Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City

GRD Journals | Global Research and Development Journal for Engineering | Emerging Research and Innovations in Civil Engineering (ERICE - 2019) | February 2019

e-ISSN: 2455-5703

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City 1Vaidehi

J. Patel 2Neha D. Solanki 3Ankita J. Patel 4V. G. Yadav 1,2,3 UG Student 4Assistnat Professor 1,2,3,4 Department of Civil Engineering 1,2,3,4 GEC, Surat, Gujarat, India Abstract

Traffic on the existing road is increase due to rapid modernization and industrialization due to extremely growth of vehicles all over the world. Some problems like congestion, delay and pollution remain a big challenge because of this. For continuous movement of vehicles through intersection, efficient traffic signal control is provided at the intersection. Volume, speed and density are the three main parameter of traffic flow. Primary objective of implementing Traffic volume study are designing, planning and improving traffic system. This paper represents the actual traffic behaviour and its characteristics. For which we carried out classified volume count study by Videography method at Majura Gate intersection, Surat, Gujarat, India. Collected data further extracted for the analysis purpose. From the analysis it is concluded that traffic flow influence by flyover-bridge and this flow contains higher percentage of motorcycle, rickshaw and car.

Keyword- Volume Count, Road Capacity, Passenger Car Unit __________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION The term Traffic congestion influences various aspects of traffic engineering (Pratik et al., 2018). Exponential increase in number of vehicles compared to snail pace improvement of road causes many problems like traffic congestion, high accident rate and insufficient facilities (Neha et al., 2018). Traffic engineering uses various engineering techniques to obtain safe and well organized movement of people, vehicles and goods. Traffic engineering concentrates on planning and designing of road geometry, sidewalks, crosswalks, traffic signs, pavement marking and traffic lights for obstruction less traffic movement. Traffic engineering deals with the useful part of transportation system.

Transportation is carrying civilization to a brighter future. While designing any structure it is necessary to calculate the loads coming on it to determine the reinforcement to be provided for safe functioning of the structure. In transportation volume serves the identical purpose. For planning, designing, scheduling, safe operation and development of transportation system the prime requisite is traffic volume. Traffic volume is the number of vehicles passing a section of a roadway at some stage in precise unit of time (Abrar and Rakesh, 2018).

Expressing traffic volume as number of vehicles passing a given section of road or traffic lane per unit time will be inappropriate when several types of vehicles with widely varying static and dynamic are comprised in the traffic. The problem of measuring volume of such traffic has been addressed by converting the different types of vehicles into equivalent passenger cars and expressing the volume in terms of Passenger Car Unit (PCU) per hour (Meruga Siva et al., 2017). Intersection Manual count of 15- min intervals used to find out the traffic volume (Raj et al., 2018).

The interaction between moving vehicles under such heterogeneous traffic condition is highly complex. Volume is not constant. It increases with time. So a continuous method of calculating volume is matter of great importance for smooth functioning of transportation system if traffic volume isn’t measured continuously then the transportation system may fail and the economic system of the country may additionally face a difficulty.

The main objectives of the study are: – To carry out classified traffic volume survey on selected section of city – To study the traffic flow pattern – To determine percentage share of vehicle on road For analysis of Traffic characteristics various traffic studies are carried out. These studies are helpful to decide the geometric design features for safe and efficient traffic flow. The various studies are as follows: 1) Traffic volume study 2) Speed study 3) Spot speed study 4) Speed and delay study 5) Origin and destination study 6) Traffic flow characteristics

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

284

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

7) Traffic capacity study 8) Parking study 9) Accident study.

Traffic volume study can be defined as the process to determine volume of vehicles moving on the roads at particular intersection at particular time. Main purpose of traffic survey is as traffic control and management, traffic monitoring, traffic forecasting and traffic management. Traffic volume study is used as a quantity measure flow; the commonly used unit is vehicle per day and vehicle per hour.

Traffic volume study is useful to evaluate the numbers, movement and classification of vehicle at location. Traffic data are very useful for planning, designing, research, management and regulation of traffic. The length of the sampling period depends upon which type of count being taken and the purpose of the recorded data. Normally 15 minute interval could be used for obtain the traffic volume data.

II. STUDY AREA AND DATA COLLECTION Brief detail of survey location and its location is discussed below.

A. Study Area Majura Gate intersection on ring road area of Surat was selected as part of Traffic Volume study for the analysis of traffic characteristics. Data was collected through Videography. As Majura Gate is a 4-way intersection, 4 survey stations were established on each of the different stretch. (Refer to Figure 1) Location was selected due to high traffic volume and mixed traffic at Majura Gate intersection. At Majura Gate intersection, traffic flow on major road is influenced by flyover-bridge and resultantly traffic flow on road is less compared to the minor road. Major road of the Majura Gate intersection is situated on E-W direction and Minor road is situated on N-S direction.

Traffic flow from S→N direction is diverted by flyover-bridge to S→W direction.

Fig. 1: Study Area-Majura Gate intersection

B. Time of Survey Classified volume count survey was conducted as a part of study, from which percentage share of different category of vehicle at Majura Gate intersection were obtained. Videography survey was carried out on Wednesday, 5 December 2018. 3 videos of 1hr period were recorded in morning (9:00 am to 10:00 am), afternoon (1:00 pm to 2:00 pm) and evening (6:00 pm to 7:00 pm).

III. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS Based on data extracted from videos, proportion of different category of vehicles forming the traffic is obtained as given in Table 1.

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

285

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

N→S DIRECTION (STRAIGHT FLOW)

N→W DIRECTION (RIGHT TURN FLOW)

S→N DIRECTION (STRAIGHT FLOW)

S→W DIRECTION (RIGHT TURN FLOW)

E→W DIRECTION (STRAIGTH FLOW)

E→N DIRECTION (RIGHT TURN FLOW)

CATEGORY TIME MORNING FLOW (9:00 AM TO 10:00 AM)

CAR

BIKE

RICKSHAW

BICYCLE

BUS

TRUCK

TRACTOR

LCV

90

959

208

48

11

10

2

30

HAND -CART 1

Flow (PCU)/hr 960.5

NOON FLOW (1:00 pm to 2:00 pm)

172

1223

176

14

12

4

1

40

3

1140

EVENING FLOW (6:00 pm to 7:00 pm)

142

1430

201

34

9

0

0

24

0

1169.2

TOTAL MORNING FLOW (9:00 AM TO 10:00 AM)

404 8

3612 105

585 14

96 11

32 1

14 0

3 0

94 3

4 1

94.4

NOON FLOW (1:00 pm to 2:00 pm)

47

266

35

5

1

0

0

6

2

243.3

EVENING FLOW (6:00 pm to 7:00 pm)

37

343

26

2

0

0

0

1

0

238.3

TOTAL

92

714

75

18

2

0

0

10

3

MORNING FLOW (9:00 AM TO 10:00 AM)

119

760

176

52

10

1

1

12

1

775.1

NOON FLOW (1:00 pm to 2:00 pm) EVENING FLOW (6:00 pm to 7:00 pm) TOTAL

191

1059

225

5

25

3

0

33

2

1100.4

158

1145

208

19

9

1

0

24

3

1054.2

468

2964

609

76

44

5

1

69

6

MORNING FLOW (9:00 AM TO 10:00 AM)

93

377

191

20

0

0

0

2

2

494.1

NOON FLOW (1:00 pm to 2:00 pm)

120

601

153

21

0

0

0

7

0

603.6

EVENING FLOW (6:00 pm to 7:00 pm)

90

375

177

5

0

0

0

6

2

479.8

TOTAL

303

1353

521

46

0

0

0

15

4

MORNING FLOW (9:00 AM TO 10:00 AM)

15

57

388

41

15

0

0

3

2

511.4

NOON FLOW (1:00 pm to 2:00 pm)

17

119

221

8

14

4

0

1

1

361.3

EVENING FLOW (6:00 pm to 7:00 pm)

44

167

193

10

13

0

0

1

0

367.3

TOTAL

76

343

802

59

42

4

0

5

3

MORNING FLOW (9:00 AM TO 10:00 AM)

47

256

89

10

13

2

0

13

0

350.4

NOON FLOW (1:00 pm to 2:00 pm)

117

390

107

4

9

9

0

24

2

548.2

EVENING FLOW (6:00 pm to 7:00 pm)

145

453

131

4

9

2

0

16

1

585.3

TOTAL

309

1099

327

18

31

13

0

53

3

Table 1: Classified Volume Count

– Traffic from North to South direction (Sharada Ben Circle to Prajapati Brahma Marg)

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

286

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

(a)

(b)

Fig. 2: Percentage share of straight flow in N→S direction (a) Morning flow (b) Noon flow (c) Evening flow

N-S direction come under minor road and traffic flows from North to south is not directly influenced by flyover-bridge. Under mixed traffic flow, the minor road is highly utilized by motorcycle and little percentage of passenger car and rickshaw as shown in Pie-charts (Figure 2. a-c). Very little percentages of bicycle, bus, truck and light commercial vehicle (LCV) were negotiating minor road.

Fig. 3: Straight flow in N→S direction

From column chart given in Figure 3, it can be observed that flow during evening peak hour (6:00 pm to 7:00 pm) is more than the morning peak hour (9:00 am to 10:00 am). But during afternoon period (1:00 pm to 2:00pm) number of Cars and LCVs are more compared to other periods. Also, the number of bicycles and trucks are more during morning peak (9:00 am to 10:00 am) than those during other periods.

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

287

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

– Traffic from North to West direction (Sharada Ben Circle to Udhna Darwaja)

(a)

(b)

Fig. 4: Percentage share of right-turn flow in N→W direction (a) Morning flow (b) Noon flow (c) Evening flow

N→W Right turn flow is low compare to N→S straight flow (Refer Figure 2 & 4). In mix proportion of vehicle, percentage of motorcycle is higher than the other category of vehicle.

Fig. 5: Right-turn flow in N→W direction

Right turn flow during Afternoon period is more comparing to other periods due to more number of Car, Rickshaw and LCV in that period as shown in Figure 5. However percentage of motorcycle is more during evening peak. Turning flow during morning peak is very less than that of the noon and evening period.

– Traffic from South to North direction (Prajapati Brahma Marg to Sharada Ben Circle)

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

288

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 6: Percentage share of straight flow in S→N direction (a) Morning flow (b) Noon flow (c) Evening flow

Similar to the N→S straight flow, Traffic flow South to North direction contains higher percentage of motorcycle, car and rickshaw.

It also includes very few percentages of bicycle, bus and LCV as shown in Figure 6 (a, b, c). In mix vehicle proportion during morning peak percentage of rickshaw is more in compare of other periods.

Fig. 7: Straight flow in S→N direction

Traffic flow is high during afternoon period compare to others as number of car, rickshaw, bus and LCV is higher than that of during other periods as shown in Figure 7 (a, b, c). On other side proportion of bicycle is high during morning peak and number of motorcycle is higher during evening peak than that of the morning and noon periods.

– Traffic from South to East direction (Prajapati Brahma Marg to Udhna Darwaja)

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

289

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 8: Percentage share of right-turn flow in S→E direction (a) Morning flow (b) Noon flow (c) Evening flow

Right turn flow (S→E) is low compared to straight flow (S→N) as major traffic flow is diverted through flyover-bridge (Refer Figure 1, 6, & 8). However, flow on S→E right turn is higher than that of N→W right turn flow. There is a considerable left turn movement at intersection.

Fig. 9: Right-turn flow in S→E direction

Similar to S→N straight flow, S→E right turn flow is high during afternoon period than the other periods and flow is lower during evening period as shown in Figure 9.

– Traffic from East to West direction (Udhna Darwaja to Athwa Gate)

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

290

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

(a)

(b)

Fig. 10: Percentage share of straight flow in E→W direction (a) Morning flow (b) Noon flow (c) Evening flow

From pie chart (Figure 10. a-c) it can be concluded that traffic flow from east to west contain higher percentage of rickshaw, motorcycle and car. Compare to minor road percentage of rickshaw is more on major road as ring road (Udhna Darwaja to Athwa Gate) connected to station and market and also due to location of civil hospital.

Fig. 11: Straight flow in E→W direction

From tab. 1 it is clear that traffic flow from east to west is lower compare to the minor roads as major flow cross the intersection through flyover-bridge. Traffic flow during morning peak is relatively higher than that of the evening and noon periods and it contain higher percentage of rickshaw and bicycle as shown in Figure 11 (a, b, c). While on other side number of car and motorcycle increase from morning to evening peak and number of rickshaw reduced, vice-versa.

– Traffic from East to North direction (Udhna Darwaja to Sharda Ben Circle) Sharda Ben Circle road come under minor road and its ROW is lesser compare to other arms of the intersection. Therefore, there is no provision of flyover-bridge to divert traffic flow from Udhna Darwaja to Sharda Ben Circle road. Which is influence on

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

291

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

intersection operation as right turn flow and u-turn flow is more on this side. This flow contains higher percentage of motorcycle, car and rickshaw as shown in pie chart (Figure 12. a-c).

(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 12: Percentage share of right-turn flow in E→N direction (a) Morning flow (b) Noon flow (c) Evening flow

Fig. 13: Right-turn flow in E→N direction

Traffic flow during evening peak is high with higher percentages of motorcycle, car and rickshaw and traffic flow is low during morning period. Number of truck is comparatively more during afternoon period (Refer Figure 13).

– Traffic from West to East direction (Athwa Gate to Udhna Darwaja)

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

292

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 14: Percentage share of straight flow in W→E direction (a) Morning flow (b) Noon flow (c) Evening flow

Similar to E→W straight traffic flow, some portion of W→E straight traffic flow diverted or cross the intersection through flyover bridge and less compare to the N→S and S→N straight traffic flow as shown in Table 1. However W→E straight traffic flow contains higher percentage of motorcycle, rickshaw and car.

Fig. 15: Straight flow in W→E direction

Moring traffic flow is high and evening traffic flow is low as shown in Figure 15.

– Traffic from West to South direction (Udhna Darwaja to Prajapati Brahma Marg)

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

293

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 16: Percentage share of right-turn flow in W→S direction (a) Morning flow (b) Noon flow (c) Evening flow

Percentage share of motorcycle is high in mix proportion of vehicle for mix traffic flow from west to south side (right turn flow).

Also, car count is more than the rickshaw count in this turning flow.

Fig. 17: Right-turn flow in W→S direction

W→S direction right-turn flow is also not diverted through Flyover- bridge. So this flow passes through intersection and it is considerably high in comparison of any other right turn flow. During morning and evening peak turning flow is more with

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

294

Traffic Flow Study at Majura-Gate Intersection of Surat City (GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 058)

high concentration of motorcycle, car and rickshaw. Also, bicycles, LCV, bus, truck, tractor and handcart are influence on mix traffic flow as shown in Figure 16 & 17.

IV. CONCLUSION – – – – – –

Flyover-bridge is situated on W-E or E-W direction (Ring road) and one arm merges from south direction. Therefore straight traffic flow on W-E direction (Ring road) is low in comparison of right turn flow as major traffic flow crosses the intersection through bridge in order to avoid delay due to traffic congestion.

On other hand straight traffic flow is more on minor road, i.e., on N-S (S-N) direction compared to right turn flow as there is no separate provision of flyover bridge to cross the intersection.

From the analysis of collected data, it can be concluded that roads are most utilized by motorcycle (highest), followed by autorickshaw (2nd highest) and passenger car (3rd highest).

On minor roads, numbers of trucks are less compared to major road. The numbers of trucks are highest on W→S direction (right turn flow).

Auto-Rickshaw has the 2nd highest count and it is travelling more on major road (Ring road) compare to minor road.

On minor road (N-S or S-N direction), highest Light Commercial Vehicle count was recorded. However, in case of major road more LCV took right turn compared to straight flow.

REFERENCE [1] Abrar Ul Haq Bhat and Dr. Rakesh Gupta (2018), “A Review Paper on Study of Traffic Volume and Its Safety Measures on National Highways” International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) Vol. 5 Issue 7, PP. 1346-1348.

[2] Bhavneet Singh and Dr. Tripta Goyal (2015), “Study of Traffic Volume and Level of Service of Panjab University, Chandigarh” International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications Vol. 5 Issue 7, PP. 09-14.

[3] Manjunath K. R and Lohith R M (2013). “Origin-Destination Studies -A Case Study Of Junction Improvements In Bangalore City”, International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) Vol. 2 Issue 7, PP. 2253-2258 [4] Meruga Siva, Parvathi and Basavaraj Akki (2017), “Classified Traffic Volume Study at Ghatekesar Junction” International Journal of Engineering and Techniques, Vol. 3 Issue 6, PP. 420-435.

[5] Neha D. Solanki, Ankita J. Patel and Vipin G. Yadav (2018), “Modernisation of Traffic Sign and Markings (India V/S Other Country) for Effective Traffic Management: State Of Art” International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), Vol. 5 Issue 12, PP. 441-455.

[6] Pratik V. Parmar, Vaidehi J. Patel and Vipin G. Yadav (2018), “Management of Traffic at Road Intersection using Software Modelling” International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), Vol. 5 Issue 12, PP. 72-85.

[7] Raj Pratap Singh, Himanshu Tekwani, Bhavesh Joshi, Pratheek Sudhakaran and Jitendra Singh (2018), “Study of Traffic Volume and its Safety Measurement at Dadabari Circle, Career Point University, Kota” International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol. 8 No.1, PP. 72-74.

[8] Shashikant Sharma. “Classified Volume Count and Origin-Destination Survey of Bhavnagar – Vataman Road and Rajkot – Ahmedabad Road”, UNITED RESEARCH ORGANIZATION [9] Vaidehi J. Patel, Pratik P. Parmar and Vipin G. Yadav (2018), “Methods for Optimization of Signal Cycle Length” Global Research and Development Journal for Engineering (GRD), Vol. 3 Issue 12, PP. 12-16.

All rights reserved by www.grdjournals.com

295