TRAFFIC STUDIES

Several variables have been discussed in the previous chapter. They provide basic
information necessary for meaningful planning, design, and analysis of highways and other road
transportation infrastructure. Equally important data are obtained or collected in the field.
Traffic studies generally involve time and may entail much cost. It is therefore necessary to plan
carefully all data collection efforts.

VOLUME STUDIES
It is conducted to obtain factual information on the number of vehicles and/or persons
that pass at a specified point on the highway system. The resulting volume data are expressed in
relation to time.
 Vehicle Class
Time Total
Car Bus Truck Jeepney Others
6:00-6:15 llll - llll - llll -lll 18 llll - l 6 llll 5 0 l 1 30
6:15-6:30 llll - llll - llll -llll - ll 22 llll - ll 7 llll - llll 9 ll 2 0 40
6:30-6:45 llll - llll -lll 13 llll - llll 9 llll - l 6 llll 5 llll 4 37
A. Variations

Sample daily variation of traffic volume within a week

B. Flow Maps

Sample flow map of annual daily traffic

C. Intersection Diagram

Sample intersection flow summary

pavement. A stopwatch is then used to measure the “travel time” of the vehicle within the “trap”.

The length of the trap is divided by the travel time to estimate the speed. The observer must be well

trained in order to reduce error attributed to parallax, a common error in most visual methods of

conducting surveys.
 Speed Mid class, Frequency, Cumulative
% Frequency f*x f*x^2
class, kph x f Frequency
10-19.9 15 1 0.91 0.91 15 225
20-29.9 25 4 3.64 4.55 100 2500
30-39.9 35 8 7.27 11.82 280 9800
40-49.9 45 11 10.00 21.82 495 22275
50-59.9 55 20 18.18 40.00 1100 60500
60-69.9 65 28 25.45 65.45 1820 118300
70-79.9 75 16 14.55 80.00 1200 90000
80-89.9 85 15 13.64 93.64 1275 108375
90-99.9 95 5 4.55 98.18 475 45125
100-109.9 105 2 1.82 100.00 210 22050
Total 110 100.00 6970 479150

Mean, 𝑥̅
∑(')* 𝑓' 𝑥' 6,970
𝑥̅ = = = 63.36 𝑘𝑝ℎ
∑(')* 𝑓' 110
Variance, 𝜎 7
𝑛 ∑(')* 𝑓' 𝑥'7 − (∑(')* 𝑓' 𝑥' )7 110 × 479,150 − 69707
𝜎7 = = = 344.09
𝑛(𝑛 − 1) 110 × (110 − 1)
Standard deviation, 𝜎

𝜎 = ?𝜎 7 = √344.09 = 18.55 𝑘𝑝ℎ

Spot speed frequency histogram

30

25
Frequency

20

15

10

0
10-19.9 20-29.9 30-39.9 40-49.9 50-59.9 60-69.9 70-79.9 80-89.9 90-99.0 100-
109.9
Speed, Kph
 Series 1
100
90
Cummulative % Frequency

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
10-19.9 20-29.9 30-39.9 40-49.9 50-59.9 60-69.9 70-79.9 80-89.9 90-99.9 100-109.9
Series 1

Midclass 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105

@50th Frequency – Minimum Speed = 60 Kph

@85thth Frequency – Maximum Speed = 80 Kph
 Sample travel time and delay field sheet
Travel Time and Delay Survey
Test Car Technique Field Shit
Route: Direction
Dates: Weather:
Trip
Trip Started: Time_______________________ Ended: Time_____________________
Location: _____________________________
Location:____________________________________ _____________________________________
_ _
Recorder: Driver:
Intersection Midblock
Station Stops Slow Stops Slows
T1 T2 Delay Cuase Cause T1 T2 Delay Cause Location Cause
 Summary of travel time and delay survey along national highways in Calamba, Laguna
:
Intersection Delay Travel Travel Travel
Distance
Station T1 T2 time Time Speed
(m) Delay
(mm:ss) (mm:ss) (mm:ss) (sec) (kph)
1. Gasoline Station 10:47:08 10:47:08 3.44
2. Bacnotan 600 10:48:12 10:57:35 0:09:23 0:10:27 625 9.29
3. Walmart 400 11:00:02 11:00:10 0:00:08 0:02:35 155 6.66
4. Intersection C 300 11:01:04 11:02:55 0:01:51 0:02:45 165 4,8
5. Intersection A 100 11:03:21 11:04:10 0:00:49 0:01:15 75 7.06
5. Riles 300 11:06:08 11:06:43 0:00:35 0:02:33 153 3.18
7. Y-junction 300 11:08:42 11:12:23 0:03:41 0:05:40 340 2.98
8. Chipeco 100 11:13:37 11:14:24 0:00:47 0:02:01 121 4.39
9. Belarmino 50 11:15:01 11:15:05 0:00:04 0:00:41 41

4.62
Total 2,150 0:17:18 0:27:57 1677
(Ave)

Time-Distance Diagram
Travel Time – Distance Diagram
Sample filled up sheets for license plate method
 Figure 4.9
Diagram showing how moving observer travels back and forth
 Figure 4.10
Test car for traveling at average speed must have a bet of (o-p) = 0
Assuming that flow rate is the same within any time period, then,
𝑜−𝑝
𝑞=
𝑡E − 𝑡FGH*
or
𝑜−𝑝
𝑡FGH* = 𝑡E +
𝑞
in case the test car traveling at speed lower than the average speed.
Also,
𝑝−𝑜
𝑞=
𝑡FGH7 − 𝑡E
or
𝑝−𝑜
𝑡FGH7 = 𝑡E +
𝑞
in case of the test car travelling at speed faster than the average speed.
It can be seen that both cases, the same result is obtained for the value of the average travel time,
Hence, in general,
𝑝−𝑜
𝑡FGH = 𝑡E +
𝑞
The average speed of the traffic stream over the section L is obtained:
𝐿
𝑢=
𝑡FGH
The density may be computed as derived quantity:
𝑞
𝑘=
𝑢
 Eastbound trips Westbound trips
Run # M O P T, min Run # M O P T, min
E1 113 10 12 3.02 W1 120 12 15 2.8
E2 118 13 9 2.9 W2 119 15 21 2.6
E3 112 16 20 3.4 W3 112 12 9 3.05
E4 99 9 11 2.7 W4 120 10 10 2.6
E5 105 20 8 3.2 W5 115 25 13 2.9
E6 110 17 7 3.3 W6 102 16 12 2.7

Solution: Eastbound Trips Westbound Trips

Run # M O P T, min Run # M O P T, min
E1 113 10 12 3.02 W1 120 12 15 2.8
E2 118 13 9 2.9 W2 119 15 21 2.6
E3 112 16 20 3.4 W3 112 12 9 3.05
E4 99 9 11 2.7 W4 120 10 10 2.6
E5 105 20 8 3.2 W5 115 25 13 2.9
E6 110 17 7 3.3 W6 102 16 12 2.7
Total 657 85 67 18.52 Total 688 90 80 16.65
Average 109.5 14.17 11.17 3.09 Average 114.67 15 13.33 2.78

Traffic Volumes
𝑚 − 𝑝 + 𝑜 114.67 − 11.67 + 14.17 𝑣𝑒ℎ 𝑣𝑒ℎ
𝑞L = = = 20.04 = 1202.4
𝑡E + 𝑡F 3.09 + 2.78 𝑚𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑟
𝑚 − 𝑝 + 𝑜 109.5 − 13.33 + 15 𝑣𝑒ℎ 𝑣𝑒ℎ
𝑞S = = = 18.94 = 1136.4
𝑡E + 𝑡F 3.09 + 2.78 𝑚𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑟
Average travel time
𝑝−𝑜 11.67 − 14.17
𝑡TL = 𝑡L + = 3.09 + = 2.94 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑞L 20.04
𝑝−𝑜 13.33 − 15
UU
𝑡SUU = 𝑡S + = 2.78 + = 2.69 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑞S 18.94
Length = 1.2 Km
1.2 𝑘𝑚
𝑢L = = 24.49 𝑘𝑝ℎ
1ℎ𝑟
2.94 min× 60 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑠
1.2 𝑘𝑚
𝑢S = = 26.76 𝑘𝑝ℎ
1ℎ𝑟
2.69 min× 60 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑠

Solving for Density

𝑣𝑒ℎ
𝑞L 1202.4 ℎ𝑟 𝑣𝑒ℎ
𝑘L = = = 49.1
𝑢L 𝑘𝑚 𝑘𝑚
24.49 ℎ𝑟
𝑣𝑒ℎ
𝑞S 1136.4 ℎ𝑟 𝑣𝑒ℎ
𝑘S = = = 42.47
𝑢S 𝑘𝑚 𝑘𝑚
26.76 ℎ𝑟

Problems:
1. The following spot speed data (in kph) were obtained from a city road.
31.6 46.2 51.2 47.3 39.4 44.7 53.3 46.7 41.1 45 42.8 43.8 40.9 38.6 37.8 48.3 40
50.8 40.3 50 44.2 38.1 32.7 44.8 45 34 44 35 43.7 35.1 35.2 42.1 35.2 35.7
51 37 35.8 36 36.7 37.3 36.5 35.9 37.4 38.8 39 44.9 37.9 41.8 48.4 41.3 38.5
39.1 52.1 40.1 52.8 48.2 41.6 53.4 44.6 39.3 47.7 39.4 37.7 38.1 44.5 38.2 38.4 39.7
40 57 40.7 40.1 37.8 41.2 45.2 43.7 45 33.5 39.4 40.1 44.8 40.7 50.9 40.4 40.7
40.2 41.3 39.5 45 43.8 43.9 41.1 41.7 41.8 41.9 42 35.4 42.4 42.6 42.7 42.8 43
41.7 41.8 41.9 42 38.8 42.3 48.2 34.6 42.4 48.3 42.9 42.8 43 41.7 42 42.5 47.9
48.1 50.1 42.6 42.7 42.8 43.1 46 31 43.6 41.4 43.7 45.1 43.8 43.9 44 48.6 44.6
45.2 43.6 43.7 43.8 43.9 44.2 38.1 4.5 41.3 44.7 40.8 44.9 45.8 45.7 45.9 46.5 44
41.5 46.1 47.2 47.5 38.4 44.2 47.9 48.6 40.8 48.9 47.8 50.2 50.6 50.7 50.4 50.1 35.9
Perform the following:
a. Group the data and summarize in tabular form.
b. Determine the mean and standard deviation
c. Draw frequency histogram.
2. From problem 1, draw the cumulative frequency diagram and determine the minimum and
maximum speed limits.
COMPILED BY ENGR. KTC