Understanding Traffic Systems

Road traffic and its impacts affect all aspects of modern life, leisure and industry, with safety, congestion and pollution being of greatest public concern. Transport planning increasingly emphasises travel demand management (TDM) and traffic calming - aided by dynamic, lower cost data from Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) - to enable real time monitoring, control and traveller information. This second edition of a highly successful work has been fully updated since its first publication in 1996 to reflect developments in technology available to the traffic analyst and in the social, ecological and economic environment. New sections are included on shockwaves, data capture without surveys, traffic incidents, delay estimation, off-line use of on-line data, environmental sensitivity, and controlled crash tests. The authors introduce and demonstrate techniques with which the analyst, engineer or planner can examine traffic problems. The underlying theme is that proper understanding of traffic systems performance and traffic problems can only come from the intelligent processing, refinement, appraisal and evaluation of traffic data. Arranged in five parts, the book offers an integrated approach to tackling road traffic problems: ¢ How to gain information and understanding about traffic ¢ The theories of traffic flow ¢ The principles of good survey planning and management ¢ Specific types of traffic studies ¢ Analytical techniques for transforming raw data into useful information. Understanding Traffic Systems provides cogent insights into the techniques of traffic data collection and analysis, the application of traffic theory and the role of data in analysis and decision making. Its breadth and use of examples from several countries make it a useful reference text for students and researchers, as well as an essential tool for practising traffic engineers and planners.

This book addresses the reader interested in vehicular traffic phenomena, who have not learned about them before. It presents traffic phenomena like traffic breakdown and the emergence of moving traffic jams by showcasing empirical traffic data measured in real-world traffic. The author explains how these empirical traffic studies have led to the three-phase traffic theory and why this new theory is in conflict with standard traffic theories developed before. Moreover, he presents the reason for the failure of applications of standard traffic theories in real-world traffic and discusses why understanding real traffic has caused a paradigm shift in traffic and transportation science. The book examines why understanding real traffic breakdown is the basis for an explanation for the autonomous driving effects on traffic flow. It shows that understanding real traffic is possible from real-world traffic data without the need of mathematical traffic models. This makes the book intuitive for non-specialists, who can qualitatively understand all the basic features of traffic dynamics. In turn, experienced traffic researchers can grasp concepts and ideas made here easily accessible by the author, one of the leading pioneers in the field of vehicular traffic.

Before they begin their university studies, most students have experience with traffic signals, as drivers, pedestrians and bicycle riders. One of the tasks of the introductory course in transportation engineering is to portray the traffic signal control system in a way that connects with these experiences. The challenge is to reveal the system in a simple enough way to allow the student "in the door," but to include enough complexity so that this process of learning about signalized intersections is both challenging and rewarding. We have approached the process of developing this module with the following guidelines: * Focusing on the automobile user and pretimed signal operation allows the student to learn about fundamental principles of a signalized intersection, while laying the foundation for future courses that address other users (pedestrians, bicycle riders, public transit operators) and more advanced traffic control schemes such as actuated control, coordinated signal systems, and adaptive control. * Queuing models are presented as a way of learning about the fundamentals of traffic flow at a signalized intersection. A graphical approach is taken so that students can see how flow profile diagrams, cumulative vehicle diagrams, and queue accumulation polygons are powerful representations of the operation and performance of a signalized intersection. * Only those equations that students can apply with some degree of understanding are presented. For example, the uniform delay equation is developed and used as a means of representing intersection performance. However, the second and third terms of the Highway Capacity Manual delay equation are not included, as students will have no basis for understanding the foundation of these terms. * Learning objectives are clearly stated at the beginning of each section so that the student knows what is to come. At the end of each section, the learning objectives are reiterated along with a set of concepts that students should understand once they complete the work in the section. * Over 70 figures are included in the module. We believe that graphically illustrating basic concepts is an important way for students to learn, particularly for queuing model concepts and the development of the change and clearance timing intervals. * Over 50 computational problems and two field exercises are provided to give students the chance to test their understanding of the material. The sequence in which concepts are presented in this module, and the way in which more complex ideas build on the more fundamental ones, was based on our study of student learning in the introductory course. The development of each concept leads to an element in the culminating activity: the design and evaluation of a signal timing plan in section 9. For example, to complete step 1 of the design process, the student must learn about the sequencing and control of movements, presented in section 3 of this module. But to determine split times, step 6 of the design process, four concepts must be learned including flow (section 2), sequencing and control of movements (section 3), sufficiency of capacity (section 6), and cycle length and splits (section 8). Depending on the pace desired by the instructor, this material can be covered in 9 to 12 class periods.

Highlighting the importance of transportation to a country‘s infrastructure and survival, Transportation Systems Security presents the strategic and practical considerations involved in the implementation of physical, procedural, and managerial safeguards required to keep all modes of transportation up and running during an actual or potenti

Transportation asset management delivers efficient and cost-effective investment decisions to support transportation infrastructure and system usage performance measured in economic, social, health, and environmental terms. It can be applied at national, state, and local levels. This distinctive book addresses asset management for multimodal transportation, taking account of system component interdependency, integration, and risk and uncertainty. It sets out rigorous quantitative and qualitative methods for addressing system goals, performance measures, and needs; data collection and management; performance modeling; project evaluation, selection, and trade-off analysis; innovative financing; and institutional issues. It applies as easily to static traffic and time-dependent or dynamic traffic which exists on a more local level. It is written for transportation planners, engineers, and academia, as well as a growing number of graduate students taking transportation asset management courses.

Climate Change Adaptation for Transportation Systems examines the international state of knowledge on climate change and weather and their potential impacts on the planning, design and serviceability of transportation networks. The book describes alternative frameworks for adapting to climate change in the planning, provision and management of transportation systems. It discusses methods and models for including climate and weather factors in planning and design for use in transportation asset systems under risk and uncertainty. Giving specific attention to road, rail, ports and harbors, the book provides users with the tools they need in decision-making approaches where there is uncertainty. Examines the impact of climate change and extreme weather on the performance and serviceability of transportation assets Explores the issues, methods, frameworks, models and techniques for assessing transportation systems' performance, including considerations for climate and the environment Provides case studies from around the world to illustrate methods, covering a wide range of climatic conditions, considerations and approaches for transportation planners