TRAFFIC FLOW ANALYSIS ON HEAVILY TRAFFICKED HIGHWAY

Abstract

Study has been conducted on two-lane mid-block section of NH-8, between Ahmedabad and Vadodara, at Vaghasi village to / evaluate basic traffic flow parameters. Data collection was done using Video Recording Technique. The brief review of PCU evaluation methodology and related literature are included in the report. Using PC-XT and FORTRAN 77 programmes, the PCUs for different categories of vehicles was calculated. The analytical speed-flow relationships were obtained by simple linear regression technique considering the total volume of traffic as independent variable and space mean speed of different category of vehicles as the dependent variables. Several methods for PCU computations have been used and the final/compromised PCU values have been used in the capacity estimation. It was also found that the total traffic volume can itself be used as the variable to determine speed-flow relationships. It is further recommended that speed studies on highways should be conducted at regular intervals say 4-S years in view of rapidly changing traffic scenario. Also speed-flow studies should be conducted and PCU values for various types of vehicles be evaluated under different roadway and terrain conditions