Urban Traffic Flows and Fourier Transforms

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is first, to present some evidence indicative of a rough daily periodicity in traffic counts at a cross‐section of an urban road accompanied by a considerable amount of seemingly random additional variation; and second, to attempt an accounting through Fast Fourier Transform and power spectrum density functions of this additional variation beyond the rough daily cycle. Reasons behind the macroscopic variable's dynamic behavior are provided. Relatively extensive traffic counts make them especially suited for investigating various dynamic behaviors, including possibly nonperiodic (chaotic) patterns. 1994 The Ohio State University