Estimation Of Dynamic Pcus Under Heterogeneous Traffic Condition On Urban Road: A Case Study Of Rajkot City

Abstract

This study presents the concept of “Dynamic Passenger Car Unit (DPCU)” for the urban local roads under heterogeneous traffic condition, and it reflects that the Passenger Car Unit (PCU) is not a static factor as assumed. The parameter considered for the estimation of the DPCU are (1) average speed of vehicle (2) projected rectangular area of vehicle (3) length of vehicle. The traffic data was collected at the mid-block section as of the following roads: (1) Nana mava road (2) Raiya road. Both roads having same geometric condition. The mid-block section was kept of 30m and traffic data was collected. The roads are two lane divided roads and having different traffic composition. The mid-block section was such selected that it was free from parked vehicles, bus stop, effects of the intersection, curvatures etc. The DPCU was obtained by following two methods: (1) Homogenization coefficient method (2) Chandra’s method. The traffic data was collected using videography method for in morning 8:00am to 12:00pm and in evening 4:00pm to 8:00pm was concluded for the roads by the study of traffic volume. The peak hour traffic was used to calculate the DOCU values and efforts were made to suggest the best reliable DPCU value.