Practice Problems: Transportation Planning

Transportation Planning - PE Civil Exam Questions

Question 1: A transportation engineer is analyzing the peak hour traffic volume at a critical intersection to determine the design hour volume (DHV). The annual average daily traffic (AADT) is 48,000 vehicles per day, and the K-factor for this location is 0.09. What is the design hour volume?

(a) 3,840 vehicles per hour
(b) 4,320 vehicles per hour
(c) 5,280 vehicles per hour
(d) 2,880 vehicles per hour

Question 2: A city planner is conducting a gravity model analysis for trip distribution between two zones. Zone A has 5,000 trip productions, Zone B has 3,000 trip attractions, the travel time between zones is 15 minutes, and the friction factor for 15 minutes is 2.5. If the sum of all attractions multiplied by their friction factors for Zone A is 12,500, how many trips are distributed from Zone A to Zone B?

(a) 450 trips
(b) 600 trips
(c) 750 trips
(d) 900 trips

Question 3: A traffic engineer is evaluating the level of service (LOS) for a freeway segment. The observed flow rate is 1,850 passenger cars per hour per lane (pc/h/ln), and the free-flow speed is 70 mph. The density is calculated to be 26.4 pc/mi/ln. According to the Highway Capacity Manual, what is the Level of Service for this freeway segment?

(a) LOS B
(b) LOS C
(c) LOS D
(d) LOS E

Question 4: A transportation planner is developing a four-step travel demand model. In the trip generation phase, for a residential zone with 800 single-family dwelling units, the trip production rate is 9.5 trips per dwelling unit per day. What is the total daily trip production for this zone?

(a) 6,800 trips
(b) 7,200 trips
(c) 7,600 trips
(d) 8,000 trips

Question 5: A traffic engineer is analyzing intersection operations and needs to calculate the volume-to-capacity (v/c) ratio. The peak hour volume is 1,350 vehicles per hour, the saturation flow rate is 1,800 vehicles per hour, and the effective green time ratio (g/C) is 0.60. What is the volume-to-capacity ratio?

(a) 0.75
(b) 0.83
(c) 1.08
(d) 1.25

Question 6: A regional transportation agency is analyzing mode choice using a logit model. For automobile travel, the utility function is 3.2, and for transit, it is 2.5. What is the probability that a traveler will choose automobile mode?

(a) 56%
(b) 62%
(c) 67%
(d) 72%

Question 7: A traffic engineer is conducting a turning movement count at an intersection. During the peak hour, 450 vehicles approach from the north, with 60% going through, 25% turning right, and 15% turning left. How many vehicles turn left from the northbound approach?

(a) 56 vehicles
(b) 68 vehicles
(c) 113 vehicles
(d) 270 vehicles

Question 8: A transportation planner is evaluating a proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor. The projected daily ridership is 18,500 passengers, and the average trip length is 6.2 miles. What is the total passenger-miles traveled (PMT) per day for this corridor?

(a) 98,600 passenger-miles
(b) 107,400 passenger-miles
(c) 114,700 passenger-miles
(d) 122,300 passenger-miles

Question 9: A city is conducting origin-destination surveys to update its travel demand model. A total of 2,400 households were surveyed, and 1,920 responded. The total number of households in the study area is 85,000. What expansion factor should be used to estimate total trips from the survey data?

(a) 35.4
(b) 44.3
(c) 80.0
(d) 106.3

Question 10: A highway engineer is analyzing vehicle spacing on a freeway. The average speed is 65 mph, and the average time headway between vehicles is 2.2 seconds. What is the average space headway between vehicles in feet?

(a) 143 feet
(b) 187 feet
(c) 210 feet
(d) 229 feet

Question 11: A transportation engineer is calculating the peak hour factor (PHF) for a roadway segment. The peak hour volume is 2,160 vehicles, and the highest 15-minute flow rate within that hour is 600 vehicles. What is the PHF?

(a) 0.75
(b) 0.80
(c) 0.85
(d) 0.90

Question 12: A traffic analyst is developing a trip distribution model for a metropolitan area. Using the average travel time factor method, Zone 1 has 8,000 trip productions. Zone 2 has 5,000 attractions with a travel time factor of 1.8, and Zone 3 has 7,000 attractions with a travel time factor of 1.2. How many trips from Zone 1 are distributed to Zone 2?

(a) 3,158 trips
(b) 3,529 trips
(c) 4,000 trips
(d) 4,421 trips

Question 13: A transportation planner is analyzing parking demand for a mixed-use development. The project includes 120,000 square feet of office space with a parking rate of 3.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet, and 40,000 square feet of retail space with a parking rate of 4.0 spaces per 1,000 square feet. What is the total parking requirement?

(a) 420 spaces
(b) 480 spaces
(c) 540 spaces
(d) 580 spaces

Question 14: A traffic engineer is evaluating signal timing at an intersection. The cycle length is 90 seconds, the effective green time for the eastbound approach is 36 seconds, and the yellow interval is 4 seconds. What is the red time for the eastbound approach?

(a) 46 seconds
(b) 50 seconds
(c) 54 seconds
(d) 58 seconds

Question 15: A regional planner is calculating the accessibility index for a zone using the Hansen gravity-based measure. Zone A has employment of 12,000 jobs. The impedance function for travel time of 20 minutes is 0.35. If there are three employment centers with similar characteristics, what is the accessibility contribution from this single zone?

(a) 2,800
(b) 3,600
(c) 4,200
(d) 5,100

Question 16: A traffic engineer is analyzing roadway performance using the travel time index (TTI). The peak period travel time for a 12-mile corridor is 28 minutes, and the free-flow travel time is 16 minutes. What is the travel time index?

(a) 1.33
(b) 1.50
(c) 1.75
(d) 2.00

Question 17: A transportation analyst is conducting a screenline analysis for model validation. The observed traffic count across a screenline is 45,200 vehicles per day, and the modeled volume is 48,600 vehicles per day. What is the percent difference between modeled and observed volumes?

(a) 5.2%
(b) 6.8%
(c) 7.5%
(d) 8.3%

Question 18: A city planner is evaluating transit service coverage. A transit route serves an area of 18.5 square miles with 12 bus stops. The average walking distance to a bus stop is 0.25 miles (quarter-mile radius). What is the approximate service coverage area assuming circular catchment areas around each stop?

(a) 1.8 square miles
(b) 2.4 square miles
(c) 3.0 square miles
(d) 3.6 square miles

Question 19: A traffic engineer is calculating the passenger car equivalent (PCE) adjustment for a highway segment. The traffic stream consists of 1,200 passenger cars, 150 trucks (PCE = 2.0), and 50 recreational vehicles (PCE = 2.5). What is the total equivalent hourly volume in passenger car units?

(a) 1,400 pc/h
(b) 1,525 pc/h
(c) 1,625 pc/h
(d) 1,750 pc/h

Question 20: A metropolitan planning organization is calculating vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) for air quality conformity analysis. A roadway network has three functional classes: 250 miles of freeway with AADT of 85,000 vpd, 180 miles of arterials with AADT of 32,000 vpd, and 420 miles of collectors with AADT of 8,500 vpd. What is the total daily VMT for the network?

(a) 30,490,000 VMT
(b) 33,280,000 VMT
(c) 30,490,000 VMT
(d) 30,490,000 VMT