Thursdays: Traffic Engineering Terms

Thursdays of the week is the time to enrich your knowledge in traffic engineering. The following definitions of traffic engineering terms were taken from Dr. Ricardo Sigua in his book Fundamentals of Traffic Engineering published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2008. The terms are quoted below:

“Density – the number of vehicles in a given length of road at an instant point in time.

Design speed – the maximum safe speed that can be maintained over a specified section of highway when conditions are so favorable that the design features of the highway govern.

Dijkstra’s algorithm – a procedure used in route assignment stage of the four-step model to determine the shortest path from one node of the network to another.

Diplomatic vehicles – motor vehicles owned by a foreign government or by their diplomatic officials in the Philippines.

Disaggregate choice model – a method used for determining modal split, which assumes that a person will use a particular mode with maximum utility for him.

ETC – Electronic Toll Collection; an ITS application

Expressway – a major divided highway designed for high-speed travel, having few or no intersections; also called freeway or limited access highway.”

Other terms will be posted next week. So, wait and learn more.

Thursdays: Traffic Engineering Terms

Thursdays of the week is the time to enrich your knowledge in traffic engineering. The following definitions of traffic engineering terms were taken from Dr. Ricardo Sigua in his book Fundamentals of Traffic Engineering published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2008. The terms are quoted below:

“Channelization – geometric improvement normally applied at intersections to simplify movements of vehicles to lead drivers to face one conflict at a time.

Clearance interval – the sum of yellow and all-red period in between phases.

Clotoid – a spiral that serves as a transition path as the vehicle enters or leaves a circular curve.

Compound curve – a two-arc simple curve having its centers on the same side of the common tangent.

Cordon counts – counts used to determine the number of vehicles and/or persons entering and leaving an enclosed area.

Crest vertical curve – a vertical curve with the parabolic curve drawn below the two tangents.

Critical gap – describes the minimum gaps needed by drivers of minor road vehicles.

Cycle – one complete indication of green, yellow, and red signals.

D/D/l – a sing-server queuing system with regularity of both arrivals and departures.

Delineators – small reflective panels or buttons mounted on guide posts or guard fences as an effective aid for night driving.”


Other terms will be posted next week. So, wait and learn more.

Thursdays: Traffic Engineering Terms

Thursdays of the week is the time to enrich your knowledge in traffic engineering. The following definitions of traffic engineering terms were taken from Dr. Ricardo Sigua in his book Fundamentals of Traffic Engineering, as such, they are quoted below.

"AADT – annual average daily traffic; it is estimated as the total volume counted over one year divided by the number of days in the year.

ADT – average daily traffic; obtained by averaging traffic volume over a number of days at least 2 days and less than 365 days.

Blackspots – hazardous or accident-prone locations.

Broken back curve – a curve characterized by a short tangent between two subcurves in the same direction.

Capacity – the maximum hourly rate at which persons or vehicles can reasonably be expected to traverse a point or uniform section of a lane or roadway during a given time period under prevailing roadway, traffic, and control conditions."

Other terms will be posted next week. So, wait and learn more!