Controlling traffic jams on urban roads modeled in Coloured Petri net using Genetic Algorithm

This paper presents an application to traffic lights control in congested urban traffic, in real time, taking as input the position and route of the vehicles in the involved areas. This data is obtained from the communication between vehicles and infrastructure (V2I). Due to the great complexity of the possible combination of traffic lights and the short time to get a response, Genetic Algorithm was used to optimize this control. According to test results, the application can reduce the number of vehicles in congested areas, even with the entry of vehicles that previously were not being considered in these roads, such as parked vehicles. © 2012 IEEE.

Concessions and road and rail transport optimization

Includes bibliography

Alternatives for controlling urban traffic congestion

Traffic congestion is nothing new in Latin American cities but has worsened in recent years. Eliminating it is a pipedream, but it should be brought under control. Many economists and transport planners think electronic road pricing would be the best way of tackling it, now that the appropriate technology for implementing it is available. On the other hand, experience shows that, for political reasons, it would be better to begin by adopting simpler methods. To start with, simple road pricing would seem to be the best option. But, over 20 years of experience in London and more than six in Santiago, Chile, made it clear that socio-political barriers have to be surmounted before even this option can be applied in practice. There is more political support for measures to control parking, due in part to the fact that the legal powers do not normally extend to restricting the number of parking spaces available to high-income and influential motorists who have the right to park near their offices and who cause a great deal of the congestion whilst getting there. In Latin America, the relative importance of taxis also diminishes the effectiveness of measures geared to parking, since taxis contribute to congestion although but they do not park. The problem of congestion cannot be solved by using tame measures. The time has come for something bolder, i.e., measures that, at the very least, exercise control over those parking spaces, which so far have been beyond the reach of governments and local authorities, ideally, simple road pricing systems would be even more effective.

An analysis of traffic accidents and children: the case of Uruguay

This issue of the FAL Bulletin deals with road safe ty and its impact on children by examining data collected on road safe ty in the Eastern Republic of Uruguay by the Gonzalo Rodríguez Foundation wi thin the framework of its EDU-CAR Road Safety Plan for Children.

Optimizing urban traffic flow using genetic algorithm with petri net analysis as fitness function

This paper describes a new methodology adopted for urban traffic stream optimization. By using Petri net analysis as fitness function of a Genetic Algorithm, an entire urban road network is controlled in real time. With the advent of new technologies that have been published, particularly focusing on communications among vehicles and roads infrastructures, we consider that vehicles can provide their positions and their destinations to a central server so that it is able to calculate the best route for one of them. Our tests concentrate on comparisons between the proposed approach and other algorithms that are currently used for the same purpose, being possible to conclude that our algorithm optimizes traffic in a relevant manner.

Road-kills of the giant anteater in south-eastern Brazil: 10 years monitoring spatial and temporal determinants

Context. The giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, is a large insectivorous mammal from Cerrado which is classified as vulnerable by the IUCN's red list. In spite of frequent giant anteater casualties, there continues to be a lack of published data on how road and landscape attributes affect road-kill rates - information that could prove useful in guiding mitigation measures.Aims. We seek to determine whether road and landscape attributes influence the incidence of road-kills of the giant anteater.Methods. From February 2002 to December 2012 (except for 2004), five roads in two regions in south-eastern Brazil were surveyed twice each month by car. We recorded temporal road-kill data for the giant anteater and related spatial road variables. These variables were also recorded at regular control sites every 2 km. We also took traffic volume data on stretches of the two roads to correlate with road-kills.Key results. Of the 45 anteater casualties recorded, there was a predominance of adult males. On roads MG-428 and SP-334, we found anteater road-kills were more common in the dry season, negatively correlated with traffic volume and related to the presence of native vegetation. Accordingly, road-kill sites tended to occur near the cerrado and grasslands and also appeared more frequently on some straight stretches of roadways. Although it was not shown to influence road-kill rates, topography data does point to regular overpass/underpass locations allowing population connectivity. Termitaria or ant nests were present at all road-kill sites, with 86% having signs of feeding.Conclusions. Native vegetation along roadways, together with straight road design, increases the probability of anteater road-kills by 40.1%.Implications. For mitigation, mowing and removing insect nests on roadsides, as well as roadside wildlife fencing in cerrado and grassland areas is suggested. Warning signs and radar to reduce vehicle speed are recommended for both human safety and anteater conservation. With regard to population connectivity, the absence of aggregated anteater road-kill data in this study meant that there were no particular crossing locations identified. However, the collected topography data do show places that could be used for roadway crossings. The measures indicated may apply to similar species and types of topography on other continents.

Comparison between common traffic lights and three types of traffic lights with visual cycle a safety and capacity analysis

The objective of this paper is compare the common traffic lights (CTL) to three different types of traffic lights with countdown displays (SCD) and assess their effects on road safety and capacity. This comparison is required because the results found in the literature are divergent among countries and cities, and one of the SCD analyzed in our study is different from the SCD used worldwide. An observational before-after study was conducted to evaluate the safety and capacity in a period of one year before and one year after the implementation of the SCD in three Brazilian cities. The results indicate that the SCD models 1 and 3 had around 35%±14% reduction in the total number of accidents; the model 2, does not have significant reduction. In order to perform the capacity analysis a framework for data collection and an adaptation for estimation of initial lost time in each phase were developed. Considering the capacity analysis there was a reduction around 11% in the lost time in SCD model 1, 7% in SCD model 2 and 3% in SCD model 3. However the implications of this on capacity are trifle due to a small increase in the average headways for all SCD models compare to CTL.

Road safety: implications for sustainable development in Latin America

Road accidents cause more deaths than homicides in Latin America, nevertheless it is not highlighted as a major concern by media and society. World Health Organization put this issue in high priority by releasing the Decade of Action in Road Safety that establishes five pillars to guide national road safety plans and activities. This paper addresses the drawbacks in the implementation of these actions in Latin American countries and its implications to achieve a sustainable development. The main concerns are: lack of empowerment of the road safety management organisations; lower vehicular standards; corruption related to the enforcement of traffic safety laws to and to the construction of safer roads; absence of safety vehicular inspections; vehicle fleet increase, decrease of public transportation demand; and the absence of a safety culture. Without facing these problems, sustainable development in Latin America will be impaired, once road safety is a fundamental link to achieve sustainability.

A novel map-matching procedure for low-sampling GPS data with applications to traffic flow analysis

An extensive sample (2%) of private vehicles in Italy are equipped with a GPS device that periodically measures their position and dynamical state for insurance purposes. Having access to this type of data allows to develop theoretical and practical applications of great interest: the real-time reconstruction of traffic state in a certain region, the development of accurate models of vehicle dynamics, the study of the cognitive dynamics of drivers. In order for these applications to be possible, we first need to develop the ability to reconstruct the paths taken by vehicles on the road network from the raw GPS data. In fact, these data are affected by positioning errors and they are often very distanced from each other (~2 Km). For these reasons, the task of path identification is not straightforward. This thesis describes the approach we followed to reliably identify vehicle paths from this kind of low-sampling data. The problem of matching data with roads is solved with a bayesian approach of maximum likelihood. While the identification of the path taken between two consecutive GPS measures is performed with a specifically developed optimal routing algorithm, based on A* algorithm. The procedure was applied on an off-line urban data sample and proved to be robust and accurate. Future developments will extend the procedure to real-time execution and nation-wide coverage.

Context sensitive design of provincial road Galliera SP4.

In the past centuries and before the invention of automobile, roads consisted mainly of unpaved paths connecting only few cities. Later, in the beginning of the twentieth century, the automobile was introduced and a new type of the transportation system was born. Therefore, it was necessary to change the condition of roads to fit with the automobiles. With the spread and the development of the automobiles, roads also have developed and increased all over the world. That caused negative effects on the environment and humans’ life quality. Thus, highways associations and communities had to take some steps to reduce these effects and care about environmental and cultural issues with the traditional commitment to safety and mobility, and that is known as context sensitive design. The aim of this thesis is to use the concepts of context sensitive design to reduce the negative environmental impacts of provincial road Galliera, which connects via Colombo in city of Bologna to provincial road 3 in Argelato city. Some solutions were proposed in this thesis to reduce traffic noise, fragmentation, fauna mortality and to improve the aesthetics of the road.

Road Ecology: A Practitioner's Tale

Road Ecology is a relatively new sub-discipline of ecology that focuses on understanding the interactions between road systems and the natural environment. Wildlife crossings that allow animals to safely cross human-made barri-ers such as roads, are intended not only to reduce animal-vehicle collisions, but ideally to provide connectivity of habitat areas, combating habitat fragmentation. Wildlife mitigation strategies to improve the permeability of our infrastructure can include a combination of structures (overpasses/underpasses), at-grade crossings, fencing, animal-detection systems, and signage. One size does not fit all and solutions must be considered on a case-by-case ba-sis. Often, the feasibility of the preferred mitigation solution depends on a combination of variables including road geometrics, topography, traffic patterns, funding allocations, adjacent land use and landowner cooperation, the target wildlife species, their movement patterns, and habitat distribution. Joe and Deb will speak to the current road ecolo-gy practices in Montana and some real-world applications from the Department of Transportation.

Non-illness-related factors contributing to traffic safety in older drivers: a litterature review

Background/Study Context: Older drivers are at increased risk of becoming involved in car crashes. Contrary to well-studied illness-related factors contributing to crash risk, the non-illness-related factors that can influence safety of older drivers are underresearched. METHODS: Here, the authors review the literature on non-illness-related factors influencing driving in people over age 60. We identified six safety-relevant factors: road infrastructure, vehicle characteristics, traffic-related knowledge, accuracy of self-awareness, personality traits, and self-restricted driving. RESULTS: The literature suggests that vehicle preference, the quality of traffic-related knowledge, the location and time of traffic exposure, and personality traits should all be taken into account when assessing fitness-to-drive in older drivers. Studies indicate that self-rating of driving skills does not reliably predict fitness-to-drive. CONCLUSIONS: Most factors discussed are adaptable or accessible to training and collectively may have the potential to increase traffic safety for older drivers and other road users.

Reduction in Calculated Uncertainty of a Noise Map by Improving the Traffic Model Data Through Two Phases

The influence of applying European default traffic values to the making of a noise map was evaluated in a typical environment like Palma de Mallorca. To assess these default traffic values, a first model has been created and compared with measured noise levels. Subsequently a second traffic model, improving the input data used for the first one, has been created and validated according to the deviations. Different methodologies were also examined for collecting model input data that would be of higher quality, by analysing the improvement generated in the reduction in the uncertainty of the noise map introduced by the road traffic noise emission

Detecting Traffic Problems with ILP

Expert systems for decision support have recently been successfully introduced in road transport management. In this paper, we apply three state-of-the art ILP systems to learn how to detect traffic problems.

Implementation and management of private traffic limitation in urban areas: experiences and methodologies.

This paper shows the results of a research aimed to formulate a general model for supporting the implementation and management of an urban road pricing scheme. After a preliminary work, to define the state of the art in the field of sustainable urban mobility strategies, the problem has been theoretically set up in terms of transport economy, introducing the external costs’ concept duly translated into the principle of pricing for the use of public infrastructures. The research is based on the definition of a set of direct and indirect indicators to qualify the urban areas by land use, mobility, environmental and economic conditions. These indicators have been calculated for a selected set of typical urban areas in Europe on the basis of the results of a survey carried out by means of a specific questionnaire. Once identified the most typical and interesting applications of the road pricing concept in cities such as London (Congestion Charging), Milan (Ecopass), Stockholm (Congestion Tax) and Rome (ZTL), a large benchmarking exercise and the cross analysis of direct and indirect indicators, has allowed to define a simple general model, guidelines and key requirements for the implementation of a pricing scheme based traffic restriction in a generic urban area. The model has been finally applied to the design of a road pricing scheme for a particular area in Madrid, and to the quantification of the expected results of its implementation from a land use, mobility, environmental and economic perspective.