A planning tool for evaluating vehicles miles travelled and traffic safety forecasts of growth management scenarios: A case study of Baton Rouge and New Orleans

This study describes an adaptable planning tool that examines potential change in vehicle miles travelled (VMT) growth and corresponding traffic safety outcomes in two urbanized areas, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, based on built environment, economic and demographic variables. This model is employed to demonstrate one aspect of the potential benefits of growth management policy implementation aimed at curbing VMT growth, and to establish targets with which to measure the effectiveness of those policies through a forecasting approach. The primary objective of this research is to demonstrate the need to break with current trends in order to achieve future goals, and to identify specific policy targets for fuel prices, population density, and transit service within the two study regions. Models indicate based on medium growth scenarios, Baton Rouge will experience a 9 percent increase in VMTs and New Orleans will experience 10 percent growth. This translates to corresponding increases in crashes, injuries and fatalities. The paper provides forecasts for planners and engineers to consider an alternative future, based on desired goals to reduce VMTs and therefore improve safety outcomes. A constrained-forecast model shows a cap on VMTs and crash rates is achievable through policy that increases fuel prices, population density and annual transit passenger miles per capita at reasonable levels through a growth management approach.     

Vehicle electrification in a developing country: Status and issue,from a well-to-wheel perspective

The increase of public attention, scientific research and political interest in environmental problems associated with transportation has provided the motivation for re-invention of electric vehicles. However the usage of grid-dependent EVs with a high-carbon electricity grid might produce more damage to the environment. This study aims to provide an environmental impact comparison of ICEVs, HEVs and EVs during their usage cycle, by modeling their energy consumption (electricity or fuel) and the supply chains of the supplied energy, (well-to-wheel) based on a life cycle assessment. The results show that running EVs with the existing mixed sources of electrical energy produce larger impacts on the environment 60% of the time; when compared to HEVs. When compared to ICEVs, EVs produce a larger environmental impact on 7 out of 15 environmental impact categories. Overall the environmental impacts of EVs are substantial based on the well-to-wheel analysis. It will continue to be so if no change is made to the methods of electricity generation in the near future. Given that the environmental profile of EVs is linked with the existing national electricity generation mix, the national electricity supply must be made cleaner before the electrification of the urban transport system.     

高速公路山岭隧道设计阶段安全风险评估

通过定性分析与定量分析相结合的方法,利用专家分析法和层次分析法研究各风险控制因素与权值.从技术角度考虑设计方案中各种不确定因素对后续施工及运营造成的不利影响,并得出相关结论,对于指导实际工作有一定的意义.     

Point-to-point speed enforcement systems: Speed limits design criteria and analysis of drivers’ compliance

Point-to-point (P2P) speed enforcement is a relatively new approach to traffic law enforcement. Its technology allows vehicles whose average speed exceeds the speed limit over the controlled section to be fined. It therefore encourages compliance over distances longer than those where spot enforcement policies have been in place.In this paper, a procedure for consistently setting speed limits with such enforcement systems is proposed. Such a method has been applied to design the speed limits on two motorways in the district of Naples, Italy, where P2P enforcement systems became operational in 2009 and 2010. The speed limits, which were set using the Italian geometric design standard to assess vehicle stability and stopping sight distance, have been compared with those provided by using well-known international standards.The impact of the newly designed speed limits and of the P2P enforcement system on drivers’ speeding behaviour has been quantified for each highway section and vehicle type. In fact, accurate measurements of the average travel speeds of each vehicle crossing the enforced sections, before and after the activation of the system, were available. The migration from the old speed limits with spot speed enforcement to the new approach resulted in a notable increase in drivers’ compliance to the speed limits with a remarkable decrease in both the average of individual speeds and in their standard deviation.In addition, the analysis of 3 years of data shows that a gradual adaptation of drivers’ behaviour to the system took place. In particular, a decreasing compliance to the speed limits points to a non-optimal system management. Finally, the results of a revealed preference survey allowed us to make a behavioural interpretation regarding the significantly different impacts measured on the two motorways.     

Effectiveness of travel time reliability indicators in the light of the assessment of dynamic managed lane strategy

ABSTRACT

The aim of traffic management is to ensure a high quality of service for a maximum number of users by decreasing congestion and increasing safety. Uncertainty of travel times decreases the quality of service and leads end users to modify their plans regardless of the average travel time. Indicators describing travel time reliability are being developed and should be used in the future both for the optimization and for the assessment of active traffic management operations. This article discusses the efficiency of certain reliability indicators in an ex-post assessment of a traffic management strategy. Ex-post assessment is based on an observational before–after study. As some factors other than the studied management strategy may intervene between the two periods, and as most reliability indicators require knowledge of the full travel time distribution and not only its average, a methodology is developed for the identification of the impact of these exogenous factors on the whole distribution. Many reliability indicators are split into different parts allowing the identification of the part due to the management strategy impact. The methodology is tested numerically on a managed lane operation consisting of Hard Shoulder Running (HSR) at rush hour on a section of a French motorway. The variation of some reliability indicators appears misleading, whereas the splitting of the indicators increases our understanding of the strategy and highlights its impact. The paper gives the reliability assessment of the HSR field test and discusses different reliability indicators to identify their potential performances and shortcomings.     

基于SHEL和三角模糊数理论的地铁钻爆法施工安全评价方法研究

为合理应用决策数据中不同专家的背景知识,找出地铁施工过程中安全测评体系的关注重点,根据地铁施工的特点和SHEL安全模型理论,建立以人-软件(L-S)、人-硬件(L-H)、人-环境(L-E)和人-人(L-L)4个环节为基础的钻爆法地铁施工安全指标体系。请专家给出指标语义评价等级和指标权重语义评价等级,并根据其与三角模糊数的对应关系分别得出三角模糊数评价值。针对不同专家的重要性程度差异,提出基于三角模糊数的群一致性评价方法,得出专家综合权重,集结评价数据,最终得到安全评价结果。最后,对青岛地铁1号线过海段进行实例分析。结果表明,该方法可以解决群评价过程中专家个体权威与群体共识难以兼顾的问题,能够充分利用群决策中的原始评价信息,提高地铁施工安全水平评价的准确性。     

构建网络安全体系,保障电子政务畅通

构建安全的电子政务网络体系对于推动政府工作信息化、促进政务公开、提高政府办公效率、构建和谐社会是非常重要的.在详细介绍目前网络安全一些认识误区的基础上,结合实际工作经验,从技术实施、制度建设方面阐述了如何构建安全的网络体系的问题.     

一级公路交叉口设计中的交通安全问题及对策

一级干线公路由于开口较多,不可避免地存在较多的交通安全问题.文章以湖北荆监一级公路为例,针对交叉口设计中的交通安全典型问题,提出了改善方法及相关对策.     

福州市交通安全与智能交通系统探讨

智能交通系统是一个高科技集成系统,它综合运用各种高新技术于整个交通管理系统之中,可以系统、全面、高效地提高交通运输的安全性.文章阐述了智能交通系统在交通安全中的作用及在福州市的应用情况,指出了福州市发展智能交通的方向,以提高福州市的交通安全管理水平.     

公路生态系统服务功能分析及评估

文章探讨了公路生态系统的生态服务功能,提出价值评估指标体系及定量评估方法,为公路生态系统的恢复或重建提供理论依据,对全面、正确评价公路生态系统有积极意义。