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Traffic flow characteristics and measures

7 articles

Free-flow speed

Free-flow speed (FFS) is the speed vehicles travel when unaffected by other vehicles, traffic control, or surrounding conditions, and it anchors capacity and level-of-service analysis in traffic engineering.

Jam density

Jam density is the maximum vehicle density a road lane can hold when traffic is at a complete standstill, typically around 150 vehicles per kilometer per lane.

Level of service (traffic)

Level of service is a traffic engineering measure describing operating conditions within a traffic stream, graded from A, best, to F, worst, introduced by the 1965 Highway Capacity Manual.

Saturation flow rate

Saturation flow rate is the equivalent hourly rate, in vehicles per hour per lane, at which queued vehicles traverse a signalized intersection approach assuming constant green.

Time headway

Time headway is the time between two successive vehicles passing the same point on the same lane of a road, measured from the same feature of both vehicles.

Travel time reliability

Travel time reliability, as defined by the U.S. Department of Transportation, is the certainty and predictability of travel times, quantified by the buffer travelers add to compensate for unexpected delay.

Urban traffic

Urban traffic: vehicle and person flows on city street networks and their congestion. Distinguished by FHWA congestion-cause breakdown, TomTom 3.65-trillion-km index, health impacts, and congestion charging in London, Singapore, and New York.