DIFFERENTIATION IN TRAFFIC FLOWS: A METHOD OF ESTIMATION. TRANSPORTATION PLANNING RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM 1987, EIGHT MILLION CARS IN 2010, THE HAGUE, NOVEMBER 26-27, 1987

This study is an attempt to identify seasonal, daily and hourly variation patterns in traffic volumes and apply the resultant patterns to estimate traffic volumes on roadway segments for which only limited prior traffic are available. The analysis is based on traffic counts obtained from counting stations along the Dutch highway system. A classification scheme is developed to classify these stations into homogeneous groups based on their locational and roadway characteristics. For each of the groups of stations, daily, weekly, and monthly variation patterns of traffic volume are identified. In order to estimate traffic volume, these patterns are applied to extrapolate limited traffic counts available from a roadway section whose locational and road characteristics are known to classify the segment into one of the groups. The paper demonstrates that the procedure developed in this study can be used to produce accurate estimates of traffic volume based on limited data in the short to medium range. For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 811092. (Author/TRRL)