Abstract
The aim of this research is to look for an automated, economical and fast method able to identify the elements of an existing road layout, whose original geometric design could date back to distant ages and could have undergone major modifications over the years. The analysis has been directed towards the Italian two-lane rural roads; the national public company ANAS made available its graph, obtained from high-performance surveys, that represents about 90% of these roads’ network. The graph is made up of a collection of georeferenced points but does not recognize or describe the geometric elements making up the roadway. Consequently, it has been necessary to design and develop an original procedure, subsequently implemented in a programming platform, able to identify the characteristics of the several parts, which constitute the reference axes of the existing roads. This research focuses on the horizontal geometry assessing the coherence, consistency and homogeneity of the roads’ layout, through the ex post application of the regulatory model for the design verification. If road sections are identified in which some conditions are not significantly met, further investigation should be conducted in order to ensure road safety and to plan any road upgrading activities.
Highlights
It is the case of the “self-explaining roads” [6,7], which are defined as roads where drivers perceive and recognize the features of the infrastructure they are driving on and “instinctively”
The objective of the analysis entails in the definition of a methodology able to recognize the reference axis, which means the road layout composing elements as a succession of straight lines, circular arcs and clothoids
This is important and necessary for a more general purpose, which consists in the preventive safety evaluation offered by existing roads, through procedures based on the verification criteria of safety conditions referred to the road geometry
Summary
The road consistency is the characteristic of the infrastructure that makes it suitable to meet road user expectations and implies that the geometric successive elements are coordinated in order to produce harmonious and homogeneous driver performance and to not generate incorrect and, sometimes, unsafe driving behavior [3,4,5]. The rules that guide road design should ensure that a driver is spontaneously induced to adopt a driving behavior that is congruent with the real characteristics of the road. It is the case of the “self-explaining roads” [6,7], which are defined as roads where drivers perceive and recognize the features of the infrastructure they are driving on and “instinctively”
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