Determination of a Homogeneous Segment for Short-term Traffic Count Efficiency Using a Statistical Approach

Abstract

PURPOSES: This study has been conducted to determine a homogeneous segment and integration to improve the efficiency of short-term traffic count. We have also attempted to reduce the traffic monitoring budget. METHODS: Based on the statistical approach, a homogeneous segment in the same road section is determined. Statistical analysis using t-test, mean difference, and correlation coefficient are carried out for 10-year-long (2004-2013) short-term count traffic data and the MAPE of fresh data (2014) are evaluated. The correlation coefficient represents a trend in traffic count, while the mean difference and t-score represent an average traffic count. RESULTS : The statistical analysis suggests that the number of target segments varies with the criteria. The correlation coefficient of more than 30% of the adjacent segment is higher than 0.8. A mean difference of 36.2% and t-score of 19.5% for adjacent segments are below 20% and 2.8, respectively. According to the effectiveness analysis, the integration criteria of the mean difference have a higher effect as compared to the t-score criteria. Thus, the mean difference represents a traffic volume similarity. CONCLUSIONS : The integration of 47 road segments from 882 adjacent road segments indicate 8.87% of MAPE, which is within an acceptable range. It can reduce the traffic monitoring budget and increase the count to improve an accuracy of traffic volume estimation.