INTRODUCTION

1. Vehicular Traffic Volume Characteristics of Urban Roadways in KuwaitAhmad H. AljassarAssociate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Kuwait Universitye-mail: jassar@kuniv.edu.kw Mohammed A. AliSenior Project Manager, D A Watt Consulting Group Ltd., Calgary, Canadae-mail: aali@dawatt.comOmar I. Al-Saleh Assistant Vice President for Planning, Kuwait University, Kuwaite-mail: oalsaleh@kuniv.edu.kwSadon A. Al-KhaldiDirector of Engineering Department, General Traffic Department, Ministry of Interior, Kuwait

2. INTRODUCTION • The traffic count information is extremely important to traffic planning, design, and operation. • Traffic data is regularly requested and used by developers, consultants, real estate agents, homeowner associations, and government agencies. • Geometric and structural designs of roads depend among other factors on traffic volumes, their mix characteristics, loads, and distribution with time of the day, day of the week, and month of the year.

3. INTRODUCTION • Traffic volumes are measured using the average annual daily traffic (AADT). • During some parts of year, traffic may be higher than the AADT, and in others it may be lower than this value. • AADT provides a typical daily traffic volume at any location, usable for most situations where traffic counts are needed as an input to a planning and/or engineering analysis.

4. INTRODUCTION • In order to obtain the traffic characteristics in Kuwait Road Network, a research project was sponsored by the Research Administration of Kuwait University. • The Ministry of Interior, Kuwait, supported the project by allowing to use some of their permanent count stations and providing very useful input in the selection of count stations, and logistics and support for the installation of equipment. • This paper presents some important characteristics of the roadways obtained from the results of this study.

5. INTRODUCTION • Study Area - Kuwait • Kuwait is a rapidly developing country with a population of more than 3 million. • It has an excellent road infrastructure comparable to that of any industrialized country. The roads in urban areas are classified into the following functional categories: • Special Road Network (SRN), • Primary Road Network (PRN), • Secondary Roads (SR), and • Local Roads (LR).

12. Home…!

13. METHODOLOGY • Fifteen representative sites from among the four roadway types in Kuwait were selected for continuous monitoring of traffic for this project. • The count sites were selected based on the functional classification of the roadways as well as the observed traffic pattern. • The count sites were finalized after review meetings with the MOI and the MPW representatives.

14. METHODOLOGY Count Locations

15. METHODOLOGY • ADR 3000, automatic data recorder (from PEEK TRAFFIC) and TCC 540 traffic counters (from International Road Dynamics) were used for monitoring of traffic on the selected locations. • Inductive loops and piezoelectric sensors were used to collect classified traffic volume data and speeds by lane.

16. METHODOLOGY • Installation of the counters was preceded by the construction of concrete foundations, installation of protection posts and security housings, and cutting out of 2mx2m loops and piezos in asphalt in all the lanes of the selected locations. • After completing the setup, the programming of counters follows to collect the information on traffic by lane, by class, and by speed.

17. METHODOLOGY • Data was uploaded from all the locations on a fortnightly basis, this allowed the research team to minimize the 'data outage' or occurrence of missing data. • The data was analyzed using a customized software developed in Visual Basic. The AASHTO algorithm was utilized for the data analysis.

18. METHODOLOGY • Quality Assurance • Manual classified traffic count surveys were performed during randomly selected periods to validate the data. • Live feeds of traffic were captured using video technology for one hour each at the randomly selected time periods and manual counts were performed in the office.

19. RESULTS • Special Road Network (SRN) • The AADT for SRN was observed to be 129,777, and the Average Weekday Traffic (AWDT) was 137,184. • The AWDT was about 5.7% more than the AADT. The average peak hour volume was over 8,000 vehicles (6% of AADT). • The hourly expansion factor varied from 15.7 in peak hour at 8:00 am to 108.8 at 4:00 am.

20. RESULTS • Special Road Network (SRN) • The daily volume was rather uniform throughout the week with a DEF varying between 6.5-8.3. • The monthly factor varied from 0.9 to 1.1. • Even though a number of people leave Kuwait for summer holidays during the months of July-September, the traffic on the SRNs remains consistent as these roads are the main carriers of traffic and function as major corridors in the network.

21. RESULTS • Primary Road Network (PRN) • The AADT for PRN was observed to be 126,342, and the AWDT was 133,567. The average peak hour volume was about 8,700 vehicles (6.5% of AADT). • Typical urban tidal flow on these roads is evident from the results where peaks shift directions between morning and afternoon peak hours. Friday (weekend) traffic is very different from a weekday. • There is only one peak occurring between 6-9 pm.

22. RESULTS • Primary Road Network (PRN) • The daily volume is rather uniform throughout the week and low during weekends, being the lowest on Friday as expected. • The daily volume was rather uniform with a DEF at about 6.6 during the weekdays (Sat-Wed). • Friday DEF was observed to be 9.458. The monthly factor varied from 0.915 in April to 1.141 in the summer month of August. • The traffic on these roads and other lower level roads show a decrease in traffic volume during summer holiday season.

23. RESULTS PRN – Weekday hourly variation

24. RESULTS PRN – Friday hourly variation.

25. RESULTS PRN – Daily variation

26. RESULTS PRN – Monthly variation

27. RESULTS • Secondary Roads (SR) • The AADT for SR was observed to be 49,461, and AWDT was 54,845. • The average peak hour volume was about 3,800 vehicles (7% of AADT). The HEF was 13 at 9:00 pm and 557 at 5:00 am. • The daily volume was rather uniform throughout the weekdays with a DEF varying between 6.4-6.6, and over 10 on Fridays. • The monthly factor varied from 0.914 to 1.086. The monthly variation was observed to be similar to that of the PRN and LR.

28. RESULTS • Local Roads (LR) • The AADT for LR was 2,032. • The average peak hour volume was about 166 vehicles (8% of AADT). • The HEF varied from 11.8 at 7:00 pm to 537 at 4:00 am. • The daily volume was rather uniform throughout the weekdays with a DEF ranging from 6.7 to 7.6.

29. CONCLUSIONS • This study established permanent traffic counting stations for the first time in Kuwait. • A review of literature has indicated that in several countries around the world, the continuous traffic counting programs are used to collect various traffic characteristics such as traffic volumes, composition, traffic variation by day, week, month, and year. • Developed road-specific expansion factors may be used to estimate AADT from short-term counts in Kuwait.

30. CONCLUSIONS • Hourly, daily, and monthly expansion factors were developed for the four functional classes of roads in Kuwait. • SRN and PRN carried high peak hour volumes of more than 8,000 vph (about 6% of AADT) with an AADT of more than 120,000 vehicles. • Daily expansion factors are rather uniform in the weekdays for both of these classes of roadways. • Secondary roads carried about 50,000 vehicles per day with about 7% in peak hour. • The AADT on local roads was about 2,000 with 8% occurring in peak hour.

31. وصلى الله وسلم وبارك على عبده ورسوله محمد . . والحمد لله رب العالمين . . jassar@kuniv.edu.kw Copy of this presentation available at www.draljassar.net