CEN 371 (A and B): Transportation Engineering I

Assignment 2
Due Date: 10th April, 2020; Submission Time: 10.00 pm (Evening)

1) An equal-tangent crest vertical curve is designed with a PVI at station 110 + 00 (elevation
(927.2+0.1𝑥)ft) and a PVC at station 107 + 43.3 (elevation 921.55+0.2𝑥 ft). If the high
point is at station (110+0.06𝑥) + 75.5, what is the design speed of the curve?

2) An equal-tangent sag equal tangent vertical curve is designed for 45+0.3𝑥 mi/h. The low
point is 237+0.2𝑥 ft from the PVC at station 112 + 37 and the final offset at the PVT is
19.355+0.04𝑥 ft. If the PVC is at station 110 + 00, what is the elevation difference
between the PVT and a point on the curve at station 111 + 00?

3) A horizontal curve on a single-lane freeway ramp is 400+0.2𝑥 ft long, and the design
speed of the ramp is 45+0.03𝑥 mi/h. If the super-elevation is (10+0.01𝑥) % and the station
of the PC is 18 + 25, what is the station of the PI and how much distance must be cleared
from the center of the lane to provide adequate stopping sight distance?

4) An eight-lane freeway (four lanes in each direction) is on rolling terrain and has 11+0.01𝑥
-ft lanes with a 4+0.02𝑥 -ft right-side shoulder. The total ramp density is 1.5+0.02𝑥 ramps
per mile. The directional peak-hour traffic volume is 5400+𝑥 vehicles with (6+0.01𝑥 )%
large trucks and 5% buses (no recreational vehicles). The traffic stream consists of regular
users and the peak-hour factor is (0.95+0.001𝑥). It has been decided that large trucks will
be banned from the freeway during the peak hour. What will the freeway’s density and
level of service be before and after the ban?
(Assume that the trucks are removed and all other traffic attributes are unchanged.)

5) A six-lane freeway (three lanes in each direction) has regular weekday users and currently
operates at maximum LOS C conditions. The lanes are 11+0.01𝑥 ft wide, the right-side
shoulder is 4+0.03𝑥 ft wide, and there are two ramps within three miles upstream of the
segment midpoint and one ramp within three miles downstream of the segment midpoint.
The highway is on rolling terrain with 10% large trucks and buses (no recreational
vehicles), and the peak-hour factor is 0.90+0.001𝑥. Determine the hourly volume for these
conditions.

6) An intersection has a four-phase signal with the movements allowed in each phase and
corresponding analysis and saturation flow rates shown in the following table. Calculate
the sum of the flow ratios for the critical lane groups. Calculate the minimum cycle length
and the effective green time for each phase (balancing v/c for the critical movements).
Assume the lost time is 4+0.05𝑥 seconds per phase and a critical intersection v/c of
 0.95+0.0001𝑥 is desired. Calculate the optimal cycle length (Webster’s formulation) and
the corresponding effective green times (based on lane group v/c equalization). Assume
lost time is 4+0.05𝑥 seconds per phase.

7) A simple work-mode–choice model is estimated from data in a small urban area to

determine the probabilities of individual travelers selecting various modes. The mode
choices include automobile drive-alone (DL), automobile shared-ride (SR), and bus (B),
and the utility functions are estimated as

UDL = (2.2+0.06𝑥) − 0.2(costDL) − 0.03(travel timeDL)

USR = (0.8+0.03𝑥) − 0.2(costSR) − 0.03(travel timeSR)
UB = −0.2(costB) − 0.01(travel timeB)

where cost is in dollars and time is in minutes. Between a residential area and an industrial
complex, (4000+4𝑥) workers (generating vehicle-based trips) depart for work during the
peak hour. For all workers, the cost of driving an automobile is $(6.00+0.03𝑥) with a
travel time of (20+0.01𝑥) minutes, and the bus fare is $(1.00+0.02𝑥) with a travel time
of (25+0.04𝑥) minutes. If the shared-ride option always consists of two travelers sharing
costs equally, how many workers will take each mode?

(Here, 𝑥 = 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 2 − 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐼𝐷)