MANILA: Room 206, JPD Building, CM Recto Avenue, Manila

CEBU: 4/F J. Martinez Bldg., Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City

Telephone Number: (02) 516 7559 (Manila) E-Mail: buksmarquez1 @yahoo.com
(032) 254-6697 (Cebu)

Review MODULE – BASIC TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

HIGHWAY ENGINEERING Relationship between free flow speed and jam density.
.
FUNDAMENTALS OF TRAFFIC FLOW
Speed (𝝁) – distance traveled per unit of time. 𝒌 𝒖
𝒖 = 𝒖𝒇 (𝟏 − ) 𝒌 = 𝒌𝒋 (𝟏 − )
Time Mean Speed (𝝁𝒌 ) – arithmetic mean of the speeds 𝒌𝒋 𝒖𝒇
observed at some designated point along the roadway.
Space Mean Speed (𝝁𝒔 ) – harmonic mean of the speeds
observed at some designated point along the roadway. Capacity/Maximum Flow (𝒒𝒎𝒂𝒙 ) – ability of a roadway to
accommodate traffic. Maximum number of vehicles that can
1. Two sets of students are collecting traffic data at two sections pass a given point in unit time.
A and B of a highway 200 m apart. Observation at a shows that
4 vehicles passes that section at intervals of 8.18 sec, 9.09 sec,
10.23 sec, and 11.68 sec.
𝝁𝒇 𝒌𝒋 𝝁𝒇 𝒌𝒋
𝒒𝒎𝒂𝒙 = 𝝁𝒄𝒂𝒑 𝒌𝒄𝒂𝒑 = ( )( ) =
a. Determine the time mean speed in kph. 𝟐 𝟐 𝟒
b. Compute the space mean speed at kph.

2. The data below shows the result of the flow of traffic at certain 1. Two platoons of cars are timed over a distance of 0.5 km.
part of the highway by observing the arrival times for four Their flows are recorded. The first group is timed at 40 seconds,
vehicles at two sections A and B that are 150 m apart. Compute with the flow at 1350 vehicles per hour. The second group took
the space mean speed of the vehicles. 45 seconds, with a flow of 1800 vehicles per hour.
a. Determine the free flow speed in kph.
Vehicles Section A Section B b. Determine the jam density in veh/km.
1 T T + 7.24 sec c. Determine the maximum flow of the traffic stream in veh/hr.
2 T + 3 sec T + 9.37 sec
2. A portion of the South Luzon Expressway is known to have a
3 T + 6 sec T + 12.47 sec free-flow speed of 60 kph and a capacity of 3600 vehicles per
4 T + 12 sec T + 21.78 sec hour. If in a given hour, 3344 vehicles were counted at a
specified point along this highway, compute the space mean
SPEED, DENSITY AND FLOW RELATIONSHIP speed of these 3344 vehicles.

Traffic Flow (q) – the rate at which vehicles pass a given point QUEUING THEORY
in a roadway given in terms of vehicles per unit of time.
Queue – vehicles/individuals lining up and waiting for service.
Traffic Density (k) – measure of the number of vehicles
occupying a length of roadway. Arrival Rate (𝝀) – the rate at which vehicles arrive at the queue
Space Headway – the distance between successive vehicles point.
moving in the same lane measured from head to head at any Departure Rate (𝝁) – rate at which vehicles leave the queue
instance. point.
Time Headway – the time interval between the passage of Traffic Intensity (𝝆) – ratio of arrival rate and departure rate.
successive vehicles moving in the same lane measured from
head to head as they pass a point on the road. D/D/1 QUEUING
This queueing model is the simplest having deterministic
Relationship between traffic flow, space mean speed and arrivals, deterministic departure and one departure channel.
density.
1. A freeway has three lanes in each direction and has a
𝒒 = 𝝁𝒔 𝒌 maximum flow of 6000 veh/hr. It is operating at 3000 veh/hr. A
collision occurs, blocking the two lanes and restricting the flow
of the third lane to 1500 veh/hr. The freeway has a constant
1. There are 4 vehicles passing through an intersection of two speed of 60 veh/hr and its three-lane jam density is 60 veh/m.
highway in a period of 20 seconds. The incident is completely cleared in 30 minutes and traffic
returns to normal as soon this happened.
Vehicles Spot Speed (m/s)
a. Determine the length of queue 20 mins after the collision.
1 34.20 b. Determine the longest vehicle queue.
2 42.40 c. In how many minutes will the queue dissipate?
3 46.30 d. How many vehicles were affected by the accident?
e. Compute the total delay due to the accident.
4 41.10 f. What is the average delay per vehicle?
a. Determine the space mean speed in kph.
b. Compute the flow of traffic if the traffic density is 60 veh/km. M/D/1 QUEUING
Queueing that has exponentially distributed arrivals,
2. The vehicle time headway is 2.5 sec/vehicle and the spacing deterministic departures and one departure channel.
of cars measured at a point along the North Luzon Expressway
Average Length of Queue Average Waiting Time in Queue
from a single lane is 60 m/veh over the course of an hour.
a. Compute the traffic density. 𝝆
b. Determine the space mean speed in kph. 𝝆𝟐 𝒘
̅=
̅=
𝑸 𝟐𝝁(𝟏 − 𝝆)
𝟐(𝟏 − 𝝆)
JAM DENSITY AND FREE FLOW SPEED
Jam Density (𝒌𝒋 ) – the density at which the speed of traffic is Average Time Spent in the System
approaching zero. 𝟐−𝝆
Free Flow Speed (𝝁𝒇 ) – the speed at which the density of traffic 𝒕̅ =
is approaching zero.
𝟐𝝁(𝟏 − 𝝆)
 MANILA: Room 206, JPD Building, CM Recto Avenue, Manila
CEBU: 4/F J. Martinez Bldg., Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City
Telephone Number: (02) 516 7559 (Manila) E-Mail: buksmarquez1 @yahoo.com
(032) 254-6697 (Cebu)

a. What are the service rates for meter cycle 12?

2. Vehicles arrive at the entrance of the new extension of NLEX. b. What are the service rates for meter cycle 10?
There is a single toll gate at which all vehicles must stop where
c. What are the service rates for meter cycle 6?
a toll attendant distributes the ticket. It takes the attendant 10
seconds to distribute the ticket to every vehicle. The average d. Determine the time the queue on the ramp begins and ends.
arrival rate of vehicles is 180 veh/h and it is unevenly distributed e. Determine the longest queue.
(exponential times between arrivals) over the entire period from f. Determine the total delay.
opening time until closing. Determine the following:
a. Average length of queue.
PEAK HOUR FACTOR
b. Waiting time in queue.
𝑽
c. Average time spent in queue. 𝑷𝑯𝑭 =
𝟒(𝑽𝟏𝟓 )
M/M/1 QUEUING
1. For the given data shown:
Queueing that has exponentially distributed arrivals,
exponentially distributed departures and one departure channel. TIME VOLUME
Average Length of Queue Average Waiting Time in Queue 6:00 – 6:15 33
6:15 – 6:30 38
𝝆𝟐 𝝀 6:30 – 6:45 30
̅=
𝑸 𝒘
̅=
𝟏−𝝆 𝝁(𝝁 − 𝝀) 6:45 – 7:00 34
7:00 – 7:15 38

Average Time Spent in the System 7:15 – 7:30 20

𝟏 a. Peak hour.
𝒕̅ = b. Peak hour volume.
𝝁−𝝀 c. Peak hour factor.

3. Assume that the toll attendant in the new toll gate takes an ACCIDENT ANALYSIS
average of 10 seconds to distribute brochures, but the
distribution time varies depending on whether drivers have AADT – is the average 24 – hour traffic volume at a given
questions relating to expressway operating policies. Given an location over a full year.
average arrival rate of 180 veh/h which vehicles arrive at ADT – is the average 24 – hour traffic volume at a given location
unequal time intervals, compute the following: for a period of time less than a year. (e.g. summer, six months,
a. Average length in queue. a month, a season)
b. Average waiting time in queue.
c. Average time spent in the system. Directional Design Hourly Volume:

𝑫𝑫𝑯𝑽 = 𝒌(𝑫)(𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑻)
SERVICE RATE AND DEMANDS ON HIGHWAYS
k = proportion of AADT occurring at the peak hour
1. A bridge is to be constructed between Samar and Leyte. The D = peak hour volume proportion in the major direction
total cost to travel across the bridge is expressed as C =
50+0.5V where V is the number of vehicles per hour and C is Hourly Expansion Factors:
the cost per vehicle in centavos. The demand for travel across
the bridge is V = 2900 – 10C. If a toll of 25 centavos is added, 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝟐𝟒𝒉𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅
what is the expected decrease of volume across the bridge? 𝑯𝑬𝑭 =
𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓
2. A toll bridge carries 10000 veh/day. The current toll is Daily Expansion Factors:
$3/vehicle. Studies have shown that for each increase in toll of
50 cents, the traffic volume will decrease by 1000veh/day. It is 𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌
desired to increase the toll to a point where revenue will be 𝑫𝑬𝑭 =
𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒚
maximized.
a. Determine the toll charge to maximum revenues. Monthly Expansion Factors:
b. Determine the traffic in veh/day after toll increase.
c. Determine the total revenue increase with new toll. 𝑨𝑨𝑫𝑻
𝑴𝑬𝑭 =
𝑨𝑫𝑻 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉
3. A ramp meter operates during the morning peak period. Ramp
meter cycles vary with time as shown in the table below. The Accident rate for 100 million vehicle miles of travel (HMVM)
metering scheme allows one vehicle per cycle to pass the signal. for a segment of a highway:
The table below gives the number of vehicles demanding
service on the ramp during the particular time intervals, the 𝑨(𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝟎𝟎𝟎)
cumulative demand for the ramp for the morning peak and the 𝑹=
𝑨𝑫𝑻(𝑵)(𝟑𝟔𝟓𝑳)
ramp meter cycle for each interval.
Accident rate per million entering vehicles (MEV) for an
TIME 15 min Cumulative Meter cycle
intersection:
PERIOD Volume Volume (s)
6:30 – 6:45 75 75 6 𝑨(𝟏 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝟎𝟎𝟎)
6:45 – 7:00 100 175 10 𝑹=
𝑨𝑫𝑻(𝑵)(𝟑𝟔𝟓)
7:00 – 7:15 125 300 12
7:15 – 7:30 110 410 12 Severity Ratio
7:30 – 7:45 80 490 10
7:45 – 8:00 65 555 6 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒍 + 𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔
𝑺𝑹 =
𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒍 + 𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 + 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆
 MANILA: Room 206, JPD Building, CM Recto Avenue, Manila
CEBU: 4/F J. Martinez Bldg., Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City
Telephone Number: (02) 516 7559 (Manila) E-Mail: buksmarquez1 @yahoo.com
(032) 254-6697 (Cebu)

1. A traffic engineer urgently needs to determine the AADT on a

rural primary road. She collected the data shown below on a
Tuesday during the month of May. Determine the AADT of the
road.

Time Volume HEF

7:00 – 8:00 400 29
8:00 – 9:00 535 22.05
9:00 – 10:00 650 18.80
10:00 – 11:00 710 17.10
11:00 – 12:00 650 18.52
DEF for Tuesday = 7.727
MEF for May = 1.394

2. The projected AADT of a proposed facility is 33,000 veh/day.

If the proportion of AADT in the design hour is 16 percent and
the peak-hour directional distribution is 65:35.
a. Determine the DDHV.
b. Assume that the PHF, fHV, and fp of the proposed facility are
0.91, 0.925, and 1.0, respectively, the maximum service flow
rate for the facility to provide a LOS of 1,500 veh/h/ln. The
number of lanes required will be:

3. A vehicle travel a distance of 40m before colliding with

another parked vehicles, the weight of which is 75 percent of the
former. After collision, if both vehicles skid through 14m before
stopping, determine the initial speed of the moving vehicle.
Assume friction coefficient of 0.62.

4. The number of accidents for 5 years recorded in a certain

intersection of a highway is 4892. If the average daily traffic is
476, what is the accident rate per million entering vehicles?

5. The number of accidents for 6 years recorded in a 10 – mile

long highway is 5432. If the average daily traffic is 476, what is
the accident rate per hundred million entering vehicles?

6. Data on a traffic accident recorded for the past 5 years on a

certain stretch of a two highway is tabulated as follows.
Determine the severity ratio.

YEAR PROPERTY INJURY FATAL

DAMAGE
2001 205 56 2
2002 178 48 3
2003 152 41 3
2004 190 60 5
2005 236 88 8