Environmentally appraising different pavement and construction scenarios: A comparative analysis for a typical local road

The aim of this work is to carry out a comparative analysis of environmental impacts for different scenarios of a typical local road. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the modeling tool used to quantify and characterize comparative environmental impacts. In carrying out this specific application of the LCA, different road construction techniques were considered with regards to the whole structure and compared in order to identify the best alternative in terms of environmental sustainability.So far, in fact, typical LCA frameworks of roads have focused on recycled materials for pavement layers only, thus neglecting study of the materials used in the embankment or in the subgrade. In this study, these materials were included too, in order to prove the environmental benefit of using a sustainable technique such as in situ stabilization of fine soils with lime (typically dumped clayey soils) in order to reduce the need for virgin material for embankment and subgrade construction.When using different percentages of recycled materials (such as reclaimed asphalt pavement – RAP) in the bituminous layer or in the foundation, the analysis of the functional unit studied shows a significant reduction of energy consumption and pollutant emissions mainly due to transportation of materials involved, in this way increasing the environmental performance of the road.Another important consideration is that the use of fine soils stabilized with lime “in situ”, instead of dumping it, not only is a good technical solution for improving soil mechanical properties, but it also produces a reduction of energy consumption and of pollutant emissions. It is noticeable that this technique results in a significant reduction of pollutant emissions due the transportation of involved materials, increasing the environmental performance of the road.     

Transport energy consumption in mountainous roads. A comparative case study for internal combustion engines and electric vehicles in Andorra

This paper analyses transport energy consumption of conventional and electric vehicles in mountainous roads. A standard round trip in Andorra has been modelled in order to characterise vehicle dynamics in hilly regions. Two conventional diesel vehicles and their electric-equivalent models have been simulated and their performances have been compared. Six scenarios have been simulated to study the effects of factors such as orography, traffic congestion and driving style. The European fuel consumption and emissions test and Artemis urban driving cycles, representative of European driving cycles, have also been included in the comparative analysis. The results show that road grade has a major impact on fuel economy, although it affects consumption in different levels depending on the technology analysed. Electric vehicles are less affected by this factor as opposed to conventional vehicles, increasing the potential energy savings in a hypothetical electrification of the car fleet. However, electric vehicle range in mountainous terrains is lower compared to that estimated by manufacturers, a fact that could adversely affect a massive adoption of electric cars in the short term.     

Traffic modelling in system boundary expansion of road pavement life cycle assessment

This paper uses a case study of a UK inter-urban road, to explore the impact of extending the system boundary of road pavement life cycle assessment (LCA) to include increased traffic emissions due to delays during maintenance. Some previous studies have attempted this but have been limited to hypothetical scenarios or simplified traffic modelling, with no validation or sensitivity analysis. In this study, micro-simulation modelling of traffic was used to estimate emissions caused by delays at road works, for several traffic management options. The emissions were compared to those created by the maintenance operation, estimated using an LCA model. In this case study, the extra traffic emissions caused by delays at road works are relatively small, compared to those from the maintenance process, except for hydrocarbon emissions. However, they are generally close to, or above, the materiality threshold recommended in PAS2050 for estimating carbon footprints, and reach 5–10% when traffic flow levels are increased (hypothetically) or when traffic management is imposed outside times of lowest traffic flow. It is recommended, therefore, that emissions due to traffic disruption at road works should be included within the system boundary of road pavement LCA and carbon footprint studies and should be considered in developing guidelines for environmental product declarations of road pavement maintenance products and services.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Why do some motorbike riders wear a helmet and others don’t? Evidence from Delhi,India

Road traffic accident fatalities lead to important private and social costs in the metropolitan areas of most low and middle income countries. An important share of these fatalities is due to injuries to the head and the neck. Helmets can provide efficient protection, but many drivers do not use them. We focus on helmet use behavior among motorbike users in Delhi. We use a detailed data set collected for the purpose of the study. To guide our empirical analysis, we rely on a model in which drivers decide on self-protection and self-insurance. The empirical findings suggest that risk-averse drivers are more likely to wear a helmet and that this has no systematic effect on speed. Helmet use also increases with education. Drivers who show a higher awareness of road risks seem to be both more likely to wear a helmet and to speed less. Controlling for risk awareness, we observe that drivers tend to compensate between speed and helmet use. The results can provide a basis for awareness-raising policies. They also show that improvements to the road infrastructure risk leading to risk-compensating behavior.     

Understanding the impacts of mobile phone distraction on driving performance: A systematic review

The use of mobile phones while driving—one of the most common driver distractions—has been a significant research interest during the most recent decade. While there has been a considerable amount research and excellent reviews on how mobile phone distractions influence various aspects of driving performance, the mechanisms by which the interactions with mobile phone affect driver performance is relatively unexamined. As such, the aim of this study is to examine the mechanisms involved with mobile phone distractions such as conversing, texting, and reading and the driving task, and subsequent outcomes. A novel human-machine framework is proposed to isolate the components and various interactions associated with mobile phone distracted driving. The proposed framework specifies the impacts of mobile phone distraction as an inter-related system of outcomes such as speed selection, lane deviations and crashes; human-car controls such as steering control and brake pedal use and human-environment interactions such as visual scanning and navigation. Eleven literature-review/meta-analyses papers and 62 recent research articles from 2005 to 2015 are critically reviewed and synthesised following a systematic classification scheme derived from the human-machine system framework. The analysis shows that while many studies have attempted to measure system outcomes or driving performance, research on how drivers interactively manage in-vehicle secondary tasks and adapt their driving behaviour while distracted is scant. A systematic approach may bolster efforts to examine comprehensively the performance of distracted drivers and their impact over the transportation system by considering all system components and interactions of drivers with mobile phones and vehicles. The proposed human-machine framework not only contributes to the literature on mobile phone distraction and safety, but also assists in identifying the research needs and promising strategies for mitigating mobile phone-related safety issues. Technology based countermeasures that can provide real-time feedback or alerts to drivers based on eye/head movements in conjunction with vehicle dynamics should be an important research direction.     

A bi-objective optimization framework for three-dimensional road alignment design

Optimization of three-dimensional road alignments is a nonlinear non-convex optimization problem. The development of models that fully optimize a three-dimensional road alignment problem is challenging due to numerous factors involved and complexities in the geometric specification of the alignment. In this study, we developed a novel bi-objective optimization approach to solve a three dimensional road alignment problem where the horizontal and vertical alignments are optimized simultaneously. Two conflicting cost objective functions, earthwork cost and the utility cost, are cast in a bi-objective optimization problem. We numerically compare several multi-objective optimization solvers, and find that it is possible to determine the Pareto front in a reasonable time.