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12 Design Speed and Design Traffic

This document discusses key concepts related to traffic demand and roadway design speed. It defines design speed as the maximum safe speed for a road section based on its geometric design features. Design speed should be consistent with driver expectations and fit travel habits. Minimum design speeds vary based on road classification and location. Traffic demand concepts covered include annual average daily traffic, average daily traffic, peak hour volume, directional distribution, percentage of heavy vehicles, and peak hour factor. The peak hour volume used for road design, called the design hourly volume, is typically the 30th highest hourly volume of the year.

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76 views

12 Design Speed and Design Traffic

This document discusses key concepts related to traffic demand and roadway design speed. It defines design speed as the maximum safe speed for a road section based on its geometric design features. Design speed should be consistent with driver expectations and fit travel habits. Minimum design speeds vary based on road classification and location. Traffic demand concepts covered include annual average daily traffic, average daily traffic, peak hour volume, directional distribution, percentage of heavy vehicles, and peak hour factor. The peak hour volume used for road design, called the design hourly volume, is typically the 30th highest hourly volume of the year.

Uploaded by

jack
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CE 453 Lecture 11

Design Speed and Design


Traffic Concepts

Objectives

Get familiar with design


speeds for functional classes
Describe traffic demand and
determine for roadway design
Define ADT, AADT, DHV, D,
DDHV, K-Factor, and T

Posted speed = speed limit


Operating speed = free flow (spot
speed)
Running speed = length of
highway section running time
Design speed = selected speed
used to determine geometric
design features

Design Speed

Design speed is defined by the AASHTO Green


Book as: ...the maximum safe speed that
can be maintained over a specified
section of highway when conditions are
so favorable that the design features of
the highway govern.
Design Speed should: 1) be consistent with
the speed the driver is likely to expect. and
2) . . .fit the travel desires and habits of
nearly all drivers.
Not posted speed and not operating speed
(but ALWAYS higher than both)
See first part of:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/flex/c
h04.htm
(Chapter 4 from FHWAs Flexibility in Highway
Design)

Design Speed Considerations

Functional classification of the highway


Character of the terrain
Density and character of adjacent land
uses
Traffic volumes expected to use the
highway
Economic and environmental
considerations

Design Speed in Green Book


(suggested minimum design speed)

Rural Local Roads

Source: A Policy on Geometric


Design of Highways and Streets
(The Green Book). Washington, DC.
American Association of State
Highway and Transportation
Officials, 2001 4th Ed.

Design Speed in Green Book


(suggested minimum design speed)

Rural Collectors

Source: A Policy on Geometric


Design of Highways and Streets
(The Green Book). Washington, DC.
American Association of State
Highway and Transportation
Officials, 2001 4th Ed.

Design Speed in Green Book


(suggested minimum design speed)

Rural Arterials

60 120 kph (40-75 mph)


Depends on
Terrain
Driver

expectancy
Alignment (reconstruction)

Design Speed in Green Book


(suggested minimum design speed)

Urban
Locals 20-30 mph
Collectors 30 mph+
Arterials 30-60 mph

Values represent the


minimum acceptable
design speeds for the
various conditions of
terrain and traffic
volumes associated
with new or
reconstructed
highway facilities

International

Design Traffic

Traffic Definitions

Volume:
number of vehicles, pedestrians,
etc. passing a point during a specific
period of time
for vehicles, usually expressed as
veh/hour (vph) or veh/hour/lane
(vphpl)

Demand:
number of vehicles, pedestrians, etc. that desire to
travel between locations during a specific period
Frequently higher than volume during certain peak
times
Trips are diverted or not made when there are
constraints in the system
difficult to measure actual demand because capacity
constrains the demand
Capacity:
maximum number of vehicles that can pass a point
during a specific period
A characteristic of the roadway or facility

Characteristics of Traffic Flow

Highly variable

Time of day
Day of week
Season
Road characteristics
Direction

Traffic Typically Peaks twice per day


7000

Flow in vehicles per hour

6000
Highw ay Capacity
5000
Highly Congested
4000
3000
2000
1000
0

Time of Day

Source: www.ecn.purdue.edu/~darcy

Volume Studies

AADT: Annual average daily


traffic (counted for 365 days)
ADT: average daily traffic
(counted for > 1 day and < 365)
PHV: peak hour volume
Classification counts: fleet mix

Estimating AADT

Annual Average Daily Traffic


Use count station information
Extrapolate to non-count locations
Used to adjust ADT for

Seasons
Daily variation

AADT Data Helps to:

Estimate highway revenues


Establish overall volume trends
Establish annual accident rates
Analyze benefits of road
improvements

Counting Program

To satisfy the traffic volume data


needs for all roads under a
particular jurisdiction, we establish
a Counting Program
A systematic pattern of
counting at different times and
locations

Traffic Counts Maps


http://www.iowadotmaps.com/msp/traffic/index.html

Traffic Counts Maps

Design Volume

Usually hourly volume


Which hour?

Average hourly volume inadequate


design
Maximum peak hour not economical
Hourly volume used for design should not
be exceeded very often or by very much
Usually use 30th highest hourly volume of
the year
On rural roads 30 HHV is ~ 15% of ADT
Tends to be constant year to year

Traffic Demand

Design Hourly Volume (DHV) future hourly


volume (both directions) used for design typically 30th HHV (highest hourly volume) in
the design year
Why 30th HHV?

Breakpoint of 2-28
Compromise: too high is wasteful, too low poor
operation
Approximately median weekly peak hour volume
(top highest week peak hours)

(30th HHV exceed 29 times in year)

Traffic Demand (cont.)


3.

Exhibit 2-28 relationship between HHV and percent of


ADT in peak hour (referred to as K-factor)

Source: A Policy on
Geometric Design of
Highways and Streets
(The Green Book).
Washington, DC.
American Association of
State Highway and
Transportation Officials,
2001 4th Ed.

Design Hourly Volume


DHV is a representation of peak hour
traffic, usually for the future, or
horizon year
K-factor represents proportion of AADT
that occurs in the 30th HHV
K-factor = __DHV x 100
AADT
K = 8 to 12% urban, 12 to 18% rural

Design Hourly Volume (Example)


If AADT is 3500 vpd and the 30th
highest hourly volume for the year is
420 vph what is the K-factor for that
facility?

K-factor = __DHV x 100


AADT
K-factor = __420 x 100 = 12
3500

Question: Whats the impact of choosing


different K factor for design?
If AADT is 3500 vpd, how will the design volume
differ for k-factor = 8% vs. 12%?
DHV

= K-factor x AADT
100
DHVk=8% = 8 x 3500 = 280 vph
DHVk=12%
veh)

100
= 12 x 3500 = 420 vph
100

(diff of 140

Traffic Demand (cont.)

D = directional distribution = one


way volume in peak direction
(expressed as a percentage of
two-way traffic) Rural 55 to 80%
Can also adjust for how traffic is
distributed between lanes (e.g., 3
lanes, highest/outside lane may
be 40% of total directional flow)

Directional Distribution
(example)
If traffic is directionally split 60/40, what is directional
distribution of traffic for previous example (Design
hourly volume = 420 veh/hr)?

Directional Design Hourly Volume (DDHV) =


0.6 x 420 = 252 veh/hr
Notice we use 0.6 not 0.4!!

Traffic Demand (cont.)

T = percentage of heavy vehicles


during design hour (Iowa interstate
35% plus)
Affects capacity, ability to pass on
two-lane rural roads, etc.
Larger, occupy more space
Should determine % during design
hour (truck patterns may not be same
as passenger vehicles)

Peak Hour Factor (PHF)


PHF =

peak-hour volume .
4(peak 15-min volume)

Flow is not uniform throughout an hour


HCM considers operating conditions
during most congestion 15-minute
period of the hour to determine service
level for the hour as a whole

Peak Hour Factor

DHV = Peak-Hour Volume


PHF
Example
Peak hour volume from previous = 375 vph
PHF = 0.625
DHV =
375 = 600 vph
0.625
Note: the traffic you design for is the busiest 15
minutes during the peak hour another way to
think of it is 150 vehicles per 15 minutes = 600
vehicles per 60 minutes

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