Does the income elasticity of road traffic depend on the source of income?

An extensive body of literature addresses the income elasticity of road traffic, in which income is typically treated as a homogenous quantity. Here we report evidence of heterogeneity in cross-sectional estimates of the elasticity of vehicle-kilometres of travel (VKT) with respect to income, when household income is disaggregated on the basis of income source.The results are generally intuitive, and show that the cross-sectional income elasticity of road traffic is not homogeneous as is typically specified in transport planning models. We show that in a number of circumstances the cross-sectional elasticity with respect to aggregate household income is of the opposite sign in comparison to more refined estimates of elasticity disaggregated by income source. If further research confirms that the elasticities we report here are causal in nature, neglecting the elemental effects could result in misleading results affecting practical infrastructure-investment and policy decisions, particularly as the mix of income sources shifts (e.g. if, as society ages, pension income increases as a share of all income).These results are of interest to both researchers and forecasters of travel demand, as well as designers of future travel survey instruments; the latter group must decide how to generate data about respondents’ income. Current expert guidance is to collect a single estimate of aggregate income at the household level. Future travel survey design choices will bound the analyses that can be supported by the resulting survey data, and therefore methodological research to re-visit the trade-offs associated with such choices is warranted.     

基于环境的道路交通安全分析

介绍了道路交通安全环境的涵义,分析了道路交通安全环境中的软环境和硬环境,提出了改善我国道路交通安全环境的相关措施。     

新建结构与运营地铁车站接驳关键技术

以深圳地铁新建3号线老街站换乘综合体与运营地铁车站接驳工程为实例,对运营车站临时加固防护、分部切割既有结构、新旧结构接驳等关键技术展开论述。提出运用金刚石绳锯与金刚石水钻相结合的一种静力切割工艺,很好地解决了该工程作业环境复杂、技术要求高、风险大等难题,安全、高效地完成了新建结构与运营地铁车站接驳工程。     

Options for reducing noise from roads and railway lines

The fundamental noise generation mechanisms of road and rail vehicles are discussed with attention to noise abatement measures. Based on an evaluation of publicly available tire noise data and the European road traffic noise emission model CNOSSOS, it is shown that on the road side there is a significant noise reduction potential in the usage of low-noise tires. From a three months measurement campaign a noise model was derived to predict the maximal sound pressure level of heavy duty vehicles during a pass-by in 7.5 m distance with the parameters vehicle speed and number of axles. With help of recently published information about external costs caused by heavy duty vehicles and the noise prediction tool, a model was developed to derive a money equivalent that can be used as a bonus/malus in a heavy duty vehicle fee. As a measure at the infrastructure, the installation of low-noise pavements is an effective, durable and economically attractive measure. Recent experiences with different technologies from all over the world are compiled and evaluated. On the rail side, an overview of the possible noise reduction strategies is given, followed by a discussion of the current policy and legislation in the EU and on the national level of different European countries.     

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.     

Indicators of reliability and vulnerability: Similarities and differences in ranking links of a complex road system

This article investigates two performance attributes of road networks, reliability and vulnerability, analyzing their similarities as well as the differences that justify distinct definitions, based on consolidation of recent studies. We also discuss the indicators found in the literature for these two performance attributes. Since various authors treat vulnerability as an aspect of reliability instead of a specific attribute, we carried out an application to a complex road network representative of the city of Rio de Janeiro to check the suitability of this approach. The results show that the vulnerability indicators are more strongly affected by the characteristics of alternative routes while the reliability metrics are more sensitive to the congestion level. The conclusion is that reliability and vulnerability should be treated distinctly for evaluating the performance of road network links.     

Geometric design safety estimation based on tire–road side friction

A closed-loop drive–vehicle–road–environment system (DVRES) model was established using Adams/Car and Matlab/Simulink. Dynamic responses of lateral tire forces based on tire–road side friction and road geometric characteristics are used to investigate vehicle side slip for geometric design safety estimation. The root mean square, the maximum values of lateral tire forces, comfort limit on curves and vehicle trajectories are used to quantify the safety margin of side friction. The simulation results show that the safety margins of lateral tire forces for radius, operating speed and superelevation rate were 18.2%, 19.3% and 17.6%, respectively, to guarantee good vehicle lateral reliability and ride comfort, while lower speeds are optimal in wet and slippery roads. Finally, a case study was conducted to illustrate the analysis of road design safety, and on-site experiment testing further validated the accuracy and reliability of the closed-loop DVRES model.     

基于公路隧道内车辆对火灾影响数值研究

以武汉长江公路隧道为工程背景,利用FDS5.0数值模拟软件建立隧道实体模型,进行火灾数值模拟分析。研究不同火灾热释放率、车辆长度、火源车辆阻塞比以及附近车辆之间间距、附近车辆长度、附近车辆阻塞比6种因素下,隧道内拱顶温度和人平均身高Z=1.70 m处CO浓度的分布规律,并对这6种因素进行敏感性分析。结果表明:隧道的拱顶温度随着热释放率和阻塞比的增加而增加,随着着火车辆长度的增加而减小;Z=1.70 m处CO浓度随着火灾热释放率和车辆长度的增加而增大,随阻塞比的增大而减小;影响隧道火灾的主要因素是热释放率和车辆阻塞比,应有针对性地对这二种因素进行有效的管理。     

The suitability of hedonic models for cost-benefit analysis: Evidence from commuting flows

We compare two estimates of benefits arising from the construction of new bridges in south-west Norway. One estimate comes from a hedonic property value model. Rather than follow an approach which is strictly theoretically correct, we adopt Rosen’s simple first-stage approach. To investigate and validate whether this simplified approach gives a reasonable estimate, we compare it to an estimate derived from a travel demand model. We find that a variant of an ex post hedonic house price model gives very similar estimates to the estimates from the travel demand model. This supports a hypothesis that the simplistic hedonic approach is reasonable.     

上海市九杜路拓宽改建断面布置方案研究

为解决上海市松江区北九亭地区居民出行，改善区域交通环境，需将位于沪亭北路的G50临时上匝道移至西侧九杜路，并新建收费站及管理用房。由于交通功能及流量发生变化，需对九杜路进行局部道路拓宽。为此，在建设条件限制下，结合九杜路交通需求进行了断面布置的多方案比选，以兼顾各种交通需求的通行效率及安全，最终推荐在道路红线范围内采用机动车道5车道及人非共板断面形式。工程建成通车后运行状况良好，断面的比选及布置方式可为同类型道路拓宽工程提供参考。