Chapter 4

Spot Speed, Travel Time, and Delay Studies

4.1 Spot speed studies

Speed and travel time are the most commonly used indicators of performance for
traffic facilities and networks. Delays are often used to measure the performance of
traffic flow at intersections.

Spot speed --- defined as the average speed of vehicles passing a

point.
It is the mostly used indicator that traffic engineers use to measure
the speed that drivers freely select, meaning that spot speed studies are under
free flow conditions.

Some useful speed definitions

1 Mean speed --- defined as average speed
2 Mode speed --- defined as the most frequent single value
among observation
3 Median speed --- defined as the speed that equally
divides the distribution of spot speeds meaning there are as many
vehicles traveling at higher speeds as at lower speeds;

These three parameters are considered as the measure of central tendency

of the speed at which vehicles travel.

Applications of spot speeds

(1) speed limit build-up
(2) trends establishment
(3) specific design applications
(4) specific control applications
(5) high-crash investigation

Spot speed collection methods

(1) Radar meters (hand-held or mounted on a vehicle)
(2) Stop-watch method (manual)
(3) Loop detector method
(4) Microwaved-detector
(5) Video-frequency detector

These methods of conducting spot speed studies will be introduced in the

Traffic Experiment course at the following semester.
Presentation of spot speed data
(1) frequency distribution table
(2) frequency and cumulative frequency distribution curves --- to

(3)

find percentile values (as shown in Figure 9-4, page 211, third
edition)
to estimate range of true mean of spot speed at given level of
confidence

Common descriptive statistics

(1) Pace --- defined as the 10 mph increment in
speed in which the highest percentage of drivers is observed.
If the percentage of vehicles traveling within the pace is smaller,
it shows that the dispersion of spot speed distribution is greater.
From safety point of view, 10 mph is the threshold ,
beyond which it is thought to have high potential of traffic
crash .

(2)

Standard deviation --- a measure of how far data

spreads around the mean value, indicating the degree of
dispersion of the data.
n

f (X

S=

i =1

X )2

n 1

X i2

n 1

nX 2
n 1

(4-1)

S --- the standard deviation

X i -- observation i
X --- average of all observations
fi --- frequency of observation i
N --- number of observations
(3)

Standard error of the mean --- defined as the standard deviation

of a distribution of sample means
E=

(4-2)

E --- standard error of the mean

S --- standard deviation of the original distribution of individual
values
n --- number of samples in each group of observations
(4)

Range of true mean of spot speed

= X 1.96 E when confidence level is 95%

(4-3)

 = X 3.0 E when confidence level is 99.7%

--- range of true mean spot speed under given confidence level
The values of 1.96 and 3.0 are the t-values, assuming that the estimation of
mean is in accord with the t distribution. As the confidence level increases, the
precision of the estimate decreases. As rule of thumb, 95% confidence level is very
common in spot speed studies.

Required sample size

The minimum number of observations from field in order to satisfy the
predetermined precision and confidence level.

S2 K 2
e2

(4-4)

n --- minimum number of sample required

S --- standard deviation of sample
e --- tolerance in error (given)
K --- t-value for given confidence level,
K=1.96
when confidence level = 95%;
K=3.0
when confidence level = 99.7%
It should be noted that in order to reduce sample size for reasons of finance it
is necessary to either reduce the confidence or increase the tolerance. In traffic
engineering 95% confidence level is considered the minimum that is acceptable,
therefore, increase of tolerance seems unavoidable. It has been proved that the
increase of just 0.3 mile per hour in tolerance results in a decrease of 2017 samples
required as indicated in the example on page 139 of textbook. Sample size N should
be rechecked after the speed study is completed.
It should also be pointed out that the guiding philosophy behind spot speed
studies is that measurement should include drivers freely selecting their speeds,
unaffected by traffic congestion. Thus, spot speed studies are rarely made under
conditions of heavy, or even moderate, traffic.
4.2 Travel time studies
In general travel time studies involve significant lengths of a facility or group of
facilities forming a route. It is often conducted on the arterial or major roadway,
along which there are several intersections (signalized or stop/yield signs). Travel
time plays key role in citys life and it indicates the level of service of roadway
network performance. From mobility point of view travel time reflects degree of

convenience from one point to the other point.

Purpose of travel time studies --a.

to identify problem locations on facilities
b.
to determine level of service of the facility
c.
to provide some inputs for traffic assignment process
d.
to provide travel time for economic evaluation of transportation
improvement
e.
to provide information for travelers

Techniques for travel time studies --a.

floating-car approach
b.
license-plate approach
c.
car-following approach
d.
GPS based approach

The following equations show how to estimated travel time through floating car
approach. This approach is generally applicable only on two-lane highways, where
passing is rare and length of roadway link is not long. The number of test-car runs
ranges from 6 to 12, depending on the type of facility and the amount of traffic.

Vw =

( N e + Ow Pw )60
Te + Tw

Tw = Tw

60(Ow Pw )
Vw

Testing car
Tw

West

Ne

East
Ow

Pw

Te

V w --- traffic flow westbound in vehicles per hour;

N e --- opposing volume in vehicle per survey period;
O w --- traffic overtaking the testing car in vehicle per survey period;
Pw --- traffic overtaken by the testing car in vehicle per survey period;
Te --- travel time eastbound in minutes;
Tw --- travel time westbound in minutes;

Tw --- average travel time westbound in minutes

The license plate approach is also used for conducting travel time studies.

However, since a lot of in-house work involved and low match-up rate in practice,
this method is only used for a small network with few nodes.
The car-following approach is used to conduct travel time studies for a rather
long arterial or traffic corridor. The objective of conducting such study attempts to
estimate the operating performance of traffic movement in a region such as Key West,
Florida.
GPS based approach is the update method to get developed in recent years. The
GPS device is installed at each testing vehicle (taxi in Beijing) and movement
information of each vehicle on the roadways will be received by the control center.
The travel time will be then calculated based on predetermined algorithm. This
approach is still at the testing stage.

Travel time displays --- as shown in Figure 9.8 and Figure 9.9 on page
228/229 of third edition. It should be noted that the closer together
contour lines plot, the longer the travel time to progress any
set distance. The contour line methodology is generally used for
planning purpose. It can also be applied to help identify network
problem from roadways layout and efficiency of roadway network.

Figure 4.1 The contour line graph of travel time for 2008 Olympic Games

4.3 Delay studies

Delay is defined as an extra time spent by drivers against their expectation.
Delay can have many forms depending on different locations.

Stopped-time delay --- the time a vehicle spends stopped

waiting to proceed through a signalized or STOP-controlled
intersection;
Approach delay --- adds the delay due to deceleration to
and acceleration from a stop to stopped time delay;
Time-in-queue delay --- the time between a vehicle joining
the end of a queue at a signalized or STOP-controlled intersection and
the time it crosses the STOP line to proceed through the intersection;
Control delay --- the total delay at an intersection caused
by a control device, including both time-in-queue delay plus delays
due to acceleration and deceleration.

Due to the fact that delay at signalized intersections is of particular interest,

many efforts are put on the intersection delay study. Accurate estimation of delays
has many implications in traffic engineering studies. Transportation planners will
use delay to evaluate economic loses, whereas traffic engineers will use delays to
determine level of service at signalized intersections. In general the methodology
used in analyzing intersection delay comes from the HCM (Highway Capacity
Manual).

The 1985 HCM and its 1994 update define intersection level of
service on the basis of average individual stopped-time delay per
vehicles. In its 1997 and 200 update versions, stopped delay is
replaced by control delay.

Methods of conducting intersection delays --a. License-plate method

b. Sample-counting method
c. HCM 2000 method (or called cycle-based method)

At one approach of an intersection two observers are needed to conduct HCM

based delay study. One person counts the arriving vehicles and number of stopping
vehicles during survey period, while the other person keeps track of the queue for
each cycle (counting number of vehicles being queued).
TQ = 0.9( I s

iq

VT

(4-5)

TQ = average time-in-queue, s/veh

I s = time interval between time-in-queue counts

iq

vehs

= sum of all vehicle-in-queue counts during survey period,

VT = total number of vehicles arriving during survey period, vehs

To make adjustment for acceleration/deceleration delays it is necessary to

estimate fraction of vehicles stopping as follows.

VSLC =

V STOP
Nc NL

(4-6)

FVS =

VSTOP
VT

(4-7)

VSLC = number of vehicles stopping per lane, per cycle, vehs

VSTOP = total count of stopping vehicles, vehs
N c = number of cycles in the survey
N L = number of lanes in the survey lane group

FVS = fraction of vehicles stopping

The final estimate of control delay can be calculated as follows.

d = TQ + ( FVS CF )

(4-8)

The value of CF is a correction factor that is given at the Table 4.1.

Table 4.1 Adjustment Factor for Acceleration/Deceleration Delays
Free Flow Speed
(mile/h)

< 7 vehs

8 --- 19 vehs

20 --- 30 vehs

< 37
> 37 - 45
> 45

+5
+7
+9

+2
+4
+7

-1
+2
+5

Example of survey data on a signalized intersection approach is given as

indicated in Table 4.2. The approach has two lanes, and the signal cycle length is 60
seconds. Ten cycles were survey with vehicle-in-queue count interval being 20
seconds.

TQ = 0.9( 20

132
120

) = 19.8s / veh

VSLC =

FVS =

75
10 2
75
120

= 3.75vehs

= 0.625

d = 19.8 + (0.625 5) = 22.9 s / veh

Table 4.2 Sample data for HCM based delay study
Clock Time

Cycle number

Number of Vehicles in Queue

+0 secs

+20 secs

+40 secs

5:00 pm

5:01 pm

5:02 pm

5:03 pm

5:04 pm

5:05 pm

5:06 pm

5:07 pm

5:08 pm

5:09 pm

10

Total

40

50

42

iq

= 132vehs

VT = 120 vehs

VSTOP = 75vehs

FFS=35mi/h

The cycle based method is an approximate way to estimate control delays at

intersections. The license-plate method can estimate delays at intersections in
relatively accurate manner. However, this method needs more investment in time
and man power.

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