Stretch Of Road Research Articles

The effects of vegetation barriers on near-road ultrafine particle number and carbon monoxide concentrations

Numerous studies have shown that people living in near-roadway communities (within 100m of the road) are exposed to high ultrafine particle (UFP) number concentrations, which may be associated with adverse health effects. Vegetation barriers have been shown to affect pollutant transport via particle deposition to leaves and altering the dispersion of emission plumes, which in turn would modify the exposure of near-roadway communities to traffic-related UFPs. In this study, both stationary (equipped with a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer, SMPS) and mobile (equipped with Fast Mobility Particle Sizer, FMPS) measurements were conducted to investigate the effects of vegetation barriers on downwind UFP (particle diameters ranging from 14 to 102nm) concentrations at two sites in North Carolina, USA. One site had mainly deciduous vegetation while the other was primarily coniferous; both sites have a nearby open field without the vegetation barriers along the same stretch of limited access road, which served as a reference. During downwind conditions (traffic emissions transported towards the vegetation barrier) and when the wind speed was above or equal to 0.5m/s, field measurements indicated that vegetation barriers with full foliage reduced UFP and CO concentrations by 37.7–63.6% and 23.6–56.1%, respectively. When the test was repeated at the same sites during winter periods when deciduous foliage was reduced, the deciduous barrier during winter showed no significant change in UFP concentration before and after the barrier. Results from the stationary (using SMPS) and mobile (using FMPS) measurements for UFP total number concentrations generally agreed to within 20%.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT OF AN URBAN ROAD BY DESIGNING COORDINATED TRAFFIC SIGNAL SYSTEM

Transportation should be safe, rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical and ecofriendly. But transportation also consumes a lot of resources like time. Traffic management plays a vital role in the field of transportation engineering to reduce congestion and travel time to improve service volumes especially in urban areas. Present road stretch is of length 2.5Km, from Uppal X roads to N.T.R statue, Pirjadiguda crossing roads with three crossings (Uppal bus stand x roads, Asian x roads, Pirjaduguda x roads) and four blocks. In the present study an effort is made to understand and evaluate the performance of the study road stretch. After traffic engineering survey,optimum cycle length and saturation flows, green time signal phase are designed and likewise red, amber phases based on Websters method & IRC guidelines. In this road stretch, adjacent signals are coordinated and the coordinated signal time plans are also developed. This paper solves the traffic congestion causing delays, decrease the travel time and increases the travel speed of vehicles by design of coordinated traffic signals and gives the management measures to reduce the traffic congestion which is of low cost and easily executable.

ACCIDENT CHARACTERISTICS OF ROHTAK-KHARKHODA SECTION OF SH-18

The increase in road accidents is one of the biggest issues in the present society. This problem relies heavily on the use of private vehicles, especially VRUs, which have created social problems due to loss of lives, and this is due to complete failure of transport system. In the field of accident analysis and formulation of accident strategies, accident data becomes a starting point. The main objective of the study is to find accident prone area on the Rohtak – Kharkhoda section of SH-18 from First Information Report and to study the traffic conditions on this road stretch andto identify safety measures and provide recommendations for solving deficiencies on this road. The road selected for the study is 30.6 km stretch of SH-18 in Haryana from Shiela Bypass to Kharkhoda. From the data analysis, it can be analyzed that more number of accidents have occurred in the year 2013 and mostly occurred during 8a.m to 10a.m and 4p.m to 6p.m.From analysis, it is found that the trucks and two wheelers contribute more accidents. It was observed that road width, fade markings, broken shoulder, high traffic (PCUs),high speed, heavy cross movement of pedestrian, unauthorized median opening, absence of curve indicators on curve, trees by road side, erosion of shoulders due to cart tracks and footpaths or cattle crossing, places of worships, wayside bus stop without bus bays and poor road conditions causing accidents. From the result analysis, it can shows that road needs upgradation. Provide sufficient roadway width, change the alignment of road on horizontal curves to enhance adequate sight distance, remove illegal constructions from the road, provide necessary traffic rules and pedestrian crossing and median opening were redesigned to provide better facility for VRUs and road users.

Predicting Hourly Traflc Noise from Traflc Flow Rate Model: Underlying Concepts for the DYNAMAP Project

Abstract The DYNAMAP project aims at obtaining a dynamic noise map of a large residential area such as the City of Milan (Italy), by recording traffic noise from a limited number of noise sensors. To this end,we perform a statistical analysis of road stretches and group them into different clusters showing a similar measured hourly traffic noise behavior. In the sameway,we group simulated hourly traffic flow rates and compare their compositions with those of the traffic noise groups. The best agreement with the traffic noise was found by using the so-called normal traffic flow rate, yielding overlaps between 68 and 97%. Finally, we derive a simple analytical model to predict the hourly traffic noise from the simulated normal traffic flow, in very good agreement with the measured values.

Modelling land water composition scene for maritime traffic surveillance

Background modelling, used in many vision systems, must be robust to environmental change, yet sensitive enough to identify all moving objects of interest. Existing background modelling approaches have been developed to interpret images in terrestrial situations, such as car parks and stretches of road, where objects move in a smooth manner and the background is relatively consistent. In the context of maritime boat ramps surveillance, this paper proposes a cognitive background modelling method for land and water composition scenes (CBM-lw) to interpret the traffic of boats passing across boat ramps. We compute an adaptive learning rate to account for changes on land and water composition scenes, in which a geometrical model is integrated with pixel classification to determine the portion of water changes caused by tidal dynamics and other environmental influences. Experimental comparative tests and quantitative performance evaluations of real-world boat-flow monitoring traffic sequences demonstrate the benefits of the proposed algorithm.

Study of Lane Utilization on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway

The Delhi-Gurgaon expressway is vastly different from expressway or freeways in other countries due to its varied roadway and traffic conditions. It is a multi-lane urban road connecting nearby urban areas (Delhi and Gurgaon) with divided carriageway for high speed travel having partial control of access at frequent locations via basic, weaving, merge and diverge segments (at grade or grade separated). Relatively, limited research has been done on the lane utilization behavior of different vehicle types on multilane urban roads. The lane utilization is affected by several factors such as vehicle composition, traffic flow rate and vehicular speeds. In the present study, eight hours of video graphic data was collected from a road stretch on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, incorporating both peak and off peak hours. The lane discipline behavior is studied for five different vehicle categories. SPSS software is used for multivariate analysis in connection with lane utilization factor over a wider range of traffic flow rates. A structural equation model has been established for all the four lanes separately and the influence of the vehicles on lane utilization is studied ultimately. The results of the present study in the form of lane utilization and lane discipline behavior by different vehicle types may help in differentiating the characteristics of traffic on expressways in relation to the other roads in India. It may be also helpful to refine the microscopic simulation models and its parameters in order to validate them at micro-level, under traffic conditions prevailing on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

Analysis of Causal Factors of Accidents near Mahipalpur Junction on NH-8 in Delhi

Road accidents cause more than 1,35,000 deaths in India every year which is higher than any other country in the world. Increasing motorization without adequate institutional mechanism is a major cause of this problem. Although, the number of fatalities caused by road accidents in Delhi has been declining over the years, but the situation is still alarming. In this paper a study has been carried out on road accident data of Mahipalpur junction, an entry point to T-3 Airport in Delhi. A 1.8 km road stretch was selected, traffic and road accident data of three years (2012-2014) was collected and the trends were analyzed. The accidents have taken place primarily in three locations Viz. in front of Radisson Hotel, near Mahipalpur Junction, and in Service road and Flyover towards Dhaulakuan. A few accidents have taken place in some odd locations.

Performance Evaluation of Gravel Road Sections Sealed with Surface Dressing

The rural population of India lack adequate transport infrastructure to access the nearby towns/headquarters. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India (GoI) decided to develop various rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY). The main objective of PMGSY is to achieve all weather connectivity to all habitations. Hence, a pilot study was initiated over a 7 km gravel road stretch from “Ghanapur-Palakurthy Public Works Department (PWD) Road to Komatigudem via Ippagudem, and Rangaraigudem” in the Warangal district of Telangana State, India. There are various disadvantages associated with construction using gravel like dust generation and gravel loss over a period of time due to passage of vehicles. The best solution to minimize these problems is to seal the gravel roads. The pilot road considered in this study was constructed using locally available gravel up to the surface course and then sealed using surface dressing. The performance of the road sections were evaluated in terms of roughness, skid resistance, and texture depth. The initial set of data was collected immediately after construction and one month after construction. Later, four sets of pavement performance data was collected after seven months of construction of the surface dressing layer in November 2013, January 2014, April 2014, and June 2014. Altogether, six sets of data were collected. The data was analyzed and important observations are reported in this paper. There is a considerable change in surface texture and skid resistance values after the first one month of construction whereas no significant changes were observed in the roughness values. Further, there is no significant difference in the results of surface texture, skid resistance and roughness values when the pavement sub-sections were evaluated for four times even after seven months of construction of the sealing layer.

Activity-Based Computation of Marginal Noise Exposure Costs: Implications for Traffic Management

In this paper, an innovative simulation-based approach is presented to calculate optimal dynamic, road- and vehicle-specific tolls on the basis of marginal traffic noise exposures. The proposed approach combines the advantages of an activity-based simulation with the economically optimal way of price setting. Temporal and spatial differences of traffic noise levels and population densities are considered. Moreover, noise exposures at work and educational activities are accounted for. The results of a case study for the area of Berlin showed that transport users avoided marginal noise cost payments by shifting to road stretches in areas with lower population densities, typically major roads. The simulation experiments indicated that the marginal cost approach could be used to improve the overall system welfare and to derive traffic control strategies.

Ensuring Public Realm Through Private- private Partnership, in the Context of Rapid Urbanization (Case of CBD area Kochi)

In the context of rapid urbanization, the lack of public space development is one of the major issues of commercial development in city cores of Kerala. The reasons of this issue are related to land division. In the present context, there are lacks of guidelines to regulate the minimum size of plot during plot subdivision. The individual plot of small size is not feasible for high density commercial development. The land reconstitutions like feasible solutions were adopted by the individual developers to develop large commercial blocks. The public spaces developed as the result of these changes are segregated, introverted and self contained entities like, space inside the commercial malls, shopping centers etc. The intent of this research is to develop the real-estate policies as an urban design tool to create an integrated public space network system in commercial core of the city, and to develop a framework of strategies for the space management models like Private-Private partnership to integrate the existing isolated hybrid spaces in to the city fabric, and to create new integrated system of public space network. A sample precinct of M.G road stretch of Kochi was taken up for demonstration after a detailed analysis of various parameters of open space such as ecology, land use, morphological pattern, and transportation infrastructure.

Daily and Seasonal Variation of Several Parameters Based on the Measured Deflection at the Edges of Different Types of Semi-rigid Pavements Transverse Cracks

There are around 30% semi-rigid pavements in the National Spanish Roads Network, being a composition of bituminous layers over cement treated layers. Those with more than 20 years in service were constructed with a high percentage of cement. As a result, thermal transverse cracks were reflected on the wearing course, which have to be sealed and reinforced periodically.This research is focused on transverse cracks edges daily and seasonal variation of Load Transfer (LT, %), Relative Deflection (RD, micrometer/micrometer) and Maximum Deflection (MD, micrometer), of four types of situations: thin cracks (width < 5 mm); wide cracks (width ≥ 5 mm); block cracks and fatigue cracks on the wheel-paths. For this purpose, eight sections of roads were chosen from thermal zones hot in summer and little rainy but cold in winter. The findings of this study have been the quantification of the transverse cracks pavement structural state in two scenarios referred as winter and summer conditions.Firstly, it was proved that the before mentioned structural parameters correlated with temperature. Secondly, these parameters daily and seasonal variations were defined. The main findings of this research are:•MD in semi-rigid pavements is even less than 200 micrometer after more than 20 years in service. Thus, LT and RD turn to be the main structural parameters to evaluate pavement bearing capacity close to thermal transverse cracks.•LT rises with temperature reaching 100% whereas RD decreases reaching almost 1 micrometer/micrometer, as well as, MD goes down up to the temperature turning point in which the bituminous layers influence is higher.•After more than 20 years in service, semi-rigid pavement road stretches could show good pavement structural state (that is, LT > 80%) measuring at any time in summer condition (average temperature 5 cm below the surface ≥ 20°C).•Crack sides MD measured with pavement temperature close to 20°C (reference temperature for Spanish standardized deflections) in winter condition (average temperature 5 cm below the surface < 20°C), could also show a good pavement structural state, MD < 300 micrometer.•If the worst structural pavement state needs to be evaluated, deflections should be measured on the front side cracks except for block shape cracks in winter condition and thinner cracks in both conditions.•Wide cracks LT experiences the greatest daily variation range among all crack types, from more than 20% to more than 30% in winter condition and thin cracks unseat them in summer condition with a daily variation range from almost10% to less than 20%.•Besides, wide cracks RD daily variation is the highest among all crack types in both conditions, ranging from a decrease of more than 0.30 micrometer/micrometer to more than 0.60 micrometer/micrometer in winter condition and half this range of values in summer condition.

Advanced Driver Assistance System for Road Environments to Improve Safety and Efficiency

The advances in Information Technologies have led to more complex road safety applications. These systems provide multiple possibilities for improving road transport. The integrated system that this paper presents deals with two aspects that have been identified as key topics: safety and efficiency. To this end, the development and implementation of an integrated advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) for rural and intercity environments is proposed. The system focuses mainly on single-carriageways roads, given the complexity of these environments compared to motorways and the high number of severe and fatal accidents on them. The proposed system is based on advanced perception techniques, vehicle automation and communications between vehicles (V2V) and with the infrastructure (V2I). Sensor fusion architecture based on computer vision and laser scanner technologies are developed. It allows real time detection and classification of obstacles, and the identification of potential risks. The driver receives this information and some warnings generated by the system. In case, he does not react in a proper way, the vehicle could perform autonomous actions (both on speed control or steering maneuvers) to improve safety and/or efficiency. Furthermore, a multimodal V2V and V2I communication system, based on GeoNetworking, facilitates the flow of information between vehicles and assists in the detection and information broadcasting processes. All this, combined with vehicle positioning, detailed digital maps and advanced map-matching algorithms, establish the decision algorithms of different ADAS systems.The applications developed include: adaptive cruise control with consumption optimization, overtaking assistance system in single-carriageways roads that takes into account appropriate speed evolution and identifies most suitable road stretches for the maneuver; assistance system in intersections with speed control during approximation maneuvers, and collision avoidance system with the possibility of evasive maneuvers. To this end, mathematical vehicle dynamics models have been used to ensure the stability, and propulsion system models are used to establish efficient patterns, Artificial Intelligence and simulation are used for experimentation and evaluation of algorithms to be implemented in the control unit. Finally, the system is designed to warn the driver if a risk is detected and, if necessary, to take control of the vehicle. The system has been implemented on a passenger car and has been tested in specific scenarios on a test track with satisfactory results.

Offloading Massive Data Onto Passenger Vehicles: Topology Simplification and Traffic Assignment

Offloading is a promising technique for alleviating the ever-growing traffic load from infrastructure-based networks such as the Internet. Offloading consists of using alternative methods of transmission as a cost-effective solution for network operators to extend their transport capacity. In this paper, we advocate the use of conventional vehicles equipped with storage devices as data carriers whilst being driven for daily routine journeys. The road network can be turned into a large-capacity transmission system to offload bulk transfers of delay-tolerant data from the Internet. One of the challenges we address is assigning data to flows of vehicles while coping with the complexity of the road network. We propose an embedding algorithm that computes an offloading overlay where each logical link spans over multiple stretches of road from the underlying road infrastructure. We then formulate the data transfer assignment problem as a novel linear programming model we solve to determine the optimal logical paths matching the performance requirements of a data transfer. We evaluate our road traffic allocation scheme using actual road traffic counts in France. The numerical results show that 20% of vehicles in circulation in France equipped with only one Terabyte of storage can offload Petabyte transfers in a week.

ПРИЧИНЫ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ АВАРИЙНЫХ УЧАСТКОВ НА ЛЕСОВОЗНЫХ ДОРОГАХ

Road Safety is an integral part of the national problems of personal security, address demographic, social and economic problems, improve the quality of life, promoting regional development. Low technical level of logging roads, potholes and the presence of longitudinal, transverse cracks on specific areas (in terms of curves, intersections and junctions of roads, towns, stretches of road with limited visibility) is the main reason contributing to the formation of areas with increased risk of accidents.

The Changing Face of Cuba

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba—Cienfuegos sits between Havana and Trinidad, just off a long stretch of road flanked by empty fields. Appropriately, it was almost 100 degrees there in April when a group of American visitors met with the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). They talked about their work with us and the purpose of their artists’ guild and, of course, sold their art to the visitors. They portrayed themselves as the “real” artists of Cuba—not the so-called artists trying to hawk cheap, knock off works to unsuspecting Canadian and European tourists wandering through the artisan markets of Havana Vieja or central Trinidad.

A case study of butterfly road kills from Anaikatty Hills, Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;Anaikatty Hills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu witness the annual spectacle of mass movement of lakhs of butterflies. The present paper examines the impact of vehicular traffic on this ‘butterfly migration’ through a survey of butterfly mortality along a road stretch in Anaikatty Hills. A high rate of mortality due to road traffic was observed during the mass movement of butterflies. One-hundred-and-thirty-five butterfly road kills belonging to three families, nine genera and 12 species were recorded during the study. The proportion of nymphalid butterflies among the road kills (70%) was very high compared to their respective share in the background population (39%), indicating a higher road mortality risk for nymphalids. The conservation significance of the road traffic impact on butterfly assemblage and management options are discussed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;

Driving behaviour responses to a moose encounter, automatic speed camera, wildlife warning sign and radio message determined in a factorial simulator study

In a driving simulator study, driving behaviour responses (speed and deceleration) to encountering a moose, automatic speed camera, wildlife warning sign and radio message, with or without a wildlife fence and in dense forest or open landscape, were analysed. The study consisted of a factorial experiment that examined responses to factors singly and in combination over 9-km road stretches driven eight times by 25 participants (10 men, 15 women). The aims were to: determine the most effective animal–vehicle collision (AVC) countermeasures in reducing vehicle speed and test whether these are more effective in combination for reducing vehicle speed; identify the most effective countermeasures on encountering moose; and determine whether the driving responses to AVC countermeasures are affected by the presence of wildlife fences and landscape characteristics. The AVC countermeasures that proved most effective in reducing vehicle speed were a wildlife warning sign and radio message, while automatic speed cameras had a speed-increasing effect. There were no statistically significant interactions between different countermeasures and moose encounters. However, there was a tendency for a stronger speed-reducing effect from the radio message warning and from a combination of a radio message and wildlife warning sign in velocity profiles covering longer driving distances than the statistical tests. Encountering a moose during the drive had the overall strongest speed-reducing effect and gave the strongest deceleration, indicating that moose decoys or moose artwork might be useful as speed-reducing countermeasures. Furthermore, drivers reduced speed earlier on encountering a moose in open landscape and had lower velocity when driving past it. The presence of a wildlife fence on encountering the moose resulted in smaller deceleration.

Method for simulator and scenario design assessing cognitive aspects of fitness to drive

An increasing part of the global population holds a driver’s license. Thus, a greater variety of prerequisites regarding the fitness to drive will occur, increasing the demand for assessing fitness to drive. However, today, there is a lack of internationally agreed upon methods for assessing the fitness to drive. Specifically, there is a need to develop methods to assess cognitive abilities required for driving safely (Hird, Vetivelu, Saposnik, &amp; Schweizer, 2014; Vrkljan, Myers, Crizzle, Blanchard, &amp; Marshall, 2013). The aim of the present project was to develop an objective and scientifically valid method for assessing cognitive aspects of the fitness to drive in a few targeted groups. The aim was to design and implement a mini-simulator for assessing fitness to drive. The target groups included stroke, mild cognitive impairment, ageing and ADHD. A mini-simulator as well as test scenarios for the assessment of cognitive aspects of fitness to drive was designed (see figure 1). A literature review was undertaken regarding previous research on assessing fitness to drive in the targeted groups. The features of the focused diagnosis were studied regarding underlying cognitive impairment with bearing on driving ability. Each scenario of the simulator drive was designed to enable assessment of these cognitive abilities. Examples of diagnose features that were included were risk taking, distraction, impulsivity, inattention, cognitive flexibility, overconfidence, reaction time, responsiveness, neglect, divided attention and memory. A fixed based mini-simulator was built (Figure 1). To assess the cognitive features mentioned, a road stretch was designed. The road included rural road, highway and urban road. The speed limits varied as well as the landscape surrounding the road. Along the road, different, more or less critical situations, were staged enabling assessment of the targeted cognitive abilities. The mini-simulator met the expectations regarding a good implementation of the simulated scenarios. Future research include validation of the mini-simulator and the scenarios.

STRADA: Road traffic accident and injury data in Sweden

If every driver in Sweden were to obey the speed limits there would be more than 100 lives spared each year. Every reduction of 1 km/h on average speed in the country saves approximately 20 lives per year (SRA 2015). One of many important measures in the later road safety work in Sweden is a project attempting to reduce speed, namely the implementation of speed cameras. Without a comprehensive increase in traffic surveillance it is difficult to achieve traffic safety (VTI 2005). The Swedish Road Administration together with the National Police Board put up the first speed cameras, or road safety cameras, in the late 1990’s and at the end of 2014 there were 1200 cameras monitoring 3000 kilometer of road stretches in Sweden. Before deciding where to install the road safety cameras the Swedish road traffic crash- and injury surveillance system, STRADA, was used to spot where accidents happened most frequently. STRADA is also a tool in the follow up work when evaluating the effects of the road safety cameras. The road safety camera project has been and still is a successful road safety work. When looking at data from STRADA from three examples (road 222, 225 and 268) of the approximately 120 roads with speed cameras one can see, when comparing a four year period before and after speed cameras, fatal accidents was reduced from a total of 8 to 3, and accidents with serious injuries as an outcome was reduced from 65 to 28. The road safety cameras have reduced the average speed on roads with cameras with 5% and are now appreciated to save up 20 lives and up to 50 persons from being seriously injured per year in Sweden. Speed monitoring with road safety cameras has shown to be a successful way of reducing speed and save lives on Swedish roads. Every year the cameras prevent 20 people from being killed in traffic and 50 persons are prevented from being seriously injured. In order to evaluate road safety work such as speed cameras there has to be measurements made before and after the intervention. Using data from STRADA has both been contributing to the foundation of the road safety camera project and also one of the important tools for follow up.

Quantitative rockfall risk assessment for an important road by means of the rockfall risk management (RO.MA.) method

This paper deals with a quantitative risk analysis, performed using the rockfall risk management (RO.MA.) method, for a road affected by rockfalls. This approach allows evaluating the rockfall risk, also considering existing protection devices. Rockfall hazard and risk were assessed for an important and very busy road stretch linking Positano to Amalfi in the Campania region of southern Italy. An estimate of the rockfall return periods for assigned volume classes was obtained using the magnitude–frequency curves (MFCs) computed through the analysis of a rockfall inventory covering a time span from 1996 to 2008. For rockfall volumes of 0.1, 1.0, and 10 m3, using a 2D trajectory simulating code, the involved kinetic energies and run-out distances of boulders that may hit the road were calculated. The risk, expressed as the annual probability of a fatal accident for the three rockfall hazard scenarios has been evaluated both without and with protection devices, respectively. The total final risk is given by the sum of partial risks related to the three scenarios. The analysis showed that regardless of whether there are any rockfall protection devices, the total risk remains almost constant. This is due to the wide spread of slopes protected with inadequate restraining metallic nets characterized by decreasing catching capacities, as possible rockfall magnitude increases. The individual risk is not acceptable, and some actions are requested in order to lower it.