudden drop in flow, previously theunit rate of vehicle transport in vehicle-miles per mile-hour. In a steady-state
observed to Occur in tunnels at a critical speed and spacing,6 has been ampli- condition on a roadway of length X, the rate of transport would be qX, in vehi-
fied by the police action. An analysis of both inflow and outflow helps to identi cle-miles per hour, a quantity which might well be defined as the roadway pro-
duction rate. Over a time T, the total production achieved by such a roadway
I fy more closely the conditions under which this sudden drop in flow occurs.
It also may help to understand the predominant behavior of vehicles tra-
veling at other speeds. If a traffic stream near capacity flow at a bottleneck
would be P = qXT measured in vehicle-miles.
Similarly, traffic concentration becomes the unit rate at which delay is
is alternately in a state of expansion and compression, successive headways accruing to vehicles on the roadway, measured in vehicle-hours per' mile-hour.
~
would tend to increase or decrease with time depending On whether the vehi- In a steady-state condition on roadway X, the rate is kX vehicle-hours per
cle's speed is above or below optimum. At high speeds compression should hour, and total delay in time T is D = kXT vehicle-hours. These terms might
It produce decreasing headways and expansion increasing ones. For slow speeds be useful because they are additive. If the production and delay for one road-
the Opposite would be expected. Thus a difference between virtual inflow and way are Pl> Dl and for a second are P2, D2' the production and delay for both
outflow suggests an imbalance between expansion and compression, Le., acce- roadways are P1 + P2, Dl + D2. If one doubles roadway length or width and
leration vs. deceleration. There is one exception and it Occurs at the optimum the production more than doubles, the overall roadway productivity has been
speed at which either expansion or compression would tend to produce increas increased.
ing headways. For high speed one expects a slower foll()wing vehicle and Another consideration for future study would be the normalization of flow
therefore a compression; for slow speeds, the Opposite. Thus, generally, out- and concentration for different vehicle lengths so that q would be expressed in
flow should be greater than inflow at all speeds, other than the critical speed. miles of vehicle per hour and k in miles of vehicle per mile. Or flow might be
Fig. 9 is compatible with this hypothesis except for one point, but it should be better normalized for weight so that q would be mass flow in vehicle-tons per
noted hour and k would be mass concentration in vehicle-tons per mile. Both types
critical.that points other
. than around critical speed comprise more data than at
of normalizing would tend to reduce fluctuations resulting from different vehi-
cle sizes and weights, but require more sophisticated instrumentation.
I~

Ib
 154 L. C. Edie

A further thought would be to look at the momentum and kinetic energy

behavior in traffic streams. If m is the average mass of a vehicle, the momen'~
turn of a steady-state traffic stream would be mqX in vehicle-ton-miles per Overtaking in free traffic
hour. This is the same as the mass transport rate or production for the road.
way. The kinetic energy would be l~mquX for a steady state. It is interesting;
to speculate whether the maximization of the kinetic energy of the stream may W. LEUTZBACH AND P. EGERT
in some circumstances be preferable to a maximization of its momentum or
rate of flow. Lehrstuhl und Institut fur Verkehrswesen an der Technischen Hochschule
," Fridericiana, Karlsruhe, Germany.

.
.I"
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dusseldorf, Germany

The author wishes to thank Justin Dickins of the Operations Standards ABSTRACT
Division and Bob Foote of the Tunnels and Bridges Department for supplying
the field data used to develop Figs. 4-6 and 9, and to thank Wesley Hurley and The distributions of speeds of vehicles in space and time
~IJI. Walter Helly for helpful discussion. are described. The theoretical rate at which overtakings
dI= occur in a traffic stream where there is no interference be-
I
,.
REFERENCES tween vehicles is derived. The theoretical results are com-
pared with observations.
1,,==
= (1) LIGHTHILL, M. J. and G. B. WHITHAM. On kinematic waves, n. A theory
.1 of traffic flow on long crowded roads. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 1955,229, There is "free" road traffic when drivers of vehicles are able to act inde-
217-345.

!1
--
.:C
(2) WARDROP, J. G. Some theoretical aspects of road traffic reasearch.
pendently, i.e. when the actions of one driver interfere little or not at all with
those of another.
Proc.Instn Civ.Engrs, Part n, London 1952,325-78. Hence "free" describes traffic which is entirely different from the pattern
I-
,
.;:
==
(3) BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS. Highway Capacity Manual Washington,
treated in the "Car-following Theory", where it is assumed that motorists be-
D.C., 1950. (Dept. of Commerce, U.S. Govt. Printing Office). have interdependently. ,
f (4) WARDROP, J. G. Experimental speed/flow relations in a single lane.
It is obvious that these definitions describe only border cases. In 1954
Egertl defined the latter type of traffic as "interlinked" traffic.
-= Proc.2nd Int. Symposium on Theory of Road Traffic Flow, Paris, 1965, Actual traffic does not correspond to either of the border types. It is
... (O.E.C.D.) pp.l04-19. neither "free" nor "interlinked" in the true sense of the definitions but partly
free and partly interdependent, that is to say, "partly interlinked".
i
;;
(5)

(6)
EDIE, L.C.and R.S.FOOTE. Traffic flow in tunnels. Proc.Highw.Res.
Bd, 1958,37, 334-44.
EDIE, L. C. Car following and steady-state theory for non-congested
Even though science has abolished the principle of "natura non saltat", the
above statement remains valid when it cernes to characteristics of a universe
of independent events. The theory of free traffic deals with such characteris-
traffic. Opns Res., 1961,9 (1),66-76.
! tics. Thus its results may well apply in areas where the actual assumptions
for the theory are no more strictly valid. Therefore it is to be expected that
these results will retain at least an approximate value in the area of partly
interlinked traffic.
I

To give a more detailed definition of "free road traffic" the following con-
I ~
ditions should be present:
11
(i) Time headways between vehicles should be independent.
(ii) Distance headways should be independent.
\n (Iii) Vehicle-speeds should be independent.
.Ii
.11 Both time and distance headways should be d~l$tributed exponentially (num-
ber of vehicles should have a poisson distribution in both space and time).
'If:: M and D are constants. t is a measure of time, and x a distance measured
along the road. Then the probability of observing a vehicle at a fixed point
within the time interval (t, t + dt) is

r dp = M . dt + o(dt)
(1)

i'-