Linear Infrastructure Research Articles

Linear Transport Infrastructure Development Processes as the Objects of Harmonisation with Wildlife

The most efficient way, how to avoid or to minimise the conflicts and negative effects of the transport on the wildlife is reflection of the needs to protect the wildlife in the processes of the development of the transport infrastructure. The effects and potentials for their minimizing differ depending on transport mode (car transport, pedestrian transport, bicycle transport, railways, air transport, cable lines, pipelines, waterways and channels), geographical contexts (landscape features, modes of use of the territory) and element of transport infrastructure (static and dynamic). This paper is focused on linear infrastructure represented predominantly by different categories of roads and railway lines (including supportive and complementary infrastructural elements like crossings, stops, stations, bridges, tunes etc.) as they are most common among transport infrastructure in the countryside and to big extend representative in dealing with the conflicts between transport infrastructure and wildlife. The process of the development of the roads and railway lines is very similar and includes the logic of steps starting with the scoping, via planning, designing, construction and use/maintenance and monitoring. The paper is discussing these five steps in three types of processes - development of new roads and railway lines or their parts, update of existing roads and railways (modernising, extension in former corridors, increase of capacities, speed ...) and improving ecological status of existing routes and railways. Individual steps within these processes are described and discussed with objective to illustrate the contents of the phase (identification/definition of qualitative and quantitative demand on transport performance, analyses of technical, technological, economic and other framework precondition for the respond on the demand), the main challenges and problems to be dealt with (realistic identification of current and estimation of future demand on transport performance mirroring the development of the society and its economy), the advised approaches, tools and measures to be used in reflection to the identified challenges and, lastly, the stakeholders relevant for engagement within the phase are listed together with scheme of appropriate participation to help to guide the players in the development.

Towards a unified framework for studying the impact of linear infrastructures

Towards a unified framework for studying the impact of linear infrastructures

Designing a unique Digital Twin for linear infrastructures lifecycle management

With the recent digitization of the construction industry, the management of a project, from the idea to the use phases, is now based on the Building Information Modelling System (BIM). While the use of BIM begins to show its effectiveness in building construction, it does not satisfy yet linear infrastructure domain. One of the requirements is to manage the infrastructure project data around a common information system, as defined by the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) definition. Recent studies suggest the combined use of PLM and BIM for linear infrastructure construction projects such as roads and railways.The advent of new information technologies, such as Digital Twin, is promoting industrial digital transformation. Effective lifecycle management must now consider all phases of the project, especially Operations and Maintenance (O&M), where the use of the 3D model is no longer the digital model, but the digital duplicate of the Infrastructure. To facilitate the digital transition when projects are split into several phases, the linear infrastructure must be represented by one and only one Digital Twin during its life cycle.

ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING OF LOW-IMPACT LANDSCAPED PATHS FOR LINEAR INFRASTRUCTURE IN "LAS BATUECAS-SIERRA DE FRANCIA" AND "QUILAMAS" NATURE PARKS (CENTRAL SYSTEM, SALAMANCA, SPAIN)

The great degree of human development in recent centuries has generated an environmental problem: the spread of human activities through the landscape without sustainable planning. Currently, most natural areas of the planet that are protected for their natural resources have not been impacted by linear infrastructure. The landscape is one of the natural resources that is adversely affected by linear infrastructure. In this short essay, a methodological procedure is described that is easy to use and cost effective and allows for early stage environmental planning. The method uses environmental assessment maps in which weighted pixel values for landscape quality and visual fragility are predetermined. GIS techniques, such as accumulated costs and driving direction scripts, are used to calculate linear infrastructure routes that have the lowest environmental impact. The optimal path is generated by quantitatively calculating the impact of each map pixel along the route such that alternative routes can be selected prior to construction. This method is a powerful tool for environmental modelling focused on the avoidance of environmental impacts during the assessment phase of a project.

Geological and geophysical characterization of the Brindisi di Montagna Scalo landslide (Basilicata, Southern Italy)

The Brindisi di Montagna Scalo Landslide in Southern Italy is an active complex mass movement, which affects the left slope of the Basento River. In the last few decades, this landslide has been continuously monitored, as it directly threatened some of the most important communication routes in the Basilicata Region. Nevertheless, little progresses have been made to prevent further landslide advancement, and continuous maintenance is required. With the aims of better understanding, the main factors controlling the evolution of this landslide, and suggesting the most appropriate countermeasures, a multidisciplinary study, based on the integration of direct and indirect techniques, was carried out. Direct techniques included multi-temporal geomorphological analysis of the slope, alongside geological and structural field observations. Indirect techniques consisted of electrical resistivity tomography acquisition. The combined analyses of the geological and geophysical data showed that Quaternary tectonic processes played a fundamental role as a predisposing factor, whereas seasonal rainfall, and the perpetual undercutting by erosional processes caused by the Basento River at the toe of the landslide are the main triggering mechanisms. The Brindisi di Montagna Scalo Landslide represents an outstanding case-study, concerning the interaction between a flow-like complex landslide and essential linear infrastructure, such as motorways and railways.

Assessment of the impact of vibrations on the track surface from impact loads

Dynamic development of the linear infrastructure in Poland directly contributed to the increase in the number of engineering sites and facilities. Due to ground conditions and values of exploitation loads, in some cases bridge supports must be placed on foundation piles, the method of execution of which may cause significant dynamic impact on the structures located in the close vicinity. The paper assesses the impact of dynamic actions resulting from impact loads during impact pile driving of FRANKA piles with the use of a guide pipe on the railway track surface, on which there is continuous railway vehicle traffic. The tests have shown that the serviceability limit condition has been met and that the construction works do not result in exceeded values of vibration acceleration.

Modeling and Analyzing Linear Wireless Sensor Networks With Backbone Support

Rapid advancement in micro-electromechanical techniques leads to the wide application of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In a linear WSN (LWSN), all sensor nodes are arranged in a straight line to monitor health status of some linear infrastructure structure such as bridges, highways, pipelines, etc. To enhance reliability of the infrastructure monitoring services, LWSNs are often designed to incorporate a limited number of backbone nodes for transferring or relaying information, leading to a more complex hybrid structure. In this paper, a multivalued decision diagram (MDD)-based analytical approach is proposed to evaluate performance of an LWSN system with backbone nodes. Particularly, we model and analyze the probability that the hybrid LWSN performs at a particular performance level, which is characterized by the number of sensor nodes being able to reach the base station. A single compact MDD model is constructed by sharing all isomorphic submodel structures involved in different performance levels. The MDD model, once being constructed, can be reused for evaluation using different failure time distributions or mission time. A case study is presented to substantiate the application of the proposed MDD approach for developing the optimal backbone node allocation strategy to guarantee the reliability requirement on the infrastructure monitoring services.

GDefrag: A graph-based tool to help defragmenting landscapes divided by linear infrastructures

Habitat fragmentation is a major biodiversity threat. Linear infrastructures (e.g. roads) hamper the movement of individuals and cause non-natural mortality. Roadkill hotspots have been used to define priority areas for road effect mitigation, but data availability and reliability is an issue, particularly on wide spatial scales. Additionally, mitigating the whole infrastructure network is unfeasible. Expedite methods are required to address such challenges. We present the gDefrag package, a graph-based approach that builds on habitat value and accessibility after simplifying the landscape as a graph. Its advantages include not requiring roadkill or movement data, and providing effective methods to deliver reliable information, allowing landscape managers to address landscape fragmentation overall. gDefrag prioritizes roads which should be targeted first to defragment the landscape. The software includes a user-friendly manual and currently implements four prioritization criteria: habitat quality, maximum number of inter-habitat paths, overall landscape connectivity, and simultaneously larger and higher-quality habitats.

On the identification of mortality hotspots in linear infrastructures

One of the main tasks when dealing with the impacts of infrastructures on wildlife is to identify hotspots of high mortality so one can devise and implement mitigation measures. A common strategy to identify hotspots is to divide an infrastructure into several segments and determine when the number of collisions in a segment is above a given threshold, reflecting a desired significance level that is obtained assuming a probability distribution for the number of collisions, which is often the Poisson distribution. The problem with this approach, when applied to each segment individually, is that the probability of identifying false hotspots (Type I error) is potentially high. The way to solve this problem is to recognize that it requires multiple testing corrections or a Bayesian approach. Here, we apply three different methods that implement the required corrections to the identification of hotspots: (i) the familywise error rate correction, (ii) the false discovery rate, and (iii) a Bayesian hierarchical procedure. We illustrate the application of these methods with data on two bird species collected on a road in Brazil. The proposed methods provide practitioners with procedures that are reliable and simple to use in real situations and, in addition, can reflect a practitioner’s concerns towards identifying false positive or missing true hotspots. Although one may argue that an overly cautionary approach (reducing the probability of type I error) may be beneficial from a biological conservation perspective, it may lead to a waste of resources and, probably worse, it may raise doubts about the methodology adopted and the credibility of those suggesting it.

Vehicle tracks are predator highways in intact landscapes

Roads and other forms of linear infrastructure are rapidly proliferating worldwide, yet little is known about how roads affect the distribution and abundance of predators, particularly in relatively intact landscapes. We used a combination of motion-sensor cameras and spoor surveys to compare dingo, fox and feral cat activity on unsealed vehicle tracks (hereafter: roads) and up to 3 km away, in relatively intact landscapes of the Great Western Woodlands in south-western Australia. We compared predator activity as indicated by independent sightings and spoor observations, in woodlands and shrublands: vegetation types with contrasting permeabilities.Predator activity was observed between 12 and 261 times more frequently on roads compared with off-road for all species studied. Roads also appeared to affect predator activity up to 2.5 km away. Even poorly formed and abandoned roads concentrated predator activity and affected landscape-scale rates of predator observations. The effect of road proximity on predator activity was non-linear and different between vegetation types for dingoes and cats but not foxes. Our results provide new evidence of the effects of roads on predator activity in surrounding landscapes, with interacting effects of vegetation. They also reinforce previous findings e.g. stronger roads preference displayed by dingoes and foxes, than by cats. Roads and other linear infrastructure have strong effects on predator activity within intact landscapes, although further research is needed to characterise the implications for prey species. Road planning or approvals, as well as habitat restoration programs for threatened species, should account for the effects of roads on predator activity.

Simultaneous multi-criteria optimization for scheduling linear infrastructure projects

This paper presents a simultaneous multi-criteria optimization approach for scheduling linear infrastructure projects. The proposed model provides planners with sets of non-dominated alternatives and their corresponding tradeoffs. The associated research methodology includes: (1) developing a resource driven scheduling module; (2) applying a multi-criteria optimization technique to optimize the multi-objective scheduling problem; (3) integrating the proposed model with a commercial project management software; and (4) applying the developed model on two literature-drawn case studies. The developed multi-criteria optimization approach utilizes Genetic Algorithms and Pareto Front sorting. The resulting sets of schedules are based on the multiple inter-conflicting objectives of simultaneously minimizing project duration, minimizing cost, minimizing interruptions, and minimizing unit delivery delays. The results indicate that the proposed approach can explore a greater range of solutions compared to existing models. The developed multi-criteria optimization approach can aid planners with proposing optimal set of schedules.

Considering the level of socio-economic development of rural areas in the context of infrastructural and traditional consolidations in Poland

Agricultural land consolidations help solve structural problems caused by land fragmentation. The FAO classifies the impacts of land consolidation at three levels: firstly, there is the micro-level, where land consolidation aims at changing the farm structure. Secondly, there is the meso-level where land consolidation has broader aims of changing rural communities by improving the infrastructure, the natural environment, and the management of natural resources, landscape and, consequently, the spatial distribution of economic activities. Finally, there is the macro-level where the focus is on changes which can positively affect the whole country by reducing the disparities between rural and urban areas. Therefore, one of the advantages arising from the implementation of consolidations should be positive socio-economic changes in rural areas, resulting from the implementation of agricultural land consolidations. In this study, the Authors took on an assessment of the effects of consolidations at the meso-level. Another aim of the study was to identify the effects of consolidations on changes in socio-economic development of rural areas. A question was raised as to whether there is a correlation between the rate of changes in socio-economic development of rural areas and the implementation of agricultural land consolidations in this area.The level of socio-economic development was assessed based on an indicator of the rate of changes, calculated as the difference between the levels of commune development indicator for the years 2004 and 2016. In order to determine the synthetic indicator, one of the taxonomic methods, namely Hellwig’s synthetic measure of development, was applied. The study concerned communes of Lubelskie and Małopolskie Voivodeships in which both traditional and infrastructural consolidations had been implemented over an area of at least 15% of the commune’s area.The study indicates an increase in the level of socio-economic development of the communes in which traditional consolidations were implemented. The study results indicate that the implementation of traditional consolidations of agricultural land is one of the factors contributing to an increase in the level of socio-economic development of rural areas.At the same time, it was found that infrastructural consolidations understood as a corrective tool, implemented at the time of the construction of linear infrastructure projects, do not always serve their function of an improvement in the land layout in rural areas. The conducted study indicates that in the communes in which infrastructural land consolidations have been implemented, no improvement in the conditions of socio-economic development has taken place.

DroneTank: Planning UAVs' Flights and Sensors' Data Transmission under Energy Constraints.

We consider an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, also known as drone) as an aerial sink to travel along a natural landscape or rural industrial linear infrastructure to collect data from deployed sensors. We study a joint schedule problem that involves flight planning for the drone and transmission scheduling for sensors, such that the maximum amount of data can be collected with a limited individual energy budget for the UAV and the sensors, respectively. On one hand, the flight planning decides the flight speed and flight path based on sensor locations, energy budgets, and the transmission schedule. On the other hand, the transmission schedule decides for each sensor when to deliver data and what transmission power to use based on the energy budgets and flight plan. By observing three import optimality properties, we decouple the joint problem into two subproblems: drone flight planning and sensor transmission scheduling. For the first problem, we propose a dynamic programming algorithm to produce the optimal flight planning. For the second problem, with a flight plan as input, we introduce a novel technique (water-tank), which together with dynamic programming, is the key to achieve an optimal transmission schedule that maximizes data collection. Simulations show that the separately determined flight plan and transmission schedule are near-optimal for the original joint problem.

Estimating the permeability of linear infrastructures using recapture data

Barrier effects of Large-scale Transportation Infrastructures (LTIs) are among the main factors contributing to the fragmentation of habitats. The reduction of dispersal across LTIs can drive small, local populations to extinction. To understand how LTIs modify dispersal, efficient and workable evaluation methods are required. We developed a method based on Mark-Release-Recapture surveys to estimate barrier effects of LTIs that could be easily applied in various landscape contexts and on any mobile species. Our method uses dispersal kernels of animal movements to calculate an expected probability of crossing any particular linear feature. This probability is then compared to observed crossing events to estimate the barrier effect. We used simulations to test the reliability of our method and applied this framework on the butterfly Maniola jurtina in a landscape fragmented by a motorway and a railway. Simulations showed that our method was able to detect efficiently even weak barrier effects given that enough data are available. When sample size was reduced, our method was able to detect barrier effects only when the infrastructure width was small in comparison to the average movement capacity of organisms. In our case study, both infrastructures acted as significant barriers. The power of our method is to use MRR data which are more representative of population processes than telemetry monitoring and are not limited by time-lag involved in genetic studies. This framework is of particular interest for conservation studies in order to assess how individual movements are modified by linear infrastructures.

A Methodological Approach to Using Geodesign in Transmission Line Projects

Numerous constraints affect the design of long linear infrastructures such as high-voltage transmission lines (HVTL): terrain slope, distances to urban centers or protected areas, stakeholders, administration, etc. These constraints must be studied as a whole to make the most appropriate decisions. In HVTL project development, a large volume of geodata is generated and analyzed in the project lifecycle. Each geodata scale is associated with a phase of the project and scale transitions correspond to changes in involved technical teams. Geodesign provides design frameworks and supporting technologies, so that professionals can share data and find designs suitable to the sustainability characteristics of each territory. This article proposes a geodesign workflow for developing HVTL projects, supported by methodologies and by automated model executions that guarantee the traceability of its development through the lifecycle stages. The aim is to minimize environmental, social, and local impacts, while providing stakeholders with tools for planning and decision-making. The workflow helps to integrate the geodesign’s principles, harmonizing corporate procedures throughout the project phases, taking into consideration constraints notified by stakeholders, through a design process guided by feedback-iteration- consensus mechanisms. As a result, it produces a transparent, visible, and improved participative workflow for developing new electric infrastructures.

The use of social media in impact assessment: experiences among national infrastructure developers in Denmark

ABSTRACTSocial media plays an increasingly prominent role in the interaction between impact assessments and society. Impact assessment is thus becoming part of social networks that are claimed to be able to improve interaction between actors in impact assessment processes. By investigating the use of social media in impact assessment and planning processes of national linear infrastructure development, we explore how social media impinge on participatory practices and how the potential of social media is realized in the current use related to public participation processes. The study focuses on experiences among national developers working in road, rail, electricity, gas, and metro infrastructures in Denmark. The article shows that the current use of social media in public participatory practices is limited to branding and on-way communication and that the increasing use of social media in linear infrastructure planning gives rise to a variety of concerns among developers that are related to especially organizational cultures, perception of the target groups, and prioritization of resources.

The function and importance of the DCT Gdańsk in terms of intermodal transportation development in Poland

Intermodal transportation is becoming more and more willingly used in the goods supply chain in view of its specific, flexible characteristics. In Poland, intermodal transportation is based primarily on land-sea and rail-road transportation, using mostly containers. The most frequently used containers in 2017 were the 40-feet containers which accounted for over 57% of all containers transported. Contribution of the railway transportation in intermodal transportation is increasing every year. Despite the slow growth, both, planned as well as already carried out investments in intermodal terminals, indicate continuous growing pattern. Many operators strive to improve the technical condition of nodal and linear infrastructure that leads to raising the quality of services provided. Large number of investments aimed at improving the functioning of intermodal transportation in Poland are made by PKP PLK S.A which is the conductor rail operator. The most important of them include improvement of the railway lines technical condition of the major routes, that would increase the average operational speed. The largest intermodal terminal in Poland is the DCT Gdańsk located in the Northern Port in Gdańsk. The annual transshipment ability of the terminal after the investments made is set at 3 million TEU. The terminal is connected with the hinterland by road and rail connections. Due to high quality technical equipment it is able to serve up to 9 trains a day which adds up to almost 300 trains per month. It provides railway connection to almost all overland intermodal terminals in the country. DCT Gdańsk gladly invests in development of the railway transportation and endeavour to achieve rail system development not only at the terminal, but also throughout Poland.

Group decision making process for early stage evaluations of infrastructure projects using extended VIKOR method under fuzzy environment

PurposeThis paper considers the evaluations of project alternatives at the early stages of infrastructure project developments. Although it is expected to make important decisions at project early stages, it is rarely possible to obtain reliable data for exact evaluations. To deal with low quality data and the existence of uncertainties, this paper extends the evaluation problem to the fuzzy environment.MethodsWe propose group decision making process for early stage evaluations of infrastructure projects. The evaluation approach utilizes combination weighting and compromise ranking. We integrate subjective and objective weighting methods to specify criteria weights. Afterwards, we use the VIKOR method to rank alternatives in the presence of conflicting criteria.ResultsAs a case study, we illustrate the evaluation problem within a railway line reconstruction project. Specifically, the proposed approach is efficiently applied to evaluate and rank several route alternatives considered within the reconstruction project of the regional line Pančevo – Vršac at Serbian railway network.ConclusionsThe provided example illustrates the applicability of the proposed approach to deal with the evaluations at the early stage of the railway line reconstruction. The existence of uncertainties at early stages of project developments is common, so the proposed method is also applicable for other linear infrastructure in transport sector.

Feasibility study of a loss-driven earthquake early warning and rapid response systems for tunnels of the Italian high-speed railway network

Linear infrastructures have strategic importance and impact on the social and economic conditions of many countries, hence the seismic risk management of existing and new designed ones is a crucial issue in earthquake-prone areas. High-speed and high capacity railways are an example of infrastructures that assume increasing importance in developed countries, since they permit rapid transit of people and freight.Due to the seismicity of the country, the case of the high-speed railways Italian network appears suitable for assessing the feasibility of a loss-driven earthquake early-warning system based on the real-time estimation of the expected damage probability and lead-time. Among the several subsystems that compose the network, the paper focuses on tunnels, since they are largely present along the route of the existing high-speed lines and of the new ones currently under design.This work describes a procedure that exploits the disaggregation of the seismic hazard to define sets of virtual seismic sources potentially affecting railway's tunnels. Hence, the probability of seismic damage to tunnel structures and the time available for implementing real-time mitigation procedures can be calculated. Such a procedure is applied to two tunnels of the high-speed system with different structural layout. The procedure suggests that for the considered tunnels the best option for undertaking seismic risk mitigation measures would be an on-site threshold–based early-warning system. However, the foreseen probability of structural damage to the tunnel lining is low in both cases.The proposed methodology can be easily generalized to different targets to design the optimal configuration of an earthquake early warning system, and applied to control, manage and maintain the tunnel structures along the high-speed railway network.

Wyposażenie obszarów wiejskich w systemy odprowadzania ścieków na przykładzie gmin powiatu olsztyńskiego

W artykule zaprezentowano zmiany stanu wyposażenia obszarów wiejskich powiatu olsztyńskiego ziemskiego w systemy odprowadzania ścieków bytowych, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem przydomowych oczyszczalni ścieków. Dane pochodziły z zasobów GUS-BDL. Obliczono udział ludności korzystającej z wodociągów i kanalizacji oraz zaprezentowano liczbę komunalnych oczyszczalni ścieków. Dane dotyczące przydomowych oczyszczalni ścieków i zbiorników bezodpływowych przeanalizowano na 1000 mieszkańców oraz na 100 km2 powierzchni. W wyniku przeprowadzonych badań stwierdzono, że wyposażenie w systemy odprowadzania ścieków rośnie. Szczególnie korzystnie rośnie liczba przydomowych oczyszczalni ścieków i nie spada liczba bezodpływowych zbiorników. Jest to wynikiem rosnącej liczby gospodarstw domowych i mieszkańców zwłaszcza w gminach otaczających Olsztyn.