Important Road Research Articles

Comparison Different Black Spot Identification Methods

Abstract The identification of road sections characterized by high risk accidents is the first step for any successful road safety management process, considering the limited available resources. Although researchers started to study black spot decades ago, there are many un-clarified questions in this field. In the identification process of black spots three main methods can be used: screening methods, clustering methods and crash prediction methods. Many literatures and case studies were written describing each method pros or cons. These literatures concentrate mostly on one type of road each time, although road characteristics (i.e. speed, ADT) can highly affect the success and precision of the applied method. Therefore, the most important question to be answered is which method for which road?. This question can be answered by comparing different applied methods for different road types. However the comparison of different methods is still not adequately explored areas. This article aims to compare different methods used in identifying black spot; the sliding window and the spatial autocorrelation for two types of roads differ in their average speed, where speed is one of the important road characteristics which is still not adequately explored. The result shows a preference to use the sliding window for identifying black spot in high speed roads and the lack of preference to use it in low speed roads, and vice versa for spatial autocorrelation method, following accidents distribution pattern. And a result of a weakness in applying Empirical Bayesian in high speed road is also included.

Sustainability evaluation of recycling in agricultural systems by emergy accounting

Recycling wasted biomass as organic fertilizer has been an important road to develop sustainable agriculture. Emergy evaluation (EME) is a widely used method to evaluate sustainability of agricultural systems. However, the contribution of recycled biomass on emergy efficiency and sustainability of investigated systems cannot be comprehensively and reasonably represented, to some extent, by the currently used forth emergy rule. In this study, therefore, an “emformation” concept is introduced to illustrate that the recycled biomass derived from different agricultural processes only contains the emergy stored in its organic matter. Meanwhile, a formulas is designed to account the energy contribution of recycled biomass for recycling agricultural systems. A case study on wheat-maize double-cropping systems fertilized by crop straw (CS), pig manure (PM), wine residue (WR), biogas residue (BR) and mushroom residue (MR) in the North China Plain is performed to compare with the system only applying mineral fertilizer (CK). Several emergy-based indices, such as unit emergy value (UEV), nonrenewable resource efficiency (NRE), recycle yield ratio (RYR), emergy yield ratio (EYR), emergy loading ratio (ELR) and emergy sustainability index (ESI) are calculated, in which the EYR and ESI are modified to reflect the influence of applying recycled biomass on the sustainability of recycling agricultural systems. Result shows that the UEVs and NREs of the CS, PM, WR, BR and MR are 22.0%–77.3% higher than that of the CK, the RYR of the CS is 31.6% lower than that of the PM, WR, BR and MR, the modified EYRs of the CS, PM, WR, BR and MR increase by 67.6%–81.4% compared to the CK, the ELR are 8.4%–75.4% higher for the PM, WR and MR but 6.7%–29.1% lower for the CS and BR than that of the CK, the modified ESI of the CS, PM, WR, BR and MR increase by 3.5%–136.8% compared to the CK. Generally, the results illustrate that the modified approach contribute to achieving more reasonable evaluation results for agricultural systems involving recycled biomass. The wheat-maize systems fertilized by recycled biomass consume the more emergy and nonrenewable resources to generate the unit product. The recycling agricultural systems show the higher sustainability, in which recycling biogas residue into field as organic fertilizer shows the best recycling benefits.

Evaluating the effect of different asphalt mixtures on hydroplaning using a new lab-scale apparatus

ABSTRACTSkid resistance of asphalt pavements is one of the most important road criteria for users' safety. In a rainy condition the skid resistance is largely compromised and when the road surface is flooded, vehicles can experience hydroplaning at a certain critical speed. Tires under hydroplaning conditions become separated from the pavement surface and the ability of tires to increase braking force or cornering traction for stopping or controlling vehicle motion is almost entirely lost. In this study, a new lab-scale apparatus was designed and manufactured, which can stimulate hydroplaning and evaluate the impact of different asphalt mixtures on this phenomenon. To evaluate various mixes, three types of asphalt mixtures with different grading are made and mean texture depth and British pendulum number are measured by six repetitions. By using this apparatus in dry and wet conditions of pavement surface, five different frequencies are tested in terms of hydroplaning. The results show that there is 33% increase in hydroplaning occurrence speed by increasing mean texture depth by 0.5 mm.

Sea-Level Rise and Land Subsidence: Impacts on Flood Projections for the Mekong Delta’s Largest City

The present paper demonstrates that inundation levels in the Mekong Delta’s largest city, Can Tho, are predominantly determined by ocean tides, sea-level rise, and land subsidence. Our analysis of inundation patterns projects that the duration of inundation at an important road in the city will continue to rise from the current total of 72 inundated days per year to 270 days by 2030 and 365 days by 2050. This is attributed to the combined influence of sea-level rise and land subsidence, which causes relative water level rises at a rate of 22.3 mm·yr−1. People in the Mekong Delta have traditionally lived with floods, and thus there is certain resilience among residents in coping with small floods. At present, daily maximum inundation depth, which is generally shallower than 10 cm on the road, seems to be still manageable; however, our analysis indicates that this will start drastically increasing in the coming decades and reach an average depth of 70 cm by 2050. Effective and well-planned actions to mitigate the effects of land subsidence and sea-level rise are urgently required, otherwise, local inhabitants will encounter an unmanageable increase in inundation depth and duration in the coming decades. This study, which considers both sea-level rise and land subsidence, suggests that inundation depth and duration are projected to rise much faster than those indicated by previous studies, which only consider sea-level rise.

A Monitoring Network to Map and Assess Landslide Activity in a Highly Anthropized Area

Mapping landslide activity in a highly anthropized area entails specific problems. The integration of different monitoring techniques in order to measure the displacements rate within the slope is mandatory. We describe our activity for the Mortisa landslide which is located on the western flank of the Cortina d’Ampezzo valley (northeastern Italy) in a highly anthropized area in the heart of the Dolomites, a UNESCO world heritage site. The mass movement threatens some houses, an important national road, and part of the area that will be the venue for the upcoming 2021 Alpine Skiing World Championship. The hazardous context along with its prestigious location makes the construction of new settlements and infrastructure very challenging. Owing to that, precise mapping and assessment of the activity of the Mortisa landslide is extremely important. To achieve this task, multitemporal aerial photo interpretation, A-DInSAR analysis, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) surveys, and inclinometric measurements were performed. Through the integration of the monitoring data and geomorphological interpretation, a hazard map of the Mortisa area was produced with the intent to assist the local authorities in the definition of the new urban development plan.

Long-term effects of traffic-related air pollution on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (AHDH) in children of a cohort from a semi-urban region in Catalonia, Spain, 2005-2012

Introduction: Recently, several studies have found associations between air pollution exposure and neurodevelopmental disoders in children. However, the results are inconclusive and even contradictory. Among the reasons for this could be the different designs used and the different, and sometimes incomplete control for confounding. None of these studies have taken into account the spatio-temporal extra variability of the data and have not been addressed the problem of misalignment Our objective is to assess the long-term effects of traffic-related air pollution on AHDH in children of a cohort from a semi-urban region in Catalonia, during 2005-2012. Methods: We employed a case-cohort design with individual data. Cases were children up to 15 years during the follow-up period of the cohort, either diagnosed with ADHD or who were prescribed Methylphenidate or Atomoxetine. The controls were matched with the cases by sex and age. We take into account the control of confounding, at individual and at contextual level. We explicitly controlled for heterogeneity, spatial dependency, temporal trends and spatial misalignment. We used a fully Bayesian method, through the Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA). Specifically, we plugged the whole model for the exposure into the health model and obtained a linear predictor defined on the entire spatial domain. Results: Preliminary results show that the 170 cases (prevalence 1.5%) are not distributed evenly across the region under study. Of the 24 municipalities in the region, the cases are concentrated mainly in 12. But also in the municipalities where the cases reside, pass the two most important roads in the region. Conclusions: The uneven distribution of the cases, residing next to the two main roads of the region, suggests an association between trafic-related environmental nuisance and AHDH.

El papel de las vías secundarias y los caminos vecinales en el desarrollo de Colombia

Secondary and tertiary roads play an important role in national, regional and local integration, and also facilitate access to the national life of remote and isolated communities. These pathways as a whole, represent about 92% of total national road network. This article points out some points that should be considered during the planning and execution of secondary and tertiary, important road infrastructure if the Government wants to materialize post-conflict in rural country.

Infrastructural Projects and Territorial Development in Veneto Dolomites: Evaluation of Performances through AHP

The ensemble of European traffic roads is changing in relation to the economic geography that has been developing these recent years and also to the localisation of production centres, logistics and the demand linked to the transportation of goods. The development of communication has been defined through the project of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). This network has been progressively defined until it has reached the present architecture in which Italy is crossed by four of the nine total corridors that compose the whole network - which means by almost half of the main traffic roads at European level -. Undoubtedly this new geography of European communication offers member States new development opportunities, but it is also true that the distance of the different territories from the major traffic roads can be a disparity factor. In fact, this phenomenon can worsen the marginalisation processes of some European territories, contrary to the objective of the interconnection policy of the EU territories. In front of these possible territorial disparities, the Planning discipline in Italy has not been adequately questioned, aiming instead at the research of the “territorial patching up”, progressively decreasing, rather than at the exploration of new development forms. As a consequence, mobility planning becomes strategic for Italy, especially for its Alpine area. Hence the need to set up valid tools for the environmental evaluation as regards planning and programmes, such as the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), but also projects, as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The idea to realise an important road infrastructure, which may connect Belluno directly with Austria, is presented in this paper as an emblematic case, in which the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) permits to verify the best performing infrastructure on a territorial scale.

Monitoring and early warning of the 2012 Preonzo catastrophic rockslope failure

In this paper, we describe the investigations and actions taken to reduce risk and prevent casualties from a catastrophic 210,000 m3 rockslope failure, which occurred near the village of Preonzo in the Swiss Alps on May 15, 2012. We describe the geological predisposition and displacement history before and during the accelerated creep stage as well as the development and operation of an efficient early warning system. The failure of May 15, 2012, occurred from a large and retrogressive instability in gneisses and amphibolites with a total volume of about 350,000 m3, which formed an alpine meadow 1250 m above the valley floor. About 140,000 m3 of unstable rock mass remained in place and might collapse partially or completely in the future. The instability showed clearly visible signs of movements along a tension crack since 1989 and accelerated creep with significant hydromechanical forcing since about 2006. Because the active rockslide at Preonzo threatened a large industrial facility and important transport routes located directly at the toe of the slope, an early warning system was installed in 2010. The thresholds for prealarm, general public alarm, and evacuation were derived from crack meter and total station monitoring data covering a period of about 10 years, supplemented with information from past failure events with similar predisposition. These thresholds were successfully applied to evacuate the industrial facility and to close important roads a few days before the catastrophic slope failure of May 15, 2012. The rock slope failure occurred in two events, exposing a compound rupture plane dipping 42° and generating deposits in the midslope portion with a travel angle of 39°. Three hours after the second rockslide, the fresh deposits became reactivated in a devastating debris avalanche that reached the foot of the slope but did not destroy any infrastructure. The final run-out distance of this combined rock collapse–debris avalanche corresponded to the predictions made in the year 2004.

Studies and assessment of transport noise in Poznan

In many cities in Poland, because of the lack of ring roads, the main traffic routes of state roads go through the cities affecting local and regional traffic. This causes high traffic and also many undesired effects for inhabitants such us environmental pollution with fumes, vibrations of buildings, high level of noise and increase of accidents. This article presents results of measurements of volume of traffic and noise level in selected traffic routes in Poznan. For the research the sections of roads and crossings that belong to state roads and important urban roads of Poznan were selected. The research was conducted according to recommendations included in the regulation of the Minister of the Environment of 16 June 2011 on requirements for conducting measurements of the levels of substances or energy in the environment by administrators of road, railway, tram line, airport or sea port. In most of the streets of Poznan, where measurements were made, registered equivalent sound levels exceed permissible levels defined in the regulation of the Ministry of the Environment about permissible noise levels in the environment. Equivalent sound levels registered at defined measurement points show values in scope between 53 and 78 dB.

Controlled hydrophilic/hydrophobic property of silica films by manipulating the hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethoxysilane

Controlling surface wettability is an important road to afford the materials with anticipated functional properties, such as anti-fogging, anti-icing and self-cleaning. Manipulating the surface topography and chemical composition is a promising strategy to achieve the expected functional properties. Herein, we concurrently realized the control of surface topography and chemical composition of the film materials via exploiting a simply one step method through the hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) to form silica sol-gel films. By adjusting the amount of water, TEOS and basic catalyst, the hydrophilic or hydrophobic chemical groups on the silica particles surface were well controlled. As a result, the sol-gel silica films exhibiting a controllable and wide range contact angles from 7.7±1.5° to 121.6±1.8° were obtained by this simple one-step method. The inorganic nonmetallic, metallic and polymer materials surface could maintain different wettability by the modification of controlled wettability silica films. Furthermore the wettability of silica film could be easily changed from hydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity through a heat-treatment due to the decrease of hydrophobic chemical groups conforming to the time-temperature equivalence principle. Raising temperature and extending holding time were equivalent to chemical bond breaking which result in the wettability change of silica films.

A method to identify black spot candidates in built-up areas

ABSTRACTOne of the most important road safety interventions is the elimination of accident black spots (places with accident density higher than expected). The first step of this process is the identification of these locations. There are several methods for this purpose, but most of them are now outdated. The primary objective of our 5-year project was to adopt data collection and analysis methods according to the related developments of the last decades: (1) the spreading of global positioning system (GPS) technology, (2) the appearance of tablets and smartphones, and (3) the existence of critical amounts of accidental data (enough for data mining approaches). This article presents the final results of our examinations. The authors prepared several methods, regulations, and computer software to integrate these advancements into the daily routine. From the year 2011, Hungarian police officers have used smartphones to record all data about accidents while on the scene, including the GPS coordinates, which leads to more accurate and reliable location information. This allowed the authors to develop a novel black spot–searching algorithm (inspired by some data mining techniques), based on the GPS coordinates of accidents. The authors have implemented it as a web service, and the practical experience shows that it performs very well, especially in built-up areas. Compared to the sliding window method, the site consistency is significantly higher, whereas the method consistency and the rank consistency are quite similar.

Topografija i putna mreža na teritoriji antičkog Naisa

Archaeological research revealed that ancient Naissus was located on the right bank of the Nišava, on the territory partially covered by the Niš Fortress. The ancient town developed on a wide and flat terrain, which offered good conditions for settlement, but also for raising fortifications. According to modern scholars, the urban settlement on the right bank of the Nišava was preceded by a small native village (vicus), which was important for the erection of the town fortifications. Numerous roads were linking Naissus with the surrounding regions and villas in the county side. We learn about them on the basis of epigraphic and archaeological material milestones and remains of roads, but also on the basis of the location of the necropolises, which in the classical period often sprang up near the suburban roads. The road leading to the east crossed the Nišava by a stone bridge, whose remains were visible not far from today's 'Benetton' factory. The road led further over 'Gabrovac land', intersected with streams over which the remains of three stone bridges from the Roman period were found. This route led to Mediana, a suburb with villas three miles distant from the city. Another important road connecting the region Pomoravlje with the southern parts of the province of Dalmatia was the road Naissus-Lissus. TA section leding to Macedonia and the harbour of Thessalonica over Scupi branched from it south of Naissus: Ad Herculem, Hammeum Ad Fines, Vindenae and Vicianum. From Vicianum station (Vučitrn) one section ran towards Lissus and another towards Scupi. Throughout the Timok valley stretched one of the most important roads (Naissus-Ratiaria) that linked Naissus and the central Balkan areas with the region of Podunavlje (the Danube basin). The road led from Naissus to the East, along the right bank of the Nišava (across the areas of Jagodin mala and Vrežina) and, at the modern village of Malča, it turned towards the North, following the route of the modern road and railroad to Svrljig. Further to the northeast, the road led through the valley of Svrljiški Timok and was passing through Plužina where a milestone of Trebonian Gallus was discovered (251-253 AD). The road left the river valley near a place called Palilula because the river was entering impassable canyons, and the road ran south of Knjaževac over the mountain pass Tresibaba, where it connected to the sections that led from the West (Praesidium Pompei) and the South (Turres, Remesiana). Epigraphic monuments are of particular importance for studying the history of ancient Nais. These provide valuable information on the way of life, customs, religion, government, military and social organization of this city. Funerary inscriptions often contain data that could be used in topography or onomastic research. Honorary inscription set up by the city councils supply information about the communities that erected them.

The Roads’ Role in the Freight Transport System

The transport system is often described as the lifeblood system of modern society. Roads constitute a fundamental part of this system for both passenger and freight transports. Freight transport is expected to increase throughout Europe by 80% until 2050 (EU, 2011). ITF (2015) stated that international freight transport to ports will increase fourfold until 2050. This will, ceteris paribus, result in a severe increase of congestion and incidents. In turn, incidents will worsen congestion even more.This paper, which draws on current work in CEDR and PIARC, describes the role of the road in the freight transport system. The background to this paper comes from reports that state the road network alone cannot cope with the expected increase in transport flows. Important road freight areas and issues about how to reach a more sustainable freight system are identified and discussed in this paper. These discussions include multimodal terminals and operations, autonomous vehicles, ITS, infrastructure usage, economies of scale, and behaviour/educational issues.The function of the road, from a freight perspective, is manifold. It is used for small shipments over short distances as well as their counterparts. Road freight is most often necessary in the beginning and in the end of the multimodal transport chain (first/last mile logistics). Furthermore, road freight is the only mode involved in many door-to-door freight chains, as it is usually the only mode involved. Such a chain might constitute one or several truck movements.Peak car is widely discussed but peak truck/peak freight might be something that needs to be considered for many reasons. The European climate and transport policies push for a modal shift from road to other modes of transportation. To meet this challenge the market-based transport system must develop into a truly multi-modal system. A smarter utilisation of the transport system is important from the perspective of economic, environmental, and social sustainability. However, more importantly there is a need to make road freight more sustainable in itself. Therefore one important role for the road is to try to stimulate and promote the possibilities for modal shift while another is to optimize its characteristics.

An Exploration of Road Safety Parameters in Belarus and the European Union

The objective of the present paper is, through analysing basic road safety parameters in Belarus and the European Union (EU), to explore, compare and outline the key parameters contributing to road fatalities in the recent years in Belarus and EU.Initially, the action plans and safety performances for both Belarus and EU Member States are assessed, based on various indicators and specific time periods. The assessment revealed that during the period 2000–2010, although road fatalities in Belarus decreased about 25%, the overall road safety performance is rather weak compared to the majority of EU States (-43%). During the period 2011–2013, Belarus achieved a noticeable decrease by another 25% reduction in road fatalities, a performance figuring among the best in EU.As to address the parameters related to road fatalities, lognormal regression models were developed and applied to vehicle fleet and demographical data for Belarus and the EU and elasticity values were calculated for the identification of the comparative effect of each variable.The examination of Belarus and certain neighbor EU States revealed that there are some important road safety similarities. In both cases, an increase in the percentage of pedestrian fatalities is related to vehicle type. The results of this research could be proved beneficial for the identification of appropriate measures addressing the underlying road safety issues in Belarus.In conclusion, it was found that the current road safety performance in Belarus is improving rather slowly and requires further effort from all road safety authorities and other stakeholders in Belarus. Belarus presents the second worst performance in pedestrian fatalities compared to the EU Member States, and therefore special emphasis should be given to road safety measures (behaviour, infrastructure, vehicle) focusing on pedestrian safety.

H∞ active anti-roll bar control to prevent rollover of heavy vehicles: a robustness analysis

Rollover of heavy vehicle is an important road safety problem world-wide. Although rollovers are relatively rare events, they are usually deadly accidents when they occur. In order to improve roll stability, most of modern heavy vehicles are equipped with passive anti-roll bars to reduce roll motion during cornering or riding on uneven roads. This paper proposes an H∞ approach to design active anti-roll bars using the yaw-roll model of a single unit heavy vehicle. The control signals are the torques generated by the actuators at the front and rear axles. Simulation results in both frequency and time domains are provided to compare two different cases: passive anti-roll bars and H∞ active anti-roll bars. It is shown that the use of two H∞ active (front and rear) anti-roll bars drastically improves the roll stability of the single unit heavy vehicle to prevent rollover.

EL PAPEL DE LAS VÍAS SECUNDARIAS Y LOS CAMINOS VECINALES EN EL DESARROLLO DE COLOMBIA

Secondary and tertiary roads play an important role in national, regional and local integration, and also facilitate access to the national life of remote and isolated communities. These pathways as a whole, represent about 92% of total national road network. This article points out some points that should be considered during the planning and execution of secondary and tertiary, important road infrastructure if the Government wants to materialize post-conflict in rural country.

How many samples are needed? An investigation of binary logistic regression for selective omission in a road network

ABSTRACTSelective omission in a road network (or road selection) means to retain more important roads, and it is a necessary operator to transform a road network at a large scale to that at a smaller scale. This study discusses the use of the supervised learning approach to road selection, and investigates how many samples are needed for a good performance of road selection. More precisely, the binary logistic regression is employed and three road network data with different sizes and different target scales are involved for testing. The different percentages and numbers of strokes are randomly chosen for training a logistic regression model, which is further applied into the untrained strokes for validation. The performances of using the different sample sizes are mainly evaluated by an error rate estimate. Significance tests are also employed to investigate whether the use of different sample sizes shows statistically significant differences. The experimental results show that in most cases, the error rate estimate is around 0.1–0.2; more importantly, only a small number (e.g., 50–100) of training samples is needed, which indicates the usability of binary logistic regression for road selection.

Quantitative rockfall risk assessment for an important road by means of the rockfall risk management (RO.MA.) method

This paper deals with a quantitative risk analysis, performed using the rockfall risk management (RO.MA.) method, for a road affected by rockfalls. This approach allows evaluating the rockfall risk, also considering existing protection devices. Rockfall hazard and risk were assessed for an important and very busy road stretch linking Positano to Amalfi in the Campania region of southern Italy. An estimate of the rockfall return periods for assigned volume classes was obtained using the magnitude–frequency curves (MFCs) computed through the analysis of a rockfall inventory covering a time span from 1996 to 2008. For rockfall volumes of 0.1, 1.0, and 10 m3, using a 2D trajectory simulating code, the involved kinetic energies and run-out distances of boulders that may hit the road were calculated. The risk, expressed as the annual probability of a fatal accident for the three rockfall hazard scenarios has been evaluated both without and with protection devices, respectively. The total final risk is given by the sum of partial risks related to the three scenarios. The analysis showed that regardless of whether there are any rockfall protection devices, the total risk remains almost constant. This is due to the wide spread of slopes protected with inadequate restraining metallic nets characterized by decreasing catching capacities, as possible rockfall magnitude increases. The individual risk is not acceptable, and some actions are requested in order to lower it.

Soil geohazard mapping for improved asset management of UK local roads

Abstract. Unclassified roads comprise 60 % of the road network in the United Kingdom (UK). The resilience of this locally important network is declining. It is considered by the Institution of Civil Engineers to be "at risk" and is ranked 26th in the world. Many factors contribute to the degradation and ultimate failure of particular road sections. However, several UK local authorities have identified that in drought conditions, road sections founded upon shrink–swell susceptible clay soils undergo significant deterioration compared with sections on non-susceptible soils. This arises from the local road network having little, if any, structural foundations. Consequently, droughts in East Anglia have resulted in millions of pounds of damage, leading authorities to seek emergency governmental funding. This paper assesses the use of soil-related geohazard assessments in providing soil-informed maintenance strategies for the asset management of the locally important road network of the UK. A case study draws upon the UK administrative county of Lincolnshire, where road assessment data have been analysed against mapped clay-subsidence risk. This reveals a statistically significant relationship between road condition and susceptible clay soils. Furthermore, incorporation of UKCP09 future climate projections within the geohazard models has highlighted roads likely to be at future risk of clay-related subsidence.