Highway Junction Research Articles

Methods of Diversion Road Improvement of Overpasses Under Repair

During the repair of motorway junctions, it is important to minimize transportation losses by urban vehicles for the period of road works.Methodology: Factor analysis.Purpose: The aim of research is to substantiate the best diversion road of the motorway junction under repair in the streets network adjacent to the object.Research findings: The dependence is shown of the average speed of cars and transportation cost on the distance between signalized intersections and traffic load.Value: An algorithm is developed for substantiation of the diversion road for construction site. Justification for the diversion road along the streets network adjacent to the object, is developed using the factor analysis and based on the traffic load, of roadway conditions, traffic lights, route length.

Real-Time Traffic Management in Smart Cities: Insights from the Traffic Management Simulation and Impact Analysis

Using simulation and empirical data analysis, this research examines the efficacy of real-time traffic control in smart cities. Traffic data collected in real time from strategically placed sensors shows that traffic volume was reduced by 8.33% on Main Street after a traffic light timing change was implemented. Traffic volume at Highway Junction was also significantly reduced by 5.56% as a result of traffic sign updates. On the other hand, interventions result in a relatively small decrease in traffic volume (2.78%) in the City Center. The influence of these actions is shown by the traffic simulation models, which show average vehicle speeds rising from 25 to 28 mph on Main Street, 45 to 50 mph at Highway Junction, and 30 to 32 mph in the Residential Area. The aforementioned research highlights the crucial function of data-driven decision-making in traffic management, guaranteeing effective distribution of resources and quantifiable enhancements in urban mobility. Urban planners and legislators may use these discoveries to build smart cities that are more accessible, sustainable, and efficient.

The Analysis of Liquefaction Potential and Post-Liquefaction Deformations at a Highway Bridge Crossing

The primary goal of this study is to geotechnically analyze the soil strength and liquefaction potential of the soil where the Seyrek highway junction and the bridge are built under earthquake-related dynamic stress. The analyses include comparisons of liquefaction potential using various empirical approaches, studies of post-liquefaction vertical deformation, and investigations into the influence of fill soil on liquefaction-induced surface deformation. Since the analyses of liquefaction potential in soils are made based on the "Simplified Method" approach, this method was also used in this study. This study also used the "Simplified Method" approach, which is the basis for studies of soil liquefaction potential. Four standard penetration tests (SPT) on the bridge piers were used to collect field data, and experiments in the lab were used to establish the requisite soil parameters. When the results of the Simplified Method analysis were performed according to the soil properties of the SK-1, SK-2, SK-3, and SK-4 drillings and the liquefaction analysis results were determined according to the required safety factor (Fs), liquefaction potential up to 18.5 meters was determined in all four SPT locations. Moreover, the results of surface damage effect analyses of the non-liquefied cover/fill layer on the Seyrek crossing bridge soil for all four SPP fields were found to be 'visible" and the liquefiable layer thickness (H2) was found to be 10.5 m. The calculated liquefaction severity index (LS) value was found to be up to 52, which means the liquefaction effect was found to be 'Possible liquefaction damage'.

Gravel arrester beds as a safety measure at the motorway exit ramps: experimental and numerical study

ABSTRACT At motorway junctions, crash cushions are usually installed to stop impacting vehicles safely. Gravel-filled arrester beds can be used as replacements for crash cushions. They offer improved safety by effectively using an already available large area, and lower-severity impact parameters for passengers while safely stopping the vehicle. The work presented in this paper was conducted to investigate the behaviour of passenger cars on gravel-filled arrester beds. For that purpose, a gravel-filled arrester bed was built, and a series of experiments was performed with passenger cars entering the arrester bed at an initial velocity of up to 75 km/h. Numerical analyses were also performed to validate the model as well as to examine the response of larger vehicles under a variety of conditions. The results have shown that gravel arrester beds can be used to stop heavier errant vehicles safely near road junctions.

Gravel arrester beds as an important motorway safety element

Motorways are usually perceived as the safest part of the road infrastructure. Nevertheless, the junctions and exit ramps on them can still present a safety challenge due to high average velocities and obstacles installed to contain the out-of-control vehicles within the roadway. Recently, the gravel arrester-beds have been constructed on many locations on motorway junctions and exit ramps. They present a viable alternative to the rigid barriers and deformable crash-cushions normally used on these locations. They help decelerate the vehicles by dissipating the kinetic energy in the gravel bed and thus stop the vehicles more gradually on a longer distance, causing lower average decelerations and thus reducing passenger injuries. Furthermore, by proper design, they can reduce the damage sustained by the vehicles and the infrastructure and thus shorten the times required to re-open roads after incidents. The paper provides an insight into the subject and presents some recent findings obtained from measurements on a test site, and from simulations with different types of vehicles. The parameters and their required values for optimizing the efficiency of gravel arrester beds for different requirements are discussed in the final part.

Metal distribution in first flush in highway runoff of one of the busiest motorway junctions in the UK

We observed an unexpectedly high proportion of Fe2+dis in accumulated highway runoff, which could be attributed to local catchment characteristics.

Junction Designs Examples and Improvements in Junction Designs

Junction design and application principles are very important because traffic accidents occur mostly at junctions. Insufficient infrastructure and driver errors constitute a significant part of accidents. In this study, two junction designs in the 11th Regional Directorate of Highways and the 16th Regional Directorate of Highways on the at-grade junction, which is one of the highway junction designs, were examined. The improvements made in the design of these junctions are examined. By using satellite images of roads, junction designs were made with the help of the Microstation inroads program. The findings obtained because of the study were evaluated and suggestions were presented.

Game Theoretic Merging Behavior Control for Autonomous Vehicle at Highway On-Ramp

In the most of previous studies, social interactions between vehicles are not considered explicitly when designing decision making and motion planning module. Nevertheless, the strong interaction exists in the most of driving scenarios, especially in highway junction. This paper presents a game theoretic merging behavior control system for autonomous vehicle at on-ramp junction considering the interaction between the merging vehicle and following vehicle in the main lane. In this work, a driving style estimation is proposed to deal with the heterogeneity of driving style. Then we adopt a model predictive control (MPC) method to plan the optimal merging trajectory based on the game theoretic decision making result. Finally, simulation and Human-in-the-loop (HIL) experiment result shows the effectiveness of our approach in on-ramp merging scenario.

A26 Linz motorway – Past and future challenges

AbstractAfter a long design and approval process, the construction works for the first phase of the A26 started in 2019. The A26 not only relieves the central part of the road network of the city of Linz but also allows the river Danube to be crossed by means of a bridge: a 300 m long bridge, anchored in the rock slopes forming the banks of the Danube. The elements of the first phase are the Danube bridge and the two underground motorway junctions, Danube North and South, with excavation cross‐sections of up to 400 m2 and the tight radii of the motorway on‐ramps. Besides these conditions, urban planning requirements such as the protection of residents against immissions caused by noise and vibration, and the increased negative impacts resulting from the traffic during construction have an effect on the construction works. The excavated material from the tunnel is transported off site by ship. The existing rock mass requires excavation by means of the drill‐and‐blast method. The project‐specific boundary conditions such as the high number of portals, the noise‐reflecting effect of the “Danube gorge” and the low overburden require substantial measures to limit and monitor the immissions.

Bir İngiliz İstihbarat Raporuna Göre İzmir’in İşgali Sonrasında Afyonkarahisar’da Vuku Bulan Olayların Özeti (25 Ağustos 1919)

The Ottoman Empire had to accept that it was defeated in the First World War by signing the Armistice of Mudros. After the armistice, the Allied Powers began invasions, citing their own security. So much so that the strategic and geopolitical points of Western and Central Anatolia became their first target. After the Greek occupation of Izmir, one of the places that experienced this invasion process most effectively was Afyonkarahisar. The city was at an important point, especially in terms of being at the junction of highways and railways. It was also in an important position militarily. Some of the ammunition belonging to the Turkish Army, which was reorganized at the end of the armistice, was also stored in Afyon. Again, the 23rd Division of the 20th Corps, headquartered in Ankara, was also here. Afyon was also among the places of duty of the 12th Corps in Konya. Therefore, all these reasons made the occupation of the city necessary for the Allied Powers. This location of the city attracted the attention of the Allied powers. Thus, British troops first came to Afyon to check the terms of the armistice. Later, on April 9, 1919, French and on May 21, 1919, Italian forces reached the city, respectively. Struggling with the most difficult conditions of the armistice, Afyon would experience the last Greek invasion.
 The main theme of this paper will be to reflect the occupation atmosphere in Afyonkarahisar, which is one of the cities that played an important role in the occupations that started with the signing of the Armistice of Mudros, from various aspects. In the study, the military intelligence report dated 25 August 1919, prepared by the Black Sea Army in Istanbul and submitted to the British General Staff, will be examined. The present report will also form the main material of the paper.

Battery-Aware Cooperative Merging Strategy of Connected Electric Vehicles Based on Reinforcement Learning With Hindsight Experience Replay

Cooperative control of connected and automated electric vehicles (CAEVs) offers a great potential for a safe, high-efficient, sustainable transportation system. Among them, coordinated on-ramp merging based on an on-ramp merging vehicle and a mainline facilitating is a hot spot to lighten the impact of shockwave on highway junctions. Reinforcement learning (RL) is a promising solution to address this problem for its strong adaptiveness and self-learning ability. The existing methods are dedicatedly designed to circumvent the sparse reward problem of long-term merging safety but restrict the optimization space and neglect individual costs, especially irreversible loss, such as battery aging. In this article, a hindsight experience replay RL coordinated freeway on-ramp merging frame is proposed to face the sparse reward problem in ramp merging problem and, meanwhile, co-optimize traffic efficiency, energy-saving, and battery health performance. Compared with the existing optimization-based strategy, it fundamentally avoids abundant expert knowledge and elaborate design for reward shaping and model construction while ensuring the nature of merging tasks without excessive simplification. Numerical experiments are conducted to verify the optimality, adaptability, and self-learning ability of the proposed strategy. With comparison experiment, the proposed strategy surpasses state-of-the-art RL methods more than 13% in overall index throughput with 12% energy consumption while easing individual battery aging during the merging process.

Die A26 Linzer Autobahn – Ein neues Wahrzeichen für Linz

AbstractThe A26 not only relieves the central part of the road network in Linz but also allows the river Danube to be crossed by means of a 300 m long bridge, anchored in the rock slopes which form the banks of the Danube. The elements of the 1st phase are the Danube bridge and two underground motorway junctions, Danube North and South, with excavation cross‐sections of up to 375 m2 and the tight radii of the motorway on‐ramps. In addition to the elevated location of the main portals, the river Danube, the infrastructure facilities and the built‐up area take space in the valley cause unfavourable conditions. Besides these conditions, urban planning requirements have an effect on the realization of the construction project. The excavated material from the tunnel is transported off‐site by ship. The project conditions such as the high number of portals, the noise‐reflecting effect of the ”Danube gorge“ and the low overburden require substantial measures to limit and monitor the immissions.

Optimizing coordinated vehicle platooning: An analytical approach based on stochastic dynamic programming

Platooning connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) can improve traffic and fuel efficiency. However, scalable platooning operations require junction-level coordination, which has not been well studied. In this paper, we study the coordination of vehicle platooning at highway junctions. We consider a setting where CAVs randomly arrive at a highway junction according to a general renewal process. When a CAV approaches the junction, a system operator determines whether the CAV will merge into the platoon ahead according to the positions and speeds of the CAV and the platoon. We formulate a Markov decision process to minimize the discounted cumulative travel cost, i.e., fuel consumption plus travel delay, over an infinite time horizon. We show that the optimal policy is threshold-based: the CAV will merge with the platoon if and only if the difference between the CAV’s and the platoon’s predicted times of arrival at the junction is less than a constant threshold. We also propose two ready-to-implement algorithms to derive the optimal policy. Comparison with the classical value iteration algorithm implies that our approach explicitly incorporating the characteristics of the optimal policy is significantly more efficient in terms of computation. Importantly, we show that the optimal policy under Poisson arrivals can be obtained by solving a system of integral equations. We also validate our results in simulation with a Real-time Strategy (RTS) using real traffic data. The simulation results indicate that the proposed method yields better performance compared with the conventional method.

Investigation on vehicle lateral instability when crossing a curved highway bridge during an earthquake

This paper describes a numerical study on the vehicle instability when crossing curved highway bridge during an earthquake. Analytical framework using two-axle vehicle dynamics model is developed to describe vehicle vibration when moving under seismic excitation from the curved bridge girder. The model includes out-of-plane and in-plane motion along with the effect of curved girder with specific radius, camber angle and longitudinal grade. Two criteria for critical vehicle stability are evaluated namely the rollover and sideslip stability. As case study, numerical simulations were conducted using three-dimensional finite element model of an elevated highway junction consisting of four curved sections and two straight sections. Effects of curved bridge radii, level of earthquake, vehicle velocity and driver reaction on the vehicle stability were investigated. It was found that a vehicle moving on a curved bridge during earthquake has a larger possibility for rollover and sideslip instability than a vehicle moving on a straight section for the same driving velocity and level of earthquake. Results of simulations demonstrate that normal forces on vehicle’s wheels are significantly influenced by the curved bridge effects, steering angle, effect of road camber at the curved section. These conditions contributed to reduction of normal forces on vehicle’s wheels and increased the risk of vehicle instability.

Akurasi Citra Data Foto Udara UAV Quadcopter Persimpangan Lalu Lintas Kota Kendari

The use of the Unnamed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) called “Drone” has been widely used in various areas of planning, one of them by mapping the highway traffic junction. The range of remote roaming, adjustable spatial resolution greatly gives flexibility in the effectiveness of field surveys. The mapping accuracy test conducted on 7 (seven) Unsignaling junction in Kendari City by Omisi and Komisi Equation method gives significant output and quite accurate to serve as further planning data. The difference between image and field measurement results, obtained accuracy of 96%, so that the use of UAV in supporting mapping, survey and field planning still prioritize effectiveness and accuracy of the measurement.

Quantitative Driver Acceptance Modeling for Merging Car at Highway Junction and Its Application to the Design of Merging Behavior Control

This study models the decision-making characteristics of a driver regarding whether he accepts a merging car at a highway junction. Then, the application of the modeling to the design of merging behavior control is proposed. First, the driving behavior on the main lane at a highway junction is observed using a driving simulator, particularly focusing on the driver’s state of decision (SOD), which represents the acceptance for merging a car coming from the merging lane. Second, the driver’s SOD is modeled using a logistic regression model and the prediction performance of the identified model is verified. Finally, the speed controller of the merging car is designed to maximize the acceptance from the cars on the main lane. The key idea here is to minimize the entropy of the SOD of the driver on the main lane by optimizing the speed of a merging vehicle. This problem is quantitatively formulated using an identified decision-making model and addressed by applying a randomized approach to the optimization. This enables the automated vehicle to realize a considerate merging behavior at a highway junction. Numerical experiments are performed to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed design scheme.

The transport geography of electric and autonomous vehicles in road freight networks

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the transport geography of electric and autonomous vehicles for road freight transport and establish a research agenda by identifying many unresolved issues already beginning to emerge. While regulatory approval for full coverage on all roads remains some years away, autonomous vehicles are already operating intermodal-style main hauls on major highways, interchanging at highway junctions with the first and last mile performed by regular trucks. Meanwhile, electric trucks capable of medium distances on a single charge are now entering the market. The two technologies of electric propulsion and autonomy are mutually reinforcing, particularly from the network perspective, and purpose-built electric autonomous vehicles (EAVs) are starting to enter commercial service.This paper utilises an analytical framework of intermodal transport to map against the emerging geography of EAVs and determine how our knowledge of the features, challenges, business models and policy implications of intermodal transport can help decision makers plan for a better development of the emerging EAV network. The paper provides recommendations for policymakers dealing with arising challenges and identifies a list of research questions regarding this rapidly evolving new form of transport.

Changes in land use in the communes crossed by the A4 motorway in Poland

The construction of high-speed roads is inseparably connected with the process of development of regions and countries. In Poland, in the years 2011–2016, many sections of motorways and expressways were opened for use, and the network of high-speed roads became two times larger. The aim of the research was to identify changes in land use associated with the construction of the motorway. Two questions were asked: to what extent does the construction of the motorway result in abandoning the cultivation of land on isolated plots, and whether an increased development of built-up areas can be observed in the vicinity of motorway junctions. The analysis of land cover changes was based on orthophotomaps and aerial photographs from three points in time. By interpreting changes in SHDI, it was possible to identify where the major land cover changes occur. The construction of a motorway results mainly in the decline of forests and agricultural land in the immediate vicinity of such a road. However, such an investment is not a direct factor leading to the abandoning of cultivation of land on isolated plots. In the neighbourhood of motorway junctions, built-up areas development, mainly for non-residential purposes, may be observed.

Application of geophysical methods for the subsurface treatment of the Piekary highway junction in shallow mining terrain

The study presents the application of geophysical methods in the subsurface treatment of the A-1 highway in the area of the Piekary junction in the terrain of historic zinc and lead ore mining, in the northern part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin in Poland (USCB). The study area was under threat of discontinuous deformations, mainly sinkholes. This threat resulted from the shallow exploitation of zinc and lead ores, as well as contemporary exploitation of coal seams at greater depths. An original methodology of subsurface treatment has been developed as an adaptation to the geophysical measurement results. The methodology uses the gravimetric method at the initial and final control stages, as well as the seismic and borehole georadar methods during the detailed evaluation stage. The results of the study allowed different categories of sinkhole hazard to be determined in the area of the Piekary junction. The scope of the liquidation works was selected to match the hazard levels. Blasting of varying intensities and the borehole injection of the filling material were performed. The combination of substrate treatment methodologies and highway construction protection systems have proved to be effective.

Volatile organic compounds in stormwater from a community of Beijing, China

Stormwater samples were collected from six different land use sites with three time-intervals during a precipitation event on August 12, 2016, from a community of Beijing, China. A total of 46 species volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected in these stormwater samples, including methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), aromatic hydrocarbons, halogenated aromatics, Halogenated alkanes, and alkenes. The total VOC concentrations varied in the six sites following order: highway junction > city road > gas station > park > campus > residential area, except for MTBE, which was much higher at gas station compared to other land use sites. ANOVA results indicated both land use and precipitation time intervals could significantly affect the VOC concentrations even in the small area. The Beijing atmospheric VOC concentrations were too low to explain the high concentrations in stormwater, suggesting that land surfaces may be the main sources of VOC other than the ambient atmosphere. MTBE and other VOCs correlation analysis indicated that MTBE mostly came from gasoline emissions, spills or vehicle exhausts, whereas the BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, Xylenes) and the halogenated aromatics were transferred from chemical plants through land surfaces accumulating and the wind blowing atmospheric VOCs. Xylenes/ethylbenzene (X/E) ratios variations indicated that stormwater incorporated larger amount of fresh emitted air during the precipitation event than prior to it. Information of these stormwater VOCs in this study could be used in the community pollution reduction strategies.