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We examine the barrier effects of freeways in California. We analyze the association between freeways and nearby street network connectivity and quantify the frequency and quality of crossings—underpasses or bridges that enable pedestrians and cyclists to cross the freeway. We find that barrier effects are most pronounced in communities of color. We also find that even where crossings exist, they are unpleasant or even hazardous for pedestrians and cyclists because of high-speed traffic on on- and off-ramps, and because large volumes of traffic are funneled through a small number of crossings rather than being distributed over a wider network.

The transportation sector holds a substantial influence on our quality of life and the environment. In contrast to rail transport, road transport carries a heightened risk of environmental and social issues. These include, but are not limited to, congestion, accidents, community segregation and encroachment, air pollution, toxic releases, water and soil pollution, and impacts on wildlife vitality. With the surge in global freight volume, the heavy reliance on road transport and underutilization of railroads will prove inadequate to meet the escalating demand and exacerbate existing environmental and social concerns. Therefore, transportation investment evaluations must comprehensively and consistently consider environmental, social, and economic factors. This study develops a Life-cycle Benefit-Cost Analysis and an accessible tool to capture overall nationwide impacts across various stages of transport infrastructure and equipment life cycles. We compare highways and railroads, considering actual and maximum capacities, to identify the most cost-effective and sustainable investment. Our results show that trucking costs $370.07 per thousand ton-miles, 4.85 times higher than rail at $76.37 per thousand ton-miles. We also highlight further research needed to address the issues of data unavailability, limited metric scope, and computational method limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advancements in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology have the potential to reduce road accidents caused by human error. However, to enhance their safety and performance, it is crucial to understand the patterns of AV collisions. This study examines AV collisions by analyzing their temporal and spatial patterns. Based on reports from the California DMV between 2014 and 2022, the analysis reveals that rear-end collisions are the most common type, while incidents involving pedestrians and overturned vehicles are rare. The majority of collisions involve mid-sized vehicles, and AVs are responsible for a minority of accidents. The study also identifies clusters of incidents in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego, with San Francisco having largest concentration. Specific areas within San Francisco, like Mission District, Japantown, Union Square, and North Beach neighborhoods, show high incident rates. These findings highlight safety concerns, and aid in integration of AVs into transportation infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of highways, there has been an increase in toll evasion by unscrupulous individuals who employ various means to avoid paying fees. This has made it essential for highway management to focus on effective methods to prevent and manage toll evasion, as well as regulate toll-related operations. However, traditional auditing techniques are heavily reliant on manual toll data and lack sufficient auxiliary data such as video and pictures, making big data analysis and in-depth data analysis difficult. Consequently, these methods can only identify a portion of evasion behavior, with a significant number of potential evasion cases remaining unidentified. To address this issue, we propose utilizing vehicle re-identification to enable cross-camera identification and continuous tracking of vehicles, allowing for accurate calculation of their operating mileage. However, vehicle re-identification using images captured by highway cameras is a challenging task, primarily due to the low resolution of the images and the lack of relevant datasets. To tackle these problems, we construct a large-scale, low-resolution dataset based on images captured by cameras on highways. We also propose a Part-guided Feature-combination Network (PFNet) to analyze the dataset. PFNet adopts a three-stage approach, wherein each stage of the network requires independent training. In the first stage, the Pyramid Scene Parsing Network (PSPNet) is improved to segment the entire vehicle into parts. In the second stage, based on a comparative learning approach, the Siamese Feature Extraction Module (SFEM) module was created to extract features of pairs of vehicle parts. To train the SFEM, pairs of positive samples, which consist of the same vehicle component pairs captured by different cameras, and pairs of negative samples, which consist of different vehicle component pairs are needed. To ensure that the positive sample pairs are closer to each other in the embedding space, and the negative samples are as far away as possible from each other, contrast loss is utilized. Moreover, The SFEM incorporates VGG16 and a Multi-period Convolutional Block Attention Module (MCBAM), which enhances the learning ability of the conventional Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM). In the third stage, information propagation among the vehicle parts is achieved using a Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP), which calculates the similarity after combining the features of all parts. Our self-built test set demonstrates that PFNet is effective for continuous monitoring of vehicles on highways under multiple cameras, resulting in improved accuracy of vehicle re-identification, with Top1 accuracy of 93.61% and Top5 accuracy of 99.44%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a modern large city, it is mandatory to have playgrounds in residential areas. The level of social well-being and well-being of urban space is also assessed by the presence of a children’s playground in each residential courtyard. However, from a city-ecological point of view, is it advisable to organize parking on boulevards, in small squares, in courtyards next to car parks? In order to understand this, the state regulatory requirements and standards for the organization of children’s playgrounds in a large industrial city were studied; The territories of playgrounds were identified, the location of which raises doubts about the correctness of their placement; a geochemical analysis of natural environments was performed – the surface layer of air, soils and soils, snow cover on the territory of playgrounds and adjacent zones. An assessment was made of the compliance of of the geochemical analysis results with existing standards for the placement of playgrounds in urban space and urban planning solutions were proposed to optimize the locations of playgrounds created contrary to existing standards.

California must operate and maintain an effective and efficient transportation infrastructure while ensuring that the health of communities and the planet are not compromised. By assessing transportation projects using a life-cycle perspective, all relevant emission sources and activities from the construction, operation, maintenance, and end-of-life phases can be analyzed and mitigated. This report presents a framework to assess the life-cycle human health and climate change impacts from six types of transportation projects: (1) Roadways; (2) Marine ports; (3) Logistical distribution centers; (4) Railyards; (5) Bridges and overpasses; and (6) Airports. The framework was applied using an integrated model to assess fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, noise impacts, and monetized damages (Value of Statistical Life, Social Cost of Carbon) from two case studies: routine resurfacing and vehicle operations on road segments within the San Francisco Bay Area using 2019 data, and annual marine, cargo, rail, trucking, and infrastructure maintenance operations at the Port of Oakland in 2020. The results suggest that emission sources in a project’s supply chain and construction (material production and deliveries, construction activities, fuel refining) can significantly contribute to the full scope of impacts from transportation systems. Equitable mitigation policies (e.g., electrification, pollution control technologies) need to be tailored to address the sources that impact communities the most.

Aiming at the deficiencies presented by the traditional methods of highway project investment evaluation, the proposed highway investment evaluation method was based on system dynamics. First, we constructed an evaluation index system from profitability, solvency, and risk resistance and clarified the positive and negative causality within the investment evaluation system of highway projects; second, we determined the boundaries of the system dynamics model and divided it into six sub-systems, namely, income, cash flow, investment evaluation, profit, cost, investment and financing, and liabilities; and then, we established the system dynamics model of highway investment evaluation based on the sub-systems. The model made up for the limitations of the traditional discounted cash flow method; finally, taking the China's Yunnan Province an Expressway project as an example, using VENSIM software simulation, we get the evaluation results of the system dynamics model and make a comparative analysis with the discounted cash flow method, which showed that the calculation inaccuracies of the NPV and other financial indicators were in a reasonable range, and the evaluation method had strong operability and practicability. The system dynamics investment evaluation model provided a systematic, intuitive, whole-process investment evaluation method, which provided a theoretical basis for the analysis and decision-making of the investment effect of highway projects.

As renewable energies need to be extended massively, new concepts are necessary to prevent land conflicts with other uses. Such concepts should have a high generality to offer a swift expansion of renewables anywhere. Within the project, the Photovoltaic Road Roofing Concept (PV-SÜD), a concept for the roofing of roadways with solar panels, was investigated. Its effects on the road infrastructure were analyzed, and a demonstrator was built. The technical boundary conditions and requirements resulting from the specific application type were determined regarding the photovoltaic technology, the possible energy generation, and the supporting structure. The study was completed for a technical solution of 10 m length, 17 m width, and 6.8 m height, with the option of a pent roof (highways running east–west) or gable roofs (highways running north–south). The main target aim was to investigate the potential for widespread use at any site, in contrast to previous studies which mainly aimed at a singular site or demonstrator project. The final solution can support a 38.5 kWp photovoltaic system with a specific annual yield of between 37.5 MWh and 44.0 MWh. The yield variation in sites in Austria and Germany was 14.7% and 17.9%, respectively. One demonstrator roofing was realized as a steel-frame construction with active glass–glass photovoltaic technology at a highway in Hegau (GE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The necessity of pushing the road mobility towards more sustainable solutions has become of undeniable importance in last years. For this reason, both research and industry are constantly investigating new technologies able to make the usage of battery electric vehicles(BEV) as accessible and usable as traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). One of the most limiting issues concerns the short range of electric vehicles, which complicates their use for long distances, such as for highway travels. A promising solution seems to be the "charge-while-driving" approach, by exploiting the inductive dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) technology. Nevertheless, such systems show different issues, first of all, high investment and maintenance costs. Furthermore, it is not clear how extensive a potential dynamic wireless charging infrastructure needs to be to make a real advantage for electric vehicle drivers. As a consequence, the aim of this paper is to introduce a new methodology to estimate the number and length of wireless charging sections necessary to allow the maximum number of electric vehicles to travel a specific highway without the need to stop for a recharge at a service area. Specifically, the methodology is based on a algorithm that, starting by real traffic data, simulates vehicle flows and defines the basic layout of the wireless charging infrastructure. This simulator can provide a decision support tool for highway road operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over three-quarters of Taiwan's landmass consists of mountainous slopes with steep gradients, leading to frequent rockfall hazards that obstruct traffic and cause injuries and fatalities. This study used Google Alerts to compile internet news on rockfall incidents along Taiwan's highway system from April 2019 to February 2024. The locations of these rockfalls were geolocated using Google Earth and integrated with geographical, topographical, environmental, geological, and socioeconomic variables. Employing machine learning algorithms, particularly the Random Forest algorithm, we analyzed the potential for rockfall hazards along roadside slopes. The model achieved an overall accuracy of 0.8514 on the test dataset, with a sensitivity of 0.8378, correctly identifying 83.8% of rockfall locations. Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) analysis highlighted that factors such as slope angle and distance to geologically sensitive areas are pivotal in determining rockfall locations. The study underscores the utility of internet-based data collection in providing comprehensive coverage of Taiwan's highway system, and enabled the first broad analysis of rockfall hazard susceptibility for the entire highway network. The consistent importance of topographical and geographical features suggests that integrating detailed spatial data could further enhance predictive performance. The combined use of Random Forest and SHAP analyses offers a robust framework for understanding and improving predictive models, aiding in the development of effective strategies for risk management and mitigation in rockfall-prone areas, ultimately contributing to safer and more reliable transportation networks in mountainous regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When projects suffer noncompletion, state highway agencies (SHAs) may trigger liquidated damage (LD) provisions, and at times, contractors may challenge their enforceability. Normally, to be compensated for the costs expected during the delay, states design the LD schedules by associating LD rates to specific contract sizes. A review of the literature found that states varied significantly in the LD schedule designs. However, no studies have explored the relationship between the LD rates and contract sizes (LDR-CS) across states. Exploring this relationship could lead to identifying the underlying model of the relationship, explaining how states vary the LD rates against contract sizes, running comparative analyses of the states' LD schedules, and designing optimal LD schedules, among other potential benefits. To realize these benefits, the objectives of this work were to (1) statistically explore and characterize the LDR-CS relationship, and (2) develop a representative model of the relationship. To achieve these objectives, descriptive, box–whisker, and cluster analyses were performed to characterize the relationship, and regression analysis was utilized to search for the best-fit representation model. The relationship was found to be challenging; it had a unique L-shape, and was modeled successfully only using transformed nonlinear regression. The research results could facilitate performing LD comparative analysis among states, help SHAs assess and build confidence in their LD rates, and help update and optimize LD schedule designs. This work contributes to the body of knowledge with new statistical dimensions to comprehend the LDR-CS relationship, providing tables, charts, and transformed nonlinear models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We construct a multidimensional poverty index for chinese counties. • We establish a staggered DID model that controls for selection bias. • Highways significantly reduce county poverty. • The poverty-reduction effect of highways is conditional. • The poverty-reduction effect of highways diminishes with increasing altitude. This paper establishes a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model to estimate the impact of highways on regional poverty using county-level panel data from China. We construct a multidimensional poverty index and use satellite-monitored night light brightness as a proxy indicator. The results demonstrate that highways significantly reduce county poverty and that the poverty reduction effect becomes increasingly pronounced over time. This result remains robust after controlling for non-random highway route selection. Furthermore, the poverty reduction effect of highways is conditional, with a significant poverty reduction effect in the less economically-developed western regions and non-municipal counties, and no significant poverty reduction effect in the economically-developed eastern and central regions and municipal districts. Moreover, the poverty reduction effect of highways gradually decreases as the average altitude of counties increases. Our tests provide empirical evidence for effective road investments in developing countries that incorporate poverty alleviation targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the road corvée, a practice of using unpaid labour for road maintenance, in the nineteenth and twentieth century. I focus on the case of Estonia, where the road corvée, originating in the feudal economic system, persisted surprisingly long, being abolished only in 1959. Earlier studies on the road corvée have focused mainly on road construction and have therefore failed to recognise the use of the practice beyond absolutist Europe and colonial Africa. Focusing on maintenance reveals that the corvée was also widespread in twentieth-century Europe. I examine how the road corvée was organised and debated to reveal what inhibited and what accelerated its abolition. The study shows how maintenance practices can be deeply embedded in social and economic structures – like the agricultural system in this case – and ultimately be highly inert and resistant to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is devoted to assessing the weighted average distances between the regions of Russia according to different metrics – the shortest distances on the sphere, as well as distances by railways and highways. Such aggregated estimates are necessary for researchers of interregional processes (from migration to cargo transportation), but these estimates are not publicly available. The article fills this gap. We describe the methods for estimating distances using various metrics (relying on the Russian Railways data on ‘tariff distances’ between railway stations, information on cities’ coordinates and population, and web-services for calculating inter-city distances). The proposed metrics can be considered as an economic distance metric developed in the context of gravitational interaction studies. We estimate the distances between Russian regions using recent and highly detailed data (the distances between 2840 railway stations, the population data gathered for about 10,000 settlements). For scientific and practical purposes, the open access to resulting estimates is provided. We discuss and interpret the cases of significant discrepancies in the estimates of distances between Russian regions according to different metrics. We demonstrate that, for a number of regions, location of transport infrastructure determines the need to choose the metric of interregional distance carefully, depending on the task. We estimate the weighted distance between all regions of Russia with an account for changes in regional structure of population; on this basis, we show that since 1990s migration has been directed to regions with greater relative transport connectivity

Vehicular air pollution has created an ongoing air quality and public health crisis. Despite growing knowledge of racial injustice in exposure levels, less is known about the relationship between the production of and exposure to such pollution. This study assesses pollution burden by testing whether local populations' vehicular air pollution exposure is proportional to how much they drive. Through a Los Angeles, California case study we examine how this relates to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status---and how these relationships vary across the region. We find that, all else equal, tracts whose residents drive less are exposed to more air pollution, as are tracts with a less-White population. Commuters from majority-White tracts disproportionately drive through non-White tracts, compared to the inverse. Decades of racially-motivated freeway infrastructure planning and residential segregation shape today's disparities in who produces vehicular air pollution and who is exposed to it, but opportunities exist for urban planning and transport policy to mitigate this injustice.

Analyzing traffic accident data is crucial for pinpointing contributing factors, forecasting accident patterns, and informing effective safety measures. This insight leads to enhanced road safety, decreased fatalities, and better resource allocation in transportation planning. Severe weather conditions, including rain, fog, and sandstorms, can significantly reduce the visibility of highways and increase the risk of traffic accidents. The paper proposes a deep mining algorithm for road traffic accident data under adverse weather conditions. Firstly, collect traffic accident data under adverse weather conditions and complete attribute reduction, denoising, and normalization processing. Then, by improving the decision tree algorithm, the attribute selection criteria of the decision tree algorithm were enhanced; Finally, the improved decision tree algorithm is applied to achieve deep mining of traffic accident data. The experimental results show that proposed algorithm has an accuracy rate of over 95.3%, an accuracy rate of over 94.3%, a recall rate of over 92.7%, and a stable F1 value of around 0.8, demonstrating excellent performance. The provided deep mining algorithm for traffic accident data can provide more scientific and accurate decision support for traffic management departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large‐scale deployment of photovoltaics (PVs) along highways has the potential for the generation of clean electricity without competing for land use or burdening the power grid since energy for electric vehicles (EVs) can be generated locally on wastelands along highways near service stations. An analysis was carried out to evaluate the feasibility of integrating vertical bifacial solar modules into noise barriers. The approach involved integrating geospatial data with PV potential data using geographic information systems (GIS) technology. The results show a potential of around 200 GWh/year if all current noise barriers along highways in the Netherlands are considered suitable for PV module integration. Three case studies have been analysed regarding specific service stations for specific road orientations. It is shown that solar energy can charge more than 300 vehicles per day by combining bifacial PV noise barriers and standard mono‐facial PV modules on publicly available land along the highway in all three case studies, which is sufficient to meet 80% of the expected EV charging demand along highways in 2030. Highlights: The PV potential of noise barriers in Dutch highways is 200 GWh/year.Three case studies including bifacial vertical PV noise barriers and standard tilted PV systems.PV‐powered service stations can charge about 300 EVs per day.Solar fraction of EV charging is higher than 80% for all case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of globalization on transportation corridors in Azerbaijan, which are strategically located to serve as hubs for crossroads between north-south and east-west trade. The main hypothesis is that globalization has had a significant impact on transportation corridors in Azerbaijan, resulting in greater connectivity and trade flows within the region. The recent triumph over Armenia has resulted in significant changes in the region, enhancing Azerbaijan's reputation. Alongside the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on Russia and Iran, Azerbaijan has emerged as a secure passage between these influential powers. Furthermore, the rising demands for major international trade routes have created a pressing need for Azerbaijan to enhance its capabilities to effectively meet these growing requirements. According to the World Systems Theory, semi-periphery countries play the role of bridges between core and periphery states. Globalization has led to Azerbaijan's integration into the global economic system as a semi-peripheral country. This has resulted in increased trade and investment, which in turn has led to the development of transportation infrastructure and the expansion of transportation networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pangalengan-Banjaran road section has a winding geometric condition. The large number of bend geometries resulted in many accidents due to visibility, radius, and widening of the pavement at the corner, inappropriate road slopes caused many accidents to occur. The research method used in this research is the evaluative research method and quantitative method. The growth of suburban highway infrastructure in Indonesia has previously improved suddenly lengthways with economic growth. The geometrical strategy of the highway has previously remained planned by the typical requirements and needs of the purposes of the highway amenities constructed. The submission of physical science ideas in planning the geometrical stage as a meaning in smearing theoretic physical science to the identical-geometric design. A centrifugal strength in the physical science idea is a straightforward value in scheming geometric straight configurations of the road. Theoretical thoughtful of engineering term of scheming geometrical design viewpoint, has remained created on the method of centrifugal strength in the circumstance of effort on vehicles drive in the highway caisson disease. The operation has constantly remained built on variable quantity which remained strong-minded by thoughtful to spread on reason of rational usefully. These measures are lumped through dipping the result of bigger centrifugal strength. Furthermore, the submission is also able to decrease chance-disposed to areas due to the impact of size-centrifugal services on the geometrical plan of the highway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study proposes a modified reliability theory and methodology for the speed-based evaluation of successive geometric elements such as a long tangent followed by a curve. A formulation based on lower limit and upper limit speed adjustments, SL and SU, respectively, between the successive geometric elements is developed for range-based reliability evaluation. To understand the sensitivity of reliability, graphical representations for the variations in reliability due to variations in speed difference distributions, μG and σG, are explained. It is observed that the reliability of highway geometric elements changes with variations in μG and σG. For fixed values of σG, SL, and SU, the reliability of highway geometric elements can increase or decrease with increases in μG. However, for fixed values of μG, SL, and SU, the reliability of highway geometric elements increases with decreases in σG. A typical example using this method has also been discussed in this paper to provide an idea on the practical application of the method. Analysis of the geometric effects on reliability values elucidates an inverse relationship between reliability ratio (RR) and deflection angle. Conversely, a direct relationship between radius and curve length was observed. The observed negative relationship of deflection angle and degree of curvature with RR is in compliance with AASHTO’s recommendation of designing for smooth curve appearance. Design engineers can suitably use the proposed methodology for a targeted reliability(Re) and/or RR value. These findings can help to generate a reliable design of successive geometric elements at the design stage and recommend suitable low-cost safety measures to mitigate the geometric design shortcomings in the operational stage of highways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to support Laga-Bauguia trade activities, the Ministry of Public Works (PU) is building a road network to the southern region. In its development, there is the development of the Laga-Bauguia Access Road which will be implemented from February 2023 to February 2025. This highway is one of the most important highways because it will connect the north coast area and cross the hills to the Matabian Mountains area which is visited by many tourists. local and foreign. This research aims to analyze the performance of the Laga - Bauguia Highway improvement project in terms of costs and analyze the estimated costs for the remaining work, as well as the cost of completing the Laga - Bauguia Highway improvement project. Every construction project requires control measures in terms of costs, where in carrying out control it is necessary to know in advance the ongoing project performance. One way to determine the cost performance of the project is the Earned Value method. This method can reveal whether the progress in implementing project work is commensurate with the use of part of the budget. By analyzing the concept of Earned Value, the relationship between what has actually been achieved physically and the amount of budget that has been spent can be seen. During the review period in the 8th month, a CPI value of 5.50 was obtained, which means that the actual costs incurred were less than the budget costs. In the 13th month, the CPI value was obtained at 5.50, which means the actual costs incurred were smaller than the budgeted costs.

The Safe Tractor Operations series contains six articles devoted to tractor safety. This publication discusses practical tips to help prevent collisions involving tractors and other farm machinery on public roads. Written by Serap Gorucu, Carol J. Lehtola, and Charles M. Brown and published by the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, June 2024.

This paper reconstructs the lane-changing rules of a multi-lane highway system based on the aggressive lane-changing characteristics of actual drivers. Based on these observations, a new multi-lane lattice model is proposed. The linear stability conditions for the new model are derived. The density wave equation of the novel model is generated by exploring the evolutionary law of traffic congestion in the multi-lane highway system near the critical stability point. The correctness of the theoretical analysis results is verified using numerical simulations. The results of the study show that for a given number of multi-lane systems, the stability of the traffic flow is positively correlated with the driver's aggressiveness in changing lanes. In particular, when the adjustment intensity coefficient reaches 1, the stability of the traffic flow is optimal. On the other hand, when the lane-changing aggressiveness coefficient is kept constant, the stability of the multi-lane system increases as the number of lanes gradually increases from 1 to 4. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that the propagation range and the size of flow fluctuations can be substantially reduced by increasing the aggressiveness of lane changes as well as by increasing the number of lanes.

Incident detection algorithms from an automation point of view can be divided into two categories: automatic and non-automatic incident detection. Automatic algorithms refer to those algorithms that automatically identify an incident based on traffic flow data received from traffic detectors. Manual algorithms or procedures rely on reports from human witnesses. Based on functional characteristics, incident detection algorithms are divided into algorithms for highways and algorithms for street networks. Based on data acquisition methods, incident detection algorithms are divided into three groups: algorithms using data from stationary vehicle detectors (inductive loops, radars, video cameras, etc.); algorithms using mobile sensors (Bluetooth, wi-fi RFID, GPS, Glonass sensors, toll system transponders, etc.). algorithms that use information from drivers (GSM communications, navigation services, Internet applications, etc.). This article discusses algorithms that use data from stationary vehicle detectors. The disadvantages of incident detection algorithms using stationary transport detectors include: the need to install and operate transport detectors (inductive, video, etc.) leads to interference with traffi fl and sometimes to temporary closure of traffic The location of installation of vehicle detectors, the frequency of their installation and the number are critical from the point of view of detecting an incident on a particular section of the highway. However, it is extremely labor and capital-intensive to install stationary detectors along the entire length of the highway. Also, inductive vehicle detectors, which are mainly used to determine the parameters of traffic flow on highways, are unreliable and often fail, which makes it ineffective to detect incidents on a particular section of the road. The advantages of the algorithms under consideration include their proven reliability and accuracy in identifying incidents over decades, which is their undoubted advantage over algorithms that use mobile sensors or information from drivers.

This paper investigates the high-level decision-making problem in highway scenarios regarding lane changing and over-taking other slower vehicles. In particular, this paper aims to improve the Travel Assist feature for automatic overtaking and lane changes on highways. About 9 million samples including lane images and other dynamic objects are collected in simulation. This data; Overtaking on Simulated HighwAys (OSHA) dataset is released to tackle this challenge. To solve this problem, an architecture called SwapTransformer is designed and implemented as an imitation learning approach on the OSHA dataset. Moreover, auxiliary tasks such as future points and car distance network predictions are proposed to aid the model in better understanding the surrounding environment. The performance of the proposed solution is compared with a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and multi-head self-attention networks as baselines in a simulation environment. We also demonstrate the performance of the model with and without auxiliary tasks. All models are evaluated based on different metrics such as time to finish each lap, number of overtakes, and speed difference with speed limit. The evaluation shows that the SwapTransformer model outperforms other models in different traffic densities in the inference phase.

Introduction. One of the complex problems of road asset management is the lack of unified “integral” indicators of their condition, which simultaneously take into account the change in the longitudinal smoothness of the road surface, visual condition, and the general modulus of elasticity at the operational stage of the road life cycle. Their absence leads to the impossibility of effective modelling of various scenarios of changes in the operational condition of the road when various kinds of control actions in the form of maintenance, repair and overhaul are carried out. The purpose of this study is to develop this criterion and formulate the basis for modelling various scenarios for the application of control actions at the operational stage of the life cycle.Materials and methods. As the main indicator of the road condition at the operational stage of the life cycle, it is proposed to use the integral level of safety, which is the product of the shares of the road section that are in satisfactory condition according to the indicators — the general modulus of elasticity on the surface of the pavement, longitudinal smoothness and visual condition. To substantiate the applicability of this indicator and develop a methodology for modelling control actions, the apparatus of the theory of reliability and mathematical statistics is used.Results. Based on the dependencies characterizing the change in each of these indicators during the service life, taking into account the assumption of the normal nature of their distribution, the design curve of change of the integral level of safety for highways with heavy traffic (> 5,000,000 applications of the design load for the service life) was obtained. Various scenarios for assigning control actions are considered and their influence on the value of the integral level of road safety is shown. It is shown that for a number of cases, the restoration of the consumer properties of the road without the restoration of the bearing capacity will not provide an extension of the service life. Modelling of various scenarios for the assignment of control actions in the form of maintenance, repair and overhaul work was carried out based on the indicator — the integral level of safety.Conclusions. It is shown that for a number of cases the restoration of the consumer properties of the road without the restoration of the bearing capacity will not provide service life extension. Modelling of various scenarios for the assignment of control actions in the form of maintenance, repair and overhaul has been carried out. The prospects of application of the given approach connected with the use of the apparatus of the theory of efficiency of technical systems are determined.

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are a widely used procurement method for constructing, maintaining, and operating roads, constituting an alternative to the traditional public works model (TPW). This is because the efficiency of the PPP model has been highlighted over the TPW model. This study carried out a bibliometric analysis of 734 public articles from Scopus on PPPs in road infrastructure projects between 1993 and 2022. The results allow us to identify the general characteristics of the research; the most relevant articles; the most productive journals; and the most prolific authors, institutions, and countries and their main international cooperation networks, as well as to detect the main current research topics, which are: financial management, costs and pricing systems, privatization of transport infrastructure services, and sustainability. Consequently, this study provides a comprehensive overview of research on PPPs in road infrastructure projects over the last 30 years. This can reinforce and complement previous bibliometric analyses on PPPs in road infrastructure projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red wood ants (RWA, Formica rufa group) play a key role in forest ecosystems as effective entomophages and participants in the circulation of organic matter. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficiency of using the highway method to accelerate the growth of anthills, specifically focusing on height, diameter, volume. The study was conducted in Kyiv, Ukraine, from May to October 2023. In the experimental group, highways were constructed on ant trails, totalling nine Formica polyctena Forster, 1850 anthills and eight Formica rufa Linnaeus, 1761 anthills. These highways consisted of a continuous line of logs ranging from 10 to 15 cm in diameter. The control group consisted of 11 F. polyctena anthills and eight F. rufa anthills, with all trails running along the forest floor surface. Height and diameter measurements were conducted monthly, and anthill volumes were calculated during data processing. Analysis of anthill linear parameters revealed a significant acceleration of growth in the experimental group. The average anthill diameter, height, and volume for both ant species in the experimental group (12 cm height, 24 cm diameter for F. rufa and 29 cm diameter, 9 cm height for F. polyctena per season) exceeded those of the control group, where either no increase or a decrease in anthill size was observed (p = 0.01-0.0001). The increase in anthill volume within the experimental group, compared to the control group, from May 2023 to September 2023 was twice as large for both species (p = 0.02-0.005). These findings confirm the efficiency of the highway method in stimulating growth of red wood ant anthills. Accelerated anthill growth can help maintain ant populations in forest ecosystems, which is important for maintaining biodiversity and stability within these ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Savonius wind turbine (SWT) is a famous type of vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) that accepts wind from all directions, particularly suitable for various applications including the design of small-scale wind turbines. This study evaluates the potential installation of a simple 2-bladed SWT on Queen Alya’ airport highway, Amman, Jordan. The strategic objective of this work was to design and install the SWT prototype at different sites along the airport road to define the most efficient location for capturing wind energy. The SWT rotor was fabricated via galvanized steel sheets. The self-starting ability of the rotor was examined by determining the torque coefficient at different angles of attack. The field tests were carried out by employing the turbine at three different locations along a six-lane highway (including the left, right, and middle sides of the highway). It was found that the proposed turbine has a cut-in wind speed of 2.5 m/s. Furthermore, the torque coefficient values indicated that the proposed rotor has a strong self-starting capacity. Field studies also revealed that the rotational speed of the turbine differs at various positions of the wind turbine. In addition, the results highlighted the significance of wind directions relative to vehicle directions for generating wind power on highways. The established Savonius rotor exhibited a maximum coefficient of performance of 0.25 with operational TSRs up to 0.7. Overall, a maximum enhanced rotational speed of about 53% was attained by positioning the turbine in the middle of six-way-lane highways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global construction has been blighted by productivity inertia caused by behavioural bias for decades. While other industry sector productivity has grown more than fifteen-fold since 1960, construction has stagnated with no more than a seven to ten percent overall growth. McKinsey Global Institute's report Reinventing Construction: A Route to Higher Productivity, reported infrastructure construction amongst a small group of outperforming market sub-sectors at 15 to 20 percent. This paper, which charts the development of a unique procurement model designed for high productivity, builds on that performance using behavioural insights to counter damaging and habitual biases. The new model changes trading relationships using a nudged 'opt-out' contract structure creating a different responsibility dynamic between client and supplier. A recognisable but different infrastructure construction procurement model to improve productivity using recognised behavioural economics and construction economics. Highways England was set up to run England's strategic road network in 2015. The procurement model that resulted, Regional Delivery Partnerships can be refined for any infrastructure sector construction environment and sets up a key step forward in contracting based on integrated project delivery. Using a combination of counter bias strategies built from loss aversion and nudge theory this new construction procurement model uses 'opt-out' from lean construction to drive higher productivity. By setting up an integrator, to create an integrated project team, Regional Delivery Partnerships uses loss aversion as the motivational key to better innovation. It empowers the integrator to counter uniqueness bias and find and eradicate waste (process time and money) to enhance productivity. Reward is aligned to both optimised efficient design and high productivity working. As 100% of budget underspend can be kept rewarding the integrator, the potential of not achieving this triggers loss aversion and motivates change using the principles of escalation of commitment in favour of the client. Performance data is also used to motivate using reduced acquisition costs from secondary competition, long held as an inefficient market overhead. Using recognised pragmatic academic techniques, and constructionism; choice architectures were remodelled into a new outcome and value focused procurement model. Using applied research, the team used processes and techniques to develop, build, test, and deploy the model in open market competition. It can be used by any infrastructure sector construction client to replicate a sector specific version of Regional Delivery Partnerships that changes trading choice architecture towards higher productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that after the Second World War in Uzbekistan, production, transport system and roads were in a somewhat difficult situation. By the 70s and 80s of the 20th centuries, this system received significant development. Especially in the Tashkent region, progress in the transport system and its impact on society were much more effective. This article will tell you about the positive changes in the transport system over the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The choice of an incorrect terrain classification might lead to consequences in construction costs, design speed, or even safety. However, the current design criteria for terrain classification may be highly subjective. In Brazil, design guidelines use textual descriptors for three classes, namely level, rolling, and mountainous. This study proposes a fuzzy rule-based classifier to predict terrain classes based on average slope and slope variation. The classifier uses fuzzy logic, which can account for imprecise and vague definitions of the input variables. The classifier was built using topographic variables, i.e. slope variation and average slope, and experts' knowledge. A survey was considered to extract experts' opinions regarding different terrain classes. The classifier provided an accuracy of at least 75%, which suggests that the expert system captured the experts' perceptions of the highway classes. As a result, the proposed system can assist decision-making by providing a more consistent method for terrain classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research is due to the great attention paid to the preservation and restoration of biodiversity in the countries of the European Union. Purpose. Carrying out zoning of the Cherkasy region according to the degree of completeness of the formation of roadside landscapes ecosystemsю Methods. From a methodological point of view, zoning is considered as one of the main methods of geographical analysis a nd synthesis. Zoning performs the function of a general geographic method of organizing spatial diversity in the geographic envelope and systematizing territorial formations at the regional level, which makes it an essential element of a systematic approach in geography. Results. The monitoring parameters of the infrastructure components of the main highways of the Cherkassy region (Kyiv-Odesa and Vinnytsia-Uman) used by us can be used for zoning, provided they are combined into logically formed factor groups. In particular, we combined all the initial parameters into the following groups of factors: natural-geographic factor: geolocation (geographic coordinates), air temperature and humidity, natural radiation background; degree of anthropogenic impact: noise level, dustiness, some geochemical indicators, proximity (or remoteness) of the road surface from agricultural land; the degree of manifestation of ecosystem relations: the number of plant species and their recurrence, the presence of invasive species and those that are indicators of salinity and waterlogging, the presence of species included in the National Catalog of Biotopes of Ukraine. Based on the list of main groups of factors, the main indicator of zoning will be the degree of completeness of the formation of roadside ecosystems. Conclutions. Taking into account the activation of ruderal flora at the exits from gas stations, or on remote sections of highways, it can be asserted that in these locations the Le Chatelier-Brown principle is fully in effect, according to which the biosphere compensates for the harmful effects from the outside with its diversity. The author sees prospects for further research in the expansion of the list of objects, in particular, it will be very interesting to investigate the formation of ecosystem relations on secondary communication routes.

The necessity of pushing the road mobility towards more sustainable solutions has become of undeniable importance in last years. For this reason, both research and industry are constantly investigating new technologies able to make the usage of battery electric vehicles(BEV) as accessible and usable as traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). One of the most limiting issues concerns the short range of electric vehicles, which complicates their use for long distances, such as for highway travels. A promising solution seems to be the “charge-while-driving” approach, by exploiting the inductive dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) technology. Nevertheless, such systems show different issues, first of all, high investment and maintenance costs. Furthermore, it is not clear how extensive a potential dynamic wireless charging infrastructure needs to be to make a real advantage for electric vehicle drivers. As a consequence, the aim of this paper is to introduce a new methodology to estimate the number and length of wireless charging sections necessary to allow the maximum number of electric vehicles to travel a specific highway without the need to stop for a recharge at a service area. Specifically, the methodology is based on a algorithm that, starting by real traffic data, simulates vehicle flows and defines the basic layout of the wireless charging infrastructure. This simulator can provide a decision support tool for highway road operators.

As renewable energies need to be extended massively, new concepts are necessary to prevent land conflicts with other uses. Such concepts should have a high generality to offer a swift expansion of renewables anywhere. Within the project, the Photovoltaic Road Roofing Concept (PV-SÜD), a concept for the roofing of roadways with solar panels, was investigated. Its effects on the road infrastructure were analyzed, and a demonstrator was built. The technical boundary conditions and requirements resulting from the specific application type were determined regarding the photovoltaic technology, the possible energy generation, and the supporting structure. The study was completed for a technical solution of 10 m length, 17 m width, and 6.8 m height, with the option of a pent roof (highways running east–west) or gable roofs (highways running north–south). The main target aim was to investigate the potential for widespread use at any site, in contrast to previous studies which mainly aimed at a singular site or demonstrator project. The final solution can support a 38.5 kWp photovoltaic system with a specific annual yield of between 37.5 MWh and 44.0 MWh. The yield variation in sites in Austria and Germany was 14.7% and 17.9%, respectively. One demonstrator roofing was realized as a steel-frame construction with active glass–glass photovoltaic technology at a highway in Hegau (GE).

Over three-quarters of Taiwan’s landmass consists of mountainous slopes with steep gradients, leading to frequent rockfall hazards that obstruct traffic and cause injuries and fatalities. This study used Google Alerts to compile internet news on rockfall incidents along Taiwan’s highway system from April 2019 to February 2024. The locations of these rockfalls were geolocated using Google Earth and integrated with geographical, topographical, environmental, geological, and socioeconomic variables. Employing machine learning algorithms, particularly the Random Forest algorithm, we analyzed the potential for rockfall hazards along roadside slopes. The model achieved an overall accuracy of 0.8514 on the test dataset, with a sensitivity of 0.8378, correctly identifying 83.8% of rockfall locations. Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) analysis highlighted that factors such as slope angle and distance to geologically sensitive areas are pivotal in determining rockfall locations. The study underscores the utility of internet-based data collection in providing comprehensive coverage of Taiwan’s highway system, and enabled the first broad analysis of rockfall hazard susceptibility for the entire highway network. The consistent importance of topographical and geographical features suggests that integrating detailed spatial data could further enhance predictive performance. The combined use of Random Forest and SHAP analyses offers a robust framework for understanding and improving predictive models, aiding in the development of effective strategies for risk management and mitigation in rockfall-prone areas, ultimately contributing to safer and more reliable transportation networks in mountainous regions.

Today’s roadways are subject to traffic congestion, the deterioration of surface-assets (often due to the overreliance on private vehicle traffic), increasing vehicle-operation and fuel costs, and pollutant emissions. In Abu Dhabi, private car traffic forms the major share on urban highways, as the infrastructure was built to a high quality and the public transport network needs expansion, resulting in traffic congestion on major highways. These issues are arguably addressable by appropriate decisions at the planning stage. Microsimulation modeling of driving behavior in Abu Dhabi is presented for empirical assessment of traffic management scenarios. This paper presents a technique for developing, calibrating, validating, and the scenario analysis of a detailed VISSIM-based microsimulation model of a 3.5 km section of a 5-lane divided highway in Abu Dhabi. Traffic-count data collected from two sources, i.e., the local transport department (year 2007) and municipality (2007 and 2015–2016) were used. Gaps in traffic-counts between ramps and the highway mainline were noted, which is a common occurrence in real-world data situations. A composite dataset for a representative week in 2015 was constructed, and the model was calibrated and validated with a 15% (

Speed limits should provide a balance between safety and traffic flow. However, setting a speed limit generally involves selecting a base speed (e.g., operational speed, design speed) and adjusting it with several other variables. For example, in Brazil, the standard guidelines list a series of factors that influence speed limits, but they do not provide a clear methodology to choose a speed limit for a highway segment. Therefore, under current Brazilian practice, the decision-maker is faced with a subject decision that mostly relies on expert judgment. This paper proposes a fuzzy expert system for setting Brazilian highway speed limits. Six input variables are considered in the system. Membership functions and fuzzy rules were extracted from experts’ evaluations of simulated highway scenarios. The experts evaluated the scenarios using linguistic variables and proposed speed limits. Then, a Mamdani fuzzy controller was developed. The outputs of the controller were compared to the expert’s answers for the simulated highway scenarios. The system was further validated considering two case studies of highway sections in Brazil. Results showed that the fuzzy system is able to provide outputs that agree with the experts’ evaluations and with the existing speed limits. The fuzzy controller developed in this study can be used to assist practitioners in setting highway speed limits on Brazilian highways.