HEADWAY CHARACTERISTICS AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAFFIC FLOW

THOSE PORTIONS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT ON FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAFFIC FLOW WHOSE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES WERE: (1) AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PATTERNS OF VEHICULAR HEADWAY CHARACTERISTICS, AND (2) THE DETERMINATION OF THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF THE FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAFFIC FLOW ARE REPORTED ON. SEVEN STUDY LOCATIONS IN THE VICINITY OF TWO MICHIGAN CITIES, DETROIT AND LANSING, WERE REPRESENTATIVE OF A WIDE VARIETY OF URBAN ARTERIALS, RANGING FROM A CONTROLLED ACCESS EXPRESSWAY TO A SURFACE ARTERIAL WITH HEAVY PARKING ALONG COMMERCIALLY DEVELOPED FRONTAGE. A MINIMUM OF ONE CONTINUOUS WEEK OF DATA WAS COLLECTED AT EACH OF THE STUDY LOCATIONS, WHICH INVOLVED: (1) DETECTING TRAFFIC VOLUME, SPEED, AND HEADWAY INFORMATION BY INDIVIDUAL LANES, (2) TRANSMITTING THIS INFORMATION FROM THE DETECTION UNITS TO A CENTRAL OFFICE, AND (3) SUMMARIZING THE INFORMATION ON GRAPHICAL AND DIGITAL RECORDERS. VEHICULAR HEADWAY DISTRIBUTION, UNDER VARIOUS TRAFFIC VOLUME CONDITIONS, ARE INCLUDED FOR THE SEVEN LOCATIONS STUDIED AND STATISTICAL ANALYSES WERE UNDERTAKEN IN ORDER TO COMPARE AND SUMMARIZE THE HEADWAY DISTRIBUTIONS. SIMILAR DEFINITE PATTERNS OF HEADWAY DISTRIBUTION AS AFFECTED BY TRAFFIC VOLUME WERE DISCOVERED AT THE STUDY LOCATIONS. SPEED-VOLUME RELATIONSHIPS AND DENSITY RELATED TO OTHER FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR EACH LANE OF EACH STUDY LOCATION WERE DEVELOPED, AND LINEAR AND CURVILINEAR EQUATIONS WERE DERIVED FOR THESE RELATIONSHIPS. MEANS OF ESTIMATING MAXIMUM VOLUME FLOW AND ITS RELATED FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS ARE INCLUDED. THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE USE OF THE TRAFFIC DENSITY MEASUREMENTS AS AN INDICATOR OF THE OPERATIONAL LEVEL OF THE FACILITY IS DISCUSSED. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrbproceedings/39/39-033.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 39, pp 524-547, 14 FIG, 7 TAB, 13 REF. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • May, A D
  • Wagner, F A
• Publication Date: 1960

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board, Washington, D.C., January 11-15, 1960
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Proceedings
  • Volume: 39
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arterial highways; Data collection; Digital computers; Expressways; Freeways; Headways; Highway traffic; Recording instruments; Streets; Traffic density; Traffic flow; Traffic flow theory; Traffic speed; Traffic volume
• Old TRIS Terms: Digital systems; Recorders; Vehicular traffic
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00227128
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Aug 23 1971 12:00AM