Road Elements Research Articles

Winter maintenance, snow removal, winter slipperiness, use of de-icing materials and their environmental impact

Introduction. One of the most important road works is road maintenance work, which includes technical supervision of the road, road structures and right-of-way for timely detection and elimination of defects, ensuring the operation of road elements, including artificial structures, in different periods of the year, in particular, in the winter period, keeping them in proper operating condition, and others. Problem statement. The performance of works on winter maintenance, namely the use of methods of combating snow drifts, elimination of winter slipperiness, has both a positive and a negative impact on the environment, which is due to the use of technical salt as one of the methods of ice prevention and elimination. Such melting anti-icing material accelerates the destruction of the road surface, reduces productivity, pollutes the soil and water bodies. Purpose. Review of the main road works performed by road enterprises during the winter maintenance of highways and their consequences for the condition of the road surface, right-of-way, soil and water bodies. Analysis of the experience of other countries regarding ecological approaches aimed at the winter maintenance of highways, taking into account the consequences for the ecosystem.

Evaluation of thermal effects on urban road spatial structure: A case study of Xuzhou, China

Urban heat islands (UHI) are important environmental issue in cities where urban spatial structure has been proven to play an important role in alleviating UHI effects. The relationship between land surface temperature and urban spatial structures has been explored, providing strong support for their cooling effects. Urban roads are the skeleton of urban spatial structures, with obvious spatial structure characteristics; however, research on the relationship between roads and the thermal environment has been mostly focused at the micro and meso level, lacking exploration at the macro spatial structure scale. Xuzhou—a typical average-sized city in China—was selected as the research object and the road system as the carrier. The thermal environmental effects of road elements such as their structural attributes, geometric attributes and unique construction attributes were quantitatively analyzed using geographically weighted regression analysis. The results revealed that 1) the contribution of roads in the study area to the UHI effect is relatively stable; therefore, this area should become an important cooling space to decompose UHI patch connectivity and thus decrease the UHI effect. 2) the self-organizing structural characteristics of urban roads affect their thermal environments where in the straightness of the road structure and road thermal environment showed a clear overall negative correlation And 3) the length and width of the road segments had negative and positive effects on the thermal environment, respectively. The green coverage of the roads has a global negative effect on the thermal environment, but shows obvious spatial non-stationarity. Therefore, green measures must be implemented in different regions. The results here provide a quantitative basis for urban road system planning and urban form management and control that incorporates thermal environment improvements, as well as a reference for the study of urban thermal environments under different spatial forms and planning control systems in other countries and regions.

Selected Aspects of Frost Protection Using Extruded Polystyrene for the Designed Road Surface

The present article delves into the consequences of subzero temperatures on the integrity of road elements, specifically scrutinizing their load-bearing capabilities and structural resilience. Central to the discourse is the elucidation of frost heave mechanisms, alongside an exposition of the overarching principles underpinning frost protection strategies within the framework of Polish engineering protocols. Attention is directed towards the deployment of extruded polystyrene as a pivotal component in fortifying road structures against frost-induced degradation. Moreover, the article encompass the preliminary conjectures on the adoption of insulating materials, prevalent in Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions, which offer promising prospects for enhancing frost protection measures in Polish road design, particularly within the context of bespoke structural configurations. Furthermore, a comprehensive exploration into the soil characteristics endemic to specific geographical locales, delineating methodologies for ascertaining parameters germane to fortifying road structures against frost-induced stresses. Of particular significance is the delineation of computational methodologies aimed at determining the depth of the subterranean frost zone, with a view towards pragmatic application in real-world scenarios. The article culminates in a succinct synthesis of findings, underscoring the efficacy of the proposed design paradigm in bolstering the resilience of road infrastructures against the deleterious effects of frost-induced phenomena.

Influence of Driver Eye Height and Obstacle Height on Sight Distance

Abstract Road traffic safety is a series of methods and measures aimed to reducing the risk of injury for road users. Road accidents are events that have an extremely strong socio-economic impact on society as a whole and directly on its members. The road is a basic component of the road safety system and is represented by the road and the area adjacent to it, which influences the flow of road traffic. Basically, the driver “reads” the road and based on that information adopts the behaviour, mainly speed. The road elements of the road and the homogeneity of these characteristics, visibility in curves, the layout of intersections, the uniformity and roughness of the road surface are only some of the essential elements of the traffic safety study at the design stage. But even on a very well-designed road, many accidents occur because of the other possible factors. The road elements characteristic of roads are the totality of the road components in plan view, elevation and cross section. In this case study, a section of road of technical class III was considered. The design speed of the road section studied is 80 km/h and the lane width is 3.50 m, according to the technical standards in force. The study was carried out for design speeds of 80 km/h and 60 km/h respectively, the height of the eyes will be considered as 1.00 m, 1.10 m, 1.20 m and 1.30 m, and for the height of the obstacle will have variable height, more precisely, for the speed of 80 km/h the heights will be 0.20 m, 0.40 m, 0.60 m, 0.80 m, 1.00 m, and for the speed of 60 km/h, they will be 0.00 m, 0.10 m, 0.20 m.

HeMoDU: High-Efficiency Multi-Object Detection Algorithm for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles on Urban Roads.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based object detection methods are widely used in traffic detection due to their high flexibility and extensive coverage. In recent years, with the increasing complexity of the urban road environment, UAV object detection algorithms based on deep learning have gradually become a research hotspot. However, how to further improve algorithmic efficiency in response to the numerous and rapidly changing road elements, and thus achieve high-speed and accurate road object detection, remains a challenging issue. Given this context, this paper proposes the high-efficiency multi-object detection algorithm for UAVs (HeMoDU). HeMoDU reconstructs a state-of-the-art, deep-learning-based object detection model and optimizes several aspects to improve computational efficiency and detection accuracy. To validate the performance of HeMoDU in urban road environments, this paper uses the public urban road datasets VisDrone2019 and UA-DETRAC for evaluation. The experimental results show that the HeMoDU model effectively improves the speed and accuracy of UAV object detection.

DISCRETE-CONTINUOUS PROCESSES AS THE MATHEMATICAL BASIS OF THE RELIABILITY OF THE BEHAVIOR OF SUBSYSTEMS OF THE "DRIVER-VEHICLE-ROAD-ENVIRONMENT" SYSTEM

The work is devoted to the study of the reliability of the behavior of subsystems of the driver-car-road-environment system. According to the definition of a number of researchers, traffic safety is a complex and system of rules, measures and means that ensure safe traffic conditions, which are aimed at protecting and preserving the life and health of active and passive road users, as well as protecting and preserving the environment and property. Therefore, the question of studying all aspects of the operation of the "Driver-car-road-environment" system becomes acute. The general approach to the formation of reliability models of the B-A-D-S system consists in the fact that this model is described in a formalized form from the standpoint of the reliability of the interaction of subsystems in the process of functioning and reflects the degree of influence of the reliability of individual subsystems on the reliability of the system as a whole. Usually, reliability indicators of system elements (failure intensity) are determined on the basis of the laws of distribution of time of failure-free operation, and the concept of "failure" is clearly defined for each subsystem. Reliability models formed in terms of element failures are the main type of system reliability models. It follows that the set of combinations of possible states of elements determines the set of possible states of the system in general, which is called the space of system states (control theory). When writing the work, the research of domestic and foreign authors on the issues of the basics of reliability and risk assessment was studied. The purpose of the publication is to study approaches to ensuring the reliability of complex systems. It was determined that for all mechanical elements (car parts, road elements) the most suitable failure model is the DM-distribution, while the estimation of the coefficient of variation can be in the range from 0.3 to 0.7

PERAN PEMERINTAH DAERAH DALAM PEMBANGUNAN INFRASTRUKTUR JALAN DI KOTA BATAM

As a government that has a very strategic authority and position related to its obligations as a "public service" to improve the welfare, prosperity, security and peace of society, regional governments have a very important role in regional development planning. Regional governments in this case must carry out their main tasks which of course must be adjusted to the vision, mission, goals and objectives that will be achieved later. Development is a complex process that requires significant changes in social structures, cultural values, and institutional frameworks to promote faster economic growth, reduce income disparities, and eradicate poverty. Apart from roads, trucks, cable cars and trains, roads are all road elements protected by land transportation infrastructure, including supporting buildings and traffic instruments that are above ground and above water. This scientific work was written using descriptive techniques. This approach can be described as a critical thinking methodology that involves reading articles or other items. In accordance with Law Number 23 of 2014, autonomous regional governments led by regional heads are organized by regional governments. One of the cities or districts in the Riau Islands Province that is still developing is Batam City. Regional governments are still concerned and monitoring infrastructure development. During the Covid-19 epidemic, environmental and meteorological conditions, obstacles and the process of road infrastructure development also occurred. However, considering the existing challenges and setbacks, this can be used as a basis for review and improvement in preparing for the next phase of regional government growth. Therefore, these difficulties do not become a challenge for local governments during the development process; instead, it can be taken into account later. Keywords: Local Government; Development; Infrastructure

An investigation of ADAS testing scenarios based on vehicle-to-powered two-wheeler accidents occurring in a county-level district in Hunan province

Abstract To meet the requirements for high-risk testing scenarios in the safety assessment of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), this study selected 239 vehicle-to-powered two-wheeler accidents occurring in Xiangtan County from the China In-depth Mobility Safety Study—Traffic Accident (CIMSS-TA) database. Seven scenario elements were selected from the levels of static road elements, dynamic traffic participants and environment elements. The accident characteristics were obtained through statistical analysis. The results showed 75.73% of accidents occurred at T-junctions/intersections, and 34.73% of accidents were caused by the visual obstructions. Six typical vehicle-to-powered two-wheeler crash scenarios were established by cluster analysis, including two straight road scenarios (scenario 3 and 6), two T-junction scenarios (scenario 1 and 5), and two intersection scenarios (scenario 2 and 4). Furthermore, six vehicle-to-powered two-wheeler testing scenarios, which represent the traffic environment characteristics of Chinese county-level districts, were constructed by analyzing the vehicle/PTW speed, the first collision point of vehicle, obstacle type and location, etc. The results showed the vehicle speed in scenario 4 was higher than that in scenario 2, with the average values of 34.32 km/h and 21.99 km/h, respectively. The results of this study provided testing scenarios for the safety assessment of ADAS, and contributed to improving the vehicle active safety technology.

Self-Explaining Roads: Effects of road design on speed choice

One of the leading principles for road design is the notion of Self-Explaining Roads(SER). According to this notion, the design and layout of the road environment should automatically elicit behavior that is appropriate for that type of road. The current study investigated the effects of the road environment (i.e., the presence of particular road elements such as the presence/absence of edge lines, and a physical separation between driving lanes) on driving speed choice in the Netherlands for roads in- and outside the city limits (ICL and OCL). A total of 462 participants (all car drivers) were exposed to either 152 ICL or 152 OCL pictures of road environments for either a short (300 ms in Experiment 1, 200 ms in Experiment 2) or long duration (1500 ms) and indicated as fast as possible which speed they would drive given the road environment they viewed. All images were labeled with respect to the presence or absence of particular road elements. A linear mixed model was used to determine the effects of road elements on speed choice and response time. The results showed that the presence of certain road elements impacted the speed chosen. For example, inside the city limits, relative to no bicycle lane, a bicycle lane painted on the road reduced driving speed while a separate bike lane increased the speed chosen. Also, central line markings (relative to no line marking) and a road made of asphalt (relative to pavers) were associated with higher speeds. Outside city limits, having multiple lanes (versus one lane) was related to higher speeds and having two driving directions without separation (versus a one-way road) was related to lower speed choices. Importantly, exposure duration (200 /300 ms versus 1500 ms) only had a marginal effect, indicating that road users generally only need a brief glimpse of the road to be able to decide what speed to drive. Consistent with the principles of SER, we conclude that categorization and the associated speed decision is fast, operating within a single glance and is impacted by the road elements present in the environment. Finally, we believe our method constitutes a valuable tool in road design, as it allows one to efficiently and effectively gauge the impact of various road elements in large population samples.

Investigation for influence of geopathic stress on structural behaviour of road elements

Investigation for influence of geopathic stress on structural behaviour of road elements

Nuri Bilge Ceylan and the Provincial: A Semiotic Analysis on Film Posters

Bu çalışma, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’ın taşra tasvirinin film afişlerindeki yansımalarını incelemektedir. Film afişlerinde resmettiği taşrada; hangi anlam ögelerine başvurulduğunu ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu bağlamda Nuri Bilge Ceylan'ın taşra temalı filmlerinin afişleri incelenmiştir. Bu filmler şöyledir: Koza, Kasaba, Mayıs Sıkıntısı, Uzak, Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da, Kış Uykusu ve Ahlat Ağacı. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Türk sinemasında taşra temsilinin güncel ve en özgün örneklerini sergileyen yönetmenlerinden biri olarak gösterilmektedir. Filmlerinde anlatıya mutlak hâkimiyet sağlamayı tercih eden bir yönetmendir. Nitekim tüm filmlerinde senarist, kurgucu ve yönetmen koltuğuna da kendisi oturmaktadır. Aynı zamanda bir fotoğrafçı olan Nuri Bilge Ceylan’ın filmlerinde anlatıya gösterdiği titizliği, afişlerinde de gözlemlemek mümkündür. Film afişleri; bilgilendirici ve özetleyici olmakla beraber aynı zamanda sembolik ifadelere de sıklıkla yer veren bir görsel tasarım ürünüdür. Sembolik ifadelerin kullanılması, yananlamların da önem kazanmasına neden olur ve bunun neticesinde film afişleri anlam yüklü bir görsel dizgeye dönüşür. Bu durumu, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’ın taşrayı konu alan film afişlerinde de gözlemlemek mümkündür. Çalışma kapsamında incelenen film afişleri, göstergebilimsel bir yaklaşım ile incelenmiştir. Çalışmada incelenen afişler, önce anlam ögelerine ayrıştırılmıştır. Ardından anlam ögelerinin yananlam düzeyindeki karşılıkları ifade edilmiştir. Bu kavramlar, tablolar halinde paylaşılmıştır. Sonrasında tüm anlam ögeleri ve yananlamlar, bağlamsal yananlam başlığı altında bütüncül olarak değerlendirilmiştir. Sonuç olarak, Ceylan’ın taşra temalı film afişlerinde bir takım anlam ögelerine sıklıkla başvurduğu görülmüştür. Bunlar en başta ağaç, doğa ve mevsimlerdir. Afişlerde genellikle durgun ve karamsar bir hava hâkimdir. Bu karamsarlık; yüz ifadesi, kara bulutlar ve mevsim şartlarından da hissedilebilmektedir. Öte yandan sıklıkla kullanılan yol unsuru taşra üçlemesi olarak da bilinen Kasaba, Mayıs Sıkıntısı ve Uzak filmleri bağlamında anlamlı olarak değerlendirilmiştir.

A unified approach for measuring the level of service of transport infrastructure

This article aims to discuss the problem of road traffic management and the criteria for its measurement. The article uses the concept of service level as the most important characteristic in the assessment of transport infrastructure. The differences in approaches to determining the level of service in the world practice are considered. The problem is outlined of non-uniform metrics used to measure the level of service for various road elements in existing methodologies. A comparison is made of the assessment of the level of service of a traffic lane in the Russian and foreign approaches in the choice of coefficients and the method of their calculation. Changes are proposed to the existing Rosavtodor methodology for assessing the capacity of a lane, a roundabout, an unregulated and regulated intersection, which can simplify the assessment of the level of service. As a result, an example of the application of the proposed unified approach in calculating the capacity of a controlled intersection is given. Finally, a conclusion is drawn about the need for a new approach, the advantages of using unified metrics for the level of service assessment are highlighted, and the vector of future research on this problem is also outlined.

Application of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road Illustrations in Ya’an Tibetan Tea Packaging

This study explores the modernization of tea packaging, departing from traditional landscape-themed illustrations to resonate with younger consumers. With a focus on the Ancient Tea-Horse Road theme and Ya’an Tibetan tea, various methodologies are employed: Literature Review: Illustration styles are analyzed across historical periods to inform modern design choices. Case Analysis: Existing tea packaging designs, particularly those targeting young consumers, and integrating elements of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road, are examined. Field Research: The historical and cultural significance of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road are investigated. Design Implementation: Computer software blended hand-drawn images with modern images. By infusing the essence of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road into Ya’an Tibetan tea packaging through modern illustrations, this study aims to create a visually appealing product that bridges tradition with contemporary aesthetics. This approach revitalizes traditional themes, enhancing product distinctiveness and market competitiveness.

What Road Elements are More Important than Others for Safe Driving on Urban Roads?

Road elements are increasingly digitalized to provide drivers advanced assistance especially in the emergent or adverse conditions. It is challenging and expensive to accurately digitalize all the road elements especially on the urban roads with many infrastructures and complex designs, where we may focus on the most important ones at the first stage. This research designs a questionnaire to ask the drivers to rank the importance of the road elements in various driving conditions. Driver characteristics are also collected, including age, driving style, accident experience, and accumulated driving distance, to explore their effect on drivers’ cognition of road elements importance. It is found that driving is a complex activity, and the moving elements (e.g. surrounding cars) are more important than the non-moving ones. Attention should be paid to the road elements even distant from the ego car, to get prepared to the potential driving risk or penalty. Statistical difference between the experienced and non-experienced drivers recommends that driver assistance system should be sufficiently trained in various conditions, to build up autonomous driving tactics and skills. This research promotes the understanding of driving cognition pattern to provide insights into the development of road digitalization.

LINE AND POLYGON TOPOLOGY IN OPENDRIVE MODELLING

Abstract. The paper discusses the importance of efficient methods in the automotive industry for the development of self-driving vehicles and advanced vehicle assistants, focusing on the use of high-definition (HD) maps. The integration of computer simulation and HD maps in the OpenDRIVE format is emphasized. A paradigm shift in map topology is highlighted, requiring a new map creation and usage approach. The article presents a methodology that addresses both geometric and topological aspects in creating accurate HD map models. The method focuses on the connection of linear and arc road elements and eliminating continuity/connectivity errors in lane descriptions. Real-world tests validate the implemented methodology and demonstrate the successful generation of topologically correct HD map models. The results show the potential of these models for various automotive applications, particularly in the development and testing of self-driving vehicles and advanced vehicle assistants. The methodology contributes to the advancement of HD map creation, providing valuable insights for researchers and map makers in the automotive industry.

Mapping Urban Flood-Prone Areas’ Spatial Structure and Their Tendencies of Change: A Network Study for Brazil’s Porto Alegre Metropolitan Region

Historically, the main cause of urban disasters in Brazil is flooding events, which are becoming more recurrent due to climate changes and intensive urbanization, causing extensive infrastructure, economic and life losses. The formation of Brazilian Metropolitan Areas goes back to the early twentieth century, with urban expansion following river basins, as regional transportation relied on inland navigation. The transition to road-based transport structured further urban sprawl from the mid-twentieth century onward, as road-circulation axes expanded across flood-prone areas. Mapping those hydrogeological risks is important to understand their effect on the existent road-circulation network structure cohesiveness. From the hydrogeological risk assessment data, this article evaluates potential changes imposed by extreme flood events on the road infrastructure at municipal and metropolitan scales. Space Syntax methods applied to an empirical case – the Porto Alegre Metropolitan Region – allow for comparative analyses between the urban network of current and flooding-event simulations and depict (a) the urban grids’ structural transformations under flooding, (b) the road elements at risk, and (c) the system’s spatial integrity and circulation disruptions. The resulting cartography can subside governance and urban planning strategies to cope with floodings at different territorial scales, addressing changes on local–regional circulation patterns, system breaking points and tendencies of urban land parcelling on vulnerable areas.

Geometric parameters analysis of the two-lane motorways cross profile using risk theory

The issue of safety and traffic potential on public motorways often arises due to large-sized vehicles such as buses, agricultural machinery, and road articulated vehicles stopping on the roadsides. This is caused by the number of logistic transportations between the territorial subjects of the Russian Federation, which has increased recently due to the increase in the number of warehouses and, as a consequence, the increase in the number of heavy and full-size vehicles. The problem is especially acute at high traffic intensity, when four vehicles are simultaneously located on a two-lane road in one transverse profile. In this article the authors consider the safety analysis of cross profile elements of a motor road on safety maintenance of road traffic at a collision of a passenger car on the car stopped on the roadside with simultaneous separation on a two-lane motor road from the position of the risk theory. This approach to the risk calculation methodology is developed within the framework of the scientific direction «Design, construction and operation of motorways under the condition of ensuring traffic safety taking into account the risk theory». The purpose of the calculation is to check the safe stopping possibility of large-tonnage vehicles on roadsides of II, III and IV categories on the basis of risk-oriented approach according to geometric elements normative dimensions of the public roads cross profile.

Assessing the effectiveness of autism spectrum disorder roadway warning signs: A case study in New Jersey

In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the prevalence rate for children identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in New Jersey is 1 in 35 children, the second highest rate of ASD diagnosis in the country. Children with autism face numerous obstacles, including learning road safety and interacting with road elements that could raise the risk of their traffic crash involvement. Many agencies across the nation have used disability warning signs as a tool to eliminate such risks. However, the effectiveness of these signs has not been explored yet. This study assesses the effectiveness of specific disability warning signs for autism at multiple locations in New Jersey using video and speed data. To investigate all drivers' responses to the ASD warning signs, the study defined two proxies of following the speed limit and applying brakes to show caution, where the events that did not correspond with the defined proxies were recorded as non-compliance events. Additionally, the Mann-Whitney U test was employed to evaluate the effectiveness during the presence and absence of ASD sign. Study results showed a high rate of non-compliance events for both proxies, and no significant difference in the driving speed was observed during the presence and absence of ASD sign. Additionally, the estimated relative risk/rate ratio revealed that the drivers that did not follow the speed limit were 1.5 times more likely not to apply brakes than the drivers who followed the speed limit, representing careless driving behavior in the area with ASD individuals.

Optimal planning of safety improvements on road sites belonging to different categories within large networks: An integrated multi-layer framework

Planning road safety interventions on large road networks implies several layers of complexity in the decision-making process. In fact, the following simultaneous problems should be addressed: estimating safety performances on the different road elements of the network, identifying sites showing high potential for improvement with respect to reference values, defining the possible types of safety measures to be implemented and their anticipated effect on traffic safety, limiting the number of interventions given fixed budget constraints.This study proposes an integrated multi-layer framework which takes into account the above-defined problems into a single optimization procedure which provides the number and type of safety interventions to be implemented over a wide road network composed of different categories of road elements. The proposed framework is based on the following peculiar aspects: the potential for safety improvement is quantitatively assessed based on the estimation of safety performances for each road category, a bi-level thresholding process integrated in the optimization process is used to highlight sites for interventions, the anticipated outcome of safety measures is quantitatively assessed as well through available crash reduction factors.The proposed methodology is applied to a case study which analyzes a sample of real roads belonging to a province-wide road network composed of various road elements (i.e., different categories of segments and intersections), under different budget constraints. Results demonstrate the applicability and flexibility of the proposed approach, which could be used for planning purposes, independently of the particular geographic location. Clearly, the approach is valid at the planning stage, given that several details of the different layers of analysis are necessarily simplified, while they should be studied in detail at the single intervention project stage.

Effect of road markings and road signs quality on driving behaviour, driver’s gaze patterns and driver’s cognitive load at night-time

Night-time conditions are one of the most complex driving situations due to limited availability of visual information in the environment and limitations to the human visual system. In such conditions, road markings and road signs are the main source of information for drivers. Research has shown that road markings and road signs, if properly designed and placed, can positively impact driver behaviour and thus overall road safety. However, it is still not completely clear how different levels of road markings and road signs visibility affect drivers in night-time conditions. For this reason, we used a driving simulator to simulate night-time conditions and different levels of visibility of road markings and road signs in order to analyse the connection between the visibility of these road elements and driver behaviour and cognitive load. The results suggest that the level of road markings and road signs visibility slight increased the driving speed (about 2%), but at the same time it had a positive effect on participants’ cognitive load which was at an optimal level during high visibility. Although there was no significant difference in participants’ eye movements and the number of gazes at road markings, the percentage share of looked road signs was the highest in high visibility conditions, which suggests that the participants were in most cases timely informed and aware of the upcoming situation.