HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Traffic volume can be defined as the number of vehicle or pedestrians passing as a given point on a lane or carriageway during a specified period of time. Traffic volume studies are widely known as traffic counts and they are carried out to determine the basic traffic data such as the number (volumes), classifications and directional movements of roadway vehicles and pedestrians at a selected location. Traffic volume data can assist in determining traffic flows or flow rates which describe the number of vehicles or pedestrians per unit time passing (arriving or departing) a given reference point.

The various volume counts taken over different lengths of time are usually expressed in vehicles per hour (vph).Other traffic volume characteristics obtained are average annual daily traffic (AADT), average daily traffic (ADT), peak hour volume (PHV), and vehicle miles of travel (VMT). The documentation of volume trends, critical flow time periods and the influence of heavy and slow vehicles or motorcyclists or pedestrians on overall vehicular traffic flow can be illustrated.

The sampling period depends very much on the intended use of the data recorded, the resources available to the counting agency, the nature of the location being studied and the type of count. Counting can be done from as low as 5-minute intervals to as much as a year. In these studies, both manual and automatic counts are included in Part 1 and Part II respectively.

2.0 OBJECTIVE

i. To determine vehicle composition in the traffic flow stream.ii. To observe the traffic flow trend and movement pattern.

iii. To estimate hourly volume and the average daily traffic (ADT).

3.0 APPARATUS

i. Safety vestii. Stop watch

iii. Field dataiv. Clip boardv. Mechanical hand counter

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HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

4.0 PROCEDURE

i. Necessary preparations such as an accurate watch is performed and the correct time was set, sufficient pens, field data forms and clipboards, mechanical hand tally counters that are in good condition, safety vests and others.

ii. Enumerators were arrived 30 minutes earlier at the site in order to familiarize with location, distribute the equipment, fill in the general information of the tally forms that comprised of sheet number, station ID, enumerator’s name, date, weather condition and time to start or finish.

iii. Enumerators have to do field measurements in order to define existing geometric dimension for the intersection under study.

iv. The layout of the intersection was sketched and dimensioned.v. The current traffic movements (through, left turn, and right turn) were identified and

begun at the planned time.vi. Proper observer’s position was selected so that they can see clearly, safely and easily

count the traffic. vii. The counting is done at each lane of each intersection approach for volume

conditions.viii. The data is checked before leaving the field.

5.0 RECOMMENDATION

i. Students should wear proper attire when entering the lab such as the lab jacket, long trousers, and fully covered shoes. The safety vest is compulsory to wear before start the experiment.

ii. Students are not allowed to play around while they are in the lab to avoid accident and severe injuries.

iii. Choose the spot for taking the reading wisely and avoid sharp corner spot in order to prevent dangerous act.

iv. The instructions, objectives of the experiment, and materials were understood before beginning work in lab.

v. Use clean sheet for recording data in order to prevent errors.vi. Communicate wisely among group members.

vii. To get a proper results, the study should be conducted in a longer time span, considering the factor of day and time.

viii. It is also recommended to not conducting the test at peak time, since it is too obvious and will badly affect the result.

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HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

ix. Besides, locations with many obstructions are not good for the testing, especially where a construction works is in progress.

6.0 RESULTTraffic Volume

VEHICLE CLASSIFICATION

DIRECTION MOVEMENT1 2 3 4 5 6

Car/Taxi

1st trial 22 14 73 31 0 02nd trial 33 13 75 30 0 23rd trial 30 9 95 27 1 24th trial 44 17 104 17 2 2Average 32.25 13.25 86.75 26.25 0.75 1.5

Total 161

Van & utilities

1st trial 0 0 1 0 0 02nd trial 0 0 1 0 0 03rd trial 0 0 4 1 0 04th trial 2 0 1 2 0 0Average 0.5 0 1.75 0.75 0 0

Total 3

Lorry

1st trial 1 0 1 0 0 02nd trial 1 0 0 0 0 03rd trial 1 0 0 1 0 04th trial 1 0 0 0 0 0Average 1 0 0.25 0.25 0 0

Total 1.5

Medium Lorry

1st trial 0 0 0 0 0 02nd trial 0 0 0 0 0 03rd trial 0 0 0 0 0 04th trial 0 0 0 0 0 0Average 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 0

Buses

1st trial 6 0 1 0 0 02nd trial 5 0 0 0 0 03rd trial 4 0 0 0 0 04th trial 6 0 1 0 0 0Average 5.25 0 0.5 0 0 0

Total 5.75

Motorcycle 1st trial 8 5 48 13 2 42nd trial 9 4 54 22 3 33rd trial 33 4 68 25 3 14th trial 41 8 60 32 7 3

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HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

Average 22.75 5.25 57.5 23 3.75 2.75Total 115

Total Vehicles Passing The All Lanes

Time Car/taxiVan & Utilities

LorryMedium

LorryBus Motorcycle

15 140 1 2 0 7 80

30 153 1 1 0 5 95

45 164 5 2 0 4 134

60 186 5 1 0 7 151

Total 643 12 6 0 23 460

Percentage (%)

55.5 1 0.5 0 2 40

Each Types of Vehicles Passing all Lanes

Car/taxi Van & Utilities Lorry Medium Lorry Bus Motorcycle

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HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

9.15-9.30 9.30-9.45 9.45-10.00 10.00-10.150

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

TOTAL VEHICLES PASSING LANES ACCORDING TIME

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.50

50100150200250300350400

TOTAL VEHICLES PASSING LANES ACCORDING TIME

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HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

Intersection Diagram:

Hourly volume Total vehicles passing lane according to time

Time Volume (vehicles)

Rate of flow (veh/h)

9.15-9.30 230 9209.30-9.45 255 10209.45-10.00 309 123610.00-10.15 350 1400

9.15 ~ 10.15 1144

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MAIN ROAD

MAWAR SQUARE PARKI

NG LOT

MAKMAL KEJURUTER

INTERSECTION FLOW ROAD

HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

Rate of flow ; (9.15 – 9.30) = (volume (veh) x 60)⁄15

= (230 x 60)⁄15 = 920 veh/h

Hourly volume = (Total Rate of Flow)⁄4

= (920+1020+1236+1400)⁄4 = 1144 veh/h

Average Daily Traffic (ADT)

VEHICLES CLASSIFICATION VOLUME (veh)Car / Taxi 161

Van & utility 3van besar/lori sedang 2

lori besar 0Buses 6

Motorcycles 115

Total (veh in 60 minutes) 287ADT (veh per minutes) 4.783

ADT (veh per day) 6888

ADT = Total volume (veh) / 60

= 287 / 60 min

= 4.783 veh per minutes x 60 x 24

= 6888 veh per day.

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HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

7.0 DISCUSSION

Traffic volume study was carried out to count the number of vehicles passing a specific reference point on a road section within a specified period of time. Each mechanical hand tally counter represents each flow. The study shows that the number of each type of vehicles passes from each direction, as well as the number of each vehicles passes from each direction in every 15 minutes within an hour, from 0915 a.m. up to 1015 a.m. For each 15 minutes that had been conducted with the number of vehicles taken, result for peak hour for the road can be taken.

Throughout the observation, the traffic volume increases from 09:15 to 09:30 and from 10:00 to 10:15. While, the traffic volume decreases from 09:30 to 10:00. Direction 3 recorded as the highest number of vehicles travelled the selected location which is 587 vehicles in total. At the same time, Direction 1 recorded 267 vehicles in total which falls under the second highest vehicle volume passes the location. In contrast, both Direction 5 and Direction 6 recorded as the lowest vehicle volume travelled the same location throughout the study, which are 18 and 17 in total respectively. This indicates that there are more vehicle travelled in the main road (from Gate 1 and Gate 2) compared to the minor road (from Laboratory of Civil Engineering).

More than half of the vehicle passes the selected location are cars which are recorded about 55.24%. Motorcycles record as the second highest vehicle travelled the selected location (41.24%), followed by buses (1.98%), van & utilities (1.03%) and medium lorry (0.52%). There is no heavy lorry passing the intersection recorded throughout the study.Flow rate of vehicles per hour was calculated to estimate the peak hour factor (PHF) which represents the ratio of total hourly volume to the maximum flow rate within 1 hour. Average vehicles volume per hour was calculated in order to estimate the average daily traffic (ADT) to measure present demand of traffic flow per hour and per day.

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HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

8.0 CONCLUSION

Based on the data collected and analyzed from traffic volume study, the traffic volume observed in the selected location can be considered falls under LOS B. From the analysis of the data collected, the most critical time period is from 10:00 to 10:15 a.m., where the traffic volume in the intersection increases.

Since there were no heavy vehicles pass through the intersection, the effect of the heavy vehicles will reduce the traffic volume. Changing the lanes for these vehicles which will reduce the speed of the passenger cars and the other vehicles and this will reduce the flow.

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HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

9.0 REFERENCES

i. Tahmidul Islam Tarabi, Report on Traffic Volume Study, date of retrieved 17th September 2014 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/59266481/Report-on-Traffic-Volume-Study

ii. Farhan Haider, Traffic Engineering Laboratory, date of retrieved 17th September 2014 from http://www.uet.edu.pk/export/sites/UETWebPortal/faculties/facultiesinfo/transportation_management/labs/Traffic_Enginn_lab.pdf

iii. Muzhafar Kamal, Junction Capacity-Highway Lab Report, date of retrieved 17th September 2014 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/237179125/Traffic-Junction-Highway-lab-Report

iv. Setting Local Speed Limits (2012). Retrieved on 13th November 2014 from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/2733/setting-local-speed-limits.pdf

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HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LABORATORY

10.0 APPENDIX

Site layout

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