TRAFFIC FLOW ANALYSIS ON TWO.LANE ROADS

Abstract

In India about 51 percent length of national highways and more than 50 percent length of state highways are two lane roads. Two lane roads caiTy a large proportion of traffic. Concerning safety and mobility of road users, two lane roads are considered as the minimum requirement for a national highway network. In recent years industrialization and improvement of new technology not only increased vehicle population but also triggered rapid change in the vehicle characteristics like speed, acceleration, braking efficiency and manoeuvrahility. It indicates necessity for evaluation of traffic flow parameters and examine the adequacy of road facilities for the present traffic conditions. Traffic videos were collected at seven different sections covering different states in India namely Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakharid, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala, and Andhra Pradcsh. Vehicles are categorized into eight different groups such as small cars, big cars, motorized two wheelers, three wheeler autos, light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, tractor trailers and buses. Traffic flow parameters such as speed, volume, Passenger car unit values for different vehicles, free flow speeds, and peak hour factors are evaluated and analysed. Capacity is estimated from the fundamental relationships and influence of carriageway width, driving behavior and road surface conditions on capacity is examined. In the present study the concept of stream equivalency factor was applied for two lane roads and a generalized multi linear regression model was developed between stream equivalency factor, traffic composition and traffic volume. The model is validated and the results showed acceptance at 98 percent level of significance. Other than this peak hour factor and volume to capacity ratio are also calculated and thereby examined the sub-hourly variation in traffic flow and adequacy of road facilities.