Stakeholder-specific data acquisition and urban freight policy evaluation: evidence,implications and new suggestions

Cities, characterised by scarce resources and facing increasing citizens’ requests for more liveable and attractive environments, need to define and implement more efficient urban freight transport policy interventions. It is strategically relevant to perform an ex-ante in-depth policy evaluation. The paper aims at investigating the relevance, the needs and the implications of the data acquisition process by combining a focused review with an original research study. It critically compares five categories of methodological approaches adopted for policy evaluation purposes with an explicit focus on the stated preference method given its behavioural peculiarity and robustness. The review, following a systematic procedure where scientific quality is complemented by relevance and coverage, underlines a high variability in the level of sophistication for data acquisition. While a stakeholder-specific approach seems natural in all those cases where local authorities want to adopt distinct policy instruments for each stakeholder, this is also needed when homogeneous policies impacting the various stakeholders are tested. Stakeholder-specific data acquisition translates into the creation of multiple experimental designs, explicitly conceived for each stakeholder considered. A case study, intended to compare two alternative strategies for data acquisition, provides a quantitative measure of potential distortions in policy evaluation due to the adoption of a stakeholder-generic approach. Results, in terms of willingness to pay measures, show that a stakeholder-specific approach is needed not only when modelling but also in the data acquisition process.     

Queue length estimation at metered freeway‐to‐freeway connectors

Freeway‐to‐freeway connector metering is a cost‐effective and proven freeway management strategy for relieving recurrent congestion. However, one of the critical challenges in design and operation of freeway‐to‐freeway connector metering is the lack of up‐to‐date queue storage length design guidance. In this study, it was found that ramp queue is dynamically related to the metering rate, on‐ramp demand, and traffic flow arrival pattern. Hence, simply using an average demand cannot provide accurate queue length estimation and is also not suitable for queue storage design where the maximum or a percentile queue length is generally used. A mesoscopic queue length simulation model was developed based on the input–output method for estimating queue lengths under various demand‐to‐capacity ratio scenarios. Simulation results indicate that for under‐saturated situations, the ramp queue may exist temporally due to the random short‐term surge of traffic arrivals, and the exponential function could best capture the relationship between queue length and demand‐to‐capacity ratio. For over‐saturated situations, the ramp queue tends to prolong linearly with the demand‐to‐capacity ratio. Based on the simulation, it was recommended that queue storage length be designed as 4.3% of on‐ramp demand when demand is lower than 1200 vph or 2.3% when demand is between 1200 and 2400 vph. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accidents involving pedestrians with their backs to traffic or facing traffic: an evaluation of crash characteristics and injuries

This paper examines pedestrian anatomical injuries and crash characteristics in back‐to‐traffic and facing‐traffic crashes. Pedestrian crashes involving pedestrians walking along streets (i.e. with their backs to traffic or facing traffic) have been overlooked in literature. Although this is not the most frequent type of crash, the crash consequence to pedestrians is a safety concern. Combining Taiwan A1A2 police‐reported accident data and data from the National Health Insurance Database from years 2003–2013, this paper examines anatomical injuries and crash characteristics in back‐to‐traffic and facing‐traffic crashes. There were a total of 830 and 2267 pedestrian casualties in back‐to‐traffic and facing‐traffic crashes respectively. The injuries sustained by pedestrians and crash characteristics of these two crash types were compared with those of other crossing types of crashes (nearside crash, nearside dart‐out crash, offside crash, and offside dart‐out crash). Odds of various injuries to body regions were estimated using logistic regressions. Key findings include that the percentage of fatalities in back‐to‐traffic crashes is the highest; logistic models reveal that pedestrians in back‐to‐traffic crashes sustained more head, neck, and spinal injuries than did pedestrians in other crash types, and unlit darkness and non‐built‐up roadways were associated with an increased risk of pedestrian head injuries. Several crash features (e.g. unlit darkness, overtaking manoeuvres, phone use by pedestrians and drivers, and intoxicated drivers) are more frequently evident in back‐to‐traffic crashes than in other types of crashes. The current research suggests that in terms of crash consequence, facing traffic is safer than back to traffic. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

公交最佳出行线路的一个模型及算法

在分析影响最佳出行线路选择评价指标的基础上,建立的最佳出行线路选择模型,可很好地解决最佳出行线路的选择问题．对此类问题的研究具有一定的指导意义。     

地铁暗挖车站近接施工中桥基加固、隔断技术

通过北京地铁国贸站近接三环大北窑桥的施工,论述了采用复合锚杆桩隔断和加固既有桥梁桩基的处理保护北窑桥桥桩的成功经验,对城市隧道施工有参考和借鉴意义。     

土工格栅处治填挖交界路基数值模拟与现场试验

考虑地基与路基的压缩变形与填挖交界处的相互作用,应用分析软件ANSYS建立了路基变形有限元模型,模拟了格栅竖向间距与挖方段铺设长度对土工格栅加筋纵向处治填挖交界路基的影响规律,并通过现场修筑不同方案的试验路段和沉降跟踪观测,研究了土工格栅铺设层数对填挖交界路基差异沉降的影响。分析结果表明:土工格栅的竖向铺设间距在0·8~1·0m时,路基不均匀沉降较小,路面产生竖向位移的变化较缓慢,建议土工格栅铺设的竖向间距以不大于1·0m为宜;改变锚固端格栅铺设长度对路面竖向沉降的影响很小,从经济角度考虑,挖方段土工格栅的最小锚固长度选取2m;在路基96区和94区底各铺设一层土工格栅可以有效降低路基差异沉降。     

锚喷混凝土变双曲拱型结构为箱型结构加固双曲拱桥

双曲拱桥作为上世纪七、八十年代大量修建的桥梁,目前还有很多仍在使用.因当时设计荷载普遍较低,目前多数面临加固提载问题,介绍了将双曲拱式受力结构转换为箱型结构的全新加固方法.     

从新旧收费方式论收费管理

通过对现行收费方式及计重收费进行分析,提出加强收费管理的对策和措施.     

“以退为进”治理武合路白鹿山隧道洞口滑坡病害

以白鹿山隧道出口段的滑坡病害为例,阐述了滑坡现象的成因,并进行了滑坡体性质的分析.通过滑坡体整治方案的比选,阐明了以退为进治理隧道洞口段滑坡病害施工方案的理论依据和技术方案,对今后隧道洞口山体滑坡的整治提供了参考.     

长沙南湖路湘江隧道岸上段基坑围护结构选型分析

为减少城市中复杂周边环境下明挖隧道基坑因围护结构选型不合理造成的施工事故和经济浪费,在总结前人研究成果的基础上,以长沙市南湖路湘江隧道岸上段明挖基坑为例,对周边建筑物和管线密集道路下的深基坑、相互交错且不同深度的隧道基坑及相互临近基坑的围护结构选型和设计进行了较为详细地介绍,并得出以下结论:1)对于城市道路下明挖基坑,特别是对于路下管网和建筑物密集地段,建议采用防止侧向变形较好的排桩(或连续墙)+内支撑的围护结构形式,可以有效地控制基坑变形;2)对于基坑深度差别不大,且具有一定距离的临近基坑,建议采用互不影响的共用对拉围护结构;3)对于复杂线路、深度差别较大,且基坑之间夹层较薄的交错基坑,建议采用共用基坑短桩及有限放坡的围护结构形式。