Traffic Intensity Levels Research Articles

Evaluation of changes in soil physical properties 20 years after skidding operations

ABSTRACT Soil degradation can negatively impact its physical and chemical properties over the long term. We investigated the natural recovery of physical properties of disturbed soils on an abandoned machine operating trail in a deciduous mountain forest in northern Iran. The machine operating trail hadn’t been used for the last 20 years. Dry bulk density and total porosity were assessed for three levels of traffic intensity (light, moderate, and heavily trafficked trails) and two levels of slope gradients (gentle, ≤20%, and steep, >20%), in four different soil depths (0–10, 10.1–20, 20.1–30, and 30.1–40 cm) as well as in undisturbed (control) areas. Over the course of the 20-year recovery period, it was observed that in the depth intervals of 0–10, 10.1–20, 20.1–30, and 30.1–40 cm, trails subjected to heavy traffic on gently sloping terrain displayed mean values that exhibited an increase of 78%, 62%, 55%, and 47% in bulk density, respectively, and a decrease of 27%, 26%, 28%, and 27% in total porosity, respectively, when compared to undisturbed soil. In the case of steep slopes, analogous assessments indicated an increase of 82%, 69%, 39%, and 31% in bulk density, respectively, and a reduction of 28%, 29%, 26%, and 24% in total porosity, respectively, within the aforementioned depth intervals. However, in the case of lightly trafficked trails situated on gentle slopes, there was a discernible amelioration in surface soil compaction. Our findings consequently suggest that the natural recovery of soil physical properties in the study area extends beyond the examined timeframe of twenty years.

Assessment of the impact of ground-based skidding on soil physical properties: initial effect and medium-term recovery

ABSTRACT Soil profile disturbance and compaction can have a medium-term detrimental impact on soil physical properties. We investigated the recovery of physical properties of disturbed soils on four abandoned skid trails in a deciduous mountain forest in northern Iran. The trails ranged from immediately after skidding operations (IAS), through 5 years and 10 years, to 20 years since forest harvesting. For each recovery period, mean values for soil bulk density, total porosity, macroporosity, and rut depth were assessed for three levels of traffic intensity and two levels of slope gradients, as well as within the general harvesting area and compared to those in untrafficked control areas. Over the 20-year recovery period, skid trails with lower traffic intensity on gentle slopes exhibited mean values that were 16.1% (bulk density), and 3.5 cm (rut depth) greater and 9.5% (total porosity) and 32.7% (macroporosity) lower compared to undisturbed areas; on steep trails with higher traffic intensity, values were 43.1% (bulk density), and 13 cm (rut depth) greater and 30.3% (total porosity) and 64.5% (macroporosity) lower, respectively. During this period (over the 20-year recovery period), surface soil compaction showed recovery in the general harvesting area. These results raise serious concerns about medium-term resilience to traffic on forest soils and indicate the necessity to properly retire skid trails to avoid further soil degradation as trails age.

Measuring Traffic Congestion with Novel Metrics: A Case Study of Six U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Quantifying traffic congestion is a critical task for transportation planning and research. Numerous metrics have been developed, mainly focusing on changes in vehicle speeds, their extents, and travel time. In this study, new metrics are presented using the Hägerstrand’s space-time cube that has been studied from time geography perspectives since the 1960s. Particularly, the product of distance and time, i.e., distanceTime, is proposed as a base metric to measure traffic congestion amounts. Using the base metric such as mileHours, metrics of weighted congestion and normalized congestion amounts were also developed. New metrics were applied to six metropolitan areas and their vicinities in the United States (Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Dallas and Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and New York), and congestion amounts were calculated and compared. The Google Traffic Layer API was used to obtain traffic congestion datasets for six months (April–September 2022), and GIS (geographic information systems) was used for delineating road features and traffic intensity levels. Among the six areas, New York and its vicinity showed the largest congestion when only heavy congestion was used. Los Angeles and its vicinity showed the largest congestion when all congestion levels were considered. This study shows that the proposed metrics are very effective in summarizing traffic amounts and broadly applicable for further analyses of traffic congestion phenomena by associating various other factors, such as weekdays, months, or gas prices. The new metrics developed in this research may help transportation researchers and practitioners by providing them with a set of metrics applicable to summarizing congestion amounts by synthesizing congestion intensity, extent, and duration.

Respiratory effects of outdoor air pollution related to road traffic: Case of saleswomen working near Dantokpa’s market highways in Cotonou, Benin

Introduction: Sales around roads, a common activity mainly carried out by women in African urban areas, exposes these professionals to outdoor air pollution (OAP). The study aimed to compare the frequency of respiratory symptoms and lung function in saleswomen exposed to OAP with controls. Materials and Methods: In a quasi-experimental longitudinal study here-elsewhere, we compared 115 saleswomen exposed to OAP linked to heavy traffic, with 115 matched controls. The intensity of traffic on the two sites and the daily sales time of the saleswomen were assessed. Respiratory symptoms were collected by questionnaire and pulmonary function assessed by spirometry. Symptom-free survival over 12 months was described by Kaplan-Meier and the comparison by log rank. Results: The two groups corresponded to the matching criteria. The saleswomen were exposed to higher levels of traffic intensity than the controls (p<0.000). Survival was better without cough, cold and sputum in controls. The spirometric parameters were more altered in saleswomen: FVC (p<0.001), FEV1 (p<0.001), DEP (p=0.0001), DEM 25-75 (P<0.0001). The latter reported longer durations of cough (p<0.000), cold (p=0.012), sputum (p=0.002) and dyspnea (p=0.040). Conclusion: Saleswomen exposed to road traffic presented more spirometric alterations and respiratory symptoms. It is urgent to ensure the awareness of these professionals on the health risks of this exposure and actions to reduce the OAP linked to traffic. The reinforcement of the environmental police is necessary as well as intervention studies for risk mitigation. If nothing is done, the city will face worrying prevalence of chronic, preventable respiratory disorders.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Mulching for Reducing Soil Erosion in Skid Trail Switchbacks

Forest operations can lead to increased runoff and soil loss on roads and skid trails. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two erosion control treatments applied to different segments of skid trails following six natural rainfall events. A total of 162 plots 10 m long by 4 m wide were established in a Hyrcanian deciduous forest to assess soil runoff and soil loss following ground-based harvesting traffic. The experimental setup consisted of three levels of traffic intensity (three, eight and 16 skidder passes), two levels of slope gradient (≤20% and >20%), three classes of curvature (narrow = high deflection angle, 60°–70°; wide = low deflection angle, 110°–130°, and straight trail segments), and three classes of mulch cover (bare soil, sawdust cover, and rice straw cover). Each treatment combination was replicated three times, yielding 972 soil samples. The average surface runoff volume and soil loss differed significantly between the switchbacks and the straight trail segments and depended strongly on the degree of curvature, with severity of adverse effects increasing with curve tightness. Mulch cover treatments had a significant ameliorating effect on the surface runoff volume and soil loss throughout the skid trail. The average runoff and soil loss from the skid trails treated with sawdust cover (SC) (0.24 g m-2 (mm) and 0.49 g m-2, respectively) were lower than on trails covered with rice straw (RSC) (0.45 g m-2 and 1.19 g m-2, respectively), which were, in turn lower than on untreated bare soil (BS) trail segments (0.70 g m-2 and 2.31 g m-2, respectively). Surface runoff volume was significantly positively correlated with soil loss and both were positively correlated with dry bulk density and rut depth and negatively correlated with litter mass, total porosity, and macroporosity. Surface cover is a successful measure for controlling erosion losses following skidding disturbances, particularly in the switchback curves of trails on steep slopes where erosion potential is high.

The development of transport infrastructure of the Rostov-on-Don Oblast: The current state and priorities

Subject. The paper considers the current state and priorities of the transport infrastructure development of the Rostov-on-Don region with an emphasis on the effects of national and regional projects implementation. Objectives. The study overviews the statistical analysis of the current state of transport infrastructure in the Rostov-on-Don region, identifying key problems, determining the prospects and risks of implementing infrastructure transport projects. Methods. The methods of statistical and economic analysis are used. The available statistical indicators of the transport sector for 2000–2019 are analyzed. Results. The impact of infrastructure investment on economic growth is higher in regions with better-designed regional policies. At the same time, this conclusion only highlights the complexity of the channels through which infrastructure affects economic performance, as well as the problems that this complexity creates for empirical research. Studies on the relationship between infrastructure and economic growth have not produced definitive results. There is a positive correlation between the availability of regional transport infrastructure and availability of developed transport systems and economic indicators, for example, GRP. However, this correlation may reflect historical agglomeration processes, etc., rather than the current causal relationships. Conclusions and Relevance. The complex of infrastructural restrictions of the transport infrastructure of the Rostov region is the congestion of highways, the exhaustion of load-bearing road capacity and, as a result, the reduction of the transport permeability of the entire agglomeration. These problems put the implementation of projects to improve the transport and operational condition of the existing network of public roads, bringing the technical parameters and the level of engineering equipment of roads in line with the achieved traffic intensity levels among the priority tasks. The main tool for achieving the strategic goal is the Safe and High-Quality Roads national project. The implementation of the Rostov-on-Don Transport Ring project will also have a positive impact on the economic security of the region's road transport infrastructure.

Bulk density and porosity of soils influenced by skidding operations in the Nkrankwanta Off-Forest Reserve of Ghana

Heavy forest machinery used in skidding has the capacity to influence the physical properties of soils. These may possibly lead to an upsurge in soil disruption and compaction of the soil surface decreases forest soil fertilities. This study assesses the effects of skidding on some soil physical properties such as the soil bulk density and porosity in the Nkrankwanta off-forest reserve in Ghana. The treatments comprised of four traffic intensity levels (1, 5, 10, and 15 passes) of the Mercedes Benz skidder (MB) Trac 1800 and a slope of two levels (less than 20 % and greater than 20 %) in a completely randomized block design. In addition, porosity and soil bulk density were assessed at varied distances from the MB Trac 1800. Soil bulk density results showed increasing trends with traffic frequency. Soil bulk density measured in the undisturbed area was 0.64 g cm-3 and 0.56 g cm-3 at slopes of less than 20% and greater than 20%, respectively. On the skid trail, soil bulk density significantly increased with traffic frequency (p<0.05). However soil porosity declined. Soil porosity estimated in uninterrupted area was 59.10 % and 57.40 % at < 20% and > 20% slope, respectively. Soil porosity was significantly influenced via different skidder passes (p<0.05). The soil physical properties were not influenced by the steepness of the slope however acted together in the number of passes to influence soil porosity. The impacts of the skidder on soil physical properties were significantly apparent at distances of 2 m to each sideway of the skidding trail. In conclusion, distinct responsiveness ought to be considered throughout the operations of skidding to curtail unfriendly influences on soil physical properties in ground-base skidding.

Post-Harvest Evaluation of Soil Physical Properties and Natural Regeneration Growth in Steep-Slope Terrains

Protection of forest soils during harvesting operations is necessary to reduce damage and accelerate recovery time. The current study aims to evaluate soil physical properties, natural regeneration, and its recovery process in treatments including slope gradient, traffic intensity and skid trail after long periods of time, after ceasing the timber harvesting operations. The most recent skidding operations within each 5 years recovery period were studied for a chronosequence of 20 years. Soil samples were taken in abandoned skid trails and data were recorded on naturally regenerated species and density. The results revealed that most soil disturbances occurred on the slopes >20%, as well as the highest levels of traffic intensity. Bulk density and penetration resistance were still higher than the control area, with a significant difference between them, while total porosity was partially recovered. Twenty years after the skidding operation, soil bulk density and penetration resistance were 13.2% and 23.7% higher than the control area, while total porosity was 9.78% lower the than value of the control area. Seedlings of 50–150 cm and >150 cm in height on skid trails had significantly lower density than those in the control. The number of seedlings per m2 was less than the control area in all skid trails and for all height classes. The proportion of seedlings present in low traffic intensity was higher than in medium and high traffic intensities. The findings confirmed that full recovery rates are lengthy, and more time than 20 years is required to fully recover, especially with regards to penetration resistance.

Opportunities for Solving Urban and Environmental Problems by Progressive City Logistics Tools

Abstract At present, high traffic intensity level on the roads currently saturates a great demand for individual transportation. Mobility is an important part of everyday activities in cities. The increasing number of passenger and freight vehicles on the widening transport infrastructure raises several problems. The range of use of public passenger transport does satisfy enough the citizens needs and its use is constantly decreasing, especially in the new EU countries. One of the reasons is also the growing sale and production of new passenger cars in the EU, resulting in congestion in the road infrastructure of cities and environmental problems. These issues are dealt with the modern City Logistics concept. The contribution focused on the basic principles of city logistics, the reasons for its development and, in particular, the possibilities of practical use. An example is the city of Trenčín in Slovakia, where a regional rail passenger transport is proposed for city traffic service including Park and Ride system.

Task Data Offloading and Resource Allocation in Fog Computing With Multi-Task Delay Guarantee

With the emergence of delay-sensitive task completion, computational offloading becomes increasingly desirable due to the end-user's limitations in performing computation-intense applications. Interestingly, fog computing enables computational offloading for the end-users towards delay-sensitive task provisioning. In this paper, we study the computational offloading for the multiple tasks with various delay requirements for the end-users, initiated one task at a time in end-user side. In our scenario, the end-user offloads the task data to its primary fog node. However, due to the limited computing resources in fog nodes compared to the remote cloud server, it becomes a challenging issue to entirely process the task data at the primary fog node within the delay deadline imposed by the applications initialized by the end-users. In fact, the primary fog node is mainly responsible for deciding the amount of task data to be offloaded to the secondary fog node and/or remote cloud. Moreover, the computational resource allocation in term of CPU cycles to process each bit of the task data at fog node and transmission resource allocation between a fog node to the remote cloud are also important factors to be considered. We have formulated the above problem as a Quadratically Constraint Quadratic Programming (QCQP) and provided a solution. Our extensive simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed offloading scheme under different delay deadlines and traffic intensity levels.

The Use of Tree Barks to Monitor Traffic Related Air Pollution: A Case Study in São Paulo–Brazil

The analysis of chemical elements in the barks of trees is an alternative procedure to access spatial heterogeneity of traffic related air pollution. However, the role of tree species in the characterization of the variability of airborne pollution is poorly known. We present an observational study conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil, based on the analysis of 498 trees from three common species: Tipuana tipu, Poincianella pluviosa and Ligustrum sp.. We considered ANCOVA models to compare the concentrations of Al, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Ba and S in the bark of trees located close to streets with different levels of traffic intensity controlling for the extension of nearby green areas. The expected trend of increasing elemental concentration in the bark of trees located near streets with greater traffic intensity or close to smaller green areas was only fully evidenced by T. tipu. For instance, the concentrations of Zn, Fe, Al and Ba increase by 200%, 350%, 230% and 280% respectively, for trees of this species located near arterial streets when compared to those observed near local streets. On the other hand, the concentrations of Zn, Fe, Al and Ba are reduced by 41%, 45% 50%, 30%, respectively, for trees located near green areas. For P. pluviosa, the capacity to suggest an association between the tree bark concentration of chemical elements with increasing levels of air pollution and presence of green areas was only fully observed for Zn and Cu. For Ligustrum sp., weaker and sometimes non-expected associations between bark concentrations of the chemical elements and either street classification or green area extension were observed. Our results indicate that the choice of species is a key element in the use of tree barks as a biomonitoring tool in urban landscapes. Species like T. tipu, with rough and highly porous bark, are the most appropriate for such purpose.

Approximating class-departure variability in tandem queues with downtime events: Regression-based variability function

Predicting queue performance by approximating class-departure variability in tandem queues with downtime events via existing decomposition methods is neither accurate enough nor efficient enough. Analytic approximations, if conducted alone, lack accuracy but attempting to increase accuracy by incorporating simulation to analytic approximation has proved to require significant computation efforts. The aim of this paper is to reduce the latter inefficiency by modeling the Regression-Based Variability Function (RBVF) designed to approximate the between-class effect by exploiting the departure process from a single queue. The new approach predicts performance of n-tandem queues by reducing the focus to two-tandem queues for each traffic intensity level, as well as by modeling different policies of downtimes (e.g. first-come-first-served or priority). Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed RBVF delivers both accuracy and efficiency improvements: the relative errors associated with RBVF are about three times smaller than the best existing analytic procedures and the computation efforts associated with RBVF are about five times smaller than existing analytic procedure combined with simulation.

Soil physical properties degrade further on skid trails in the year following operations

Short-term recovery of soil physical properties on skid trails was investigated upon cessation of skidding operations and 1 year later. Bulk density and porosity were assessed at three levels of traffic intensity and two slope gradients. Compared to undisturbed areas, bulk density increased, total porosity and macroporosity decreased, and microporosity increased in the compacted areas immediately after skidding. In all cases, changes were significantly greater when traffic intensity was higher and when slopes were steeper. Surface soil compaction did not show any recovery over the 1-year period, illustrating the persistent effects of compaction on soil structure. In fact, surficial compaction further increased and macroporosity further decreased after 1 year of recovery, compared to immediately after skidding. While these changes may reflect inherent small-scale site variability or differences in soil moisture content at times of sampling, direct negative physical impacts on newly exposed soil (such as by raindrops), in addition to the loss of organic matter after canopy removal and skidding, likely delayed any physical recovery, particularly on heavily trafficked trails on steeper slopes. These results raise serious concerns about long-term resilience to traffic on forest soils and indicate the necessity to properly retire skid trails to avoid further soil degradation as trails age.

The effects of highway development on housing prices

The purpose of this research is to estimate the effects of highway development projects on the price of housing. Transportation development projects, highways in particular, improve a certain area’s accessibility but also increase its levels of exposure to traffic intensity and noise pollution. These externalities are evaluated by homeowners and residents and are reflected in the price of housing. In this paper, we use several repeat sales model specifications, including difference-in-differences estimators, and control for neighborhood effects to examine housing price trends in the municipalities around two newly developed highways in the Netherlands. The results of the research demonstrate that changes in accessibility result in a significant positive effect on the price of housing in nearby municipalities, but that increased noise pollution and traffic intensity levels result in a decrease in prices. The findings also confirm that combining the total effects of all externalities, the effect of highway development on the price of housing is generally positive, and this effect is salient even before the project is completed due to public anticipation effects.

Ground-based skidder traffic changes chemical soil properties in a mountainous Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) forest in Iran

Increased soil compaction following harvest traffic is an inroad for adverse changes in soil biological properties and processes, soil microbial activity, bacterial communities, and growth and development of plant roots. This study investigated the impacts of three levels of traffic intensity (3–6, 7–14, and 15+ passes) of a Timberjack 450C skidder on changes in several chemical soil properties at two levels of skid trail slope gradients (gentle =<20% and steep >20% inclination) in the Hyrcanian forest. Skidding increased soil bulk density between 19% and 39% and, averaged over both slope gradients, reduced amounts of soil organic carbon (33–67%), concentrations of nitrogen (51–80%), phosphorous (0–17%), potassium (11–36%), and hydrogen ions (78–98%) compared to undisturbed areas. Most soil damage occurred after a few skidder passes, particularly on steep slopes that generally experienced the highest level of soil deterioration. The primary mechanism that induced immediate chemical soil changes was an uplift and exposure of deeper soil layers in response to compression and displacement of the former soil surface. Skidding can jeopardize the sustainability of forest ecosystems by creating unfavorable changes in soil characteristics and nutrient status.

Dynamic pooling of make-to-stock and make-to-order operations

Abstract It has become increasingly common for companies to offer make-to-stock (MTS) and make-to-order (MTO) versions of the same product through different sales channels. To satisfy these two distinct demand streams, one strategy is to produce both the MTS and MTO items in a single “hybrid” facility partially comprised of flexible servers or machines. We develop a multi-server queueing model of this system, where a subset of the servers or machines is dynamically switched between MTS and MTO production via a congestion-based switching policy. We develop analytical formulae for quantifying all major performance measures of the system. We also present a search procedure to find the capacity and inventory control parameters which minimize the total costs of the system while satisfying the customer service constraints. Numerical results are used to illustrate the general behavior of the dynamic hybrid system and to compare its performance to that of a more conventional static hybrid facility with dedicated MTS and MTO servers. For high levels of traffic intensity, the dynamic system is shown to provide superior customer service for both sales channels with lower finished goods inventory levels.

Smart wireless sensor networks and biometric authentication for real time traffic light junctions management

The main challenge of intelligent transportation systems ITS is to deal with 'real-time' information to improve vehicular traffic management. Road data can be processed and used for dynamic traffic light management in order to reduce waiting times in queues. This paper proposes an innovative distributed architecture based on a wireless sensor network WSN with a network coordinator providing remote and ubiquitous authentication module for managing unexpected events. The architecture is completed by a dynamic module for street priority management depending on traffic rate. Many experimental trials have been carried out considering three different levels of traffic intensity to prove the effectiveness of the proposed approach. In a street with high traffic intensity 120 vehicles in queue, the average vehicles/second rate decrease from 6.135, using a fixed cycle traffic light, to 0.365 using the proposed traffic light measurement system. Moreover, to improve the system security, a fingerprints-based embedded authentication system has been implemented as a self-contained sensor to increase the security of distributed personal data storage. The best achieved FAR and FRR indexes are respectively 0.73% and 9.21%, with a mean elaboration time of 192.46 ms and a working frequency of 22.5 MHz.

A backoff differentiation scheme for contention resolution in wireless converge‐cast networks

SUMMARYWireless converge‐cast networks (WCNs), such as data collection‐based wireless sensor networks, exhibit certain phenomena called funneling effect, where the region close to the sink node is heavily overloaded. In this paper, we identify that the funneling effect occurs not only close to the sink but also within the network region where nodes have collision and induce heavy traffic to relay; we name it hot‐spot funneling effect. This paper aims to improve the throughput and fairness of WCNs by mitigating the micro funneling effect. We propose a new mechanism, the backoff differentiation for contention resolution (BDCR), which is targeted to a system‐wide high throughput on the basis of the contention resolution mechanism. To achieve high spatial reuses, BDCR divides the network into several regions and does backoff differentiation within each region. Within each backoff differentiation region, the backoff window range is adjusted according to the traffic rate, and at the same time, the backoff values are set with the awareness of the traffic intensity level. All regions share the same algorithm, which uses Kelly's rate control theory and method to allow each sensor to locally adjust its backoff value. One of the key advantages of BDCR is that it is extremely easy to implement. With extensive simulations and testbed experiments, BDCR is proved to achieve much higher throughput over the traditional carrier sense multiple access and some recent media access control protocols in literature, particularly when the network suffers intensive congestions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Recovery of soil bulk density, porosity and rutting from ground skidding over a 20-year period after timber harvesting in Iran

Ground-based skidding can have detrimental effects on soil properties trough soil profile disturbance and compaction that can persist for decades. We investigated the recovery of physical properties of disturbed brown soils on four abandoned downhill skid trails in a deciduous mountain forest in northern Iran. The most recent skidding operations had taken place 1–5 yrs, 6–10 yrs, 11–15 yrs, and 16–20 yrs ago, providing a 20-year chronosequence with four 5-year recovery periods. For each recovery period, mean values for soil bulk density (BD), total porosity (TP), macroporosity (MP), soil moisture content (SM), and rut depth (RD) were assessed for three levels of traffic intensity (Primary (PS), Secondary (SS) and Tertiary (TS) skid trails) and two levels of slope gradients (Gentle (G) and Steep (S)) and compared to those in undisturbed (control) areas. Over the 20-year recovery period, PS trails on gentle slopes exhibited mean values that were 35–42% (BD), 3–7% (SM), and 13–19 cm (RD) greater and 18–24% (TP) and 19–28% (MP) lower compared to undisturbed areas; on steep PS trails, values were 40–46% (BD), 2–13% (SM), and 13–21 cm (RD) greater and 23–27% (TP) and 28–35% (MP) lower, respectively. While RD and SM recovered, 20 years was not long enough for the other physical soil properties, particularly on steep slopes. To minimize soil disturbance, skidding should be confined to areas with gentle slopes and alternative harvesting methods such as cable yarding should be used where slope gradients exceed 20%.

The responsibility of tourism in traffic congestion and hyper-congestion: A case study from Mallorca, Spain

This paper explores the relationship between tourism and traffic congestion and hyper-congestion using the case study of Mallorca (Spain), one of the most important resort destinations in the Mediterranean. After discussing different proxies to capture the associated problems to road traffic congestion, different time series models are estimated including considering the days of the week, holidays and meteorological determinants jointly with a daily indicator of tourist population pressure. Results show how the tourist pressure variable is an important determinant in explaining the different alternative indicators of traffic congestion and hyper-congestion, for different roads. Hence it is possible to classify the roads in terms of usage by tourists in order to anticipate the levels of traffic intensity, especially during peak periods.