Rural Roads Research Articles

Quantifying the Impact of Battery Degradation in Electric Vehicle Driving through Key Performance Indicators

As the Electric Vehicle market grows, understanding the implications of battery degradation on the driving experience is key to fostering trust among users and improving End of Life estimations. This study analyses various road types, charging behaviours and Electric Vehicle models to evaluate the impact of degradation on the performance. Key indicators related to the speed, acceleration, driving times and regenerative capabilities are obtained for different degradation levels to quantify the performance decay. Results show that the impact is highly dependent on the road type and nominal battery capacity. Vehicles with long and medium ranges show a robust performance for common driving conditions. Short-range vehicles perform adequately in urban and rural road conditions, but on highways, speed and acceleration reductions of up to 6.7 km/h and 3.96 (km/h)/s have been observed. The results of this study suggest that degradation should not be a concern for standard driving conditions and mid- and long-range vehicles currently dominate the market. In addition, the results are used to define a functional End of Life criterion based on performance loss, beyond the oversimplified 70–80% State-of-Health threshold, which does not consider individual requirements.

Strategies to enhance the level of service and safety of rural roads: A case study.

Faced with the contradiction between the increasing traffic volume and the aging road infrastructures in the rural area, this paper aims to propose feasible strategies to enhance the level of service and safety, by a case study of the rural area in the north Jintan district. In order to figure out current issues related to rural roads, a carefully designed investigation has been conducted, and the results of the two-week investigation include roads' basic information, traffic signs and protective facilities, surrounding landscape, and etc. Based on the field driving tests, specific problems including signs category, signs installation and facility maintenance have been fully analyzed. Meanwhile, the problem of roadnet connectivity has also been pointed out through the theory of complex network, and results show that the average node clustering coefficient and shortest path length perform worse than the demonstration plot of other rural districts. For the sake of rural traffic safety and management efficiency, both quantified and qualified strategies have been put forward. The quantified strategies include the regular inspection indicators, the safety sight distance at T-type crossings, as well as the risk severity of sections and the crossings. The qualified strategies involve the management of trucks and roadworks, the setting of signalized intersections, and the timely updates of traffic signs and facilities. Finally, an intelligent management system framework has been established for rural road traffic, with highly interconnected modules of data acquisition, risk identification and information publishing.

Soil organic carbon enrichment in the particulate matter emitted by rural soils: A laboratory assessment

AbstractThe aim of this study was to assess the organic carbon (OC) content in the PM10 emitted by agricultural soils and rural roads under controlled conditions. Samples were collected from agricultural soils and rural roads. The PM10 was generated and collected using an electrostatic precipitator coupled with the Easy Dust Generator (EDG). This procedure ensures that the PM10 collected come specifically from soil. OC contents were measured in both the soil and PM10. The enrichment ratio (ER) was calculated as the ratio between OC content in the PM10 and OC content in the soil. The results showed that OC content in the PM10 ranged from 2.7% to 3.5% in agricultural soils and from 1.4% to 2.9% in rural roads. These values were comparable with the OC contents observed in fine particles transported by the wind, but lower than OC contents observed in PM10 samples collected in rural areas using active samplers and filters. A quadratic function described the association between OC in PM10 and OC in the soil. A negative potential function described the association between ERs and OC in the soil. Both associations suggested a saturation of OC in PM10 when the OC content in the soil was high. This information is crucial for a better comprehending of the dust emission role in the redistribution of OC within terrestrial ecosystems and to the atmosphere and oceans.

Motofish and Trashfish: Food values and rifts at the agrarian frontier

At the resource frontier of Prey Lang Forest in Cambodia, a new food regime marks multiple rifts in the social fabric. As the forest gives way to rural road development, migrant incursions, and cash cropping, long-term residents lament the paucity of available food. At the same time, new migrants suggest that there is now more food than ever. Based on how food is defined, we find one food, motofish, that emerged as a significant semiotic sign. It is a fish, regardless of species, that is farm-raised and carried from the market to the village by motorbike. It is opposed to a real fish that grows by itself in a river or stream. Long-term Kuy and Khmer residents of the forest see the fish as a sign of destruction and loss, because there are so few fish in the rivers and streams. New migrants see motofish as part of a new abundance coming to this remote corner of the world where there used to be no food. This abundance is facilitated by Cambodia's growing fish farming industry, fed by wild-harvested 'trashfish' and subsidized soy pellets. Motofish is more than a sign of gastropolitics, as it marks a rift in the semiotic landscape through which individual and collective worlds emerge. We use this worldmaking fish to launch a discussion of both the epistemic and metabolic rifts of agrarian transformation and how these rifts are interpreted by different actors in the same landscape: One that recognizes the metabolic rift and the other that carries with them its epistemic cleansing.

Network Screening on Low-Volume Roads Using Risk Factors

This paper proposes a new method for network screening on rural low-volume roads. These roads are important as they provide critical access to agricultural land and tourist attractions. Most low-volume roads belong to the lowest functional class (local rural roads) and thus are built to lower design standards. Conventional hot spot network screening techniques may not be appropriate for low-volume roads due to the sporadic nature of crashes occurring on these roads. Conversely, sophisticated network screening approaches require extensive roadway and traffic data that are often unavailable to local agencies due to a lack of resources, and/or a lack of technical expertise. This research attempts to address these obstacles to low-volume road network screening which aims to identify candidate sites for safety improvements. The research used an extensive low-volume road sample from the state of Oregon and Empirical Bayes expected number of crashes in developing the proposed models for network screening. The proposed models do not require exact measurements of roadway geometric features as all geometric variables were classified into categories that are easy to compile by local agencies. Further, the method could be used with and without traffic data, without compromising the effectiveness of the network screening process.

Research on Performance Evaluation Index System of Rural Highway PPP Project

In recent years, China has actively and steadily expanded the effective investment in rural transportation infrastructure, actively guided social capital to participate in rural development, promoted the combination of PPP model and all aspects of rural areas, and implemented a new round of rural road construction and transformation. Rural highway construction is an important measure to promote rural economic development. Because of the wide range of rural construction in China and the huge capital investment and demand, it is necessary to build a scientific and comprehensive evaluation index system to evaluate the performance of rural highway construction projects, analyze the evaluation results, and put forward feasible suggestions to help decision makers grasp the benefits and effects of construction, and take targeted measures to guide and promote the positive development of rural highways. Taking the northern extension project of XL highway as an example, this paper constructs a performance evaluation index system, which can provide reference for the project management of XL highway and other highway projects.

Between Eating and Being Fed: Competing Ethics of Community-Based Road Building in Nepal

ABSTRACT: This paper explores locally-situated logics of ethical judgment underpinning practices of road building in Nepal, and how those logics are attuned to the challenges of navigating complex socio-political dynamics, socio-natural environments, and regional political economies. In so doing it challenges homogenizing discourses of corruption that commonly surround infrastructure development. Building on ethnographic research on rural road construction in two agrarian districts, we argue that different understandings of who is responsible for contributing to infrastructure development, and what forms of private gain from public road budgets are justifiable, do not always conform to official understandings of the public good. Such discrepancies arise, we suggest, from the practical role that certain forms of rule breaking play in getting roads built, as well as from the contested legitimacy of the rules themselves. The politics of participatory development bring to light the ambivalent morality of certain forms of public/private transgressions, and tensions between competing imaginaries of the "public" nature of "local" rural roads—which constitute important, and largely overlooked, dynamics in infrastructure development. Attention to such dynamics is needed to better understand the challenge of building high-quality rural roads and, we contend, to inform just and sustainable approaches to infrastructure development.

An Empirical Evaluation of a New Heuristic Method for Identifying Safety Improvement Sites on Rural Highways: An Oregon Case Study

Road safety is considered one of the fundamental factors for sustainable mobility, which requires establishing effective highway safety management programs and processes. Identifying safety improvement sites (network screening) is a critical step in the state roadway safety programs. The overall effectiveness of these programs largely relies on the robustness of the network screening method in identifying sites with high potential for safety improvements. This study investigates the network screening performance of a new proposed methodology that employs heuristic scoring schemes to account for roadway and roadside characteristics, crash history, and traffic exposure. The new method, originally proposed for use on rural low-volume roads, is simplistic in that it does not require exact and detailed information on traffic and geometric characteristics and can still be applied in the absence of crash data. The performance evaluation is conducted using a sample of 1495 miles of rural two-lane highway segments in Oregon. The effectiveness of the proposed method is assessed using observed crash history and compared to the well-established Empirical Bayes method as a reference. The effect of traffic level on the performance of the proposed method was evaluated using separate analyses for lower and higher traffic volume segments. The study findings indicate that the effectiveness of the proposed method in identifying sites with potential safety improvements is overall high and slightly exceeded that of the more sophisticated and data-intensive Empirical Bayes method. When data were stratified by traffic volume, the proposed method was found to be more effective for lower volume roads; however, the Empirical Bayes method outperformed the proposed method for higher volume roads.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR UNPAVED RURAL ROADS: A CASE STUDY

This study focused on the evaluation of the condition of the unpaved rural road: Sauces Norte-Imbana in the province of Loja, using two main indicators: Unsurfaced Road Condition Index (URCI) and the International Roughness Index (IRI). The IRI was measured using three different devices: MERLIN, Roughometer III, and a mobile application. The collected data were statistically analyzed to determine their distribution and the correlation between the variables. The results revealed a weak correlation between these variables, indicating that each methodology may be assessing different aspects of the road condition or due to the particular conditions of the road. The lack of a strong relationship may be related to the specific characteristics of the studied road, such as its sinuosity and the influence of environmental conditions on roughness measurements. This study underscores the importance of considering a variety of factors when evaluating the condition of unpaved roads and the need to develop and apply suitable evaluation techniques for the specific conditions of each road.

A Multi-Objective Optimization Approach for Low Volume Rural Road Maintenance Management Incorporating Socioeconomic Importance

A Multi-Objective Optimization Approach for Low Volume Rural Road Maintenance Management Incorporating Socioeconomic Importance

Competency of Rural Roads Achieving Targets 3.6 and 11.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals in Bangladesh

Road Transportation is the major mode of transportation and is recognized as a significant contributor to the socio-economic development in many low-and-middle-income countries like in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, this transport system is now responsible for carrying about 70% of passengers and 60% of freights and increasing the share of modalities day by day with the development of road transport systems. The responsibility for the improvement and maintenance of the total road network of the country is assigned mainly to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). But the road network belongs to LGED termed as “Rural Road” which is about 94% of the total road length and in the meantime, more than 40% is improved by mainly flexible pavements. However, the state of road traffic safety on many improved rural roads is poor due to narrow carriageways and shoulders along with roadside hazards. On the other hand, the overall road traffic safety in Bangladesh is poor compared to the developed and motorized countries. However, according to the police report, about 4000 people die and another 5000 people become injured by road traffic crashes in each year in Bangladesh but the World Health Organization estimates the fatalities are more than 25,000. However, Bangladesh has committed to achieving the targets 3.6 and 11.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) assigned by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 concerning the improvement of road traffic safety by halving 50% of fatalities by 2030. Therefore, the achievement of the above two targets depends on the improvement of road traffic safety on highways as well as rural roads. This research highlights the barriers to improving the safety of rural roads to achieve the above two targets by 2030.

Modified Asphalt with Graphene-Enhanced Polymeric Compound: A Case Study

In recent years, the increased use of heavy commercial vehicles with higher axle weights has required the development of innovative technologies to improve the mechanical properties of asphalt concrete conglomerates, such as fatigue resistance and rutting. This study offers a comprehensive comparative analysis of different types of asphalt concrete tested in four trial sections (S1, S2, S3, S4) of the SP3 Ardeatina rural road in Rome, under actual traffic and operational conditions. More precisely, the pavement technologies applied include modified asphalt concrete with graphene and recycled hard plastics for S1, asphalt concrete modified with styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) for S2, asphalt concrete with a standard polymeric compound for S3, and traditional asphalt concrete for S4. The evaluation approach involved visual inspections in order to calculate the pavement condition index (PCI) and falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests. In addition, back-calculation analyses were performed using ELMOD software to assess the mechanical properties. The laboratory tests revealed superior properties of M1 in terms of its resistance to permanent deformations (+13%, +15%, and +19.5% compared to M2, M3, and M4, respectively) and stiffness (10,758 MPa for M1 vs. 9259 MPa, 7643 MPa, and 7289 MPa for M2, M3, and M4, respectively). These findings were further corroborated by the PCI values (PCIS1 = 65; PCIS2 = 17; PCIS3 = 28; PCIS4 = 29) as well as the FWD test results after 5 years of investigation, which suggests greater durability and resistance than the other sections.

Mechanism and Application of Soilbags Filled with Excavated Soil in Soft Soil Subgrade Treatment

This research addresses the characteristics of soft soil subgrades treated by soilbags filled with excavated clayey soil. We evaluated of the strength and deformation modulus of soilbags containing excavated soil using unconfined compression tests. In addition, the drainage consolidation characteristics of soilbag-treated subgrades were investigated via model consolidation tests. Furthermore, a practical application included the construction of a 100 m-long rural road subgrade with these soilbags. The field test and numerical simulation results included the surface settlement and pore water pressure during and after construction to validate the effectiveness of the soilbag treatment for soft soil subgrade. The results show that the soilbags significantly enhanced both the strength and deformation modulus of the soft soil, which met the design requirements after the soilbag treatment. The drainage attributes of the soilbag treatment were also found to support the consolidation process of the soft soil subgrade effectively. Notably, the pore water pressure diminished rapidly during the construction interval, which is beneficial to reducing the post-construction settlement. The settlement uniformity of the subgrade is good verification of the superiority of the soilbag-treated subgrades.

Working towards 2030 road safety targets, the need for specific rural and remote children strategies.

Despite the importance of child road traffic death, the knowledge about rural child road traffic death in Australia is limited. To explore the difference of child road traffic death between urban and rural areas. This study was a retrospective analysis of road traffic death in Australia among children and adolescents aged 0-19 registered between 1 January 2009 and 30 June 2019. During the study period, there were 1757 child road traffic death in Australia, and the crude mortality rate was 2.96 per 100 000 population. The crude mortality rate in remote (8.83 per 100 000 population) and very remote (11.08 per 100 000 population) areas was much higher than major cities (1.83 per 100 000 population), inner regional (5.14 per 100 000 population) and outer regional (5.91 per 100 000 population). Specific targets are needed to address the burden of child road traffic death in Australia around rurality, as it is a significant risk factor of child road traffic death.

Features and prospects for the development of rural tourism in the Chuvash Republic

Relevance.Rural tourism is a developing, promising field of activity with specific features. Clients are not just looking for an idle holiday, but want to get acquainted with local customs, and some even want to participate in the production and processing of agricultural products, which leads to an expansion of the range of farm products, stimulates the production of environmentally friendly products, the development of small businesses and the improvement appearance of the village. In the article we examined the essence and importance of rural tourism, described the potential of agrotourism in the Chuvash Republic, identified the main factors hindering the development of the industry, as well as problems that require solutions.Methods.In the process of observing, collecting, summarizing and processing information, various methods of analytical, economic-statistical, graphical and other research methods were used.In order to compile static statistical ideas about the state of society and public opinion in the region under study, a cross-sectional study was carried out, for which a questionnaire was compiled and an electronic survey of respondents was carried out.Results.The analysis shows the underdevelopment of rural tourism in the republic. Despite the high tourist and recreational potential of the republic, factors hindering the development of rural tourism have been identified: low level of development of rural infrastructure, quality of rural roads, poor Internet coverage, lack of modern hospitality facilities, rural residents are not ready for change, improving the level of service, they lack education in the relevant field.The emergence and development of government programs to support initiatives in the field of rural tourism can become an impetus for the creation and transformation of hospitality facilities in the countryside, and, consequently, the formation of a whole new tourism sector.

Mediating Role of Collaboration on Transformational Leadership and Performance Contracts in Road Agencies in Kenya.

Purpose: Type of leadership that can be considered effective, in the current set of environments would demand collaboration, listening skills, influence, and flexible adaptation to the existing environment in contrary to command and control systems in organizations. This study investigated the mediating role of collaboration to the relationship between transformational leadership and performance contracting in road agencies in Kenya. Operationalization of variables included transformational leadership as independent variable, performance contracting as the dependent variable and collaboration as the mediating variable. This study was guided by theories of transformational leadership and public value.
 Methodology: The study adopted mixed methods approach where data was collected through questionnaires and structured interviews and target population for the research was all staff members in top management and officers in job group 5 (five) and above for three road agencies in Kenya. The road agencies included Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA). The study utilized descriptive and inferential statistics used data analysis where regression was computed to determine correlations between independent, mediating and dependent variables.
 Findings: From the study findings and results, the relationship between transformational leadership and performance contracting in road agencies in Kenya was noted to be partially mediated by collaboration as p value was (p< 0.05). Collaboration was therefore noted as a very important component in an organization as employees are able to achieve their performance targets with ease as different sections and individuals support each in the process of performance contracting in road agencies in Kenya. This study recommends to policy makers in road agencies in Kenya to create a conducive environment of collaboration and teamwork as the same would enhance both individual and collective performance which ultimately influence levels of achievement of set targets in performance contracts in these organization.
 Unique contributor to theory, policy and practice: This study recommends further areas of research in general or overall performance of road agencies in Kenya and teamwork building processes, role of leadership in teamwork and in achieving individual and organizational performance.

Relationship between Idealized Influence (II) and Performance Contracts (PC) in Road Agencies in Kenya

Purpose: This study entailed a diagnostic analysis of the relationship between idealized influence and performance contracts in road agencies in Kenya. The objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between idealized influence and performance contracts in road agencies in Kenya. Operationalization of variables included idealized influence as an independent variable and performance contracts as a dependent variable. Theories that guided the study included transformational leadership theory and public management theory.
 Materials and Methods: Descriptive research design was used for the study and pragmatism was adopted as the philosophical framework for the research. Convergent parallel mixed method approach was adopted where data was collected through questionnaires for quantative data and structured interviews for qualitative data. The target population for the research was all staff members at top management and other officers in job group 6 (six) and above for the three road agencies in Kenya. These road agencies included Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA). Data collected was analyzed through descriptive statistics, inferential analysis and hypothesis testing. The collected data was presented through tables and figures. Findings from the above analysis indicated that the performance contracts process and its outcomes in road agencies in Kenya could be predicted by idealized influence. The null hypothesis was rejected as p value was less than p<0.05 threshold of significance level and the study concluded that idealized influence has a significant relationship with performance contracts in road agencies in Kenya.
 Findings: The study rejected the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between idealized influence and performance contracts in road agencies in Kenya. The foregoing was supported by both results and findings from descriptive statistics, hypothesis tested and structured interviews conducted in the three road agencies. Leaders who were interviewed in these road agencies indicated that they also practiced integrity and leadership behaviors that could be emulated by their followers.
 Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study thus supported the transformational leadership theory that was adopted for the study. Further, the study has bridged and addressed gaps on motivation, training and lack of leadership as identified in the statement of problem. This study has recommended that policy makers in road agencies should include idealized influence in their leadership and also align it with their strategies as detailed in strategic plans, performance contracts and individual workplans to enhance motivation, training and capacity building among employees of the studied organizations. The study also contributed to the transformational leadership theory as the was supported by the findings that leaders in these organizations should be role models and practice integrity in the process of performance contracting in road agencies. The study further recommended that policy makers in road agencies should entrench appropriate leadership (transformational leadership) during the process of performance contracting in road agencies.

Road Access, Fertility, and Child Health in Rural India

AbstractExpansion in access to public infrastructure can have varied, microlevel impacts. In this paper, we use a discrete and quasi‐random change in the access to paved roads through a large‐scale rural road construction program in India to study how road access impacts fertility decisions and investments in child health. We find that increased access to paved roads at the district level decreases fertility, improves investments in children, and lowers infant mortality. We also provide evidence that highlights the mechanisms that drive this effect. First, we show that local roads improve access to health care facilities and raise immunization rates, which reduces infant mortality. Then, we demonstrate that last‐mile road connectivity has contrasting effects on employment across gender. Overall, the evidence suggests that rural roads can help accelerate demographic transition through their effects on fertility and infant mortality.

Mental Workload and Road Environment Complexity: Subjective Assessments

Since 2011, mental workload has been one of the top 10 causes of accidents in Malaysia, accounting for over a thousand fatalities yearly. Mental workload is defined as a comparable mediating variable to attention. The aim of this study is to identify the fundamental causes and influences that affect the difficulty of the road environment and vehicle task, as well as their impact on the driver’s health. In this study, subjective measurement is used to assess the level of mental workload of drivers which includes NASA-TLX and KSS on two different road environment condition namely urban and rural road environment. The findings show that the complexity of the road environment has a significant effect towards the mental workload of a driver. The average NASA-TLX score for urban roads is higher than the average score for rural roads while, the results for KSS level indicates higher drowsiness level among the drivers when driving on a rural road as opposed to an urban road. These results may serve as a guide for future research into the mental workloads of drivers in various types of complex road environments, as well as a practical guide for car manufacturers, agencies responsible for road safety, and researchers to improve the safety design of cars and consider external factors related to road environment complexity when designing roads.

Development of a Relationship between Pavement Condition Index and Riding Quality Index on Rural Roads: A Case Study in China

The current standard for evaluating road conditions worldwide relies primarily on the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) and the International Roughness Index (IRI). The IRI can be further calculated to obtain the Riding Quality Index (RQI). To assess pavement damage, various imaging equipment is commonly utilized, providing consistent results that align with actual road conditions. For roughness detection, the Laser Profilometer offers excellent results but may not be suitable for rural roads with poor conditions due to its high inspection cost and the need for a stable environmental setting. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop cost-effective, rapid, and accurate roughness inspection methods for these roads, which constitute a significant portion of the road network. This study examined the relationship between PCI and RQI using nonlinear regression on 30,088 valid pavement inspection records from various regions in China (totaling 24,624.222 km). Our objective was to estimate RQI solely from PCI data, capitalizing on its broad coverage and superior accuracy. Additionally, we explored how PCI levels impact RQI decay rates. The models in this study were compared to several models published in previous studies at last. Our findings indicate that the model performs best for low-grade roads with low PCI scores, achieving over 90% accuracy for both cement concrete and asphalt concrete pavements. Furthermore, different levels of pavement damage have distinct effects on RQI decay rates, with the most significant impact observed when the pavement is severely damaged. The models in this study outperformed all the other available models in the literature. Consequently, under limited inspection conditions in rural areas, pavement damage inspection results can effectively predict riding quality or roughness, thereby reducing inspection costs. Overall, this study offers valuable insights but has limitations, including limited global generalizability and the model’s applicability to high-grade roads. Future research is needed to address these issues and enhance practical applications.