Fundamental Principles

of Traffic Flow

Presented By:
Bibha Mahto
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering
 Categories of traffic flow

1 Uninterrupted traffic flow

2 Interrupted traffic flow

Un-interrupted traffic flow
Uninterrupted traffic flow
refers to flow of those streams
where vehicular motion is not
interrupted by stoppages. The
flow is regulated by
• vehicle-vehicle interactions
•Vehicle-roadway interaction
Interrupted traffic flow
Interrupted traffic flow
refers to flow of those
streams where vehicular
motion is interrupted due
to various reasons.
Reasons: traffic signals,
stop signs and other
controls.
Primary Elements of Traffic Flow

SPEED

HEADWAY

SPACING

CLEARANCE

FLOW

DENSITY
 SPEED

Speed is the distance

travelled by a vehicle
during a unit of time.

where, v is the speed of the

vehicle in m/s, d is distance
traveled in m in time t seconds.
 Types of speed

1 Spot speed

2 Running speed

3 Journey speed

4 Time mean speed

5 Space mean speed

 Spot speed
Spot speed is the instantaneous speed of a vehicle at a
specified location.

Horizontal curves Vertical curves Super elevation


Running speed
Running speed is the average speed
maintained over a particular course
while the vehicle is moving and is
found by dividing the length of the
course by the time duration the
vehicle was in motion.
Journey speed
Journey speed is the
effective speed of the
vehicle on a journey
between two points
and is the distance
between the two
points divided by the
total time taken for
the vehicle to
complete the journey
including any stopped
time.
 Time mean speed
Time mean speed is the average speed of all the
vehicles passing a point on a highway over some
specified time period.
The time mean speed is found by:

where
n = number of vehicles passing a point on the highway
Ui = speed of the ith vehicle (m/sec)
 Space mean speed
Space mean speed is the average speed of all
the vehicles occupying a given section of a
highway over some specified time period.
Where:
• Us = space mean speed
(m/sec)
• n = number of vehicles
• ti = the time it takes the i th
vehicle to travel across a
section of highway (sec)
• Ui = speed of the i th
vehicle (m/sec)
• L = length of section of
highway (m)
Time Headway
• Time headway is the difference between the time when the
front of a vehicle arrives at a point on the highway and the time
the front of the next vehicle arrives at that same point.
• Time headway is usually expressed in seconds.

Distance Headway (Space Headway)

Distance headway is the distance between corresponding
points of two successive vehicles at any given time.
OR
The difference in position between the front of a vehicle and
the front of the next vehicle and is usually expressed in
meter (feet).

Spacing is the distance between
successive vehicles in a traffic
lane, measured from some
common reference point on the
vehicles, such as the front
bumpers or front wheels.
Spacing is a distance, measured
in meters.
Clearance (c)
Clearance is similar to spacing,
except that the clearance is the
distance between the rear
bumper of the leading vehicle
and the front bumper of the
following vehicle. The clearance
is equivalent to the spacing
minus the length of the leading
vehicle. Clearance, like spacing,
is usually reported in units of
feet or meters.
 FLOW
The number of vehicles that pass a point on a highway or a given
lane or direction of a highway during a specific time interval.
The measurement is carried out by counting the number of
vehicles n, passing a particular point in one lane in a defined
period t. Then the flow q expressed in vehicles/hour is given by

n
q
t
 DENSITY
Density is defined as
the number of vehicles
occupying a given
length of highway or
lane and is generally
expressed as vehicles
per km.
Where
k= traffic density in
vehicles per unit
n
distance.
n= number of vehicles.
k
l=length of roadway l