Exercise Summary

This aim of this exercise is to study the traffic flow of existing intersections and
analyze the impact caused by adding a new development (proposed shopping
center) on the traffic operations off the same intersections. Adding a new
development will affect the vehicles flow (i.e. inflow and out flow) in all
connected intersections, and accordingly affecting its level of service.
Accordingly, the software is required to analyze the traffic flow of two
scenarios:

a. Without development 


b.With development 


In each of these conditions the software has to

a. Assign traffic flow to all inflow intersections based on the provided

 guidelines 


b.Balance the flow in all network intersections (Inflow = Outflow) 


c. Add the new development to the network and considering the new flow

 changes. 


d.Repeat steps a) and b) after adding the new development. 


In order to perform the traffic analysis, the software must follow the following
procedure: 1. To create and assess the “without development” condition as
follows:
a. The software should analyze the basic “without development”, the road configuration
shown in figure 1. Each road has 3 lanes with 4 possible traffic flow directions. Each
direction has pre-assumed guidelines for the traffic volumes. Initial assumption for all In-
flow lanes can be selected bases on the peak-hour traffic volumes.
b. The software should assign AM peak-hour traffic volumes to each lane in each
intersection. The traffic volumes shouldbe as per the following guidelines:

i. For left-turn lanes: between 50 and 70 veh/h. 


ii. For exclusive through lanes: between 250 and 400 veh/h (for each lane). 


iii. For shared right-turn/through lanes: 20-30 veh/h turning right, and 150- 200 veh/h
going through. 


iv. For shared left-turn/through lanes: 30-40 veh/h turning left, and 150-250 veh/h
going through. 


c. The software will balance all the volumes for all intersections, which means that the
total volume entering one end of a particular street should be equal to the total volume
departing the other end of that same street.

d. The software would provide a diagram that illustrates the lane configuration and traffic
volumes “without development scenario” using the figures attached to the assignment.

2. To create and assess the “with development” condition as follows:

a. The software must analyze the traffic flow change and the impact of adding a
proposed shopping center to the existing roads network. The road configuration
after adding the new development is shown in figure 2. Due to adding a new
development, a new intersection should be near the middle of the street to provide
accessibility to the new facility. 


b. The software would assume the increase in traffic volume in the AM peak hour
due to the proposed shopping center. The increase should be in the range between
150 veh/h to 250 veh/h with 50% of the volume originating from the proposed
center and 50% is destined to the proposed center. The increase in the traffic
volume should be accordingly distributed on the connected road lanes based on the
relevant weight percentages. For example; if the left lane is carrying 30% of the
volume on this road, this will carry an additional 30% of the new volume. 


c. The software must assign the new traffic volumes to each lane in each intersection
based on the original volumes (from step 1b) in addition to the new volumes
generated by the center (from step 2b). The volumes generated by the center should
be distributed equally between both directions with the turning volumes at each
 intersection must be proportional to the original turning volume at thatintersection. 


d. The software would provide a diagram that illustrates lane configuration and traffic
volumes “with development scenario”. 


Notes about the software development:

a. You may generate random numbers for the inflows (1 to 8 of Figure 1) using irand
function. 
 Make sure the generated numbers are in accordance with the relevant
weight percentages (right, 
 through, and left lanes). 


b. You do not have to worry about the outflows (with regards to calculating relevant
weight 
 percentages for different lanes). Just calculate the total out flow. 


c. You may utilize several auxiliary functions such as printFlow (to print the left,
right, through, 
 and total flows in a road), flowBalance (to balance the flows
and calculate all intersections 
 flows in both directions), and randFlow (to
randomly generate flows at the boundary roads). 


d. The boundary flows information can be stored in a matrix, say boundaryFlows. This
matrix will 
 have 8 rows (boundary roads 1 to 8) and 4 columns (left flow,
through flow, right flow, and total 
 flow). 


e. The function flowBalance() could receive two additional input arguments, a

Boolean variable 
 to indicate whether a development is included in the balance
analysis and an integer indicating the 
 total value of the development (between
150 veh/h and 250 veh/h). 


f. Make other assumptions if necessary, clearly state these assumptions. 


g. An out flow at an intersection is calculated based on the in flows of the other 3 roads.
For instance, 
 the flow from intersection B to intersection C is:
 FlowBC =
FlowAB(left) + Flow3(through) + Flow4(right)