A STUDY OF THE QUALITY OF TRAFFIC FLOW

THE OBJECTIVE WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE FUNDAMENTAL VEHICLE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS UNDER NORMAL ROADWAY CONDITIONS ON URBAN ARTERIALS FOR THE PURPOSE OF: (1) RELATING ROADWAY FEATURES TO OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS AND ACCIDENT EXPERIENCE, (2) FORMULATING MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VARIOUS VEHICLE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS AND WITH ACCIDENT EXPERIENCE, (3) DEVELOPING METHODS FOR MEASURING THE QUALITY OF TRAFFIC FLOW, (4) EVALUATING THE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS ON AN URBAN EXPRESSWAY SYSTEM, (5) EVALUATING THE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS ON SPECIAL TYPES OF URBAN ARTERIALS, (6) INVESTIGATING THE RELIABILITY OF THE MOVING VEHICLE METHOD OF ESTIMATING TRAFFIC VOLUME, (7) APPLYING STATISTICAL ANALYSES TO TRAVEL TIME STUDIES, AND (8) COMPARING ANALYSES OF INSTRUMENTATION FOR MEASURING VEHICLE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS. THE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS STUDIED INCLUDED OVERALL AVERAGE AND RUNNING SPEEDS (OR IN OTHER WORDS AVERAGE TRAVEL TIME PER MILE AND TIME IN MOTION), STOPPED TIME, INSTANTANEOUS MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM SPEEDS, SPEED RANGE AND SPEED DISTRIBUTION, FUEL ECONOMY, NUMBER OF BRAKE APPLICATIONS, AND BRAKE TIME. IT WAS FOUND THAT BY MEASURING CERTAIN PHYSICAL ROADWAY CHARACTERISTICS THAT TRAVEL TIME, FUEL ECONOMY, AND ACCIDENT RATE CAN BE ESTIMATED. LIKEWISE, BY MEASURING TRAVEL TIME OTHER ASPECTS OF TRAFFIC OPERATIONS CAN BE ESTIMATED. A METHOD WAS DEVELOPED FOR THE EVALUATION OF QUALITY OF TRAFFIC FLOW BASED ON SAFETY, CONVENIENCE, AND ECONOMY OF OPERATION.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Xi & 108 Pp, 35 FIG, 33 REF
• Corporate Authors:

  Michigan State University, East Lansing

  Highway Traffic Safety Center
  East Lansing, MI  United States  48824
• Authors:
  • May, A D
  • Wagner, F A
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash rates; Estimates; Fuel consumption; Highway operations; Mathematics; Measurement; Motion; Motor vehicles; Operating costs; Quality control; Speed; Statistical analysis; Traffic; Traffic flow; Traffic safety; Traffic speed; Traffic volume; Travel time; Urban highways; Vehicle characteristics
• Uncontrolled Terms: Convenience; Moving vehicles; Quality; Relationships
• Old TRIS Terms: Overall travel speed
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Energy; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00227097
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 13 2004 6:47PM