Roads in transition: Integrated modeling of a manufacturer-traveler-infrastructure system in a mixed autonomous/human driving environment

This paper develops an integrated model to characterize the market penetration of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in urban transportation networks. The model explicitly accounts for the interplay among the AV manufacturer, travelers with heterogeneous values of travel time (VOTT), and road infrastructure capacity. By making in-vehicle time use more leisurely or productive, AVs reduce travelers’ VOTT. In addition, AVs can move closer together than human-driven vehicles because of shorter safe reaction time, which leads to increased road capacity. On the other hand, the use of AV technologies means added manufacturing cost and higher price. Thus, traveler adoption of AVs will trade VOTT savings with additional out-of-pocket cost. The model is structured as a leader (AV manufacturer)-follower (traveler) game. Given the cost of producing AVs, the AV manufacturer sets AV price to maximize profit while anticipating AV market penetration. Given an AV price, the vehicle and routing choice of heterogeneous travelers are modeled by combining a multinomial logit model with multi-modal multi-class user equilibrium (UE). The overall problem is formulated as a mathematical program with complementarity constraints (MPCC), which is challenging to solve. We propose a solution approach based on piecewise linearization of the MPCC as a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) and solving the MILP to global optimality. Non-uniform distribution of breakpoints that delimit piecewise intervals and feasibility-based domain reduction are further employed to reduce the approximation error brought by linearization. The model is implemented in a simplified Singapore network with extensive sensitivity analyses and the Sioux Falls network. Computational results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the solution approach and yield valuable insights about transportation system performance in a mixed autonomous/human driving environment.     

Optimization of horizontal alignment geometry in road design and reconstruction

This paper presents a general formulation for optimization of horizontal road alignment, composed of tangential segments and circular curves suitably connected with transition curves (clothoids). It consists of a constrained optimization problem where the objective function is given by a line integral along the layout. The integrand is a function representing the cost of the road going through each point and, by considering different costs, a wide range of problems can be included in this formulation. To show it, we apply this methodology to three different situations. The two first cases are related with the design of a new road layout and used to solve a pair of academic examples. The third problem deals with the improvement of a road adapting the old path to current legislation, and it is solved taking as case study the reconstruction project for a regional road (NA-601) in the north of Spain.     

Integrated approach to determine highway flooding and critical points of drainage

Among the natural hazards that threaten transportation infrastructure, flooding represents a major hazard to highways as it challenges their design, operation, efficiency and safety. In extreme cases, it may lead to massive obstruction of traffic and direct damages to the road structures themselves and indirect damages to the economic activity and development of the region. To enable the prevention of such consequences, and the proposition of adaptive measures for existing infrastructure, this paper presents an integrated framework to identify the most vulnerable points to flooding along a highway. This is done through the combination of remote sensing information (e.g. LiDAR based Digital Elevation Model, satellite imagery), a high-quality dataset, and a quasi-2D hydrodynamic model. The forcing condition is defined using a hyetograph associated to a storm with duration of 1 day and return period of 100 years. The selected highway is located in the Mexican state of Tabasco, where extreme precipitation events and floods are frequent. Results demonstrate the ability of the methodology to identify critical water levels along the road (h > 1.50 m) at those locations where flooding has been experienced, as well as points of inspection for the highway drainage. These locations were visited in the field and maintenance problems were detected that do increase its level of exposure. We show that this framework is useful for the generation of a flood management strategy to the analyzed highway, which includes an optimum location of adaptive measures to an anticipated more intense future climate.     

Optimal funding allocation strategies for safety improvements on urban intersections

Urban intersections crashes cause significant economic loss. The safety management process undertaken by most states in the United States is referred to as Highway Safety Improvement Program and consists of three standardized steps: (i) identification of critical crash locations, (ii) development of countermeasures, and (iii) resource allocation among identified crash locations. Often these three steps are undertaken independently, with limited detail of each step at the state planning agencies. The literature review underlines the importance of the third step, and the lack of sophisticated tools available to state planning agencies for leveraging information obtained from the first two steps. Further, non-strategic approaches and unavailability of methods for evaluating policies may lead to sub-optimal funding allocation. This paper overcomes these limitations and proposes multiple optimal resource allocation strategies for improvements at urban intersections that maximize safety benefits, under budget and policy constraints. Proposed policy measures based on benefits maximization (economic competitiveness), equitable allocation (equity), and relaxation of mutually exclusiveness (multiple alternatives at one location) produce significantly different alternative and fund allocation. The proposed models are applied to selected intersections in four counties of southeast Michigan. Results reinforce the applicability of the strategies/policies and tools developed in this paper for safety project funding allocation on critical urban intersections.     

Do people drive safer when accidents are more expensive: Testing for moral hazard in experience rating schemes

Using individual policies and claims data from the Croatian mandatory motor insurance we test the theoretical proposition that under moral hazard, experience rated pricing scheme should generate the negative state dependence in claims, i.e. that drivers should drive more safely after they had an accident. The empirical challenge in these tests is to disentangle the state dependence from unobserved heterogeneity. We propose a simple approach based on the explicit reliance on the cost of future accidents function which is used to filter out the pure incentives effect, whereas the bonus-malus scale is used to control for pure heterogeneity. Our results confirm the existence of negative dependence in claims indicating the presence of significant moral hazard effect. Increasing a 3-year cost of having an accident by approximately US$20 decreases the probability of having an accident by 6.5%.     

Autonomous cars: The tension between occupant experience and intersection capacity

Systems that enable high levels of vehicle-automation are now beginning to enter the commercial marketplace. Road vehicles capable of operating independently of real-time human control under an increasing set of circumstances will likely become more widely available in the near future. Such vehicles are expected to bring a variety of benefits. Two such anticipated advantages (relative to human-driver vehicle control) are said to be increased road network capacity and the freeing up of the driver-occupant’s time to engage in their choice of leisurely or economically-productive (non-driving) tasks.In this study we investigate the implications for intersection capacity and level-of-service of providing occupants of automated (without real-time human control), autonomously-operating (without vehicle-to-X communication) cars with ride quality that is equivalent (in terms of maximum rates of longitudinal and lateral acceleration) to two types of rail systems: [urban] light rail transit and [inter-urban] high-speed rail. The literature suggests that car passengers start experiencing discomfort at lower rates of acceleration than car drivers; it is therefore plausible that occupants of an autonomously-operating vehicle may wish to instruct their vehicle to maneuver in a way that provides them greater ride comfort than if the vehicle-control algorithm simply mimicked human-driving-operation.On the basis of traffic microsimulation analysis, we found that restricting the dynamics of autonomous cars to the acceleration/deceleration characteristics of both rail systems leads to reductions in a signalized intersection’s vehicle-processing capacity and increases in delay. The impacts were found to be larger when constraining the autonomous cars’ dynamics to the more-restrictive acceleration/deceleration profile of high-speed rail. The scenarios we analyzed must be viewed as boundary conditions, because autonomous cars’ dynamics were by definition never allowed to exceed the acceleration/deceleration constraints of the rail systems. Appropriate evidence regarding motorists’ preferences does not exist at present; establishing these preferences is an important item for the future research agenda.This paper concludes with a brief discussion of research needs to advance this line of inquiry.     

道路运输市场退出机制研究

道路运输市场退出机制与道路运输市场准入制度相辅相成,不可分割。文章阐述了道路运输市场退出机制的基本特点、重要作用、主要方式及实施程序,并对其在实施过程中存在的问题进行讨论。     

马达加斯加武海马尔墓地的发掘与研究

马达加斯加武海马尔墓群有近六百座墓,其墓葬形制与同时期东非地区阿拉伯穆斯林的墓葬形制有着明显的不同,有些墓葬与中国穆斯林的墓葬形制有较多相似之处。部分墓葬中出土了大量元、明时期的瓷器和其他随葬品,反映出武海马尔墓群主人可能是元、明时期来自中国东南沿海地区或东南亚的色目、回回商人,以及附属于他们的汉人、马来人或武海马尔当地土著,如他们的妻妾、子女、随从、伙计等,其中有些是受雇于穆斯林商人的汉人或者受穆斯林影响的汉人,因此,其葬俗保留了一些中国传统丧葬礼仪的痕迹。     

“中—尼—印铁路通道”线路设计及建设可行性分析

随着我国"一带一路"倡议的推进,跨国运输通道的建设成为倡议实施的关键环节之一,而我国建设复杂地质条件下跨国基础设施的经验尚不丰富。"中—尼—印铁路通道"是一条途经尼泊尔,连接中国和印度2个大国的运输通道,基于实地考察,分析该通道建设的必要性及建成后的效益,对线路进行初步规划,并总结该通道建设的难点:铁路轨道坡度大;沿线区域地质构造复杂;周边基础设施落后,施工条件恶劣;大量深长隧道以及大跨径高桥梁;环境以及气候条件复杂。同时对沿线隧道以及桥梁的建设可行性进行分析,并给出施工建议:沿线隧道采用以TBM法为主、钻爆法为辅的施工方法;桥梁建设则因地制宜,根据不同区间的地质特点,采用相应的建设方法。     

柏家沟中桥加宽改造工程

介绍柏家沟中桥原状及有关情况,分析病害缘由,提出改造方案,通过经济比较,确定加宽改造,改善了车辆荷载的通行能力。