Major Road Intersections Research Articles

Data Fusion for Enhancing Urban Air Quality Modeling using Large-Scale Citizen Science

Rapid urbanization has led to many environmental issues, including poor air quality. With urbanization set to continue, there is an urgent need to mitigate air pollution and minimize its adverse health impacts. This study aims to advance urban air quality management by integrating a dispersion model output with large-scale citizen science data, collected over a 4-week period by 642 participants in Cork City, Ireland. The dispersion model enabled the identification of major sources of NO2 air pollution while also addressing gaps in regulatory monitoring efforts. Integrating the diffusion tube data with the dispersion model output, we developed a data fusion model that captured localized fluctuations in air quality, with increases of up to 22μg/m3 observed at major road intersections. The data fusion model provided a more accurate representation of NO2 concentrations, with estimates within 1.3μg/m3 of the regulatory monitoring measurement at an urban traffic location, an improvement of 11.7μg/m3 from the priori dispersion model. This enhanced accuracy enabled a more precise assessment of the population exposure to air pollution. The data fusion model showed a higher population exposure to NO2 compared to the dispersion model, providing valuable insights that can inform environmental health policies aimed at safeguarding public health.

Road Traffic Emission Inventory in an Urban Zone of West Africa: Case of Yopougon City (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire)

Road traffic emission inventories based on bottom-up methodology, are calculated for each road segment from fuel consumption and traffic volume data obtained during field measurements in Yopougon. High emissions of black carbon (BC) from vehicles are observed at major road intersections, in areas surrounding industrial zones and on highways. Highest emission values from road traffic are observed for carbon monoxide (CO) (14.8 t/d) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) (7.9 t/d), usually considered as the major traffic pollution tracers. Furthermore, peak values of CO emissions due to personal cars (PCs) are mainly linked to the old age of the vehicle fleet with high emission factors. The highest emitting type of vehicle for BC on the highway is PC (70.2%), followed by inter-communal taxis (TAs) (13.1%), heavy vehicles (HVs) (9.8%), minibuses (GBs) (6.4%) and intra-communal taxis (WRs) (0.4%). While for organic carbon (OC) emissions on the main roads, PCs represent 46.7%, followed by 20.3% for WRs, 14.9% for TAs, 11.4% for GB and 6.7% for HVs. This work provides new key information on local pollutant emissions and may be useful to guide mitigation strategies such as modernizing the vehicle fleet and reorganizing public transportation, to reduce emissions and improve public health.

Tyre wear particles: an abundant yet widely unreported microplastic?

Owing to their physical and chemical properties, particles generated by the abrasion of tyre tread against road surfaces, or tyre wear particles, are recognised as microplastics. Recent desk-based studies suggest tyre wear to be a major contributor of microplastic emissions to the environment. This study aimed to quantify tyre wear in roadside drains and the natural environment near to a major road intersection. Tyre particles were identified by visual identification and a subsample confirmed as tyre wear by GC-MS using N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazolamine (NCBA) as a marker. The abundance of tyre wear within roadside drains was greater in areas associated with increased braking and accelerating than that with high traffic densities (p= < 0.05). Tyre particle abundance in the natural environment ranged from 0.6 ± 0.33 to 65 ± 7.36 in 5mL of material, with some evidence of decline with distance from the road. This study offers preliminary data regarding the generation and abundance of this under-researched microplastic.

A new shape descriptor for road network separation from parking lots and intersection detection on VHR remote sensing images

ABSTRACTOne of the main problems in automating road network extraction from high-resolution satellite images is the misclassification between roads and other spectrally similar objects. Significant work is already done on the road class refinement direction. But, extraction of the roads that are closely adjacent to parking lots/buildings and identification of major road intersection is still an issue as they are misclassified. In this paper, a new shape descriptor to separate roads from spectrally similar non-road objects and to identify road network intersection is proposed. The proposed approach classified the input image into road and non-road classes using spectral features at first. In the binary image, considering roads continuous and elongated homogeneous regions, a new shape descriptor measuring the continuity of road pixels in a different direction is applied. The experiments on worldview-2, Ikonos, and GeoEye images showed that the proposed method is simple and effective in automating the separation of roads which are connected to parking lots/buildings and it can identify road intersection correctly.

Evaluation of Level of Service of Traffic at Major Road Intersections in Ibadan, Nigeria

Transportation has been of immense benefits to the social, economic and political development of communities, however, it is sometimes characterised with negative impacts such as traffic congestions, delays, environmental pollutions and crashes. In this study, the level of service of selected major road intersections in Ibadan were investigated. Traffic volume of each intersection approach was conducted from 7am - 7pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, delay studies were carried out during the morning, afternoon and evening peak hours and level of service for each approach was determined from the average delay per vehicle. The traffic volume reveals that passenger cars are the predominant vehicles at all the approaches and the morning and afternoon peak hours occurred between 8 to 9am and 2 to 3pm, respectively. The level of service for all the approaches is B, indicating slight reduction in capacity of the intersections. Keywords: Transport, Traffic volume, Traffic delay, Traffic congestion and Road intersection DOI : 10.7176/JIEA/9-7-05 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

Concentrations, pollution indices and health risk assessment of heavy metals in road dust from two urbanized cities of Pakistan: Comparing two sampling methods for heavy metals concentration

Lahore and Faisalabad are two highly populated metropolitans of Pakistan. The increasing number of vehicles and urbanization resulted in the contamination of urban road dust with heavy metals, which can expose residents to health hazards. The aim of this research was to determine the road dust heavy metal (Cu, Ni, Cd, Pb, and Zn) concentrations, their distribution, comparison, and their potential health risk assessment for local people. Herein, two sampling methods, namely deposit gauge method (DGM) and sweeping tools method (STM), were used to collect road dust samples in eight similar major road intersections. Dust collected by DGM (gravitational pull of air dust) showed higher heavy metals concentration than STM in both cities, which might be associated to the smaller dust particles collected in the DGM. Among sites, concentrations of heavy metals were the highest in dust obtained from the General Bus Stand in both cities. Dominant metals were Zn and Pb with an average concentration of 95.5 and 56.8 mg kg−1, respectively while Cd was the lowest in Lahore. Similarly, the concentration of Pb and Zn were also high in Faisalabad with an average of 90.4 and 49.5 mg kg−1 and Cd was the lowest. Overall, Lahore showed higher pollution levels than Faisalabad. The risk assessment results of the DGM indicated that there were potential carcinogenic health risks associated with Cd, as his values were close or exceeded the permissible limit of 1 × 10−4. Non-carcinogenic risk assessment results were lower than value 1 for both cities which means there were no non-carcinogenic hazards for the residents. Higher Enrichment ratio (ER) and geo accumulation index (Igeo) showed increasing heavy metal pollution in both cities is a serious concern. Therefore this research provides a vital base and help to authorities for pollution control strategies, remediation, and regular monitoring in order to improve eco-sustainable cities and health of urbanites.

An economic analysis of the proposed Dhaka\u2013Chittagong Expressway in Bangladesh with the viewpoint of GHG emission reduction

Frequent road intersections in Dhaka–Chittagong National Highway (NH1), the major transport corridor of Bangladesh, significantly reduce the level of service of the corridor and eventually leads to inefficient fuel economy and excessive greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. In spite of upgrading NH1 into a four-lane highway, major road intersections reduce vehicle speed and increase congestion time and eventually burn fuel. Fuel expenses during this lost time cover no distance but increase vehicular emission within the vicinity of road and contribute to roadside temperature. Besides, the transport sector’s energy demand in Bangladesh is supported mostly by imported fuel that drains out foreign currency and inhibits GDP growth. Against the backdrop, the Government of Bangladesh is proposing to construct a four-lane expressway. The paper attempts to estimate the fuel loss savings, GHG emission reduction and economic benefit of constructing Dhaka–Chittagong Expressway. As the construction of the expressway paved a way for an increment of traffic growth by 10%, the study infers that the average lost time because of 36 intersections for a projected annual average daily traffic of 27,334 vehicles/day (in 2022). In addition to that, the fuel loss savings for various vehicle classes affect economic growth and the ensuing idling emission of EFI and MFI engines contributes to transport sector pollution. The study intends to expedite the fact that Dhaka–Chittagong Expressway would not only replace road interventions that reduce travel time cost, expenditures regarding vehicle operating and accident but also contributes cardinally to economic emancipation of the country. The estimated Benefit–Cost Ratio (BCR) was 1.23, net present value was 762.34 Million USD) and Economic Internal Rate of return was 18.27% of the proposed project.

Fenomena Media Periklanan terhadap Citra Kota Denpasar, Studi Kasus di Beberapa Persimpangan Jalan Utama Kota Denpasar

This study examines interferences brought by the placement of advertising elements on a public sphere. Since areas surrounding major road intersections are the most favored venues for advertisers and their advertisements, the study selects such areas exist across Denpasar City (Bali) as case studies. This research is designed to meet three goals. First is to pinpoint as to how intersections have been utilized as venues for advertising purposes. Second is to analyze various predicaments following the employment of a public spheres as a settings for advertisements. This analysis focuses on functional and regulatory concerns. Third is to develop alternative methods for future accommodation of advertisements, thus they will caused the least interruptions to the quality of spaces, the wider functions and roles of the public spheres, as well as having the slightest likelihood to ruin the image of a city as a whole. The study implements qualitative research approaches, supported by 22 sets of thorough photographic documentation recording advertisements surveyed at five different road intersections. The study construes that the consented acts to use intersections for advertising related purposes does not go in line with the formation of culturally friendly city, the image that Denpasar intends to be associated with. This message becomes the main consideration in instigating alternative methods for future accommodation of advertisements in an urban area, such as Denpasar.&#x0D; Keywords: advertisement, intersection, culture, public space

Transportation System Analysis at the Major Road Intersection in the CBD Area of Rangpur City, Bangladesh

Traffic and transportation management is a major challenge for a city in Bangladesh. Moreover, this challenge is so critical to managing of traffic and transport at a Central Business Area (CBD) in a city like Rangpur. The main objectives of this study are to find out the present problems of traffic and transportation and discussion on way of an effective solution. So, the angle of different intersections, flow analysis of roads, level of service (LOS) analysis of selective roads and physical feature analysis at the CBD area is conducted for this study. To find out the condition of traffic and transportation at CBD area different type of survey have been done like traffic volume survey, physical feature survey, delay time survey, parking survey. Collected data analyzed by using MS Excel software and design or pictorial data analyzed by using GIS software, Google Sketch-up software. The main problems at the CBD area are informal occupancy, violet setback rules, no minimum sight distance for a vehicle, lack of proper use of footpath, inappropriate channelization of vehicles.

Spatial, temporal and size distribution of particulate matter and its chemical constituents in Faisalabad, Pakistan

Spatial and temporal variations in aerosol particulate matter (PM) were investigated for distribution over the four seasons of chemical constituents and particle size fractions in Faisalabad, Pakistan from June 2012 to April 2013. At nine sampling sites, four PM mass size fractions (total suspended particulates [TSP], PM10, PM4 and PM2.5) were monitored; simultaneously, TSP mass samples were collected on glass fiber filters using a high volume air sampler. TSP samples (144) were subjected to quantitative chemical analyses for determining trace elements (Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, Cu, Fe) using atomic absorption spectroscopy, and water-soluble cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, NH4+) and anions (Cl–, SO42– and NO3–) by ion chromatography. The highest PM mass concentrations were observed at industrial sites, while they were somewhat lower in major road intersections and lowest in the remote background site. It was also observed that PM mass concentrations were about two to 20 times higher than the standard limits of the World Health Organization and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Coarse particles (TSP, PM10 and PM4) were found to be highest during the summer, while relatively fine particles (PM2.5) were higher during the winter period. Concentrations of all size fractions were lowest during the monsoon sampling period at all sites. Concentrations of different elements and water-soluble ions also followed the similar temporal pattern as PM mass concentrations. The crustal elements Ca, Fe, Mg and Na were the largest contributors to TSP mass while elements of anthropogenic origin (Pb, Cd, Ni, Cu and Zn) had relatively lower concentrations and also showed a high spatial variation. Among the anions, sulfate (SO42–) was the predominant species contributing to 50-60% of the total anion concentration. It was found that rainfall, wind speed and relative humidity were the most important meteorological factors affecting PM concentrations. The evaluation of data presented in this paper will serve as a basis for future regional modeling and source apportionment.

Issues in Indian Cities Due to Increasing Coverage of Highways: A Case Study of The Sriperumpudur – Poonamalle Stretch in NH4

In 1947, during the year of independence, India’s national highway network was approximately 23,000 km. In 1997, national highways had a total length of 34,298 km. As of July 2013 India has multiplied thrice the distance covered by national highways (NH) connecting all the major cities and state capitals. By end of 2017, it is planned that the national highway network should be at 85000 km (12th Five Year Plan, 2012-17).&#x0D; Though it is an improvement in the infrastructure, we have to agree that there are many cons in the process. The highways have brought concentric expansion and appearance of sub-centers all along major road intersections. The land-use changes caused by these highways have converted the metropolises to megalopolises, hamlets emerging to bigger cities. The highways are aimed to provide better transport and to link one place to another in a fast mode. “You can start with land use, or you can start with transportation; in either case, the basic feedback leads inevitably to a hierarchy of central places and transportation links connecting them” [Moore and Thorsnes, 1994]. Land-use being the first to impact cities, eventually causes impacts on natural resources and also communities, livelihood, health, safety, etc. The progression of the urban landscape can be considered from a hybrid perception where diverse paradigms were focused in different periods. It is the need of the hour to integrate all the essential paradigms.&#x0D; This paper provides an overview of the issues and challenges caused by development of highways in India. Rather than covering every aspect of highways, it primarily focuses on those areas that are important from the users’ point of view. The paper first reviews the changes in Indian cities due to increasing coverage of highways, followed by a discussion on issues such as Land use split, settlement isolation, identity loss, to mention a few. Building on this background, the paper proposes further researches for the betterment of life in cities affected by Highways.

Distributions of air pollutants associated with oil and natural gas development measured in the Upper Green River Basin of Wyoming

Abstract Diffusive sampler monitoring techniques were employed during wintertime studies from 2009 to 2012 to assess the spatial distribution of air pollutants associated with the Pinedale Anticline and Jonah Field oil and natural gas (O&amp;NG) developments in the Upper Green River Basin, Wyoming. Diffusive sampling identified both the extent of wintertime ozone (O3) episodes and the distributions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and a suite of 13 C5+ volatile organic compounds (VOC), including BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene isomers), allowing the influence of different O&amp;NG emission sources to be determined. Concentration isopleth mapping of both diffusive sampler and continuous O3 measurements show the importance of localized production and advective transport. As for O3, BTEX and NOx mixing ratios within O&amp;NG development areas were elevated compared to background levels, with localized hotspots also evident. One BTEX hotspot was related to an area with intensive production activities, while a second was located in an area influenced by emissions from a water treatment and recycling facility. Contrastingly, NOx hotspots were at major road intersections with relatively high traffic flows, indicating influence from vehicular emissions. Comparisons of observed selected VOC species ratios at a roadside site in the town of Pinedale with those measured in O&amp;NG development areas show that traffic emissions contribute minimally to VOCs in these latter areas. The spatial distributions of pollutant concentrations identified by diffusive sampling techniques have potential utility for validation of emission inventories that are combined with air quality modeling.

An Assessment of the Ambient Air Quality around Major Road Intersections within Warri Metropolis

An evaluation of the ambient air quality of emitted gases and particles at major road junctions within Warri conurbation was carried out. The study was aimed at ascertaining if air pollution levels exceeded the acceptable limits during weekdays as well as attempt to target the root causes. Ambient air was monitored from strategic locations at eight major road junctions sparsely distributed within residential areas for in-situ measurement of NO2, SO2, CO and PM10 concentrations. Monitoring was done consecutively for a period of two weeks at four single-carriage and four dual-carriage roads to test the contributions of traffic on air quality. The averages of the minimum and the maximum daily observations over the entire sampling period ranged between 0.02452ppm and 0.05684ppm for NO2, while that of SO2 ranged between 0.00564ppm and 0.05654ppm, and that of CO ranged between 0.438ppm and 4.890ppm, whereas PM10 yielded 13.602μg/m3 as minimum and 122.124μg/m3 as maximum levels. As was expected, concentrations from all the single carriage roads were higher than those from the dual carriage roads owing to the heavy traffic congestions in single-lane roads. This study also revealed that only the NO2 values obtained around Robinson plaza and Warri main market junctions were perilously close to the specified FMENV levels for hourly exposure. This being that there were rapid oxidation of NO to NO2 from vehicular emissions. However, the presence of high levels of NO2 is synonymous to high ground level ozone production environment, consequently, a high oxidation region of free radicals which could lead to more particulate matter formation during advection.

Air Quality in Relation to Vehicular Traffic-Related Gaseous Emissions in two Selected Local Government Areas in South-Western Nigeria

The aim of this study is to determine the concentration of traffic related air pollutants at major and busy road intersections in two Local Government Areas of Ibadan, Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed for the study. Ibadan North and North East Local Government Areas (LGAs) were purposely selected based on their high traffic density. Thirteen sampling points were randomly selected from the 18 major road intersections within the two LGAs. Levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions in (ppm) were measured using calibrated SO2 NO2 and COmonitor. Traffic density was estimated via manual counting using tally system. Measurements were carried out in the morning (6am-8am), afternoon (12pm-2pm) and evening (4pm-6pm) for 12 weeks and results obtained were compared with WHO guideline limit. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Pearson correlation test at 5% level of significance. The mean gaseous emissions level were CO (38.6 ± 22.2ppm), SO2 (1.0 ± 0.7ppm), NO2 (0.2 ± 0.1ppm. These values exceeded the WHO guideline limit for CO (10ppm), SO2 (0.17ppm), NO2 (0.17ppm). There was a significant difference in the mean gaseous emissions level across measurement periods of the day (8am-10am, 12pm-2pm and 4pm- 6pm) (p <0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between SO2 and traffic density (r= 0.73).Gaseous emissions exceeded the WHO guideline limit for ambient conditions at the study locations. There is need for government to institute and enforce traffic emission control and air quality management programmes in Nigeria.

Two Low-Cost Safety Concepts for Two-Way, Stop-Controlled Intersections in Rural Areas

FHWA's Office of Safety has identified intersections as one of its safety focus areas. As part of FHWA's efforts to reduce intersection crashes and related injuries and fatalities, two low-cost concepts have been identified: (a) lane narrowing on major road intersection approaches and (b) installing channelizing islands and supplemental stop signs on minor road intersection approaches. With the cooperation of several transportation agencies, these strategies were deployed at a limited number of sites in the United States; specifically, the concepts were deployed at two-lane, two-way, stop-controlled intersections. Positive operational and safety effects were observed with the installation of the two strategies. The lane-narrowing concept was shown to significantly reduce speeds and crashes on the major road approaches. The average speed reductions for all vehicles (3.5 mph) and for trucks only (4.4 mph) were statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. Total, fatal and injury-only, and angle crashes were reduced after deployment, but only the reduction in fatal and injury-only crashes was significant at the 95% confidence level. The minor road channelizing concept is shown to improve driver compliance with traffic control and to reduce speeds and crashes on minor approaches. The average speed reductions on minor approaches (nearly 10 mph) were statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. The crash rate for total, fatal and injury-only, angle, and rear-end crashes decreased after deployment.

Assessment and ANN Modeling of Noise Levels at Major Road Intersections in an Indian Intermediate City

The noise generated from vehicular traffic is a major source of environmental pollution. This paper discusses a comprehensive study on the assessment and ANN modeling of noise levels due to vehicular traffic flow at interrupted traffic flow condition, i.e., at SBI (State Bank Intersection) and BSI (Bus Stand Intersection) in Yavatmal city, district place of Vidarbha Region in Maharashtra State (India). Traffic volume data and noise level data were collected simultaneously at ten selected locations. The noise level data were recorded with precision sound level meter (TES-1352 A data logger SLM, IEC651 Type2, ANSI S 1.4 peak hours (morning and evening). Instantaneous noise levels in dBA were recorded (one count per two seconds or at a rate of 30 counts per minute) and processed through Excel by grouped into 15 minutes data to evaluate noise descriptors in the form of Lmax, Lmin, L 10 , L 50 , L 90 , L eq , LNP, TNI ( Traffic Noise Index) & NC (Noise climate). Artificial Neural Network software (Elite ANN) was utilized to perform modeling. Total traffic, traffic composition (Bus/Truck), LCV (Light Commercial Vehicle), TW (Two Wheelers), bicycle and others in % and carriageway width, distance of sound level meter from pavement edge were considered as input data. The observed input and output data were processed using ANN at interrupted traffic flow conditions. The output was estimated as L 10 , L eq , LNP, TNI and NC. The performance of the model was tested by root mean square error (RMSE), the mean absolute error (MAE) and correlation coefficient. The model was validated using linear regression analysis where it was observed that there is no significant difference between the observed and predicted output parameters.