CE 865

Traffic Engineering

Dr Muhammad Jawed Iqbal

HoD Transportation Engg
 CE 865
Traffic Engineering

INTRODUCTION
 COURSE PURPOSE
 To introduce the students to the fundamentals of
highway traffic engineering and traffic safety and
provide the students with an in-depth knowledge
and understanding of the basic principles governing
the traffic operations and safety analysis.

 To provide the students with an opportunity to

apply the knowledge gained in the course in real
life traffic studies through carrying out field
observations of traffic characteristics, followed by
performance evaluation of traffic conditions.
 COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this course:

 Students will be able to develop the knowledge, skills,

and abilities of traffic engineering and safety analysis

 Students will be able to develop the ability to

understand the general aspects of traffic engineering
and safety analyses and to investigate traffic
engineering practical problems and safety issues.

 Students will prepare reports of field work documenting

procedures used and findings from site investigation,
traffic characterization of assigned location, analysis
performed and final recommendations.
 Miscellaneous Course Information
Instructor: Dr. Muhammad Jawed Iqbal
Contact : Mob: 0033-2393023
Email: drjawediqbal@scee.nust.edu.pk

Exams: There will be Two Class Tests (One hour Each) and One final
examination (3 hours). The final examination will be held during the
final exam week, and covers the entire course.

Home Work: Homework will be given on completion of a major part

of course.
Quiz Tests: 3 to 4 quiz tests

Final Grade: Final grade will depend on the following components

with the proportions mentioned against each (subject to variation):
Homework (2 – 8 %), Quiz (10 - 12 %), Class Tests (30 - 35 %),
Term Project (15 - 20 %), Final exam (40 - 50 %).
5
 Previous Weightages
Weightages
Quizzes 10
Assignment 5
Project 15
OHT 30
ESE 40
Total 100
 CORE COURSES

 CE-860 Pavement Design and Analysis

 CE-862 Pavement Materials Engineering
 CE-863 Transportation Planning
 CE-865 Traffic Engineering
 ELECTIVES COURSES
 CE-861 Pavement Rehabilitation &
Management
 CE-866 Airport Engineering
 CE-867 Urban Transportation System
Evaluation
 STAT-835 Probability & Statistics
 CE-836 Construction Management
 CE-821 Soil & Site Improvement
 CE-823 Slope Stability
 CE-824 Mechanical Properties of Soil
 GIS-802 GIS & Remote Sensing and Its
Application For Civil Engrs
 3x Elective Courses Added (From NBS)

 OTM-745 Supply Chain Management

 OTM-802 Inventory and Warehouse Management
 OTM-521 Operations Management
 COURSE CONTENTS
 Introduction to Traffic Engineering
 Road Users and Vehicle Characteristics
 Roadway Design and Operation
 Traffic Control Devices
 Traffic Stream Characteristics
 Traffic Studies and Statistical Analysis
 Capacity and Level of Service Analysis
 Introduction to Queuing Theory
 Design and Analysis of Signalized Intersections
 Traffic Safety & Analysis
 Reference Books
 Roess, R., McShane, W., and Prassas, E., Traffic Engineering, Prentice-
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1998.
 Mannering, F. L., Kilareski, W. P., and Washburn, S. S. Principles of
Highway and Traffic Analysis, John Wiley & Sons Inc. New Jersey, Third
Edition (2004).
 Papacostas, C. S. and Prevedouros, P.D. Transportation Engineering
and Planning, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Third Edition
(2004).
 Khisty, C.J. and Lall, B.K, Transportation Engineering - An Introduction,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1998.
 Traffic and Highway Engineering 3rd Edition by Nicholas J. Garber,
Lester A. Hoel
 Highway Traffic Analysis and Design by R.J. Salter.
 Transportation Planning and Traffic Engg by C.A.O Flaherty
 Highway Capacity Manual, (2000) Transportation Research Board,
National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
 A REMINDER
 Always try your best and be contented on
whatever comes to you, because it is the will of
Allah.

 Always believe that whatever is happening to

you in this life is the best from HIM.

 It is only HE who knows the BEST and HE

Knows ALL.

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 Outline of Today’s Lecture
 Introduction to Transportation System & Engg.

 Objectives of Traffic Engineering

 Mobility and Accessibility

 Elements of Traffic Engineering

 Challenges for the Traffic Engineer

 Basic Definitions

 Hierarchical Structure of Road Networks

Transportation System
 A transportation system is an infrastructure that
serves to move people and goods efficiently.

 The transportation system consists of fixed

facilities, flow entities, and a control component.

 Efficient = safe, rapid, comfortable, convenient,

economical, environmentally compatible.
Transportation System
Major transportation subsystems

 Land transportation: highway, rail

 Air transportation: domestic, international

 Water transportation

 Pipelines: oil, gas, etc.

 Highway Transportation System
 Fixed facilities: roads, intersections, interchanges,
service stations, etc.

 Flow entities: passenger cars, buses, trucks,

pedestrians, etc.

 Control component: highway administration, local

transportation agencies, transportation
engineering.
Transportation Engineering
 Definition
The application of technology and scientific principles to the
planning, functional design, operation, and management of
roads, streets and highways, their networks, terminals,
abutting lands, and relationships with other modes of
transportation.

 Areas of highway transportation engineering:

 Planning of streets and highways
 Geometric design of road facilities
 Traffic operations and control
 Traffic safety
 Maintenance of road facilities and controls
 Economic analyses
Transportation Engineering
As per The Institute of Transportation Engineering (ITE)

 “Transportation engineering is the application of

technology and scientific principles to the planning,
functional design, operation, and management of
facilities for any mode of transportation in order to
provide for the safe, rapid, comfortable, convenient,
economical, and environmentally compatible
movement of people and goods”.
Transportation Engineering
 Transportation Engineering covers a broad range of
engineering application with common focus: the
nation’s system of highways and streets.

 Often defined as the nation’s “lifeblood circulation

system”
 Infrastructure supports the vast majority of people
and goods; including economy and the environment,
assurance of public safety and security.
 Basic mobility of all societal functions.
 Basic access to the most remote regions.
Transportation Engineering

Planning Design Construction

•Geometrics •Surface Preparation
•Data Analysis
•Pavement •Grading
•Forecasting
•Drainage •Pavement
•Evaluation
•Structural •Bridges

Operations & Management

•Traffic
Research & Development •Maintenance
•Intelligent Transportation
•Safety
•Control

Experience
 Objectives of Traffic Engineering
 Traffic Engineering
 “Deals with the Safe and Efficient movement of
people and goods on streets and highways”

 Other related aspects/sub objectives are:

 Speed

 Comfort

 Convenience

 Economy

 Environmental
 Objectives of Traffic Engineering
 Safety:
 The principal goal of the traffic engineer remains the
provision of a safe system for highway traffic

 Speed:
 While speed of travel is very much desired, it is
influenced by the transportation technology, human
characteristics, and the needs to provide safety

 Comfort:
 Comfort involves the physical characteristics of
vehicles and roadways, and is influenced by our
perception
 Objectives of Traffic Engineering
 Convenience:
 Convenience relates more to the ease with which
trips are made and the ability of transport system to
accommodate all of our travel needs at appropriate
time

 Economy:
 Highways involve massive construction, maintenance
and operating expenditures. Nevertheless, every
engineer regardless of the discipline, is called upon
to provide the best possible systems for the money
 Objectives of Traffic Engineering
 Environmental compatibility:
 Harmony with the environment is a complex issue
that has become more important over time
 All transportation systems have some negative
impacts on the environment
 All produce air and noise pollution in some forms,
and all utilize valuable land resources
 Mobility
Road
Functions

Accessibility
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 Mobility and Accessibility
 Mobility
 Ability to travel to many different destinations
 Provided by Freeways, Motorways…..

 Accessibility
 Ability to gain access to a particular site or area
 Provided by Local Streets

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Hierarchical Rural

Structure of
Road
Networks

Urban

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 Mobility vs. Accessibility
Road Class Road Function
Freeways/Motorways Through movement exclusively
Arterials Through movement primary and
some land access

Collectors Traffic movement to higher rank

roads, access to abutting
properties
Local Roads Access to abutting land and
local traffic movement

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Mobility and Accessibility
Arterials
High Mobility
Limited Accessibility

Collectors
Balance between
Mobility
And Accessibility

Locals
High Accessibility
Limited Mobility
Components of Traffic System
 Road Users
 Drivers
 Pedestrians
 Bicyclists
 Passengers
 Vehicles
 Private
 Commercial
 Street and Highways
 Traffic Control Devices
 General Environment (weather, lighting,
enforcement level) 30
Components Interacting in a Traffic Stream

Drivers Pedestrians

Vehicles Roads

General Environment Control Devices

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Elements of Traffic Engineering

 Traffic Studies
 Facility Design
 Traffic Operations/ Traffic Control
 Performance Evaluation/ Capacity Analyses
 Traffic Management System
 Traffic Safety Analyses
 Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)
 Elements of Traffic Engineering
 Traffic Studies
 Involve measuring and quantifying various aspect of
highway traffic.

 Studies focus on data collection and analysis that is

used to characterize traffic, including (but not limited
to) traffic volumes and demands, speed and travel
time, delay, accidents, origins and destinations,
modal use, and other variables (e.g. safety).

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 Elements of Traffic Engineering
 Facility Design
 Involves traffic engineers in the functional and
geometric design of highways and other traffic
facilities.

 Traffic engineers are not primarily involved in the

structural design of highway facilities

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 Elements of Traffic Engineering
 Traffic Control
 is a central function of traffic engineers and involves
the establishment of traffic regulations and their
communication to the driver through the use of
traffic control devices, such as signs, markings, and
signals.
 Traffic Operations
 Involves measures that influence overall operation
of traffic facilities, such as one-way street system,
transit operation, and surveillance and network
control systems.
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 Elements of Traffic Engineering
 Performance Evaluation
 Is a mean by which traffic engineers can rate the
operating characteristics of individual sections of
facilities and facilities as a whole.
 Such evaluation relies on measures of performance
quality and is often stated in terms of “levels of
service.”
 Levels of service (LOS) are letter grades, from A to
F, describing how well a facility is operation using
specified performance criteria. (A –Excellent;
F- undesirable).
 As part of performance evaluation, the capacity of
highway facilities must be determined.
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 Elements of Traffic Engineering
 Traffic Management System (TMS):
 involves virtually all aspects of traffic engineering in
a focus on optimizing system capacity and
operations.

 Specific aspects of TMS include high-occupancy

vehicle priority systems, car-pooling programs,
pricing strategies to manage demand, and similar
functions.

37
 Elements of Traffic Engineering
 Intelligent Transportation System (ITS):
 It refers to the application of modern
telecommunication technology or information
technology to the operation and control of
transportation system.

 Such systems include but not limited to automated

toll-collection systems (E-toll), vehicle-tracking
systems, in vehicle GPS and mapping systems,
automated enforcement of traffic lights (actuated)
and Variable Message Signs, etc.

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GPS

Variable Message Signs

39
E-Toll System

Traffic Control Centre

40
Who Are Traffic Engineers’ Clients?
 Policy makers
 Highway administration
 State/Province
 District
 City
 Citizens groups
 Land developers
 Business owners
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 Challenges for a Traffic Engineer
 Urban congestion has been a major issue for many
years.
 Given the transportation demand cycle, it is not
always possible to solve congestion problems
through expansion of capacity.
 Traffic engineers therefore are involved in the
development of programs and strategies to mange
demand in both time and space.

42
The Nature of Transportation Demand
 Transportation demand is directly related to land-use
patterns and to available transportation systems and
facilitates.

 Transportation demand is generated by the types,

amounts and intensity of the land-use, as well as its
location.
The Nature of Transportation Demand
 Transportation demand - directly related to land-use patterns
 Traffic engineers provide additional capacity based on
observed or predicted travel demand
 Transportation system improvement makes nearby land
more accessible/attractive for development
 Building transportation facilities leads to higher demand

Transportation
Demand

Transportation Land
Facilities Use
Present Transportation Issues
and Trends
 What are the current transportation issues?
 Man-inflicted/Natural disasters (security)
 Large number of crashes and their severity
 Congestion in urban areas
 Contribution to environmental pollution

 Where are the solutions?

 Security management
 Congestion management
 Safety management
 Multimodalism
 Intelligent Transportation Systems
45
Present Transportation Issues
and Trends
 What are the current transportation issues?
 Man-inflicted/Natural disasters (security)
 Large number of crashes and their severity
 Congestion in urban areas
 Contribution to environmental pollution

 Where are the solutions?

 Security management
 Congestion management
 Safety management
 Multimodalism
 Intelligent Transportation Systems
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 Need of Traffic and Safety Studies

Traffic and safety studies needed for effective

congestion and safety management:

Traffic generation,
Parking demand,
Capacity and quality of traffic,
Control and geometry improvements,
Road hazard and countermeasures identification

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 What Answers Are Sought?

 Current highway and parking use

 Current traffic characteristics
 Current traffic and parking quality
 Current highway safety
 How to improve current traffic conditions
 Impact of new highway projects/improvements
 Impact of a new land development
 Future traffic conditions

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Scale of the Studies
 Single facilities (intersection, road section)
 Arterial streets
 Corridors (several parallel roads)
 Local areas (part of the network)
 Entire systems (city, province, district)

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 Traditional Traffic Studies
 Volume studies

 Speed studies

 Travel time studies

 Delay studies

 Density studies

 Headway and spacing studies

 Accident studies

 Road Safety Audit 50

Special Traffic Studies and Analyses
 Traffic impact studies and analyses
 Safety analyses
 Identification of hazardous locations
 Identification of hazard sources
 Identification of countermeasures
 Corridor studies
 Parking studies
 Congestion analyses
 Pedestrian studies
 Before-and-after studies
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Mobility vs. Transportation Mode

52
Mobility vs. Transportation Mode Capacity

capacity in veh/h =
capacity in veh/h/lane x number of lanes

capacity in persons/h =
capacity in veh/h x average vehicle occupancy

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Transportation Mode Capacity
Lets assume:

Capacity of Urban Freeway = 2000/ hr/ lane

Capacity of Urban Arterial = 800/hr/lane

No. of Buses / hr = 100

1.7 person/ vehicle

50 persons/ bus
 Mobility vs. Transportation Mode
Capacity

Facility Vehicles/hr Persons/hr

Three-lane urban freeway 2,000 x 3 = 6,000 6,000 x 1.7 = 10,200

Three-lane urban arterial 800 x 3 = 2,400 2,400 x 1.7 = 4,080

One lane of buses 100 x 1 =100 100 x 50 = 5,000

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Definitions
 Motorist: Any person driving a motorized vehicle i.e.
driver.

 Pedestrian: Any person who moves on the right of

way of road or crosses a road i.e. walking man.

 Road User: Includes every one, e.g. pedestrians,

drivers etc. Every person who uses a road one way or
the other.
 Definitions
 Two Lane Highway: A road way with a 2-lane x-sec,
one lane for each direction of flow, on which passing
maneuvers must be made in the opposing lane
Definitions
 Multilane Highway: A highway with at least two
lanes for the exclusive use of traffic in each
direction, with no control or partial control of
access, but that may have periodic interruptions
to flow at signalized intersection
 Definitions
 Freeway: A multilane, divided highway with a
minimum of two lanes for the exclusive use of traffic
in each direction and full control of access without
traffic interruption
Definitions

 Traffic Speed: Rate of movement of vehicles that

can pass a road section. kmph, mph

 Traffic Density: Number of vehicles in a particular

section in given unit time. Vehicles/km, vehicles/mile
(vehicles/ unit distance)
OR
Number of vehicles per unit length of road.
 Definitions
 Traffic Volume
 Actual number of vehicles passing (observed or predicted)
a point on a highway during a specified time interval
 Units: vehicles per unit time (veh/day; veh/hr)
 Flow Rate
 Number of vehicles passing a point during a time interval
less than one hour, but expressed as equivalent hourly
rate
 Units: vehicle per hour
 Example:
 A volume of 200 vehs observed over a 15-min.
 Flow rate = 200 X 4 = 800 veh/hr (not observed!)
 800 vehicles may not pass the point of observation during
the study hour, however they do pass the point at that rate
for 15 minutes
 Example for Volume and Flow

Time Interval Volume for Time Interval Rate of Flow for Time Interval
5:00 - 5:15 PM 1000 4000
5:15 - 5:30 PM 1100 4400
5:30 - 5:45 PM 1200 4800
5:45 - 6:00 PM 900 3600
5:00 - 6:00 PM 4200
Definitions
 Free flow speed:
 The theoretical speed of traffic, in mi/hr or km/hr,
when density is zero, i.e. when no vehicles are
present

 Vehicle traveling at design speed without

considerable inter-vehicle interaction, is said to be
moving at free flow speed.

 85th percentile speed:

 Speed at which 85% of the traffic is travelling
 Speed limit is commonly set at or below the “85th
percentile speed”
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85th Percentile Speed
 Types of Traffic Facilities

 Uninterrupted Flow Facility

 No external interruptions to traffic stream

 Pure uninterrupted flow – primarily on freeways

(having full control of access., no intersection at grade,
traffic signal, STOP or YIELD signs)

 It can also exists on highways (mostly rural highways)

– longer distance between fixed interruptions

 Physical facility is available all time to drivers and

vehicles
 Types of Traffic Facilities
 Interrupted Flow Facility

 Fixed external interruptions incorporated

into design and operations.

 Most significant interruption - Traffic

signal

 Traffic signs, (STOP, YIELD),

unsignalized at-grade intersections,
driveways, curb parking maneuvers, other
land access operations
 Types of Traffic Facilities
 Interrupted Flow Facility

 All urban surface streets & highways

– interrupted flow facilities

 Physical facility is not available all

time to drivers and vehicles

 Movement is barred by “red” signals

(stop/go conditions)
Definitions
 Count – number of vehicles/travelers passing a
highway spot in a counting period
 Capacity – maximum volume of
vehicles/travelers
 Demand – volume not influenced by highway
capacity

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Definitions

 Congested flow: A traffic flow condition

caused by a bottleneck.

A traffic condition in which the arrival flow rate

is at or exceeds capacity.

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Traffic Intensity
Definitions

Capacity Demand

Volume
Congestion

Time
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