Urban Transportation Design Research Articles

Comprehensive Transportation Planning Oriented by Green TOD Mode under the Background of Dual Carbon

Since the reform and opening up, China's cities have entered a period of rapid development, and the planning and design methods that meet the needs are far behind the economic development speed. The influx of people and the development of the automobile industry have made the space of the city crowded, and the problems of urban traffic congestion have become increasingly prominent. In the era of accelerating urbanization, urban transportation design planning is more and more important, urban transportation design is a large system, this paper focuses on the green TOD model as the guide for introduction, through the analysis of the current urban transportation development challenges to put forward green transportation priority strategy, on this basis to introduce the relevant concepts of TOD mode and the combination of green transportation, and then by citing examples of Chengdu TOD development to summarize the problems solved by TOD, and finally make suggestions for urban transportation design.

Car-sharing intention analysis in Japan by comparing the utility of car ownership for car-owners and non-car owners

Car sharing (CS) service has grown as one of the components of multimodal mobility in urban transport and it is expected to lead to a reduction in personal car ownership, thereby mitigating urban congestion and parking demand. It also provides last-mile mobility to complement public transport. Against this backdrop, a lot of studies have been conducted to make clear the effectiveness of CS services. However, most of the previous studies were surveys aimed at current CS users, and only a few studies have evaluated whether general car owners and non-owners might become members of CS services in the future.In this study, a survey was conducted among 1000 car owners in Japan as to whether CS services would induce them to stop owning a car. At the time of the survey, the respondents’ current annual cost of owning a car was automatically displayed by calculating the amount from previous answers about their attributes. With this questionnaire method, it is presumed that respondents answered with a stronger awareness of the high cost of car ownership, so their responses might have reflected a consideration of the economic benefits of CS services. The results showed that 74% of car owners answered that they would not stop owning a car no matter how inexpensive CS services were and even if there was no risk of vehicle unavailability. The percentage was almost the same in every range of household income, and 40% said the reason was familiarity with and attachment to a car and 54% cited convenience in emergencies. These results suggest that in order to spread CS services for further reducing personal car ownership, emotional incentives are required to compensate for certain disadvantages of CS services, e.g., the lack of excitement derived from car ownership, potential non-availability in emergencies, and so on.A survey was also conducted among 1000 non-car owners in order to analyze and compare the utility of car ownership. The results showed that the perceived utility of car ownership was 2–10 times greater for owners than for non-owners. CS service providers and urban transport policymakers should be aware of this value when designing businesses and policies. Consideration should also be given to the various objectives of CS services such as between aiming to reducing car ownership and aiming to improve urban transport for non-car owners. Further research is required to optimize CS services for efficient urban transport design.

An Index for Evaluation for Urban Bicycle Lanes

Traditionally, the focus of urban transportation design is on motorized vehicles with less attention to green travel alternatives such as cycling. Public policy makers are now trying to increase cycling as a sustainable travel mode due to increasing concerns with respect to environmental pollution, traffic jams and health problems from today’s sedentary way of life. In the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the first bicycle lanes were built in 1991along the urban seafront for leisure and touristic purposes almost exclusively, but today the city counts on a cycling network of more than 150 kilometres under different conditions of conservation and use by the population. The manner in which this network is designed, built and managed can have a significant effect on the utility and safety of cycling. The primary objective of the current study is to develop a methodology and to propose an evaluation index that could be used as a practical instrument by municipal authorities, transportation planners, traffic engineers and others to determine the quality of bicycle lanes under 14 criteria based on social, technical and environmental aspects. The availability of a such comprehensive index is believed to be a key factor guiding cycle-friendly politics to build more sustainable cities

Geographical and temporal huff model calibration using taxi trajectory data

The Huff model is designed to estimate the probability of shopping centre patronage based on a shopping centre’s attractiveness and the cost of a customer’s travel. In this paper, we attempt to discover some general shopping trends by calibrating the Huff model in Shenzhen, China, and New York, USA, using taxi trajectory GPS data and sharing bikes GPS data. Geographical and Temporal Weighted Regression (GTWR) is used to fit the model, and calibration results are compared with Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, Geographical Weighted Regression (GWR), and Temporal Weighted Regression (TWR). Results show that GTWR gives the highest performance due to significant geographical and temporal variation in the Huff model parameters of attractiveness and travel cost. To explain the geographical variation, we use residential sales’ and rental prices in Shenzhen and New York as a proxy for customers’ wealth in each region. Pearson product-moment correlation results show a medium relationship between localised sales’ and rental prices and the Huff model parameter of attractiveness: that is, customer wealth explains geographic sensitivity to shopping area attractiveness. To explain temporal variation, we use census data in both Shenzhen and New York to provide job profile distributions for each region as a proxy to estimate customers’ spare leisure time. Regression results demonstrate that there is a significant linear relationship between the length of spare time and the parameter of shopping area attractiveness. In particular, we demonstrate that wealthy customers with less spare time are more sensitive to a shopping centre’s attractiveness. We also discover customers’ sensitivities to travel distance are related to their travel mode. In particular, people riding bikes to shopping areas care much more about trip distance compared with people who take taxi. Finally, results show a divergence in behaviours between customers in New York and Shenzhen at weekends. While customers in New York prefer to shop more locally at weekends, customers in Shenzhen care less about trip distance. We provide the GTWR calibration of the Huff model as our theoretical contribution. GTWR extends the Huff model to two dimensions (time and space), so as to analyse the differences of residents’ travel behaviours in different time and locations. We also provide the discoveries of factors affecting urban travel behaviours (wealth and employment) as practical contributions that may help optimise urban transportation design. In particular, the sensitivity of residents to the attraction of shopping areas has a significant positive linear relationship with the housing price and a significant negative linear relationship with the residents’ length of spare time.

A Cost-Effect Analysis:

College towns are known for their large student populations, strong human capital, and collaborative economic activity. Ideally, they are arenas to expand research and development, given the presence of vibrant academic institutions. One of the themes of this expansion is sustainability—-an urban growth objective that emphasizes ecological awareness and strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change. This does not necessarily denote environmental protection alone; it can include a number of goals, including social diversity. The literature shows that sustainability is a complex objective in an urban setting. Consequently, we focus on economic activity aimed at improving soft and hard infrastructure that is strategically aimed at smart growth. To that end, this paper evaluates the economic cost and effect of sustainability strategies in Denton and Austin, Texas. In particular, we look at walkability and public transportation strategies and how they have been instituted in these two college towns. Methodologically, we look at urban transportation design differences between these two cities. Using route maps and user data, we show why Denton’s sustainability strategies are widely considered more successful than Austin’s, despite the size differential in Austin’s favor. These results can help governments, urban planners, and economists develop strategies to deal with the challenges of urban growth.

Investigating the impact of urban grade-separation on pedestrian PM2.5 exposure

For urban intersections, grade separations have been deemed a way of mitigating traffic congestion. However, the environmental impact of various grade separations, especially on pedestrian exposure to traffic-related air pollution, is unknown. Particulate matter of 2.5 µm or less (PM2.5) near roadsides comes mainly from vehicle emissions and has negative respiratory health effects. Pedestrian PM2.5 exposure at ground level at different types of intersection and are studied and compared here. Based on realistic survey data at a current at-grade intersection, and reasonable assumptions about traffic speed and volume changes, MOVES modeling software used the highest resolution approach of operating mode distribution to calculate PM2.5 emission inventory for three scenarios: at-grade intersection, overpass grade separation, and underpass grade separation. Pedestrian PM2.5 exposure concentrations were estimated using the AERMOD model. The results of the case study show that both underpass and overpass intersections largely decrease pedestrian PM2.5 exposure, at almost the same amplitude. From the viewpoint of regional environmental impacts, however, the underpass-type intersection is recommended for replacing the at-grade intersection, in order to both reduce traffic congestion and better contain pollution. The findings of this research indicate that, as three-dimensional urban transportation design is becoming a more popular measure for relieving traffic congestion, environmental analysis will become an increasingly critical part of intersection design.

Ambulation Aid Use and User Performance for Transit Vehicle Interior Design

Public transportation plays an important role in shaping urban quality of life. However, urban transportation design and policy-making lacks a strong human factors knowledge base for accommodating a functionally diverse ridership including the aging and mobility impaired. This study examines seating configurations in contemporary low-floor buses and user performance for mobility impaired passengers. Task times in sitting and rising were obtained in a laboratory study using a static full-scale low-floor bus mock-up from – cane users (n=10), walker users (n=22), persons with visual impairment (n=17), and without any impairments (n=17). Significant differences in sitting and rising times across longitudinal vs. transverse seats by user group are demonstrated along with regression estimates to facilitate design evaluations. Implications of these findings, recommendations for improved low-floor bus designs and the relevance of ergonomics methods for safety, usability, and efficiency are presented.

Impact of traffic volume and composition on the air quality and pedestrian exposure in urban street canyon

Vehicle emissions are identified as a major source of air pollution in metropolitan areas. Emission control programs in many cities have been implemented as part of larger scale transport policy interventions to control traffic pollutants and reduce public health risks. These interventions include provision of traffic-free and low emission zones and congestion charging. Various studies have investigated the impact of urban street configurations, such as street canyon in urban centers, on pollutants dispersion and roadside air quality. However, there are few investigations in the literature to study the impact of change of fleet composition and street canyon effects on the on-road pollutants concentrations and associated roadside pedestrian exposure to the pollutants. This study presents an experimental investigation on the traffic related gas and particle pollutants in and near major streets in one of the most developed business districts in Hong Kong, known as Central. Both street canyon and open roadway configurations were included in the study design. Mobile measurement techniques were deployed to monitor both on-road and roadside pollutants concentrations at different times of the day and on different days of a week. Multiple traffic counting points were also established to concurrently collect data on traffic volume and fleet composition on individual streets. Street canyon effects were evident with elevated on-road pollutants concentrations. Diesel vehicles were found to be associated with observed pollutant levels. Roadside black carbon concentrations were found to correlate with their on-road levels but with reduced concentrations. However, ultrafine particles showed very high concentrations in roadside environment with almost unity of roadside/on-road ratios possibly due to the accumulation of primary emissions and secondary PM formation. The results from the study provide useful information for the effective urban transport design and bus route reorganization to minimize the impact of traffic emissions on the urban air quality and public health. Observations on the elevated ultrafine particle concentrations in roadside pedestrian levels also demonstrate the urgent need to improve roadside air quality to reduce pedestrians’ health risks especially inside street canyon.

Application and Inversion on Mechanical Parameters of Pipe Shed Support Layer for the Subway Passing Through the Existing Structure

The stability study is one of the hot spots of the urban transport design for the subway through the existing structure. The maximum settlement of the structure is regarded as the index of underneath the subway construction and design in this article, the mechanical parameters for pipe shed reinforcement layer on a subway station passing through the existing structure is back analyzed by utilizing the orthogonal experiment design methods, and the mechanical integration properties parameters which is close to engineering practice including elastic modulus, Poisson ratio, cohesion and internal friction angle for the material in the pipe shed reinforcement area are got. The steel pipe reasonable spacing range of advanced pipe shed support is got mainly on the basis of flexural rigidity. The stability analysis and evaluation for the construction of the new subway through the existing subway structure are carried out by utilizing the obtained optimum parameters.

Review of transportation choice research in Australia: Implications for sustainable urban transport design

AbstractIn Australia, the transportation sector is the third largest contributor of CO2‐e emissions. In order for Australia to meet the ratified target of 5% below 2000 emissions levels by 2020, a number of changes must be put in place. Sustainable transport design allows for more carbon‐friendly travelling alternatives in urban and suburban areas where transportation activities mostly occur. In order for the design to be successfully accepted by the community, a good understanding of people's travel behaviour and preferences of transportation mode is required. This paper offers a review of current transportation research in the context of Australia that spans a number of disciplines including economics, engineering and psychology. The objectives are to assess the key factors that have been empirically shown to affect individual transportation mode choice, identify the shortcoming and gaps in the literature, and recommend how this research can be used to aid in future carbon reduction through better understanding of people's travelling behaviour.

Soundscape analysis and acoustical design strategies for an urban village development

Overall establishment of an acoustical landscape (soundscape) would be the fundamental source of sonic information that is useful in initiating urban design and planning strategies. A soundscape analysis was conducted in conjunction with an urban transportation and community design project targeting the western section of Gainesville, FL. The community was acoustically characterized and analyzed by means of quantitative measurements and qualitative assessments by observation. The measurements included instantaneous, 1‐min short‐term and 24‐h long‐term measurements. The parameters involved in these measurements are A‐weighted average Lp, Leq, Lmax, Lmin, and LDN. The overall sonic environment of the community as well as the types of sounds that are desirable and noises that are not desireble in the existing and future contexts were identified. The results showed that the community was dominated mostly by traffic noise from several major thoroughfares and by occasional fire alarm noise. Finally, methods or strategies to reduce, buffer, and mitigate the undesirable sounds and to preserve the desirable sounds were suggested. The addition of new characteristics to the soundscape, such as people activity sounds and ‘‘natural’’ sounds, were also proposed. The application of acoustical urban design strategies to the specifically proposed urban transportation design plans was further analyzed.

Context-Sensitive Urban Transportation Design in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Activities within the campus are supported by a host of transportation modes: private automobile, commercial vehicles, public transportation (including bus, light rail, heavy rail, and commuter rail), bicycling, and walking. In an effort to enhance the overall functioning of the transportation system in the campus area, the university has partnered with the City of Philadelphia to improve the design and operation of facilities. This paper describes those efforts, emphasizing the jurisdictional and institutional challenges. The principal objectives of the campus redesign are to increase pedestrian and bicycle safety, to upgrade transit image and performance, to maintain or increase vehicular capacity, and to accommodate the reliable movement of goods. The achievement of these objectives is complicated by several issues. The campus is traversed by State Highway 3, portions of which were designed to standards that are inconsistent with the campus goals. Design and operational considerations are influenced by the access needs of the university hospitals. Institutionally, challenges arise from within the university community, particularly on questions of parking, and from within the public agencies, with regard to modern traffic engineering practices. Efforts to achieve the transportation goals can be considered a work in progress. Several positive design and operational upgrades have been successfully implemented; and these, in turn, have established new acceptable design criteria. Other design projects remain in the evaluation phase. Several policy actions or statements require attention. The lessons learned and technical standards developed are transferable to other older cities throughout North America.

Context-Sensitive Urban Transportation Design in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Activities within the campus are supported by a host of transportation modes: private automobile, commercial vehicles, public transportation (including bus, light rail, heavy rail, and commuter rail), bicycling, and walking. In an effort to enhance the overall functioning of the transportation system in the campus area, the university has partnered with the City of Philadelphia to improve the design and operation of facilities. This paper describes those efforts, emphasizing the jurisdictional and institutional challenges. The principal objectives of the campus redesign are to increase pedestrian and bicycle safety, to upgrade transit image and performance, to maintain or increase vehicular capacity, and to accommodate the reliable movement of goods. The achievement of these objectives is complicated by several issues. The campus is traversed by State Highway 3, portions of which were designed to standards that are inconsistent with the campus goals. Design and operational considerations are influenced by the access needs of the university hospitals. Institutionally, challenges arise from within the university community, particularly on questions of parking, and from within the public agencies, with regard to modern traffic engineering practices. Efforts to achieve the transportation goals can be considered a work in progress. Several positive design and operational upgrades have been successfully implemented; and these, in turn, have established new acceptable design criteria. Other design projects remain in the evaluation phase. Several policy actions or statements require attention. The lessons learned and technical standards developed are transferable to other older cities throughout North America.