We can all get along: The alignment of driver and bicyclist roadway design preferences in the San Francisco Bay Area

Two trends in the United States—growth in bicycling and enthusiasm for complete streets—suggest a need to understand how various roadway users view roadway designs meant to accommodate multiple modes. While many studies have examined bicyclists’ roadway design preferences, there has been little investigation into the opinions of non-bicyclists who might bicycle in the future. Additionally, little research has explored the preferences of the motorists who share roads with cyclists—despite the fact that motorists compose the vast majority of roadway users in the United States and similarly developed countries.This paper presents results from an internet survey examining perceived comfort while driving and bicycling on various roadways among 265 non-bicycling drivers, bicycling drivers, and non-driving bicyclists in the San Francisco Bay Area. Analysis of variance tests revealed that both drivers and bicyclists are more comfortable on roadways with separated bicycling facilities than those with shared space. In particular, roadways with barrier-separated bicycle lanes were the most popular among all groups, regardless of bicycling frequency. Striped bicycle lanes, a common treatment in the United States, received mixed reviews: a majority of the sample believed that they benefit cyclists and drivers through predictability and legitimacy on the roadway, but the lanes were rated significantly less comfortable than barrier-separated treatments—particularly among potential bicyclists.These findings corroborate research on bicyclists’ preferences for roadway design and contribute a new understanding of motorists’ preferences. They also support the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s efforts to encourage greater accommodation of bicyclists on urban streets.     

Infrastructure based approach for roadway departure risk assessment

This paper presents a warning device to prevent the roadway departure of light vehicles while cornering. The proposed risk assessment methodology is based on recent works from the authors (Rey et al., 2011b,a; Rey, 2010). Given the random variability arising from the driver, the vehicle and the infrastructure at the entrance to the curve, a probabilistic strategy is adopted to assess the roadway departure risk. The infrastructure-based methodology enables the real curve characteristics to be considered and an alarm triggering decision to be made. Two safety criteria are tested and the potential safety benefits of the proposed warning device are evaluated. Contrary to existing roadway departure warning systems, the proposed approach does not require extra equipment for vehicles; it only requires that the measuring and warning devices be part of the road infrastructure, which is a great advantage in terms of economic cost.     

Sound wall barriers: Near roadway dispersion under neutrally stratified boundary layer

With the passage of California Senate Bill 375, which motivates infill development near transit hubs, there is the potential to increase vehicle congestion in residential communities and increase in human exposure to toxic mobile source pollutants. Among all the mitigation strategies that protect near roadway residents from health-affecting vehicular emissions (e.g. separating sensitive receptors from high traffic roadways), this paper discusses the impact of sound wall barriers (SBs) in reducing the air pollution exposure of nearby residents. To date, there have been some studies done to understand the impact of these structures on dispersion of vehicular emissions; however, no definitive conclusion has been drawn yet. The main objective of this paper is to provide more information and details on flow and dispersion affected by barriers through a systematic laboratory simulation of plume dispersion using a water channel. Three sets of experiments were conducted: (1) plume visualizations, (2) plume concentration measurements, and (3) flow velocity measurements. Results from this study shows that the deployment of sound barriers induces a recirculating flow over the roadway which transports the surface released emissions to the upwind side of the roadway, and then shifts the plume upward through an induced updraft motion. Plume visualizations clearly demonstrate that the presence of SBs induce significant vertical mixing and updraft motion on the roadway which increases the initial plume dilution and plume height and consequently results in reduced downwind ground level concentrations. Although different SB configurations result in different localized flow patterns, the dispersion pattern does not change significantly after several SB heights downwind of the roadway.     

���ܵ�·ϵͳ����ϵ��ܼ���ؼ������о�

智能交通系统（ITS）是目前世界交通运输领域的前沿研究领域,也是未来交通运输系统的重要发展方向;而智能道路系统（IRS）作为ITS的重要组成部分,一直是世界交通发达国家研究、发展与应用的热点。结合我国道路交通基础设施的发展现状,面向国内智能道路系统的应用与发展需求,分析了智能道路系统的概念及其内涵,提出了智能道路系统的体系框架结构,深入讨论了实现智能道路系统集成所面临的若干关键以及难点技术,并对智能道路系统今后的发展与应用趋势作了总结。     

丹海高速公路采空巷道勘察及处治

介绍了丹海高速公路采空巷道的地质勘察方法 -高密度电阻率法和瞬变电磁法,以及采空巷道的处治方法 -注浆法,可为类似工程提供参考。     

城市道路照明节能探讨

文章针对目前城市道路照明存在的问题,结合对城市路灯照明的能耗分析,提出了道路照明节能途径,为缓解城市道路照明与电力供应紧张的矛盾提出了解决的方案。