INTRODUCTION TO

TRAFFIC ENGINEERING
Nikhil Saboo, Dept. of Civil Eng., IIT BHU
What is Traffic Engineering?

 Branch of Engineering which deals with the

improvement of Traffic performance on road
network and terminals through systematic traffic
studies, scientific analysis and engineering
applications
 Two broad areas:
- Planning and Geometric design
- Regulation and Control
Traffic in India

 Heterogeneous in nature
 Different classes of vehicle with varying
characteristics
 Motorized and non-motorized vehicles
 Urban roads are congested in peak hours, causing
delay, accidents and reduced travel speeds.
 Pedestrians not considered as an element- they are
rather considered as intruders by the drivers of
motorized vehicles- significant proportion of fatal
accident victims.
 Traffic in India

Statistics reveal that there is one death

every four minutes due to road accidents

Approximately 1,50,000 people killed

every year.

WHY?
Scope of Traffic Engineering

 Traffic Characteristics
 Traffic Study and Analysis
 Planning and Analysis
 Geometric Design
 Traffic Operation, Regulation and Control
 Road Safety Aspects
 Administration and Management
 Traffic Characteristics
 Human Characteristics:
 Physical
 Mental
 Psychological and
 Environmental
 Physical: Permanent or Temporary
 Permanent: Vision, hearing, strength and general reaction.
 Acuity of vision; peripheral vision; eye movement and depth judgement; glare
vision and glare recovery
 Temporary: Fatigue, alcohol or drugs and illness
 Mental: Knowledge, skill, intelligence, experience and literacy
 Psychological: Attentiveness; Fear, Anger, Attitude etc.
 Environmental: Traffic stream characteristics; Roadside features;
Atmospheric condition and locality
 Traffic Characteristics

For which vehicle should I design the road?

 Vehicular Characteristics:
 Static:Dimensions, maximum turning angle, total weight,
height of driver seat and headlight, wind shield, clearance
below chassis, gross weight, axle and wheel loads.
 Dynamic: Speed, acceleration/deceleration and braking
characteristics, power of vehicle, length of wheel base, height
of center of gravity.
 Traffic Characteristics

 Dimensions: width, length and height

 Weight: gross and axle weight
Traffic Characteristics
 Traffic Characteristics

 Braking Characteristics: The deceleration and braking

characteristics of braking (such as mechanical, fluid or air brake)
and its efficiency.
 Braking test at a desired speed can be used to measure the skid
resistance of the pavement
 If the breaks are applied till the vehicle comes to stop, it may be
assumed that wheels are fully locked and the ‘brake efficiency’ is
100%.
 Atleast two of the following measurements are required
 Braking distance
 Initial speed
 Actual duration of brake applications
 Traffic Engineering Studies and Analysis

 Traffic volume studies What to do?

 Spot speed studies Collection of data
 Speed and delay studies How to do?
 Origin and destination studies Presentation of data

 Parking studies
What to do?
 Accident studies
 Traffic Engineering Studies and Analysis

 Traffic volume studies

 Measure to quantify traffic flow
 Number of vehicles that pass through across a given transverse line
of the road during unit time (per hr. per day per traffic lane)
 Different vehicles: classified traffic volume studies
 All vehicles should be converted to passenger car unit (PCU)
 Direction wise traffic count should be done
 Lane distribution should be recorded
 Traffic flow is dynamic and varies from time to time
 Hourly, daily and seasonal variation in traffic
Traffic Engineering Studies and Analysis

IRC 106: 1990

Guidelines for the
capacity of urban
roads in plain areas
 Traffic Engineering Studies and Analysis

 Importance of traffic volume studies

 Decide the priority for improvement and up-gradation of
roads.
 Geometric design or re-design of roadway facilities.
 Projecting the future traffic
 Computing capacity of roads.
 At intersections: need for grade-separated intersection;
design of signals
 Pavement design
 Pedestrian count: sidewalks; FOB; pedestrian signals.
 Traffic Volume Counts: Methods

 Manual or Mechanical
 Manual
 Classification of different types of vehicle and their counts at
desired intervals
 Direction wise movements
 Classified vehicle counts with number of passengers
 Pedestrian traffic count
 Commercial vehicles data
 Not practicable to carry out manual count for full 24 hours a day
and on all days round the year.
 Short counts are taken and statistical tools are used for analysis
 Traffic Volume Counts: Methods

 Mechanical
 Permanent/Portable
 Impulse type recorder (actuation of the counter is required)
 Other modern sensing techniques: classified vehicle count
 Weigh in motion systems
 Not possible to record every vehicle type, get details about
turning movement, vehicle occupancy and type of commodity
transported by commercial vehicles.
Traffic Volume Counts: Methods
 Traffic Volume Counts: Methods

 Traffic count at intersections:

 Data on turning movements: signal timing, need for grade
separated intersections
 Data on queue length, delay and occupancy of different
vehicles: economic analysis of intersections.
 Pedestrian volume counts: design of side walks, deciding
suitable facility for pedestrian crossing including timing of
signalized intersection.
 Peak and off peak hours count: different sets of signals for
different time of the day
Traffic Volume Counts: Methods
 Traffic Volume Data: Presentation
 AADT: average daily traffic volume recorded for the 365
days of the year. Used in deciding the relative importance of
a route and in phasing road development programme. Also
used in determining growth rate.
 ADT: Traffic counts carried out for few days (3-7 days).
Carried out two times for urban roads (7-days).
 Trend charts
 Variation charts
 Traffic flow maps
 Volume flow diagram at intersections
 Design hourly volume: 30th highest hourly volume.
 Speed Studies

 Spot speed: Instantaneous speed at a

particular location or cross section
 Space mean speed
 Time mean speed
 Use: planning and control; design; deciding
design speed; accident studies; study of
traffic capacity; vehicular and driver
behavior
 Measurement
 Time taken to cover a short distance, 15 or 30 m
 Graphic recorder, electronic meter, photographic
methods, speed radar meter.
 Speed Studies: presentation

 Speed distribution table

 Frequency distribution
diagram
 Cumulative speed distribution
diagram
 85th percentile speed is taken
as the safe speed
 15th percentile speed is the
minimum speed
 98th percentile speed is the
design speed
 Speed and delay studies

 Uses: location of delay, causes of delay, fluctuation in

speeds, duration of delay, proposing improvement
strategies, benefit-cost ratio, efficiency of road, level of
service.
 Fixed and operational delay
 Fixed delay: due to traffic signals
 Operational delay: interference of traffic movements such as
turning vehicles, parking and un-parking, pedestrians etc.
 Methods: Floating car method, License plate method,
Interview technique, Elevated observations, Photographic
technique
Speed and delay studies: Floating car method

(Observer)
A B

T T T u1
T

C C C u2
TV

at t=0
 continued …
(Observer)
A B

T T T u1
T
C C u2
C
TV
at t=ta

Number of vehicles crossing TV during the period = Na

 continued …
(Observer)
A B

T T T u1
T

TV v C C u2
C

also at t=ta

where, u1 < v < u2

 continued …
(Observer)
A B

T T T u1
T
C TV
C u2 C

at t=ta+tw

Number of trucks overtaken by TV during tw = m

Numbers of cars which overtook TV during tw = n
 continued …

No. of vehicles observed by the Observer during ta+tw =

Na+n-m

Na nm
Traffic flow, q 
t t
a w