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In new-tier cities with rapid urbanization, the reorganization of urban spatial functions and the development of road networks have brought novel challenges to traffic congestion control. Urban land use patterns have a significant correlation with urban traffic congestion. However, whether and how land use patterns of cities close to the roads affect road congestion is less to be discussed. This article investigated the relationship between land use patterns close to the urban trunk road network and traffic congestion in new tier cities Xi'an, China. We adopted the DBSCAN algorithm to cluster POIs and use the mixed POI clusters to label the socio-economic functions of roads. We found the spatial heterogeneity of POIs on the trunk road network and identified the impacts of the scales and types of POI on road congestion based on the empirical analysis. Compared to the POIs as origin and destination of the trips, the POIs as stopover points of the trips cause significantly more road congestion. The POIs with bidirectional flows at entrances/exits are more likely to cause road congestion than the POIs with unidirectional flows. Moreover, the POIs with flexible traffic flows increase road congestion, while the POIs with predicted traffic flows have no statistically significant correlation with road congestion. The results help urban planners to plan the scale, type, and location of POIs close to roads and to optimize the socio-economic functions of roads and alleviate road congestion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For satisfying the growing demand of parking in urban area and relieving traffic congestion in downtown, under the condition of urban subway park-and-ride (P&R), the methods of site selection and scale calculation of parking lots are studied. Selecting Xi'an Rd. business circle in Dalian as study object, both survey and analysis of parking demand were conducted. Based on the principle of random equilibrium selection, the logit model of P&R demand was constructed. Then the forecasting models of parking demand both in downtown and peripheral zones were proposed respectively. Using the minimum travel distance of vehicles as the objective function, site selection optimization model of P&R station was constructed. The calculation methods of scale for parking lots in both downtown and P&R station were also processed. For the case of Xi'an Rd. business circle, not only the site of P&R station was planned, but the scale of parking berth was calculated. According to the plan and calculation, the total number of parking berth has increased from 3380 to 4011. Among the planned berths, 75.7 % are in the business circle and 24.3 % in P&R stations are outside downtown. Thus, the number of planned berths in the business circle has actually decreased by about 8 %. The research indicates that, for downtown with subway system, by reducing parking berths in downtown and increasing them in P&R stations outside the urban area, this planning method is more beneficial to relieve the problems of parking and traffic congestion in downtown than traditional method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]