This deliverable is not counted toward your grade
Project Start and Technical Implementation (site, data and investigation) pages are required practice but are not counted toward your final grade. Your engineering grade comes from Chapter 4 and Chapter 5.
Transportation Data
Students collect and reduce turning-movement and speed data into a design-hour volume used for downstream capacity analysis.
Section progress
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Field & Laboratory · Plan, execute and document field and laboratory data collection to a defensible quality standard.
Deliverable: Traffic data collection summary with PHF and DHV computations.
How to complete this section
Do this next: Read the Transportation Data lecture and the worked example so you know what "Traffic data collection summary with PHF and DHV computations." has to contain.
Not sure how to start or how much depth is expected? Read the fully written model example for this deliverable first — it shows the structure, tables and level of justification your advisor grades against.
Site Investigation Lab — what this workspace teaches
Plan, execute and document field and laboratory data collection to a defensible quality standard.
- Planning a subsurface, structural or traffic field investigation
- Instrumentation selection, resolution, accuracy and calibration records
- GPS/GNSS positioning: datums, projections, RTK vs. handheld accuracy
- GIS data capture, attribute schemas and coordinate metadata
- Land surveying: traverses, levelling, closure and error adjustment
- Sampling strategy: representative sampling, spacing, depth intervals, replicates
- ASTM/AASHTO laboratory testing procedures and reporting requirements
- Chain of custody, sample labelling and preservation
- QA/QC: duplicates, blanks, repeatability and data validation rules
End-of-term milestones
- Tuesday, November 17, 2026 — Poster printed and ready. 36 in × 48 in poster finalized and printed one week before the November 24 showcase.
- Wednesday, November 18, 2026 — Final document package uploaded for scoring. Chapters 4–5, calculation package, drawings and appendices uploaded in the app for advisor scoring.
- Wednesday, November 18, 2026 — Poster presentation to faculty and industry. Wednesday poster session — printed 36 in × 48 in poster presented in person; industry reviewers score communication and impact.
- Wednesday, November 25, 2026 — Oral presentation and defense (scored). Scored oral presentation and defense held on Wednesday, November 25.
Transportation Data
Students collect and reduce turning-movement and speed data into a design-hour volume used for downstream capacity analysis.
Section B
Engineering story
A real project situation that frames this module
The team opens week 3 believing transportation data is a formality, because the proposal treated it in a single sentence. Students collect and reduce turning-movement and speed data into a design-hour volume used for downstream capacity analysis. The first review question is not about arithmetic — it is where the basis for peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals came from.
Using the average hourly volume in a capacity analysis instead of dividing by PHF to get the peak flow rate. Because design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K and D factors, the error does not stay local: it is carried into the data foundation every later calculation silently depends on, and every downstream product inherits it before anyone notices.
Drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and the agency that owns the facility carry the consequence. On this module specifically, the exposure runs through spot speed studies and the 85th-percentile speed for design/posted speed decisions, and the cost of correction rises every week the roadway geometry, control plan and operational analysis moves closer to issue.
Decisions the engineer must make
- What record establishes peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals, and is that record in the project data inventory?
- Does MUTCD (11th Ed.), Ch. 4C, govern here — and is that the edition adopted by the jurisdiction?
- What is the acceptance criterion for design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K and D factors, and was it written before the result was known?
- Is PHF = V_hour / (4 × V_peak15) valid over the parameter range this project actually occupies?
- If the check fails, does the team revise the roadway geometry, control plan and operational analysis or raise a change request against the locked baseline?
Photo 1. Peak-hour demand: the flow rate that drives capacity, delay and level-of-service analysis.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Section C
Why this matters
Professional
A licensed engineer defending transportation data cites MUTCD (11th Ed.), Ch. 4C, and shows the record behind each input. Your traffic data collection summary with phf and dhv computations. is reviewed the same way — traceability is assessed before arithmetic.
Technical
Peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals is what makes PHF = V_hour / (4 × V_peak15) usable on this project rather than a formula copied from a reference. Get it wrong and every quantity derived from it is wrong by the same factor.
Safety
The failure mode this module guards against is a geometric or control element that puts drivers in a conflict they cannot resolve. It reaches people through turning movement count reduction into a signal-warrant-ready dataset, which is why the safety check is recorded explicitly here rather than inferred from a passing strength or performance check.
Economic
The data foundation every later calculation silently depends on is priced from this work. Quantities, unit costs and schedule float all trace to peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals; a late correction here is paid for as a change order, not a redline.
Environmental
Environmentally, this module fixes vehicle delay emissions, pavement material demand and stormwater from added impervious area. Choosing conservatively without justification is not free — the excess shows up as material, energy and land that the project consumes for no measurable gain.
Community
Everyone who walks, rides or drives the corridor every day inherit whatever this module decides — performance, accessibility, cost of ownership and resilience are set here, not at the ribbon-cutting.
Section D
Learning objectives
By the end of this module you will be able to:
- 1.Evaluate peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals, using this project's own conditions rather than a textbook case.
- 2.Apply design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K and D factors, using this project's own conditions rather than a textbook case.
- 3.Analyze spot speed studies and the 85th-percentile speed for design/posted speed decisions, using this project's own conditions rather than a textbook case.
- 4.Explain turning movement count reduction into a signal-warrant-ready dataset, using this project's own conditions rather than a textbook case.
- 5.Compute the governing quantity from PHF = V_hour / (4 × V_peak15) and DHV = AADT × K × D, with a unit audit on every term.
- 6.Apply MUTCD (11th Ed.), Ch. 4C, and cite the section that governs your acceptance decision.
- 7.Reproduce the worked example for an intersection approach records an hourly volume of 820 vehicles, with 240 vehicles in the peak 15-minute interval and defend the interpretation of the result.
- 8.Produce traffic data collection summary with phf and dhv computations. at a standard the DOT design reviewer would accept without a second revision cycle.
Section E
Instructional content
Full lecture notes with figures and governing equations
Transportation Data — what the work actually is
Students collect and reduce turning-movement and speed data into a design-hour volume used for downstream capacity analysis. That single sentence hides the substance of the module: peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals, and design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K and D factors. Both must be established from project evidence before anything downstream is credible.
In transportation engineering, this work is the input to the roadway geometry, control plan and operational analysis. Spot speed studies and the 85th-percentile speed for design/posted speed decisions — which is why this page asks you to record the source of every quantity, not just its value. The data foundation every later calculation silently depends on depends on it.
- Peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals
- Design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K and D factors
- Spot speed studies and the 85th-percentile speed for design/posted speed decisions
- Turning movement count reduction into a signal-warrant-ready dataset
Photo 1. Transportation Data — what the work actually is in practice — Peak-hour demand: the flow rate that drives capacity, delay and level-of-service analysis.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Governing relationships and how they are applied here
The relationships below govern transportation data. PHF = V_hour / (4 × V_peak15); DHV = AADT × K × D — each is valid only inside the parameter range this project occupies, so state that range before substituting.
Design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K and D factors sets the values you place into these expressions. Any code-prescribed factor must match MUTCD (11th Ed.); a factor lifted from a different edition silently changes the answer.
PHF = V_hour / (4 × V_peak15)
- V_hour = total hourly volume
- V_peak15 = volume in the peak 15-minute interval
DHV = AADT × K × D
- AADT = annual average daily traffic
- K = proportion of AADT occurring in the design hour
- D = directional distribution factor
Photo 2. Governing relationships and how they are applied here in practice — Peak-hour demand: the flow rate that drives capacity, delay and level-of-service analysis.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Constraints, adopted standards and the safety case for transportation data
MUTCD (11th Ed.), Ch. 4C, governs this module: Traffic signal warrant analysis based on collected volume data AASHTO Green Book (7th Ed.), Ch. 2, adds the second constraint: Use of design hour volume in geometric design
The safety case is explicit here. The failure mode is a geometric or control element that puts drivers in a conflict they cannot resolve; the people exposed are drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and the agency that owns the facility; the control that prevents it is turning movement count reduction into a signal-warrant-ready dataset together with an independent check by someone who did not perform the work.
- Controlling criterion for this module: peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals.
- Adopted reference: MUTCD (11th Ed.) — cite Ch. 4C by number.
- Failure mode guarded: a geometric or control element that puts drivers in a conflict they cannot resolve.
- Evidence produced: Traffic data collection summary with PHF and DHV computations..
Photo 3. Constraints, adopted standards and the safety case for transportation data in practice — Peak-hour demand: the flow rate that drives capacity, delay and level-of-service analysis.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Where this method stops being valid
The worked example — an intersection approach records an hourly volume of 820 vehicles, with 240 vehicles in the peak 15-minute interval — holds only while its assumptions hold. A PHF of 0.85 indicates moderately peaked flow; this value is used directly to convert the hourly volume into a design flow rate for HCM capacity analysis, not the raw hourly volume. Outside that envelope the arithmetic still returns a number, and the number is wrong in a way no unit check will catch.
For this project, the boundary you are most likely to push is turning movement count reduction into a signal-warrant-ready dataset. If you cross it, say so in writing, bound the error, and carry the limitation into your results chapter. A disclosed limitation is professional practice; a silent extrapolation is not.
Photo 4. Where this method stops being valid in practice — Peak-hour demand: the flow rate that drives capacity, delay and level-of-service analysis.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Section F
Engineering workflow
Steps
- 1. Assemble the inputs this module needs — peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals; design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K… — each with a unit and a source record.
- 2. Confirm MUTCD (11th Ed.) is the adopted edition and locate Ch. 4C.
- 3. State the assumptions and the acceptance criterion for peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals.
- 4. Evaluate PHF = V_hour / (4 × V_peak15) and DHV = AADT × K × D term by term, carrying one extra significant figure.
- 5. Test the result against spot speed studies and the 85th-percentile speed for design/posted speed decisions.
- 6. Audit units and run an order-of-magnitude check by hand before the number leaves your desk.
- 7. Obtain an independent check from a teammate who did not perform the work, and record their name and date.
- 8. Assemble traffic data collection summary with phf and dhv computations. and submit it to the DOT design reviewer for review.
Decision points
- Is every input behind peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals traceable? If not — stop and collect the record.
- Does the result satisfy design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K and D factors? If not — revise the work, never the criterion.
- Would the correction change the data foundation every later calculation silently depends on? If yes — raise a change-control request before proceeding.
- Have you ruled out the most common error on this module — using the average hourly volume in a capacity analysis instead of dividing by PHF to get the peak flow rate?
Quality checklist
- Documented: peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals
- Documented: design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K and D…
- Documented: spot speed studies and the 85th-percentile speed for design/posted speed decisions
- MUTCD Ch. 4C cited by section number
- Units audited on every expression
- Acceptance criterion recorded before the result
- Independent check signed and dated
- Traffic data collection summary with PHF and DHV computations. attached and named per the course convention
Section H
Interactive visualization
Transportation Data — step-through
Advance one frame at a time. Each frame adds one engineering decision to the previous state.
Step 1 of 6
Set up count stations for turning movements and speed at the study intersection.
Section I
Applicable codes and standards
MUTCD
11th Ed. · Ch. 4C
Adopted design/analysis reference governing this module.
Relevance: Traffic signal warrant analysis based on collected volume data
Reference the section number and edition in your calculation package. Do not reproduce code text.
AASHTO Green Book
7th Ed. · Ch. 2
Adopted design/analysis reference governing this module.
Relevance: Use of design hour volume in geometric design
Reference the section number and edition in your calculation package. Do not reproduce code text.
Section J
Worked examples
Full engineering solution format
Section K
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
- Using the average hourly volume in a capacity analysis instead of dividing by PHF to get the peak flow rate.
- Applying a statewide K-factor to an urban commuter corridor where the actual peaking is very different.
- Treating peak hour factor (PHF) computation from 15-minute count intervals as a given instead of establishing it from a project record.
- Producing traffic data collection summary with phf and dhv computations. without showing how design hour volume (DHV) derivation from AADT and the K and D… was satisfied.
- Substituting into PHF = V_hour / (4 × V_peak15) outside the range where it is valid, and reporting the number anyway.
- Missing turning movement count reduction into a signal-warrant-ready dataset, which is exactly the path to a geometric or control element that puts drivers in a conflict they cannot resolve.
- Collecting data before defining what decision the data has to support.
- Accepting a laboratory or field value without its method, date, operator and uncertainty.
- Confusing results (what the analysis produced) with conclusions (what the engineer decided).
- Ignoring constructability: a design that cannot be built safely is not a completed design.
- Omitting the safety check because the strength check passed.
Section L
Industry case study
Documented failure related to transportation data
A constructed civil works project where this module's decision was made incorrectly or skipped.
Official findings
- Published investigation identified a breakdown between analysis assumption and constructed condition.
Field observations
- The controlling assumption was documented nowhere in the design record.
- No independent check existed at the stage where the error entered the work.
Engineering interpretation
- Interpretation below is student analysis for instructional purposes, not an official finding.
- Map the failure to a step in your own workflow and state where your process would have caught it.
Lessons learned
- Document the assumption, then have someone else check it before it becomes construction.
Source: Summarize the published investigation; cite it in your reference list. Do not reproduce copyrighted report text.
Section M
FE Civil exam connection
Handbook FE Reference Handbook — transportation engineering section (record the section number from your handbook edition).
Exam topics
Handbook formulas
- PHF = V/(4×V15)
- DHV = AADT×K×D
Weak results here feed your FE Civil Academy weak-area queue for targeted practice.
Question 1 of 2
Score: 0/2In transportation data, which item must be established BEFORE the analysis is run?
Section N
Apply it to your project — Transportation Data
Complete this using your own capstone project data. Every field is saved to your project record and routed to your advisor with this module's submission.
Inputs and sources
Every value needs a traceable source.
| Quantity | Value | Unit | Source / record |
|---|
Assumptions and consequences
| Assumption | Basis | Consequence if wrong |
|---|
Self-check before submission
Section O
Design challenge
Consulting challenge — Transportation Data
Your firm has been retained to deliver the transportation data scope for a municipal client on a compressed schedule. Produce the technical position your firm would defend at a public meeting.
Client request: The client wants a defensible recommendation, the basis of design, and an honest statement of what remains unresolved.
Constraints
- Adopted local code edition governs; no exceptions without written variance.
- Budget and schedule are fixed; scope changes require change control.
- Public safety and accessibility requirements are non-negotiable.
Deliverables
- One-page basis of design
- Supporting calculation extract
- Risk and limitation statement
Evaluation
- Technical correctness
- Standard compliance
- Clarity of engineering judgment
- Honest treatment of uncertainty
Section P
Documentation workspace
Write the report section for this module in the academic editor
Section Q
File uploads
Accepted: PDF, DOCX, XLSX, CSV, PNG, JPG, ZIP
No files uploaded yet.
Section R
Deliverable and advisor review
Traffic data collection summary with PHF and DHV computations.
Submissions route to your assigned faculty advisor and are scored independently by faculty and administrator rubrics.
Reflection
What was the hardest engineering judgment in this module, and how did you resolve it?
Section S
ABET outcome mapping
Traffic data collection summary with PHF and DHV computations. with advisor review and dual scoring.
Assessment: Faculty rubric score and administrator rubric score on this module's submission.
Rubric: Data quality · Target: 70% of students at or above 'meets expectations'.
Traffic data collection summary with PHF and DHV computations. with advisor review and dual scoring.
Assessment: Faculty rubric score and administrator rubric score on this module's submission.
Rubric: Data quality · Target: 70% of students at or above 'meets expectations'.
Section T
References and further study
MUTCD (11th Ed.)
Adopted reference — cite section numbers, do not reproduce text.
AASHTO Green Book (7th Ed.)
Adopted reference — cite section numbers, do not reproduce text.
Transportation Data — instructor design procedure
Course template for the calculation package format expected in the final report appendix.
NCEES FE Reference Handbook
Locate the equations used here and note the handbook section for exam recall.
Advisor meeting agenda item
Bring the unresolved decision from this module to your next weekly advisor meeting.