Lane Kilometers Research Articles

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Global transport policy and planning now prioritise sustainability above all else. Similar to sustainable development, the definition of sustainable transportation is wide, allowing for the designation of some kilometer and policies as “sustainable” even when they follow standard operating procedures. Therefore, it is imperative that sustainability concepts be properly integrated into and applied to the transportation sector. Frameworks for performance measurement provide an efficient means of doing this. Much work has gone into comprehending and implementing the idea of sustainable development in the transport sector during the last 20 years.1. We may get knowledge from a plethora of study and experience in this area. However, there hasn’t been much headway in implementing more environmentally friendly modes of transportation. Given the rising demand for infrastructure and mobility in many areas, the detrimental effects of transport are probably only going to get worse (Dulca 2013; AfDB et al. 2012). For instance, the expansion in passenger and freight traffic, particularly in emerging nations, is predicted to need over 25 million paved road lane kilometers and 335,000 rail track kilometers worldwide by 2050 (Dulca 2013). To put this into context, the total length of all road and railway networks worldwide would have increased by 60% as a result (ibid.). In line with these projections, oil consumption is anticipated to rise in 2035, mostly due to demand from China and India, while it is likely to decline in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

An economic approach to road condition assessment using road user feedback: A new model and its application

ABSTRACT Assessing roadway assets condition is the prerequisite of an efficient road management system. It requires participation from the top management, equipment, trained human resources, and dedicated funding. Newfoundland and Labrador have 13,500 lane kilometers of roads, of which almost 7,700 kilometers belong to the local jurisdictions. Local agencies typically consult the Transportation Association of Canada's pavement management guidelines for managing the road networks. But, municipality roads require more specified guidelines considering issues like lack of human resources, equipment, inadequate funding, environmental factors, and public expectations. To better maintain these roads, evaluation of road conditions is the first step. However, a proper evaluation system needs considerable funding, a trained workforce, and necessary equipment. Hence, the idea of using road users’ feedback is introduced in this paper. Citizens from 108 municipalities of the province participated in a feedback survey where they were asked questions about roadway assets condition. The survey resulted in a significant amount of data. First, an exploratory analysis of the road users’ feedback data was conducted. Then, a simple distress-based pavement performance model was developed. This model can be adopted by the local agencies as a simple decision-making tool. To make the model practical, a smartphone application called MUNPave is also introduced in this paper.

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Global transport policy and planning now prioritise sustainability above all else. Similar to sustainable development, the definition of sustainable transportation is wide, allowing for the designation of some kilometer and policies as “sustainable” even when they follow standard operating procedures. Therefore, it is imperative that sustainability concepts be properly integrated into and applied to the transportation sector. Frameworks for performance measurement provide an efficient means of doing this. Much work has gone into comprehending and implementing the idea of sustainable development in the transport sector during the last 20 years.1. We may get knowledge from a plethora of study and experience in this area. However, there hasn’t been much headway in implementing more environmentally friendly modes of transportation. Given the rising demand for infrastructure and mobility in many areas, the detrimental effects of transport are probably only going to get worse (Dulca 2013; AfDB et al. 2012). For instance, the expansion in passenger and freight traffic, particularly in emerging nations, is predicted to need over 25 million paved road lane kilometers and 335,000 rail track kilometers worldwide by 2050 (Dulca 2013). To put this into context, the total length of all road and railway networks worldwide would have increased by 60% as a result (ibid.). In line with these projections, oil consumption is anticipated to rise in 2035, mostly due to demand from China and India, while it is likely to decline in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Pavement maintenance and rehabilitation practices in California: A study of 35-year as-built data in PaveM

In this paper, the pavement maintenance and rehabilitation practices are presented based on the analysis of as-built data housed in PaveM—the pavement management system for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). A 35-year period of as-built data from 1983 to 2017 was analyzed, involving 37 treatment strategies with 17 for asphalt and 20 for Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavements. The top ten treatment strategies, geographical and temporal variation of treated mileage, together with treatment costs and corresponding network condition were presented. It was found that: (1) The top 10 strategies are, in descending order: “Chip Seal”, “Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Thin Overlay”, “HMA Medium Overlay”, “HMA Thick Overlay”, “Mill and Fill”, “Grind/Replace Slabs”, “Slab Replacement”, “Crack Seat and Overlay”, “HMA Lane Replacement”, and “PCC Lane Replacement”. The top 10 strategies accounted for about 84% of the total treated lane kilometers. (2) On average, about 12.4% of the total network inventory (both asphalt and concrete pavements) was treated each year. This is equivalent to treat the entire network once every eight years. (3) About 18.3% of AC and 35.1% of PCC rehabilitation mileage was found applied on a lane-by-lane basis, instead of across all lanes. This finding solidified the necessity of a lane-based pavement management system in California. (4) The average annual weighted maintenance and rehabilitation cost per lane kilometer is about $192,248 for asphalt and $366,804 for PCC pavements. Due to the lack of preventive types of treatments for PCC pavement, the per lane kilometer cost is almost twice as high as that for its asphalt counterpart. It is suggested that more preventive type of treatments be implemented for PCC pavements.

Evaluation of novel jointless engineered cementitious composite ultrathin whitetopping (ECC-UTW) overlay

The objective of this study was to evaluate the construction, material characterization, initial structural assessment, and cost of a novel jointless Engineered Cementitious Composite Ultra-Thin Whitetopping (ECC-UTW) overlay. After construction, early-age cracks (from less than 0.25 mm to up to 2.54 mm width) were observed in the 101.6-mm (4 in.) jointless ECC-UTW section; yet, the majority of the cracks coincided with areas where fiber clumps were observed during construction and places of heavy instrumentation. On the other hand, no cracks were observed in the 63.5-mm (2.5 in.) jointless ECC-UTW at early ages; yet, when winter arrived, micro-cracks (<0.25 mm in width) developed. These micro-cracks were attributed to the normal functioning of the ductile pseudo strain-hardening (PSH) mechanism of ECC materials. Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) evaluation conducted before and after the construction of the UTWs showed a significant reduction in pavement deflection after construction. This deflection reduction was much more substantial for thicker 101.6-mm UTWs; yet, no major difference in deflection reduction was found between the 101.6-mm ECC and the 101.6-mm regular concrete UTW sections. The 28-day compressive and flexural strength of ECC evaluated from field specimens underperformed that of previous studies by 9.6% and 14.8%, respectively; however, deflection capacity slightly outperformed that of previous studies by 4.1%. The flexural performance of the ECC material was vastly superior to that of regular concrete exceeding the flexural strength by 92%. All specimens evaluated in uniaxial tension exhibited a PSH behavior after first-cracking; however, the tensile strength and tensile ductility values obtained underperformed expected values for ECC M3-15% and exhibited substantial variability. Uniaxial tensile test results from field specimens were deemed unreliable. Cost analysis results showed that a cost reduction of 14.8% per lane kilometer is expected by implementing the proposed jointless ECC-UTW system compared to that of the regular jointed concrete UTW. The greatest construction cost savings for utilizing ECC originates from its potential jointless attribute and its reduced thickness.

Congestion in Highways When Tolls and Railroads Matter: Evidence From European Cities

Using data from the 545 largest European cities, we study whether the expansion of their highway capacity provides a solution to the problem of traffic congestion. Our results confirm that in the long run, and in line with the ’fundamental law of highway congestion’, the expansion in cities of lane kilometers causes an increase in vehicle traffic that does not solve urban congestion. We disentangle the increase in traffic due to the increases in coverage and in capacity. We further introduce road pricing and public transit policies in order to test whether they moderate congestion. Our findings confirm that the induced demand is considerably smaller in cities with road pricing schemes, and that congestion decreases with the expansion of public transportation.

Impact of Major Road Supply on Individual Travel Time Expenditure: An Exploration with a 30-Year Variation of Infrastructure and Travel

This study estimates the impact of major road supply on individual travel time expenditures (TTEs) using data that cover 30-year variations in transportation infrastructure and travel behavior. The impacts of the supply of road and rail infrastructure are estimated with a data set that combines records of large-scale household travel surveys in the Tokyo metropolitan area conducted in 1978, 1988, 1998, and 2008. Linear and Tobit models of individual TTEs are estimated by following the behavior of birth cohorts over the 30-year period. The models incorporate the changes in transportation infrastructure, measured as lane kilometers of two levels of major road stock and vehicle kilometers of urban rail service. The results show significant negative effects of lane kilometers for higher-level and lower-level major roads on the TTEs for all travel purposes and for commuting, after controlling for socioeconomic backgrounds and generations of individuals. This study discusses that, in Tokyo, the estimated effect is more likely to reflect the effect of a major road network per se on individual TTEs than the (indirect) effect of major road supply on individual TTEs working through land development activities (i.e., induced car travel demand). For example, the caveat is that actual road investment decisions still need to consider the induced component of road traffic in addition to the (direct) effect that is estimated in this study.

Quick Cost Estimation of Expressway Routine Maintenance Based on Historical Data

At present, costs of expressway routine maintenance are mainly estimated by calculations of the total costs of the maintenance activities of all structures including subgrades, pavements, bridges and culverts, tunnels and traffic facilities. In this method, engineering quantities of various maintaining activities are calculated in advance and then they are multiplied by the unit prices of each maintaining activity respectively in order to get the total costs. Considering the difficulty in accurately estimating the repairing quantity while calculating the costs of expressway routine maintenance, the paper deeply explores identified historical data of the costs of expressway routine maintenance by an improved Bootstrap method. Conclusion is drawn on the annual cost interval per lane kilometer of the routine maintenance of subgrades, pavements, bridges and culverts, tunnels and traffic facilities on expressways of Shaanxi Province as well as the proportion intervals of structures mentioned above. An efficient method by which calculations and evaluations are based on cost intervals and proportion intervals respectively is raised to estimate the engineering costs of expressway routine maintenance. The method is proved to be a new reliable and accurate one to estimate the costs of expressway routine maintenance as it efficiently calculates the engineering costs in real-life projects.

Cost-Effective Performance Management for Washington State Pavement Assets

The Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) manages 18,230 lane miles (29,332 lane kilometers) of main-line roadway. In the past several years, the Washington State DOT has gone through an evaluation and modification of its pavement management practices. This paper presents the historical perspective on past Washington State DOT pavement practices and several strategies that were developed to improve the management of pavement assets. The Washington State DOT has been successfully preserving the long life of flexible pavements by applying thin hot-mix asphalt (HMA) mill and inlays on the basis of the concept that cracking in thicker HMA sections will primarily be top-down. Furthermore, using the framework developed by the evaluation of cost-effectiveness, several strategies have been implemented to improve the management of Washington State DOT pavement assets. These strategies are ( a) converting 3,000 lane miles (4,827 km) from asphalt to chip seal resurfacing before the year 2025, ( b) planning $850 million to $1.0 billion for rehabilitation and reconstruction for the aging concrete pavement network for the next 10 years with 50% of the concrete slated for reconstruction to be converted to flexible pavement using a crack and seat plus asphalt overlay process, and ( c) applying strategic maintenance to reduce the annual cost by extending the service life of flexible pavements. These cost-effective strategies are expected to generate an overall annual cost savings of $80 million per year by 2025.

Assessing the Vulnerability of Winter Maintenance Material Storage Facilities

AbstractThis research examines the vulnerability of the winter maintenance salt supply to depletion and the associated risk costs in Ohio using Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT)-specific data pertaining to the amount of salt storage, number of trucks, and lane kilometers maintained by each county. These data were combined with the number of snowfall events in each county to determine the failure probability. The results indicated that the probability of exceeding the salt capacity ranged from less than 0.01 to 61%, with an average of 23.1%. Sensitivity and importance analyses were conducted to determine the change in probability of exceedance due to a one-unit change in each parameter and to examine the influence of each random variable in the reliability analysis on the variance of the limit state, respectively. The parameter with the highest importance was the salt applied during light snowfall, while the brine applied has a low importance. Annual risk costs were estimated using the purchase and ...

Empirical Bayes Before–After Study on Safety Effect of Narrow Pavement Widening Projects in Texas

Texas has approximately 40,000 lane miles (64,000 lane kilometers) of two-lane farm-to-market (FM) and ranch-to-market (RM) roads with total paved widths of 18 to 22 ft (5.5 to 6.7 m), most of which are in rural areas. Narrow pavement widening in Texas typically involves adding lane width, a narrow shoulder, or both to increase the travel way in each direction of a narrow FM and RM road by 1 to 9 ft (0.3 to 2.7 m). The main reasons for roadway widening are usually to do any or all of the following: improve safety, increase structural capacity, and enhance pavement performance. The goal of this study was to investigate the safety effects of narrow pavement widening projects for rural two-lane FM and RM roads in Texas. A before–after comparison study was conducted with the empirical Bayes method to evaluate how wider lanes and shoulders affect crash occurrence, by type and severity. Of the 22 studied projects, analysis showed a 31.5% reduction in total crashes, a 35.7% reduction in run-off-the-road crashes, and a 55.4% reduction in head-on crashes after narrow widening projects were carried out. The projects were also effective in reducing fatal crashes and injuries by about 29.5%. These findings suggest that pavement widening is an effective safety countermeasure on narrow two-lane FM and RM roads in rural areas.

Induced Traffic in China: Elasticity Models with Panel Data

AbstractThe induced traffic model is an essential component of travel demand analysis, which has been primarily researched with elasticity models in the United States and U.K. This paper aims to find the most suitable elasticity model based on the set of panel data regarding annual observations of 30 cities and provinces across China (except Chongqing city) for the years 1990 to 2010. To derive the ideal elasticity model, several basic elasticity models are included; among them are the elasticity-based model, distributed lag model, growth model, and fixed-effect model. Advanced elasticity models, such as the three stages of least squares (3SLS) are also discussed. According to relative researches and data collection, any increase of passenger kilometers of transport (PKT) with the growth of lane kilometers is considered induced traffic and is routinely used as such in this paper. Lane kilometers in China are found to have a statistically significant relationship with PKT measurements of approximately 0.02...

Construction and Application of Multivariate Linear Regression Model on Road Cost

This paper analyzes the impact factor, combined with practical engineering experience to extract the main influencing factors, and based on research data on the major beneficial factor for statistical analysis to understand trends from the road cost; selection of multiple linear regression model, the unit cost per lane kilometer as the dependent variable, the cost factor as independent variables, the cost estimate to build the macro-factor model and the cost of each grade highway microeconomic factors estimation model.

An empirical tool to evaluate the safety of cyclists: Community based, macro-level collision prediction models using negative binomial regression

Today, North American governments are more willing to consider compact neighborhoods with increased use of sustainable transportation modes. Bicycling, one of the most effective modes for short trips with distances less than 5km is being encouraged. However, as vulnerable road users (VRUs), cyclists are more likely to be injured when involved in collisions. In order to create a safe road environment for them, evaluating cyclists’ road safety at a macro level in a proactive way is necessary. In this paper, different generalized linear regression methods for collision prediction model (CPM) development are reviewed and previous studies on micro-level and macro-level bicycle-related CPMs are summarized. On the basis of insights gained in the exploration stage, this paper also reports on efforts to develop negative binomial models for bicycle–auto collisions at a community-based, macro-level. Data came from the Central Okanagan Regional District (CORD), of British Columbia, Canada. The model results revealed two types of statistical associations between collisions and each explanatory variable: (1) An increase in bicycle–auto collisions is associated with an increase in total lane kilometers (TLKM), bicycle lane kilometers (BLKM), bus stops (BS), traffic signals (SIG), intersection density (INTD), and arterial–local intersection percentage (IALP). (2) A decrease in bicycle collisions was found to be associated with an increase in the number of drive commuters (DRIVE), and in the percentage of drive commuters (DRP). These results support our hypothesis that in North America, with its current low levels of bicycle use (<4%), we can initially expect to see an increase in bicycle collisions as cycle mode share increases. However, as bicycle mode share increases beyond some unknown ‘critical’ level, our hypothesis also predicts a net safety improvement. To test this hypothesis and to further explore the statistical relationships between bicycle mode split and overall road safety, future research needs to pursue further development and application of community-based, macro-level CPMs.

The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities

We investigate the effect of lane kilometers of roads on vehicle-kilometers traveled (VKT) in US cities. VKT increases proportionately to roadway lane kilometers for interstate highways and probably slightly less rapidly for other types of roads. The sources for this extra VKT are increases in driving by current residents, increases in commercial traffic, and migration. Increasing lane kilometers for one type of road diverts little traffic from other types of road. We find no evidence that the provision of public transportation affects VKT. We conclude that increased provision of roads or public transit is unlikely to relieve congestion. (JEL R41, R48)

Performance Comparison of Large Design-Build and Design-Bid-Build Highway Projects

This study compares and analyzes the relationship of design-build (DB) and design-bid-build (DBB) project delivery methods with performance metrics of large highway projects (>$50 million). Project performance is measured in cost, schedule, and change orders on these two types of highway projects. This study also investigates associations between project characteristics (input variables) and project performance (output variables) of large highway projects. The performance comparison methodology used here is derived from work done on a Texas Department of Transportation study of the State Highway 130 Project. The study results show that the construction speed and project delivery speed per lane mile (or lane kilometer) of DB projects were significantly faster than that of DBB projects for this sample. The study also showed that out of 21 inputs analyzed, 14 inputs have statistically significant associations with one or more outputs of these projects.

Welfare and Financial Implications of Unleashing Private-Sector Investment Resources on Transportation Networks

With an increasing number of private toll road projects constructed or proposed in the United States through various forms of public–private partnerships and with more states removing legal constraints to the entry of private roads into the existing public road system, there are imperative needs to analyze the welfare and financial implications of using private-sector capital in road financing for public policy decisions and private investment decisions. This paper develops models of market entry, price, and capacity choices on mixed-ownership networks to address these research needs. A small-network equilibrium model enables theoretical analysis of welfare and financial effects of private toll roads on stylized parallel and serial networks, and an evolutionary simulation model is applicable to large real-world networks. The calibrated evolutionary model for the Twin Cities, Minnesota, road network (7,776 nodes, 20,486 links) shows that under a free-entrance policy without any toll or capacity regulation on private roads, the private sector would invest $19.5 billion in the next 15 years to construct more than 400 lane kilometers of private freeways. The average annual rate of investment returns would be 18.2% for private investors. The total social welfare would be improved by more than $6.7 billion, with only 16.4% of the welfare gains enjoyed by system users. The average toll on private roads would be $0.17/km, about seven times higher than that on public roads. Findings suggest that unleashing private-sector investment resources alone can provide only one-fourth of the total new capacity needed to build our way out of congestion. To attract private-sector investments, public policy makers do not have to, nor should they, guarantee short-term profits for private toll roads when there exist multiple private investment firms. Private investors can efficiently find optimal tolls and increase profits by making adjustments with adaptively learned demand information.

Streamlined Strategies for Faster, Less Traffic-Disruptive Highway Rehabilitation in Urban Networks

The need for faster, less traffic-disruptive rehabilitation for aging highway infrastructure is an emerging concern for many state highway agencies. In response to this concern, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) launched the Long-Life Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (LLPRS) program in 1998 to rebuild 2,800 lane kilometers of high-volume urban freeway with premium pavements that will last 30+ years and require minimal maintenance over their service life. This paper presents innovative strategies and technologies for achieving faster project completion with less traffic disruption as applied on three experimental LLPRS projects. The research team and the Caltrans project team used Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (CA4PRS) software from the initial planning and design stages to implement the most economical rehabilitation strategies for the projects. The postconstruction analysis of all three LLPRS projects, made with data collected during construction, revealed a close match with the preconstruction schedule estimate generated by CA4PRS, validating the software's scheduling reliability. Incentive-disincentive contractual provisions proved effective for shortening project duration on all three LLPRS projects, which were time critical because of their heavy traffic volume. Resultant traffic data demonstrate the importance of a public outreach campaign that convinced motorists to use alternative routes or to adjust their commuting modes, resulting in significantly lower traffic demand in the construction work zone. The strategies and lessons addressed in this paper will help state highway agencies and contractors maximize construction productivity for early project completion and minimize inconvenience to the traveling public.

Expected Performance of Pavement Repair Works in a Global Network Optimization Model

A global network optimization model has been developed for generating a pavement repair plan using expected performance of pavement repair works. The expected performance of pavement repair works is represented by the expected age (service life) associated with potential repair actions. The expected age defines the anticipated pavement condition improvement obtained from applying a particular repair action. The expected age for each repair action is usually known from either experience or assumed as part of a design procedure. A constrained linear optimization model is formulated with its main objective of optimizing the expected pavement condition improvement. Pavement condition improvement is defined as the age gain in year lane kilometer or average age in years extended to a pavement network as a result of applying potential repair actions. The global linear model is subjected to a single budget constraint enforcing the total budget available for the entire network and limitation constraints placing lower and upper limits on the repair variables. The optimum repair plan provides a macroscopic solution as the repair variables represent pavement proportions that should be treated by the corresponding repair actions. The pavement network is divided into a number of systems with similar pavement structures and loading conditions. Presented sample results have indicated that global network optimization of the pavement management problem may not result in a rational budget allocation among deployed pavement systems. This problem can be solved by enforcing system improvement requirement constraints.

Knowledge-Based Scheduling Analysis Software for Highway Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Projects

Most of California's highway infrastructure was built between 1955 and 1970. These pavements had 20-year design lives, and many now require frequent maintenance. In 1998, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) launched the Long-Life Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (LLPRS) program to rebuild approximately 2,800 lane kilometers of high-traffic-volume urban freeway in the 78,000-lane kilometer state highway network over a 10-year period. Priorities identified for the successful implementation of LLPRS projects are the selection of construction schedules and the development of traffic management plans that minimize road user and agency costs. This paper presents a construction simulation program called CA4PRS (Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies). The program was developed as a scheduling and production analysis tool for LLPRS projects for use during the planning and design stages. CA4PRS estimates the optimized distance and duration of highway rehabilitation projects. It takes into account the constraints of scheduling interfaces, pavement design, lane closure tactics, and contractor logistics. As a knowledge-based computer system on a Microsoft Access database, it uses Monte Carlo simulation, critical path method analysis, and linear scheduling. CA4PRS is designed to help highway agencies and paving contractors make construction schedule decisions that balance rehabilitation productivity, traffic inconvenience, and agency cost. Application of the CA4PRS model to urban freeway rehabilitation projects in California, including the I-10 Pomona, I-710 Long Beach, and I-15 Devore projects, has demonstrated its value in saving millions of dollars for both Caltrans and road users.