Signalized intersections are at the heart of urban mobility. To optimize traffic flow, planners and engineers must understand key signal timing concepts—two of the most important being Green Time and Effective Green Time. Although they sound similar, they serve different purposes in capacity analysis and signal design. This post explains both terms, highlights the differences, […]
In the world of traffic engineering and transportation planning, few resources are as widely recognized (and as frustratingly hard to access) as the ITE Trip Generation Manual. With the release of the 12th Edition, transportation professionals are eager to see what’s new — but also wondering how to actually get their hands on it without
Transportation planning and traffic engineering are rapidly evolving — from traditional road design to smart mobility, AI-driven analytics, and sustainable transport. Yet behind all this progress, there’s one global organization quietly connecting professionals, setting standards, and advancing the field: the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). Whether you’re a student, engineer, planner, or researcher, understanding ITE
Transportation planning is becoming more complex than ever. Cities are expanding, travel behavior is shifting, and decision-makers are under pressure to deliver data-driven, sustainable solutions. Traditionally, transportation planners relied on manual surveys, static models, and limited datasets to understand how people and vehicles move. But with the explosion of digital data; GPS traces, camera feeds,
Traffic data is essential for city planners, transportation engineers, and traffic management authorities. Traditionally, collecting traffic counts has been a labor-intensive, slow, and sometimes error-prone process. But with advances in artificial intelligence, traffic counting has become faster, more accurate, and more cost-effective. Arterials has developed an AI Traffic Counter —a solution designed to simplify traffic
When analyzing roads, intersections, and traffic flow, engineers face a common challenge: vehicles are not all the same. A car, a motorcycle, a truck, and a rickshaw each take up different amounts of road space, move at different speeds, and influence congestion differently. To solve this, transportation engineers use the Passenger Car Unit (PCU) —
When most people talk about rush hour traffic, they’re thinking about the frustrating congestion on roads during the morning and evening commute. Transportation engineers use a more technical term for the same idea: peak hour traffic. Understanding how traffic builds up during these busy times is crucial for designing roads, planning intersections, and evaluating new
Traffic Impact Assessments (TIAs) are critical tools that help municipalities understand how new developments will affect local transportation networks. These TIA guidelines provide a practical framework for preparing and reviewing TIAs in municipalities that do not yet have their own standards. The intent is to balance technical credibility with simplicity, ensuring municipalities can review studies
Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) is one of the most fundamental measures in traffic engineering and transportation planning. It represents the average number of vehicles that travel on a roadway segment each day over the course of an entire year. Put simply, it is a way to smooth out traffic variations across weekdays, weekends, and
In traffic engineering, the K-factor is a critical parameter used in roadway design and traffic analysis. It represents the proportion of Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) that occurs during the design hour, and it allows engineers to size and evaluate roadways for their most critical operating conditions. Trying to calculate a traffic signal warrant? Try
