Traffic Concepts

Fall 2008
CEE 320

CEE 320
Anne Goodchild
 2nd Phase of Class

Move from infrastructure or hard side of

transportation to operations or soft side of
transportation

Consider models of the vehicles moving

on the infrastructure and how to analyze
or manage them
Traffic flow theory
Queueing theory
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Traffic Time of Day Patterns
9.00%

8.00%

7.00%
Percent of Daily Traffic

6.00%

5.00%

4.00%
Rural Cars
3.00% Business Day Trucks
Through Trucks
Urban Cars
2.00%

1.00%

0.00%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
Fall 2008
CEE 320

Hour of Day
Fall 2008
CEE 320

From WSDOT 2003 Annual Traffic Report

Fall 2008
CEE 320

From WSDOT 2003 Annual Traffic Report

 Traffic Flow Theory

1. Basic Concepts
a. Flow Rate
b. Spacing
c. Headway
d. Speed
e. Density
2. Relationships
3. Example
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Concepts

Definitions
Volume, Speed, Density relationships
Speed
Space mean speed
Time mean speed

Uninterupted flow
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Flow (q)

The number of vehicles (n) passing some

designated roadway point in a given time interval
(t)

n
q
t

Units typically vehicles/hour

Volume typically refers to flow in an hour
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Flow

Text also uses flow rate

Flow varies over time

Analysis flow rate is peak 15-minute flow

within the hour of interest.
Fall 2008
CEE 320
CEE 320
Fall 2008

Spacing
 Spacing

The distance (ft) between successive

vehicles in a traffic stream, as measured
from front bumper to front bumper
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Headway (h)

The time (in seconds) between successive

vehicles, as their front bumpers pass a
given point.
n 1
q n

h
h
i
i 1
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Headway
Fall 2008
CEE 320

From HCM 2000

 Measuring Speed

Time mean speed

Taken at a specific point
Average of instantaneous speeds

Space mean speed

Harmonic speed
Look at a segment of roadway
Average speed of all vehicles in that segment
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Speed

Time mean speed (spot speed)

Arithmetic mean of all instantaneous vehicle
speeds at a given spot on a roadway section

Space mean speed (u)

The mean travel speed of vehicles traversing a
roadway segment of a known distance (d)
More useful for traffic applications
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Time Mean Speed

Arithmetic mean of speeds observed at some

point
Easy to measure
n

u i
ut i 1
n
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Space Mean Speed

It is the harmonic mean

l
us t t1l1 t 2l2 ... t nln
1
t n

More intuitive as measure of traffic, but

harder to measure
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Example time

You are in a vehicle traveling a total of 10 miles.

the first 5 miles you travel at 40 mph
the next 5 miles you travel at exactly 60 mph

What is your average speed over the time you spent

traveling that 10 miles?
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Average speed over time and average
speed over distance are different
10 miles

40 mph 60 mph
7.5 minutes 5 minutes

12.5 minutes

7.5 minutes 5 minutes

Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Example time

You are in a vehicle traveling a total of 10 miles.

the first 5 miles you travel at 40 mph
the next 5 miles you travel at exactly 60 mph

What is your average speed over the time you spent

traveling that 10 miles?

5 miles at 40 mph = 7.5 minutes

5 miles at 60 mph = 5 minutes
weighted average = (40(7.5) + 60(5))/(7.5 + 5) = 48 mph
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Example - distance

5 vehicles over a given 1 mile section take

1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 0.75 and 1.0 minutes respectively

Average travel time

5.45/5 = 1.09 minutes = 0.0182 hours

Therefore, average speed over that distance

1 mile/0.0182 hours = 55.05 mph
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Density (k)

The number of vehicles (n)

occupying a given length (l)
of a lane or roadway at a
particular instant

Unit of density is vehicles

per mile (vpm).

n q
k
l u
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Density (k)

Number of vehicles in
length of segment

Inverse of average spacing

n 1
k n

s
i 1
i
s
Fall 2008
CEE 320
CEE 320
Fall 2008

Density

k
u
q
 Traffic Flow Theory

A model for the relationship

between flow, density, and
speed

Represents idealized
behavior and fundamental
relationships

Useful for traffic analysis

Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Additional definitions
Free-flow speed (uf)
The speed at which vehicles will travel
unimpeded

Jam density (kj)

The density of vehicles in stopped traffic

Capacity (qm)
The maximum flow a section of roadway can
maintain
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Speed-density relationship

k
u u f 1
k
j
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Speed vs. Density

k
u u f 1
k
j
uf
Free Flow Speed
Speed (mph)

kj
Fall 2008

Jam Density
CEE 320

Density (veh/mile)
 Flow-density relationship

k 2
q uf k
k
j
Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Flow vs. Density

k 2
q uf k
k
j

Highest flow, Congested Flow

capacity, qm
FLow (veh/hr)

km kj
Uncongested Flow Optimal density Jam Density
Fall 2008
CEE 320

Density (veh/mile)
 Speed-flow relationship

u 2
q k j u
uf

Fall 2008
CEE 320
 Speed vs. Flow

u 2
q k j u
u
uf
Free Flow Speed
f
Uncongested Flow
Speed (mph)

um

Highest flow,
Congested Flow Flow (veh/hr) capacity, qm
Fall 2008
CEE 320

qm is bottleneck discharge rate

 Measurement

Density can easily be measured by remote

sensing, but has historically been difficult to
measure
Use occupancy obtained from loop-detectors
TMS more easy to measure than SMS
Use correction or approximation
Easy to measure with remote sensing (GPS)
Flow and headway are easy to measure
Occupancy is measure of density
Only need to measure 2 of 3
Fall 2008
CEE 320