HW7 = Project 7 = 2 HWs / Due: Friday 18 November 2005
TRAFFIC DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS – FLOW, SPEED, AND DENSITY
Dear Consultant:
The Mythaca City Engineer is getting a lot of complaints about congestion at certain intersections. Some of the complaints may be exaggerated; some may be well-founded. To help the City Engineer diagnose the problem and propose solutions, good data are needed. Your small firm is being retained to collect and analyze data pertaining to some of the problem locations. The contract calls for 4-5 employees to undertake the tasks below. A link to the list of personnel is on the CE361 home page. Who collects the data is up to your firm, but all members of your firm will be held accountable for being able to explain the analyses to the City Engineer’s staff.
Although the data collection may include observing traffic at peak periods, there is no reason to engage in dangerous activities. You should be able to make observations from a sidewalk or a building, and cross from one side of a street to the other side in a safe, legal manner.
Each member of your group must sign the top page of the report you submit. By their signatures, the students certify that (a) they approve of what is being submitted, (b) they will accept the same grade that is awarded for the project, and (c) each student is responsible for having the project content available at a subsequent test. You will also be asked to evaluate the contributions made by each member of your group.
- Project management.
A.(5 points) Billable hours. For each work element (problems 2-5) below, record and submit the number of person-hours devoted to (a) data collection and (b) analysis.
B.(5 points) Personnel deployment. On Friday 4 November, submit a brief summary of work completed to date and a plan for how each member of your group (by name) will be used to carry out the remaining tasks. If you have had any problems with group members, this is the time to bring it to the attention of the supervisor (instructor).
- Gap acceptance. You will receive by email a spreadsheet file that contains data for vehicles turning onto East 116th Street from NB Eller Road. The file contains separate worksheets for LT and RT vehicles. In each worksheet, the meaning of the column headings are as indicated for FTE Problem 8.1, but only “DAG” and “DRG” have data that you will use in this analysis.
A.(15 points) For one of the turning movements (LT or RT from Eller), manipulate the data in the DAG and DRG columns that will permit you to produce a plot like the one in FTE Figure 8.3. (Remove the zero entries from these columns as part of your “manipulation”.) Submit a hardcopy of the manipulated data and the plot. In an easy-to-follow list of steps, explain how you manipulated the data to create the plot. The steps should allow someone else to replicate what you did. What critical gap value did you find?
B.(10 points) Repeat the steps in Part A for the other turning movement. No need to restate the steps. What critical gap value did you find?
- Signal warrants. During some times of day, delays at the stop-controlled intersection at McCormick Road and Lindberg Road can seem lengthy. Is a signal warranted here? (Ref: pages 4C-2 to 4C-6.) Have your group sign up to collect data for one hour between 7AM and 7PMon a typical weekday. Request a time slotby having a member of your group send email to . Unclaimed time slots will be assigned on a first come-first served basis and updated on the CE361 website. If you drive to this intersection, there is a place to park at the Cinergy/PSI substation a few hundred feet east of the intersection. Do notblock the sidewalk there or endanger/inconvenience any bicyclists or pedestrians.
A.(10 points) Count the number of vehicles (of all types) that approach the intersection each 15-minute period during “your” hour. Summarize your data similar to FTE Table 8.3 – one column for each approach and one row for each 15-minute period.
B.(15 points) Did the traffic during your hour meet Warrant 1, 2, or 3 in the MUTCD? Submit marked up copies of Figures 4C-1 and 4C-2 from the MUTCD to support your analysis.
- (25 points) Signal timing form. Observe any traffic signal along either South or Columbia Streetbetween 2nd and 9th Streets in downtown Lafayette. Complete a Traffic Signal Timing Form with the same format as FTE Table 8.4. Is the signal pre-timed or actuated? How did you decide this? If the signal is actuated, show the timing for one signal cycle or for an average of the cycles you observed, but make clear which it is.
- (25 points) Average Stopped Delay. For each approach (all lanes combined) to the intersection of Stadium and Northwestern during the PM peak period, estimate average stopped delay using the method shown in FTE Figure 8.18. Ten minutes of observations should be sufficient, but do all approaches at the same time. You are permitted to change the interval between observations of stopped vehicles. If you change the interval from I = 15 seconds, explain why.
- (10 points) Individual effort rating for group members. On a sheet of paper separate from the group report, write clearly the names of all of your team members, including yourself. Rate the degree to which each member fulfilled his/her responsibilities in completing the project tasks. Rate your team members, including yourself, in terms of each individual’s level of participation, effort, and sense of responsibility, not his or her academic ability. Choose from among these ratings:
ExcellentConsistently went above and beyond; tutoredteammates; routinely went above and beyond the basic team responsibilities.
Very goodConsistently did what he/she was supposed to do; very well prepared and cooperative
SatisfactoryUsually did what he/she was supposed to do; acceptably prepared and cooperative
OrdinaryOften did what he/she was supposed to do; minimally prepared and cooperative
MarginalSometimes failed to show up or complete assignments, rarely prepared
DeficientOften failed to show up or complete assignments, rarely prepared
UnsatisfactoryConsistently failed to show up or complete assignments, unprepared
SuperficialPractically no participation
No showNo participation at all
Sign your name at the bottom of the sheet you submit.