Citation

Makinde OO, Ben-Edigbe J. Int. J. Appl. Eng. Res. 2019; 14(11): 2773-2781.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Research India Publications)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

On roads without lights, the effect of night time rainfall on the functional quality of service is investigated in this paper. Functional level or quality of service (FQS) is taken as a qualitative measure of the operating conditions of a roadway where travel time and travel speed are used as key performance indicators. Travel time is used as proxy for road service users' quality perception and travel speed used as a proxy for road service provider's perception of service quality. Travel time in conjunction with travel speed and traffic flow were used to develop a novel six-class functional quality of service criteria table where Class A is the best and Class F is the worst. 24hr continuous traffic volume, vehicle speed, vehicle type and rainfall intensity data were collected for eight weeks at four selected 2-lane interstate roadways without light in Nigeria.

RESULTS show that an average travel time increase and corresponding travel speed decrease under light, moderate and heavy rainfall. Heavy rainfall caused the highest travel time increase of 9%. Whilst moderate rainfall accounted for 6% increase in travel time and light rainfall accounted for 4% travel time increase, FQS dropped from Class B to Class C during night rainfall on roadways without light. The paper concluded that rainfall has negative effect on the functional quality of service. The findings could be used in a variety of ways in traffic management to predict travel time under rainy conditions and prescribe speed limits accordingly.

Keywords: Night-time, rainfall, level of service, travel time, speed, traffic flow

Language: en