Statistical Investigation of Truck Type Distribution on Cold Region Highways During Winter Months
Recent research on impact of weather interaction on classified traffic volume variations on provincial highways in cold regions showed that the total truck volume is not affected with severity of snowfall and cold temperature. However, no research is conducted to analyze the variations in truck distributions, despite of its importance for truck counting and monitoring program. Described in this paper is the statistical investigation of association of truck type distribution on cold region highways during severe winter months and seasons in a year. The investigation is based on weigh-in-motion data collected from six sites located on five provincial highways in Alberta, Canada. Trucks were classified into three types such as single unit, single trailer, and multi trailer using the FHWA vehicle classification scheme. Two statistical tests namely Chi-squared test and Binomial probability test were applied to analyze the distributional change in three different truck classes during high snowfall and low temperature conditions. The analysis suggested that the truck type distribution does not change from winter to non-winter season for regional commuter road (Highway 2A), long distance roads (Highway 2 and Highway 16). Also, no change in truck distribution from month to month was noticed during sever winter months. Consistent results were not found for special roads such as Highway 44 due to difference in road user characteristics. The study findings have practical implications for rationalization of the length and frequency of traffic counts including classified traffic monitoring programs throughout the year. The knowledge about independency of truck type distribution with various seasons is likely to help in effective traffic monitoring and estimation of the highway planning and design parameters like Truck Annual Average Daily Traffic (TAADT), Truck Average Daily Traffic (TADT) and Design Hour Truck Volume etc.
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABJ35 Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Monitoring.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Roh, Hyuk-Jae
- Sahu, Prasanta K
- Sharma, Satish
- Mehran, Babak
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
- Date: 2016
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 16p
- Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Annual average daily traffic; Frigid regions; Highways; Traffic distribution; Traffic volume; Trucks; Vehicle classification; Winter
- Geographic Terms: Alberta (Canada)
- Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment; I73: Traffic Control; I90: Vehicles;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01590738
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 16-2139
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Feb 22 2016 1:18PM