Traffic fluctuations on the streets of Warsaw

Summary: This paper presents a measurement database available in Warsaw. This database refers to traffic volume measurements, with particular emphasis on the vehicle stream structure, instantaneous traffic flow speed, and measurement periods. The database consists of 104 measurement points located throughout the Warsaw road network. At some of these points, measurements are taken continuously, allowing for detailed analysis of changes in traffic conditions. Such a large measurement database requires the use of specialized analyses to detect and eliminate measurement errors. The article also presents an analysis leading to the determination of the design traffic volume for the morning peak period, based on traffic volume measurements on the Gdański Bridge.1. INTRODUCTION
Warsaw is an important transport hub in Poland, where roads of international (E, E, E, E372), national (No. 2, No. 7, No. 8, No. 17, No. 61, No. 79), and 13 regional roads converge.
The length of the road network in Warsaw is 2837 km, of which 2511 km are public roads. The Municipal Roads Authority administers the primary road system with a length of 806 km, which accounts for approximately 32% of the length of public roads. This includes 106 km of national roads, 144 km of regional roads, and 556 km of county roads. Roads of the highest classes, i.e., main roads with accelerated traffic (GP) and main roads (G), account for a total of 12.2% of the network length, including GP – 138 km, G – 206 km, collector roads (Z) – 298 km, and local and access roads (L and D) – 2194 km. Warsaw has 7 road bridges [1].
The duty of the Municipal Roads Authority, resulting from the Public Roads Act, includes, among other things, collecting data on traffic volume (including at railway crossings), as well as gathering information on traffic incidents (the ACCIDENTS system covering the entire road and street network of Warsaw). In order to regularly obtain traffic data, the most extensive system of automatic traffic measurements (APR) in the country was created at the end of the 1990s. Commissioned by the Municipal Roads Authority, the “Program for systematic road traffic measurements on the streets of the capital city of Warsaw” was created – a study by the Warsaw Development Planning Office [2]. The locations of traffic measurement cross-sections were maintained in the scheme of Warsaw Traffic Studies. The system distinguishes: (…)

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