75 FR 26094 - Safety Zone, Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan including Des Plaines River, Chicago...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-11

...-AA00 Safety Zone, Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan including Des Plaines River, Chicago... establishing a temporary safety zone from Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan. This temporary safety...

76 FR 63199 - Safety Zone, Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan Including Des Plaines River, Chicago...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-12

... Zone, Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan Including Des Plaines River, Chicago Sanitary and Ship...; Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan including Des Plaines River, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal...; Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan including Des Plaines River, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal...

33 CFR 165.T09-0166 - Safety Zone, Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan including Des Plaines River, Chicago...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Safety Zone, Brandon Road Lock... Areas Ninth Coast Guard District § 165.T09-0166 Safety Zone, Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan.... waters of the Des Plaines River located between mile marker 286.0 (Brandon Road Lock and Dam) and mile...

76 FR 65609 - Safety Zone, Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan Including Des Plaines River, Chicago...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-24

... Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan Including Des Plaines River, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal... Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan including Des Plaines River, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Chicago... INFORMATION: The Coast Guard will enforce a segment of the Safety Zone; Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake...

Simulation of hypothetical Asian carp egg and larvae development and transport in the Lockport, Brandon Road, Dresden Island, and Marseilles Pools of the Illinois Waterway by use of the Fluvial Egg Drift Simulator (FluEgg) model

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Elizabeth A.; Garcia, Tatiana; Jackson, P. Ryan; Duncker, James J.

2016-04-05

As part of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is conducting an assessment of the vulnerability of the Chicago Area Waterway System and Des Plaines River to Asian carp (specifically, Hypophthalmichthys nobilis (bighead carp) and Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (silver carp)) spawning and recruitment. As part of this assessment, the USACE requested the help of the U.S. Geological Survey in predicting the fate and transport of Asian carp eggs hypothetically spawned at the electric dispersal barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and downstream of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam on the Des Plaines River under dry weather flow and high water temperature conditions. The Fluvial Egg Drift Simulator (FluEgg) model predicted that approximately 80 percent of silver carp eggs spawned near the electric dispersal barrier would hatch within the Lockport and Brandon Road pools (as close as 3.6 miles downstream of the barrier) and approximately 82 percent of the silver carp eggs spawned near the Brandon Road Dam would hatch in the Des Plaines River (as close as 1.6 miles downstream from the gates of Brandon Road Lock). Extension of the FluEgg model to include the fate and transport of larvae until gas bladder inflation—the point at which the larvae begin to leave the drift—suggests that eggs spawned at the electric dispersal barrier would reach the gas bladder inflation stage primarily within the Dresden Island Pool, and those spawned at the Brandon Road Dam would reach this stage primarily within the Marseilles and Starved Rock Pools.

78 FR 25456 - Ashley Brandon Foyle: Debarment Order

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-01

...] Ashley Brandon Foyle: Debarment Order AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY... Act (the FD&C Act) debarring Ashley Brandon Foyle for 5 years from providing services in any capacity... Guide 1410.35), finds that Ashley Brandon Foyle has been convicted of a misdemeanor under Federal law...

33 CFR 165.503 - Security Zone; Captain of the Port Hampton Roads Zone.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Port Hampton Roads Zone. 165.503 Section 165.503 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD... § 165.503 Security Zone; Captain of the Port Hampton Roads Zone. (a) Definitions. As used in this... been authorized by the Captain of the Port (COTP), Hampton Roads, Virginia to act on his or her behalf...

Road Zone Effects in Small-Mammal Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John A. Bissonette

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Our study focused on the putative effects of roads on small-mammal communities in a high desert region of southern Utah. Specifically, we tested whether or not roads create adjacent zones characterized by lower small- mammal densities, abundance, and diversity. We sampled abundance of small mammals at increasing distances from Interstate 15 during two summers. We recorded 11 genera and 13 species. We detected no clear abundance, density, or diversity effects relative to distance from the road. Only two of 13 species were never captured near roads. The abundance of the remaining 11 small mammal species was either similar at different distances from the road or higher closer to the road. We conclude that although roads may act as barriers and possible sources of mortality, adjacent zones of vegetation often provide favorable microhabitat in the desert landscape for many small mammals.

33 CFR 3.25-10 - Sector Hampton Roads Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zone.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Sector Hampton Roads Marine... ZONES, AND CAPTAIN OF THE PORT ZONES Fifth Coast Guard District § 3.25-10 Sector Hampton Roads Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zone. Sector Hampton Roads' office is located in Portsmouth, VA. The...

The Dream Of Becky Brandon Found In Mini Shopaholic

OpenAIRE

Ginting, Hetty Meilany

2013-01-01

This paper entitled. “The Dream of Becky Brandon Found in Mini Shopaholic”. Novel is one kind prose’s narrative portrays character and presenting and organized series of event of setting. Becky Brandon is the main character . She thinks that being a mother is easy , and his daughter will be a shopping friend for life ! But Minnie is only two years turned out to have a different approach to shopping . She often screamed " Mineee ! " Indiscriminately , creating chaos from Harrods to Harvey Nich...

Uus Superman : Brandon Routh / Triin Thalheim

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Thalheim, Triin, 1982-

2006-01-01

Legendaarne fantastiline seiklusfilm "Superman : The Movie" (1978) on eeskujuks ja aluseks uuele sama koomiksi ainelisele mängufilmile "Superman tuleb tagasi" ("Superman Returns") : režissöör Bryan Singer : nimiosas kunagisele nimiosalisele Christopher Reeve'le sarnanev Brandon Routh : Ameerika Ühendriigid 2006

Degradation of natural habitats by roads: Comparing land-take and noise effect zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madadi, Hossein; Moradi, Hossein; Soffianian, Alireza; Salmanmahiny, Abdolrassoul; Senn, Josef; Geneletti, Davide

2017-01-01

Roads may act as barriers, negatively influencing the movement of animals, thereby causing disruption in landscapes. Roads cause habitat loss and fragmentation not only through their physical occupation, but also through traffic noise. The aim of this study is to provide a method to quantify the habitat degradation including habitat loss and fragmentation due to road traffic noise and to compare it with those of road land-take. Two types of fragmentation effects are determined: structural fragmentation (based on road land-take only), and functional fragmentation (noise effect zone fragmentation, buffer using a threshold of 40 dB). Noise propagation for roads with a traffic volume of more than 1000 vehicles per day was simulated by Calculation of Road Traffic Noise (CRTN) model. Habitat loss and fragmentation through land-take and noise effect zone were calculated and compared in Zagros Mountains in western Iran. The study area is characterized by three main habitat types (oak forest, scattered woodland and temperate grassland) which host endangered and protected wildlife species. Due to topographic conditions, land cover type, and the traffic volume in the region, the noise effect zone ranged from 50 to 2000 m which covers 18.3% (i.e. 516,929.95 ha) of the total study area. The results showed that the habitat loss due to noise effect zone is dramatically higher than that due to road land-take only (35% versus 1.04% of the total area). Temperate grasslands lost the highest proportion of the original area by both land-take and noise effect zone, but most area was lost in scattered woodland as compared to the other two habitat types. The results showed that considering the noise effect zone for habitat fragmentation resulted in an increase of 25.8% of the area affected (316,810 ha) as compared to using the land-take only (555,874 ha vs. 239,064 ha, respectively). The results revealed that the degree of habitat fragmentation is increasing by considering the noise

75 FR 30782 - Reorganization/Expansion of Foreign-Trade Zone 20; Hampton Roads, VA, Area

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-02

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Foreign-Trade Zones Board [Order No. 1683] Reorganization/Expansion of Foreign-Trade Zone 20; Hampton Roads, VA, Area Pursuant to its authority under the Foreign-Trade Zones Act...) in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area within the Norfolk Customs and Border Protection port of entry...

77 FR 53197 - Brandon Shores LLC; Supplemental Notice That Initial Market-Based Rate Filing Includes Request...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-31

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. ER12-2510-000] Brandon Shores LLC; Supplemental Notice That Initial Market-Based Rate Filing Includes Request for Blanket Section 204 Authorization This is a supplemental notice in the above-referenced proceeding, of Brandon...

Re-evaluation of the age of the Brandon Lignite (Vermont, USA) based on plant megafossils. [USA - Vermont

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tiffney, B.H. (University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Dept. of Geological Sciences)

1994-07-01

The Brandon Lignite of west-central Vermont contains the northernmost megafossil flora of Cenozoic angiosperms, and one of the most diverse Cenozoic pollen floras in northeastern North America. While the floristic composition clearly indicates deposition of the Brandon sediments in the warmer parts of the Cenozoic, previous attempts at a more precise stratigraphic placement have been inconclusive, ranging from Cretaceous to Miocene. Re-evaluation of existing and new fruit, seed and wood data from the Brandon flora in the context of other floras in the Northern Hemisphere leads to the conservative conclusion that the deposit could range from earliest Oligocene to Early Miocene. Several lines of potentially weak evidence favor an Early Miocene age, in agreement with recent biostratigraphic data from the associated pollen flora. It is concluded that the Brandon Lignite is Early Miocene.

Quantifying the Road-Effect Zone: Threshold Effects of a Motorway on Anuran Populations in Ontario, Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felix Eigenbrod

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The negative effect of roads on wildlife is recognized as a major contributor to the global biodiversity crisis, with anurans being among the most vulnerable groups overall. The "road-effect zone," i.e., the extent of significant ecological effects from the edge of a road (Forman and Alexander 1998, has important management implications, but has never been quantified for anurans. In the first study of its kind, we measured the extent and type of relationship underlying the road-effect zones of a motorway with a high proportion of heavy-truck traffic, particularly at night (Highway 401 for anuran species richness and relative abundance. We surveyed 34 ponds located 68-3262 m from the edge of the motorway, and used piecewise and linear regressions to determine if road-effect zones were clearly delineated by ecological thresholds. We found road-effect zones of 250-1000 m delineated by ecological thresholds for four of seven species and species richness, and road-effect zones of well beyond 1000 m best described by linear regressions for two species. The negative effect of Highway 401 was unexpectedly strong for four of seven species suggest that, in addition to road mortality, very high nighttime truck traffic can actually lead to reduced use of breeding habitat near the motorway either by acting as a barrier to forest habitat on the other side of the highway and/or because of traffic noise. Our results show that most anurans are likely to have reduced abundances near motorways, but that both the extent of the effect of this type of road and the underlying relationship vary considerably between species. Furthermore, the noise and/or barrier effect of very high nighttime traffic volumes can lead to negative effects of motorways even on species that are relatively unaffected by direct road mortality.

33 CFR 334.370 - Chesapeake Bay, Lynnhaven Roads; danger zones, U.S. Naval Amphibious Base.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Chesapeake Bay, Lynnhaven Roads; danger zones, U.S. Naval Amphibious Base. 334.370 Section 334.370 Navigation and Navigable Waters CORPS... REGULATIONS § 334.370 Chesapeake Bay, Lynnhaven Roads; danger zones, U.S. Naval Amphibious Base. (a...

76 FR 26607 - Safety Zone; Air Power Over Hampton Roads, Back River, Hampton, VA

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-09

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Air Power Over Hampton Roads, Back River, Hampton, VA AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... the safety of life on navigable waters during the Air Power Over Hampton Roads Air Show. This action... Division Chief, Sector Hampton Roads, Coast Guard; telephone 757-668- 5581, e-mail [email protected

Protection of marine birds and turtles at St Brandon's Rock, Indian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Protection of marine birds and turtles at St Brandon's Rock, Indian Ocean, requires conservation of the entire atoll. SW Evans, N Cole, H Kylin, NS Choong Kwet Yive, V Tatayah, J Merven, H Bouwman ...

76 FR 53827 - Safety Zone; Big Sioux River From the Military Road Bridge North Sioux City to the Confluence of...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-30

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Big Sioux River From the Military Road Bridge North Sioux City to the Confluence of... restricting navigation on the Big Sioux River from the Military Road Bridge in North Sioux City, South Dakota... zone on the Big Sioux River from the Military Road Bridge in North Sioux City, SD at 42.52 degrees...

Secure Mix-Zones for Privacy Protection of Road Network Location Based Services Users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rubina S. Zuberi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Privacy has been found to be the major impediment and hence the area to be worked out for the provision of Location Based Services in the wide sense. With the emergence of smart, easily portable, communicating devices, information acquisition is achieving new domains. The work presented here is an extension of the ongoing work towards achieving privacy for the present day emerging communication techniques. This work emphasizes one of the most effective real-time privacy enhancement techniques called Mix-Zones. In this paper, we have presented a model of a secure road network with Mix-Zones getting activated on the basis of spatial as well as temporal factors. The temporal factors are ascertained by the amount of traffic and its flow. The paper also discusses the importance of the number of Mix-Zones a user traverses and their mixing effectiveness. We have also shown here using our simulations which are required for the real-time treatment of the problem that the proposed transient Mix-Zones are part of a viable and robust solution towards the road network privacy protection of the communicating moving objects of the present scenario.

78 FR 77592 - Safety Zone; Lower Mississippi River Mile 94.1-Mile 95.1; New Orleans, LA

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-24

... 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; Lower Mississippi River Mile 94.1-Mile 95.1; New Orleans, LA AGENCY: Coast Guard... zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port New Orleans or a... temporary rule, call Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Brandon Sullivan, Sector New Orleans, at (504) 365-2281 or...

Road work zone accident studies : Advanced Research On Road Work Zone Safety Standard in Europe ARROWS Task 2.2 internal report. On behalf of the European Union, Directorate-General for Transport DG VII-E3, Transport RTD Programme.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gundy, C.M.

1998-01-01

The primary objective of this study, part of the ARROWS (Advanced Research on Road Work Zone Safety Standards in Europe) project, is to draw conclusions about the nature and extent of work zone traffic accidents. To that end, existing empirical studies concerning work zone traffic accidents have

In situ TEM nanoindentation and dislocation-grain boundary interactions : a tribute to David Brandon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Hosson, J.T.M.; Soer, W.A.; Minor, A.M.; Shan, Z.W.; Stach, E.A.; Asif, S.A.S.; Warren, O.L.

2006-01-01

As a tribute to the scientific work of Professor David Brandon, this paper delineates the possibilities of utilizing in situ transmission electron microscopy to unravel dislocation-grain boundary interactions. In particular, we have focused on the deformation characteristics of Al-Mg films. To this

76 FR 38013 - Safety Zone; Big Sioux River From the Military Road Bridge North Sioux City to the Confluence of...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-29

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Big Sioux River From the Military Road Bridge North Sioux City to the Confluence of... Military Road Bridge in North Sioux City, South Dakota to the confluence of the Missouri River and... Big Sioux River from the Military Road Bridge in North Sioux City, SD at 42.52 degrees North, 096.48...

78 FR 36660 - Safety Zone; Mississippi River Mile 95.5-Mile 96.5; New Orleans, LA

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-19

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Mississippi River Mile 95.5-Mile 96.5; New Orleans, LA AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... of the Port New Orleans or a designated representative. DATES: This rule is effective from 9:45 p.m... email Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Brandon Sullivan, Sector New Orleans, U.S. Coast Guard; telephone (504...

Environmental implications of Universal Rural Road Access Program (URRAP roads in Southwestern Ethiopia: The case of Jimma and Buno Bedelle zones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hassen Negesso

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Ethiopia has been undertaking numerous development programs and projects with the objective of taking a country to the middle-income countries in the near future. Universal Rural Road Access Program (URRAP roads being constructed in Jimma and Bunno Bedele zones are among the projects in Ethiopia. Although these projects are assumed to bring desirable positive change, there are sometimes negative consequences on environmental issues. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to investigate the negative sides of these projects on environmental elements. Household survey with randomly selected household heads and in-depth interview, focus group discussion (FGD and observation for purposively selected samples were used to collect relevant and required data. Thereby, data were analyzed quantitatively by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS and qualitatively through thematic method. The findings from the analyzed data show that rural roads being constructed by URRAP have both positive and negative impacts on plant species, bird species, reptile species, mammal’s species, amphibians’ species, soil, and climate. Finally, URRAP is in dilemma and needs an extensive and frequent supervision, monitoring, inclusive, interdisciplinary and sound strategies and policies by responsible bodies at all expected levels and contexts.

Magnitude and outcomes of road traffic accidents at Hospitals in Wolaita Zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hailemichael, Feleke; Suleiman, Mohammed; Pauolos, Wondimagegn

2015-04-09

A Road traffic accident is an incident on a way or street open to public traffic, resulting in one or more persons being killed or injured, and involving at least one moving vehicle. The aim of this study is to assess magnitude and outcome of road traffic accidents among trauma victims at hospitals in Wolaita zone. A cross sectional hospital based study design using retrospective chart review was conducted from March 5th to March 25th, 2014. Simple random sampling technique was applied to identify sample population. The data was entered in to Epi info version 3.5.1 and transferred to SPSS version 16 for further analysis. A total of 384 trauma victims were incorporated in the study of which 240 (62.5%) were due to road traffic accidents. The majority of patients were male 298 (77.6%) and most commonly aged between 20-29 (35.42%). The principal outcome of injury was more commonly lower extremity (182 patients, 47.4%), compared to upper extremity (126 patients, 32.8%). Of all trauma patient presenting to hospitals (62.5%) are the result of road traffic accident. Hence, the provision of tailored messages to all members of the community regarding knowledge and practices of road safety measures like appropriate use of pavements by pedestrians and avoiding risky driving behaviors. Besides this make use of compulsory motorcycle helmets would appear to be a very important intervention.

Environmental exposure of road borders to zinc

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blok, J.

2005-01-01

The emissions of zinc along roads originating from tyre wear, corrosion of safety fence and other traffic-related sources have been quantified and validated by measured long-term loads in road run-off and airborne solids (drift) for 29 published case studies. The distribution pattern over the road border at various distances from the edge of the paved surface is assessed on the basis of 38 published case studies with measured concentrations in soil. For the impact assessment, the road border is differentiated into a zone that is part of the 'technosphere' and the 'target zone' beyond that technosphere that can be considered as part of the receiving environment. The 'technosphere' of the road includes the central reservation, the hard and the soft shoulder or, if one or both shoulders are not present, the so-called obstacle 'free zone' that is defined by road engineers. Pollution within the technosphere may require appropriate management of solid disposal and isolation from groundwater to prevent further distribution of pollutants to the environment. In the target zone along regional roads, the zinc load is about 4 mg/m 2 year and this is of the same order of magnitude as that of atmospheric deposition in areas beyond the influence of roads (background). In the target zone along highways, the zinc load is increased in comparison to the background deposition. The average load of about 38 mg/m 2 year is similar to that in fertilised agricultural land. Because most of the emitted zinc stays in the technosphere, the total amount entering this target zone along highways is limited. From the 140 tons of zinc per year that is released from tyre wear in The Netherlands, 64 tons is emitted in the urban area, 6.5 tons reaches to the target zones of all roads and only 1.1 tons of zinc will enter the target zone along highways. This amount will be further decreased by the application of porous asphalt in the near future. The emission from safety fence corrosion does not enter

Environmental exposure of road borders to zinc

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blok, J. [Royal Haskoning, P.O. Box 151, 6500 Ad Nijmegen (Netherlands)]. E-mail: Han.Blok@royalhaskoning.com

2005-09-15

The emissions of zinc along roads originating from tyre wear, corrosion of safety fence and other traffic-related sources have been quantified and validated by measured long-term loads in road run-off and airborne solids (drift) for 29 published case studies. The distribution pattern over the road border at various distances from the edge of the paved surface is assessed on the basis of 38 published case studies with measured concentrations in soil. For the impact assessment, the road border is differentiated into a zone that is part of the 'technosphere' and the 'target zone' beyond that technosphere that can be considered as part of the receiving environment. The 'technosphere' of the road includes the central reservation, the hard and the soft shoulder or, if one or both shoulders are not present, the so-called obstacle 'free zone' that is defined by road engineers. Pollution within the technosphere may require appropriate management of solid disposal and isolation from groundwater to prevent further distribution of pollutants to the environment. In the target zone along regional roads, the zinc load is about 4 mg/m{sup 2} year and this is of the same order of magnitude as that of atmospheric deposition in areas beyond the influence of roads (background). In the target zone along highways, the zinc load is increased in comparison to the background deposition. The average load of about 38 mg/m{sup 2} year is similar to that in fertilised agricultural land. Because most of the emitted zinc stays in the technosphere, the total amount entering this target zone along highways is limited. From the 140 tons of zinc per year that is released from tyre wear in The Netherlands, 64 tons is emitted in the urban area, 6.5 tons reaches to the target zones of all roads and only 1.1 tons of zinc will enter the target zone along highways. This amount will be further decreased by the application of porous asphalt in the near future. The

The effect of road network patterns on pedestrian safety: A zone-based Bayesian spatial modeling approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Qiang; Xu, Pengpeng; Pei, Xin; Wong, S C; Yao, Danya

2017-02-01

Pedestrian safety is increasingly recognized as a major public health concern. Extensive safety studies have been conducted to examine the influence of multiple variables on the occurrence of pedestrian-vehicle crashes. However, the explicit relationship between pedestrian safety and road network characteristics remains unknown. This study particularly focused on the role of different road network patterns on the occurrence of crashes involving pedestrians. A global integration index via space syntax was introduced to quantify the topological structures of road networks. The Bayesian Poisson-lognormal (PLN) models with conditional autoregressive (CAR) prior were then developed via three different proximity structures: contiguity, geometry-centroid distance, and road network connectivity. The models were also compared with the PLN counterpart without spatial correlation effects. The analysis was based on a comprehensive crash dataset from 131 selected traffic analysis zones in Hong Kong. The results indicated that higher global integration was associated with more pedestrian-vehicle crashes; the irregular pattern network was proved to be safest in terms of pedestrian crash occurrences, whereas the grid pattern was the least safe; the CAR model with a neighborhood structure based on road network connectivity was found to outperform in model goodness-of-fit, implying the importance of accurately accounting for spatial correlation when modeling spatially aggregated crash data. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

78 FR 73438 - Reorganization of Sector Baltimore and Hampton Roads; Conforming Amendments

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-06

...-0251] RIN 1625-ZA32 Reorganization of Sector Baltimore and Hampton Roads; Conforming Amendments AGENCY... Roads' Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones. These conforming amendments are necessary... lines separating Sector Baltimore and Sector Hampton Roads. See Operating Facility Change Order (OFCO...

GEOINFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PROMOTION OF TOURIST DESTINATIONS IN THE ZONE OF THE GREAT SILK ROAD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. S. Tikunov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available To date, travel portals represent the most promising tool for promoting tourist destinations. Compared to traditional print media, their main advantage is the ability to access a wealth of information, services, to make online reservations, to create package-tours, and to obtain interactive representation of tourist sites. The paper discusses tourism demand for destinations of the zone of the Great Silk Road applying key statistics of the Yandex search engine queries. A comparative analysis of tourist destinations portal data has been conducted based on the following criteria: availability of multilingual information, interactive maps, selfguided tour planners, and information about attractions, tours, and accommodation facilities. In order to attract a large number of tourists and to successfully implement the project “Silk Road,” it is necessary to establish a common trans-national tourism portal which would include information on tourism opportunities in all countries.

Feasibility of shoulder use for highway work zone optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Du

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Highway maintenance, often requiring lane closure, is very expensive in terms of the costs associated with transportation agencies (i. e. work zone setups and road users (i. e. delay. Longer work zones tend to increase the user delay but will be efficient because of fewer repeated setups. To increase road capacity and mitigate congestion impact for a short-term work zone, temporary shoulder use may be applied. This study develops an analytical model to optimize work zone length on a multi-lane highway considering time-varying traffic volume and road capacity affected by light condition, heavy vehicle percentage, and lane width. The results can be used to evaluate the work zone impact (i. e. delay and cost and assist engineers/planners to prepare and develop a cost-effective highway maintenance plan. A case study for a highway work zone in New Jersey has been conducted, in which the optimized solution is found. A guideline of using road shoulder under various circumstances is developed.

The effect of rural road transport infrastructure on smallholder farmers’ agricultural productivity in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone, Western Ethiopia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sileshi Tamene

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study was carried out to examine access to rural road infrastructure and its effects on smallholder farmers’ agricultural productivity in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone, Western Ethiopia. A three stage random sampling technique was employed to select 500 farming households in the study area and data was collected on their socio-economic and farm specific characteristics. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The result of multiple regression model used revealed that distance to major market is important in predicting agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers at 5% levels of probability in Abe Dongoro, Amuru and Hababo Guduru districts. Ownership of intermediate means of transport was also found to influence agricultural productivity in Horro, Amuru and Hababo Guduru districts (p = 0.05. Further analysis of the regression model showed a significant negative correlation between distance to nearest all weather roads and distance to zonal head quarter on one hand and agricultural productivity on the other hand in Abe Dongoro, Hababo Guduru and Amuru districts. Rural kebeles of Abe Dongoro and Amuru districts which has vast agricultural potential were found to be the most inaccessible in Horro Guduru Wollega Zone. It is therefore suggested that interventions in the transport sector should include provision of rural roads as well as measures that will help improve vehicle supply in rural areas. An attempt has to be done also to increase the use of intermediate means of transport to ease agricultural inputs and outputs mobility and farm access.

Water pressure and ground vibrations induced by water guns near Bandon Road Lock and Dam and Lemont, Illinois

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Ryan F.; Koebel, Carolyn M.; Morrow, William S.

2018-02-13

Multiple geophysical sensors were used to characterize the underwater pressure field and ground vibrations of a seismic water gun and its suitability to deter the movement of Asian carps (particularly the silver [Hypophthalmichthys molitrix] and bighead [Hypophthalmichthys nobilis] carps) while ensuring the integrity of surrounding structures. The sensors used to collect this information were blast-rated hydrophones, surface- and borehole-mounted geophones, and fixed accelerometers.Results from two separate studies are discussed in this report. The Brandon Road study took place in May 2014, in the Des Plaines River, in a concrete-walled channel downstream of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois. The Lemont study took place in June 2014, in a segment of the dolomite setblock-lined Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Lemont, Illinois.Two criteria were evaluated to assess the potential deterrence to carp migration, and to minimize the expected effect on nearby structures from discharge of the seismic water gun. The first criterion was a 5-pound-per-square-inch (lb/in2) limit for dynamic underwater pressure variations. The second criterion was a maximum velocity and acceleration disturbance of 0.75 inch per second (in/s) for sensitive machinery (such as the lock gates and pumps) and 2.0 in/s adjacent to canal walls, respectively. The criteria were based on previous studies of fish responses to dynamic pressure variations, and effects of vibrations on the structural integrity of concrete walls.The Brandon Road study evaluated the magnitude and extent of the pressure field created by two water gun configurations in the concrete-walled channel downstream of the lock where channel depths ranged from 11 to 14 feet (ft). Data from a single 80-cubic-inch (in³) water gun set at 6 ft below water surface (bws) produced a roughly cylindrical 5-lb/in2 pressure field 20 ft in radius, oriented vertically, with the radius decreasing to less than 15 ft at the water

Determining soil erosion from roads in coastal plain of Alabama

Science.gov (United States)

McFero Grace; W.J. Elliot

2008-01-01

This paper reports soil losses and observed sediment deposition for 16 randomly selected forest road sections in the National Forests of Alabama. Visible sediment deposition zones were tracked along the stormwater flow path to the most remote location as a means of quantifying soil loss from road sections. Volumes of sediment in deposition zones were determined by...

Construction of Three-Dimensional Road Surface and Application on Interaction between Vehicle and Road

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu Yongjie

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The quantitative description is given to three-dimensional micro and macro self-similar characteristics of road surface from the perspective of fractal geometry using FBM stochastic midpoint displacement and diamond-square algorithm in conjunction with fractal characteristics and statistical characteristics of standard pavement determined by estimation method of box-counting dimension. The comparative analysis between reconstructed three-dimensional road surface spectrum and theoretical road surface spectrum and correlation coefficient demonstrate the high reconstruction accuracy of fractal reconstructed road spectrum. Furthermore, the bump zone is taken as an example to reconstruct a more arbitrary 3D road model through isomorphism of special road surface with stochastic road surface model. Measurement is taken to assume the tire footprint on road surface to be a rectangle, where the pressure distribution is expressed with mean stiffness, while the contact points in the contact area are replaced with a number of springs. Two-DOF vehicle is used as an example to analyze the difference between three-dimensional multipoint-and-plane contact and traditional point contact model. Three-dimensional road surface spectrum provides a more accurate description of the impact effect of tire on road surface, thereby laying a theoretical basis for studies on the dynamical process of interaction of vehicle-road surface and the road friendliness.

The road to self-leadership development busting out of your comfort zone

CERN Document Server

Ross, Stanley C

2015-01-01

The primary purpose of The Road to Self-Leadership Development: Busting Out of Your Comfort Zone is to provide individuals who want to become a leader with a systematic approach for learning how to first learn to become a self-leader. Organizations can use the book for identifying leader types and within leadership development training programs. Individuals need help in understanding the logic of being a self-leader and the critical role of self-worth (encompasses self-esteem, self-concept and self-confidence) in the process of developing the self-leader as a preparatory step to leadership development. The book offers two important benefits to readers. First, readers learn that to lead others involves learning how to lead the self and self-leadership is all about improving feelings of self-worth. Second, the book provides a practical model for readers to follow in creating a personalized self-leadership development process or an organizations human resource leaders with a model to follow in designing and impl...

76 FR 73587 - Foreign-Trade Zone 183-Austin, Tx; Site Renumbering Notice

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-29

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Foreign-Trade Zones Board Foreign-Trade Zone 183--Austin, Tx; Site... (Board Order 1366). FTZ 183 currently consists of 8 ``sites'' totaling some 2,818 acres in the Austin... Austin Enterprise Zone, located at Bolm Road and Gardner Road, Austin; Site 2 (50 acres)--Balcones...

Assessment of Road Infrastructures Pertaining to Malaysian Experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samsuddin Norshakina

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Road Infrastructures contribute towards many severe accidents and it needs supervision as to improve road safety levels. The numbers of fatalities have increased annually and road authority should seriously consider conducting programs or activities to periodically monitor, restore of improve road infrastructure. Implementation of road safety audits may reduce fatalities among road users and maintain road safety at acceptable standards. This paper is aimed to discuss the aspects of road infrastructure in Malaysia. The research signifies the impact of road hazards during the observations and the impact of road infrastructure types on road accidents. The F050 (Jalan Kluang-Batu Pahat road case study showed that infrastructure risk is closely related with number of accident. As the infrastructure risk increase, the number of road accidents also increase. It was also found that different road zones along Jalan Kluang-Batu Pahat showed different level of intersection volume due to number of road intersection. Thus, it is hoped that by implementing continuous assessment on road infrastructures, it might be able to reduce road accidents and fatalities among drives and the community.

Roads Belong In the Urban Landscape

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clemmensen, Thomas Juel

2012-01-01

In spite of being an essential part of the system of automobility and as such playing an important role in the development of urban landscapes, road networks seldom attracts much attention among architects involved in the planning and design of urban landscapes. One reason is probably found...... in the dominance of the zoning approach to planning, where road planning easily becomes isolated and reduced to a matter of traffic regulation and transport economy. Another possible reason could be, as suggested by the Australian landscape architect Christopher Sawyer, that road networks like other...... as landscape architects engage with road networks in profound ways, which moves beyond the purely visual and pictorial? Is it possible to conceptually (re)locate road networks in the landscape? The paper will address these questions by discussing different understandings of landscape and its relation...

Work Zone Intrusion Report Interface Design

Science.gov (United States)

2018-02-02

While necessary for roadways, work zones present a safety risk to crew. Half of road workers deaths between 2005 and 2010 were due to collisions with motorists intruding on the work zone. Therefore, addressing intrusions is an important step for ensu...

Zoning of highway flood-triggering environment for highway in Fuling District, Chongqing

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Qing-mei; Tang, Hong-mei; Chen, Hong-kai

2011-10-01

Based on the geological environment about Fuling district in Chongqing city, eight evaluating indicators on road flooding subsequently environment along the highway: geological disasters developmental condition, rainstorm intensity, flood frequency, landform condition, litho-logical condition, average annual rainfall, vegetation coverage and geological structure, have been chosen. Adopting expert system to double evaluation and using the analysis hierarchy process to confirm the weight of index, accordingly, the mathematical model of evaluation on subsequently environment is put forward. On the support of GIS, grid subsequently environmental index and township administrative division subsequently environmental index, subsequently environment is divided into 4 degrees. They are dangerous zone, high susceptible zone, middle susceptible zone and low susceptible zone of the floods subsequently environment around highway. The results of the study indicate that in the total area, dangerous zone, high susceptible zone, middle susceptible zone and low susceptible zone of road flooding are 11.89%, 41.65%, 32.20% and 14.26% respectively. The results provide some significant scientific evidence for the further risk evaluation of road flooding.

Effect of the Road Environment on Road Safety in Poland

Science.gov (United States)

Budzynski, Marcin; Jamroz, Kazimierz; Antoniuk, Marcin

2017-10-01

Run-off-road accidents tend to be very severe because when a vehicle leaves the road, it will often crash into a solid obstacle (tree, pole, supports, front wall of a culvert, barrier). A statistical analysis of the data shows that Poland’s main roadside hazard is trees and the severity of vehicles striking a tree in a run-off-road crash. The risks are particularly high in north-west Poland with many of the roads lined up with trees. Because of the existing rural road cross-sections, i.e. having trees directly on road edge followed immediately by drainage ditches, vulnerable road users are prevented from using shoulders and made to use the roadway. With no legal definition of the road safety zone in Polish regulations, attempts to remove roadside trees lead to major conflicts with environmental stakeholders. This is why a compromise should be sought between the safety of road users and protection of the natural environment and the aesthetics of the road experience. Rather than just cut the trees, other road safety measures should be used where possible to treat the hazardous spots by securing trees and obstacles and through speed management. Accidents that are directly related to the road environment fall into the following categories: hitting a tree, hitting a barrier, hitting a utility pole or sign, vehicle rollover on the shoulder, vehicle rollover on slopes or in ditch. The main consequence of a roadside hazard is not the likelihood of an accident itself but of its severity. Poland’s roadside accident severity is primarily the result of poor design or operation of road infrastructure. This comes as a consequence of a lack of regulations or poorly defined regulations and failure to comply with road safety standards. The new analytical model was designed as a combination of the different factors and one that will serve as a comprehensive model. It was assumed that it will describe the effect of the roadside on the number of accidents and their consequences

Seismic risk assessment for road in Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Toyfur, Mona Foralisa; Pribadi, Krishna S.

2016-05-01

Road networks in Indonesia consist of 446,000 km of national, provincial and local roads as well as toll highways. Indonesia is one of countries that exposed to various natural hazards, such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, etc. Within the Indonesian archipelago, several global tectonic plates interact, such as the Indo-Australian, Pacific, Eurasian, resulting in a complex geological setting, characterized by the existence of seismically active faults and subduction zones and a chain of more than one hundred active volcanoes. Roads in Indonesia are vital infrastructure needed for people and goods movement, thus supporting community life and economic activities, including promoting regional economic development. Road damages and losses due to earthquakes have not been studied widely, whereas road disruption caused enormous economic damage. The aim of this research is to develop a method to analyse risk caused by seismic hazard to roads. The seismic risk level of road segment is defined using an earthquake risk index, adopting the method of Earthquake Disaster Risk Index model developed by Davidson (1997). Using this method, road segments' risk level can be defined and compared, and road risk map can be developed as a tool for prioritizing risk mitigation programs for road networks in Indonesia.

77 FR 8806 - Foreign-Trade Zone 183-Austin, TX; Application for Reorganization Under the Alternative Site...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-15

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Foreign-Trade Zones Board [Docket 8-2012] Foreign-Trade Zone 183--Austin... following sites: Site 1 (33 acres)--Interchange within the Austin Enterprise Zone, located at Bolm Road and Gardner Road, Austin; Site 2 (50 acres)--Balcones Research site located in north central Austin at the...

75 FR 62518 - Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Ready for Environmental Analysis and...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-12

... Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Ready for Environmental Analysis and Soliciting Comments...: Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC. e. Name of Project: Brandon Road Hydroelectric Project. f. Location: U.S... Hydropower, LLC, 801 Oakland Avenue, Joliet, IL 60435, (312) 320-1610. i. FERC Contact: Janet Hutzel, (202...

ROAD ACCIDENT AND SAFETY STUDY IN SYLHET REGION OF BANGLADESH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. K. BANIK

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Roads, highways and streets are fundamental infrastructure facilities to provide the transportation for passenger travel and goods movement from one place to another in Sylhet, north–eastern division of Bangladesh with rapid growth of road vehicle, being comparatively developed economic tourist prone area faces severe road traffic accident. Such severe road accidents cause harsh safety hazards on the roads of Sylhet area. This research work presents an overview of the road traffic accident and degraded road safety situation in Sylhet zone which in particular, discusses the key road accident problem characteristics identifying the hazardous roads and spots, most responsible vehicles and related components, conditions of drivers and pedestrians, most victims of accident, effects of accident on society, safety priorities and options available in Sylhet. In this regard, a comprehensive questionnaire survey was conducted on the concerned groups of transportation and detailed accident data was collected from a popular local newspaper. Analysis of the study reveals that Dhaka- Sylhet highway is the most hazardous in road basis and Sylhet Sador thana is the most vulnerable in thana basis in Sylhet region.

motorable roads and transportation system in the agricultural zones

African Journals Online (AJOL)

sustain the traditional farming system. ... Consequently, people have to travel to work, to play, to buy and sell, to obtain professional services, to socialize and to convey agricultural products from one place to another. Road is an asset to ..... Cleaver, K.M (1993) A Strategy to Develop Agriculture in Sub-Saharan African and a.

a Cross-Sectional Study on Insomnia among Japanese Adult Women in Relation to Night-Time Road Traffic Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Kageyama, T.; Kabuto, M.; Nitta, N.; Kurokawa, Y.; Taira, K.; Suzuki, S.; Takemoto, T.

1997-08-01

In an effort to determine the contribution of night-time road traffic noise to insomnia in the general population, 3600 adult Japanese women living in urban residential areas were surveyed. Living near a road with a heavy traffic volume is one of the risk factors for insomnia. The risk for insomnia in the zones 0-20 m from the main roads increased linearly with the night-time traffic volume. This suggests that road traffic noise raises the sound level in bedrooms in such zones, and consequently the prevalence rate of insomnia among the residents, and that noise-induced insomnia is an important public health problem, at least in highly urbanized areas.

Response of moose to a high‐density road network

Science.gov (United States)

Wattles, David W.; Zeller, Katherine A.; DeStefano, Stephen

2018-01-01

Road networks and the disturbance associated with vehicle traffic alter animal behavior, movements, and habitat selection. The response of moose (Alces americanus) to roads has been documented in relatively rural areas, but less is known about moose response to roads in more highly roaded landscapes. We examined road‐crossing frequencies and habitat use of global positioning system (GPS)‐collared moose in Massachusetts, USA, where moose home ranges have road densities approximately twice that of previous studies. We compared seasonal road‐crossing frequencies of moose with a null movement model. We estimated moose travel speeds during road‐crossing events and compared them with speeds during other home range movements. To estimate the extent of the road effect zone and determine how roads influenced moose habitat use, we fit a third‐order resource selection function. With the exception of the lowest use road class (roads less than expected based on the null movement model and frequency decreased with increasing road size and traffic. Moose crossed roads faster than they traveled during other times. This effect increased with increasing road use intensity. Overall, roads were a major factor determining what portions of Massachusetts moose used and how they moved among habitat patches. Our results suggest that moose in Massachusetts can adapt to a high‐density road network, but the road effect is still strongly negative and, in some cases, is more pronounced than in study areas with lower road densities. Future road construction and the expansion of road networks may have a large effect on moose and other wildlife.

Integrated Geophysical Investigation of the Causes of Road ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ADOWIE PERE

failure of the road is caused mainly by geologic sequence and structures such as clayey sub- grade soil under the ... structures and other zones of weakness controlled by regional fractures and ..... Highway Unpublished M.Sc. Project. Obafemi.

Children Road Safety Training with Augmented Reality (AR) [Demo

OpenAIRE

Lugmayr, Artur; Tsang, Joyce; Williams, Toby; Lim, Casey X; Teo, Yeet Yung; Farmer, Matthew

2018-01-01

Children killed or seriously injured through road accidents can be avoided through an appropriate safety training. Through play and engagement children learn and understand hazards at i.e. railway stations, bus stops, crossings, school zones, train stations, footpaths, or while cycling. We developed a rapid prototype of an Augmented Reality (AR) safety training proof-of-concept demonstrator for a scaled real-world model of dangerous road hazards. Two scenarios have been picked to give childre...

Investigation of road network features and safety performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xuesong; Wu, Xingwei; Abdel-Aty, Mohamed; Tremont, Paul J

2013-07-01

The analysis of road network designs can provide useful information to transportation planners as they seek to improve the safety of road networks. The objectives of this study were to compare and define the effective road network indices and to analyze the relationship between road network structure and traffic safety at the level of the Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ). One problem in comparing different road networks is establishing criteria that can be used to scale networks in terms of their structures. Based on data from Orange and Hillsborough Counties in Florida, road network structural properties within TAZs were scaled using 3 indices: Closeness Centrality, Betweenness Centrality, and Meshedness Coefficient. The Meshedness Coefficient performed best in capturing the structural features of the road network. Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) models were developed to assess the safety of various network configurations as measured by total crashes, crashes on state roads, and crashes on local roads. The models' results showed that crash frequencies on local roads were closely related to factors within the TAZs (e.g., zonal network structure, TAZ population), while crash frequencies on state roads were closely related to the road and traffic features of state roads. For the safety effects of different networks, the Grid type was associated with the highest frequency of crashes, followed by the Mixed type, the Loops & Lollipops type, and the Sparse type. This study shows that it is possible to develop a quantitative scale for structural properties of a road network, and to use that scale to calculate the relationships between network structural properties and safety. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determining Level of Service for Multilane Median Opening Zone

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Paydar; Johnnie, Ben-Edigbe

2017-08-01

The road system is a capital-intensive investment, requiring thorough schematic framework and funding. Roads are built to provide an intrinsic quality of service which satisfies the road users. Roads that provide good services are expected to deliver operational performance that is consistent with their design specifications. Level of service and cumulative percentile speed distribution methods have been used in previous studies to estimate the quality of multilane highway service. Whilst the level of service approach relies on speed/flow curve, the cumulative percentile speed distribution is based solely speed. These estimation methods were used in studies carried out in Johor Malaysia. The aim of the studies is to ascertain the extent of speed reduction caused by midblock U-turn facilities as well as verify which estimation method is more reliable. At selected sites, road segments for both directional flows were divided into free-flow and midblock zones. Traffic volume, speed and vehicle type data for each zone were collected continuously for six weeks. Both estimation methods confirmed that speed reduction would be caused by midblock u-turn facilities. However level of service methods suggested that the quality of service would improve from level F to E or D at midblock zone in spite of speed reduction. Level of service was responding to traffic volume reduction at midblock u-turn facility not travel speed reduction. The studies concluded that since level of service was more responsive to traffic volume reduction than travel speed, it cannot be solely relied upon when assessing the quality of multilane highway service.

Influence of forest road buffer zones on sediment transport in the Southern Appalachian Region

Science.gov (United States)

Johnny M. Grace; Stanley J. Zarnoch

2013-01-01

A gap exists in the understanding of the effectiveness of forest road best management practices (BMP) in controlling sediment movement and minimizing risks of sediment delivery to forest streams. The objective of this paper is to report the findings of investigations to assess sediment travel distances downslope of forest roads in the Appalachian region, relate...

Work zone simulator analysis : driver performance and acceptance of alternate merge sign configurations.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-01

Improving work zone road safety is an issue of great interest due to the high number of crashes observed in work : zones. Departments of Transportation (DOTs) use a variety of methods to inform drivers of upcoming work zones. One method : used by DOT...

Risk Factors Associated with Crash Severity on Low-Volume Rural Roads in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prato, Carlo Giacomo; Rasmussen, Thomas Kjær; Kaplan, Sigal

2014-01-01

Safety on low-volume rural roads is drawing attention due to the high fatality and severe injury rates in comparison with high-volume roads and the increasing awareness of sustainable rural development among policy makers. This study analyzes the risk factors associated with crash severity on low......-volume rural roads, including crash characteristics, driver attributes and behavior, vehicle type, road features, environmental conditions, distance from the nearest hospital, and zone rurality degree. The data consist of a set of crashes occurred on low-volume rural roads in Denmark between 2007 and 2011...... advantage in accommodating the ordered-response nature of severity while relaxing the proportional odds assumption. Model estimates and pseudoelasticities show that aggravated crash injury severity is significantly associated with (1) alcohol and failure to wear seatbelts, (2) involvement of vulnerable road...

Characterization of Black Spot Zones for Vulnerable Road Users in São Paulo (Brazil and Rome (Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cláudia A. Soares Machado

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Non-motorized transportation modes, especially cycling and walking, offer numerous benefits, including improvements in the livability of cities, healthy physical activity, efficient urban transportation systems, less traffic congestion, less noise pollution, clean air, less impact on climate change and decreases in the incidence of diseases related to vehicular emissions. Considering the substantial number of short-distance trips, the time consumed in traffic jams, the higher costs for parking vehicles and restrictions in central business districts, many commuters have found that non-motorized modes of transportation serve as viable and economical transport alternatives. Thus, local governments should encourage and stimulate non-motorized modes of transportation. In return, governments must provide safe conditions for these forms of transportation, and motorized vehicle users must respect and coexist with pedestrians and cyclists, which are the most vulnerable users of the transportation system. Although current trends in sustainable transport aim to encourage and stimulate non-motorized modes of transportation that are socially more efficient than motorized transportation, few to no safety policies have been implemented regarding vulnerable road users (VRU, mainly in large urban centers. Due to the spatial nature of the data used in transport-related studies, geospatial technologies provide a powerful analytical method for studying VRU safety frameworks through the use of spatial analysis. In this article, spatial analysis is used to determine the locations of regions that are characterized by a concentration of traffic accidents (black zones involving VRU (injuries and casualties in São Paulo, Brazil (developing country, and Rome, Italy (developed country. The black zones are investigated to obtain spatial patterns that can cause multiple accidents. A method based on kernel density estimation (KDE is used to compare the two cities and show

Physiological responses of food animals to road transportation stress

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The increasing demand in proteins to feed the ever-growing world population has necessitated the industrialization and transportation of livestock using different means of transportation across several ecological zones with different climatic conditions. The stress factors acting on animals during road transportation are ...

Carbon Nanomaterials for Road Construction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zaporotskova Irina Vladimirovna

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The requirement of developing and modernizing the roads in Russia and in the Volgograd region in particular, is based on need of expanding the directions of scientific research on road and transport complexes. They have to be aimed at the development of the theory of transport streams, traffic safety increase, and, first of all, at the application of original methods of road development and modernization, introduction of modern technologies and road-building materials.On the basis of the analysis of the plans for transportation sphere development in the Volgograd region assuming the need to apply the new technologies allowing to create qualitative paving, the authors propose the technology of creating a heavy-duty paving with the use of carbon nanomaterial. The knowledge on strengthening the characteristics of carbon nanotubes is a unique material for nanotechnology development which allowed to assume the analysis of general information about asphalt concrete. The analysis showed that carbon nanotubes can be used for improvement of operational characteristics of asphalt concrete, and it is possible to carry out additives of nanotubes in hot as well as in cold bitumen. The article contains the basic principles of creation of the new road material received by means of bitumen reinforcing by carbon nanotubes. The structures received by the offered technique binding on the basis of the bitumens modified by carbon nanomaterial can be used for coverings and bases on highways of all categories in all road and climatic zones of Russia. The technical result consists in increasing the durability and elasticity of the received asphalt covering, and also the increase of water resistance, heat resistance and frost resistance, the expansion of temperature range of its laying in the field of negative temperatures.

The ecological impact assessment of a proposed road development (the Slovak approach)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Igondova, Erika; Pavlickova, Katarina; Majzlan, Oto

2016-01-01

The construction of roads is one of the most widespread forms of natural landscape modification. Over the last 20 years, dozens of road constructions have been assessed in Slovakia, which makes it possible to talk about methodological positives and negatives. A special feature of Slovakia is that many planned or renovated roads are located in protected areas or are in contact with them (including Natura 2000 sites). Therefore, it is important to understand the scope of the roads' ecological impacts and find ways for their appropriate evaluation and incorporation into the Environmental Impact Assessment process. For this reason, the Ecological Impact Assessment methodology can be used as a basis for our research, which consists of three stages. In the first stage (scoping), a buffer circumventing the proposed road is created to determine the area for impact prediction and evaluation. Subsequently, the landscape structure and baseline landscape conditions are discussed, a map of current landscape structure is created and the current ecological status of the affected area is calculated. In the second stage (the evaluation of ecological resources), important ecological parts of the landscape are delineated. This step is based on the importance of previous information and its vulnerability, and leads to the mapping of the road ecological impact zone. In the third stage (impact assessment), important ecological parts are spatially correlated with the proposed road construction. Finally, the significance of ecological impacts of the activity is evaluated by applying specific criteria (duration, reversibility, magnitude, size and road ecological impact zone significance). A scale is proposed for each criterion to evaluate the total significance of impacts. In this way, detailed significant ecological impacts can be found which will help lead to proposed correct mitigation measures and a post-project analysis. - Highlights: • This paper proposes a methodology for the Ec

The ecological impact assessment of a proposed road development (the Slovak approach)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Igondova, Erika, E-mail: erika.igondova@gmail.com; Pavlickova, Katarina, E-mail: pavlickova60@gmail.com; Majzlan, Oto, E-mail: majzlan@fns.uniba.sk

2016-07-15

The construction of roads is one of the most widespread forms of natural landscape modification. Over the last 20 years, dozens of road constructions have been assessed in Slovakia, which makes it possible to talk about methodological positives and negatives. A special feature of Slovakia is that many planned or renovated roads are located in protected areas or are in contact with them (including Natura 2000 sites). Therefore, it is important to understand the scope of the roads' ecological impacts and find ways for their appropriate evaluation and incorporation into the Environmental Impact Assessment process. For this reason, the Ecological Impact Assessment methodology can be used as a basis for our research, which consists of three stages. In the first stage (scoping), a buffer circumventing the proposed road is created to determine the area for impact prediction and evaluation. Subsequently, the landscape structure and baseline landscape conditions are discussed, a map of current landscape structure is created and the current ecological status of the affected area is calculated. In the second stage (the evaluation of ecological resources), important ecological parts of the landscape are delineated. This step is based on the importance of previous information and its vulnerability, and leads to the mapping of the road ecological impact zone. In the third stage (impact assessment), important ecological parts are spatially correlated with the proposed road construction. Finally, the significance of ecological impacts of the activity is evaluated by applying specific criteria (duration, reversibility, magnitude, size and road ecological impact zone significance). A scale is proposed for each criterion to evaluate the total significance of impacts. In this way, detailed significant ecological impacts can be found which will help lead to proposed correct mitigation measures and a post-project analysis. - Highlights: • This paper proposes a methodology for the

Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program Using Functional and Structural Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Setianingsih, A. I.; Sangaji, S.; Setyawan, A.

2017-02-01

Road sector development policy in Bangka Belitung emphasis on equitable development, which is opening up new areas for industrial development zones of potential marine and coastal tourism, so that having an impact on the budget priority to build a new road. This led to a minimal budget provided for the maintenance of the existing road. This study aimed to evaluate the condition of the pavement both functionally and structurally, the growth of traffic density and the availability of existing road maintenance costs. Then, to analyze the influence of existing road conditions, traffic density and road maintenance costs to the type of road maintenance management. The results are compared with the results of the existing maintenance conducted by the Public Works Department of Bangka Belitung province. Evaluation of pavement conditions consists of visual assessment of pavement condition using IRI, pavement condition assessment functionally with deflection method using test data tool Benkelman Beam (BB) and the actual traffic load. IRI value, deflections and traffic growth gained from years 2011-2015 subsequently created regression models to obtain the relationship and the correlation coefficient. The analysis showed that using the same relative magnitude of the budget from 2011 to 2015, giving priority to the maintenance of the road with good conditions capable of providing the road with a steady state of 100%. Recommendations can be given that maintain the road with good conditions reflecting that preservation provide maximum results with the more efficient maintenance cost.

Understanding fatal older road user crash circumstances and risk factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Koppel, Sjaan; Bugeja, Lyndal; Smith, Daisy; Lamb, Ashne; Dwyer, Jeremy; Fitzharris, Michael; Newstead, Stuart; D'Elia, Angelo; Charlton, Judith

2018-02-28

This study used medicolegal data to investigate fatal older road user (ORU) crash circumstances and risk factors relating to four key components of the Safe System approach (e.g., roads and roadsides, vehicles, road users, and speeds) to identify areas of priority for targeted prevention activity. The Coroners Court of Victoria's Surveillance Database was searched to identify coronial records with at least one deceased ORU in the state of Victoria, Australia, for 2013-2014. Information relating to the ORU, crash characteristics and circumstances, and risk factors was extracted and analyzed. The average rate of fatal ORU crashes per 100,000 population was 8.1 (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.0-10.2), which was more than double the average rate of fatal middle-aged road user crashes (3.6, 95% CI 2.5-4.6). There was a significant relationship between age group and deceased road user type (χ 2 (15, N = 226) = 3.56, p road" (87.0%), on roads that were paved (94.2%), dry (74.2%), and had light traffic volume (38.3%). Road user error was identified by the police and/or coroner for the majority of fatal ORU crashes (57.9%), with a significant proportion of deceased ORU deemed to have "misjudged" (40.9%) or "failed to yield" (37.9%). Road user error was the most significant risk factor identified in fatal ORU crashes, which suggests that there is a limited capacity of the Victorian road system to fully accommodate road user errors. Initiatives related to safer roads and roadsides, vehicles, and speed zones, as well as behavioral approaches, are key areas of priority for targeted activity to prevent fatal older road user crashes in the future.

The road safety audit and road safety inspection.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2007-01-01

A road safety audit (RSA) and a road safety inspection (RSI) are used to test the safety level of the road infrastructure. The RSA tests the design of new roads or the reconstruction of existing roads, whereas the RSI is used for testing existing roads. An RSA, therefore, aims to 'improve' the road

Shear Zone-Hosted Base Metal Mineralization near Abraha ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Tadesse

of Arabia; B) Plan view of northern Ethiopia showing the roads and position ... within NE trending shear zone in the basement rocks with well developed alterations ...... country rocks and transported to the sites of deposition i.e. structural weak.

Distribution of dilemma zone after intelligent transportation system established

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Yuanchang; Yang, Huiqin; Wu, Linying

2017-03-01

Dilemma zone refers to an area where vehicles can neither clear the intersection during the yellow interval nor stop safely before the stop line. The purpose of this paper is to analyzing the distribution of two types of dilemma zone after intelligent transportation system (ITS) established at Outer Ring Roads signalized intersections in Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center. To collect field data a drone aircraft was used. When calculating the type II dilemma zone's distribution, we considered the information of drivers' aggressiveness, which was classified by driving speed and type I dilemma zone as well. We also compared the two types dilemma zone's distribution before and after ITS established and analyzed the changes, which was brought by ITS.

75 FR 69398 - Foreign-Trade Zone 78-Nashville, TN; Application for Expansion

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-12

... Company, 1800 Zinc Plant Road, Clarksville; and Proposed Site 12 (451.0 acres)--Gallatin Industrial Center..., TN; Application for Expansion An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the... application was submitted pursuant to the provisions of the Foreign- Trade Zones Act, as amended (19 U.S.C...

Sleep-related vehicle crashes on low speed roads.

Science.gov (United States)

Filtness, A J; Armstrong, K A; Watson, A; Smith, S S

2017-02-01

Very little is known about the characteristics of sleep related (SR) crashes occurring on low speed roads compared with current understanding of the role of sleep in crashes occurring on high speed roads e.g. motorways. To address this gap, analyses were undertaken to identify the differences and similarities between (1) SR crashes occurring on roads with low (≤60km/h) and high (≥100km/h) speed limits, and (2) SR crashes and not-SR crashes occurring on roads with low speed limits. Police reports of all crashes occurring on low and high speed roads over a ten year period between 2000 and 2009 were examined for Queensland, Australia. Attending police officers identified all crash attributes, including 'fatigue/fell asleep', which indicates that the police believe the crash to have a causal factor relating to falling asleep, sleepiness due to sleep loss, time of day, or fatigue. Driver or rider involvement in crashes was classified as SR or not-SR. All crash-associated variables were compared using Chi-square tests (Cramer's V=effect size). A series of logistic regression was performed, with driver and crash characteristics as predictors of crash category. A conservative alpha level of 0.001 determined statistical significance. There were 440,855 drivers or riders involved in a crash during this time; 6923 (1.6%) were attributed as SR. SR crashes on low speed roads have similar characteristics to those on high speed roads with young (16-24y) males consistently over represented. SR crashes on low speed roads are noticeably different to not-SR crashes in the same speed zone in that male and young novice drivers are over represented and outcomes are more severe. Of all the SR crashes identified, 41% occurred on low speed roads. SR crashes are not confined to high speed roads. Low speed SR crashes warrant specific investigation because they occur in densely populated areas, exposing a greater number of people to risk and have more severe outcomes than not-SR crashes

Trajectory of a road vehicle during road maintenance

OpenAIRE

Stachová Darina

2017-01-01

Consider a vehicle moving on a road whose usage over time creates an uneven surface on the road. Road unevenness that we encounter on surface communications often arises as a consequence of dynamical effects of moving vehicles, of weather changes, and due to road construction works. This article concerns with mathematical modeling of the trajectory of a road vehicle moving on such a surface during the course of road maintenance.

Technical assessment of forest road network using Backmund and surface distribution algorithm in a hardwood forest of Hyrcanian zone

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Parsakhoo, P.

2016-07-01

Aim of study: Corrected Backmund and Surface Distribution Algorithms (SDA) for analysis of forest road network are introduced and presented in this study. Research was carried out to compare road network performance between two districts in a hardwood forest. Area of study: Shast Kalateh forests, Iran. Materials and methods: In uncorrected Backmund algorithm, skidding distance was determined by calculating road density and spacing and then it was designed as Potential Area for Skidding Operations (PASO) in ArcGIS software. To correct this procedure, the skidding constraint areas were taken using GPS and then removed from PASO. In SDA, shortest perpendicular distance from geometrical center of timber compartments to road was measured at both districts. Main results: In corrected Backmund, forest openness in district I and II were 70.3% and 69.5%, respectively. Therefore, there was little difference in forest openness in the districts based on the uncorrected Backmund. In SDA, the mean distance from geometrical center of timber compartments to the roads of districts I and II were 199.45 and 149.31 meters, respectively. Forest road network distribution in district II was better than that of district I relating to SDA. Research highlights: It was concluded that uncorrected Backmund was not precise enough to assess forest road network, while corrected Backmund could exhibit a real PASO by removing skidding constraints. According to presented algorithms, forest road network performance in district II was better than district I. (Author)

Safer Roads: Comparisons Between Road Assessment Program and Composite Road Safety Index Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Razelan Intan Suhana

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In most countries, crash statistics have becoming very crucial in evaluating road’s safety level. In Malaysia, these data are very important in deciding crash-prone areas known as black spot where specific road improvements plan will be proposed. However due to the unavailability of reliable crash data in many developing countries, appropriate road maintenance measures are facing great troubles. In light of that, several proactive methods in defining road’s safety level such as Road Assessment Program (RAP have emerged. This research aim to compare two proactive methods that have been tested in Malaysian roads ; road assessment program and road environment risk index which was developed based on composite index theory in defining road’s safety level. Composite road environment risk index was combining several crucial environment indicators, assigning weight and aggregating the individual index together to form a single value representing the road’s safety level. Based on the results, it can be concluded that both road assessment program and composite road environment risk index are contradicted in six different ways such as type of speed used, type of analysis used and their final outcomes. However, with an aim to promote safer roads, these two methods can be used concurrently as the outcomes in both methods seems to fulfil each other’s gap very well.

Brandon mathematical model describing the effect of calcination and reduction parameters on specific surface area of UO{sub 2} powders

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hung, Nguyen Trong; Thuan, Le Ba [Institute for Technology of Radioactive and Rare Elements (ITRRE), 48 Lang Ha, Dong Da, Ha Noi (Viet Nam); Van Khoai, Do [Micro-Emission Ltd., 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi, Ishikawa, 923-1211 (Japan); Lee, Jin-Young, E-mail: jinlee@kigam.re.kr [Convergence Research Center for Development of Mineral Resources (DMR), Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon, 305-350 (Korea, Republic of); Jyothi, Rajesh Kumar, E-mail: rkumarphd@kigam.re.kr [Convergence Research Center for Development of Mineral Resources (DMR), Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon, 305-350 (Korea, Republic of)

2016-06-15

Uranium dioxide (UO{sub 2}) powder has been widely used to prepare fuel pellets for commercial light water nuclear reactors. Among typical characteristics of the powder, specific surface area (SSA) is one of the most important parameter that determines the sintering ability of UO{sub 2} powder. This paper built up a mathematical model describing the effect of the fabrication parameters on SSA of UO{sub 2} powders. To the best of our knowledge, the Brandon model is used for the first time to describe the relationship between the essential fabrication parameters [reduction temperature (T{sub R}), calcination temperature (T{sub C}), calcination time (t{sub C}) and reduction time (t{sub R})] and SSA of the obtained UO{sub 2} powder product. The proposed model was tested with Wilcoxon's rank sum test, showing a good agreement with the experimental parameters. The proposed model can be used to predict and control the SSA of UO{sub 2} powder.

A Comparison of Freeway Work Zone Capacity Prediction Models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zheng, N.; Hegyi, A.; Hoogendoorn, S.P.; Van Zuylen, H.J.; Peters, D.

2011-01-01

To keep the freeway networks in a good condition, road works such as maintenance and reconstruction are carried out regularly. The resulting work zones including the related traffic management measures, give different traffic capacities of the infrastructures, which determines the travel time for

Effects of road salts on groundwater and surface water ...

Science.gov (United States)

Road salts are a growing environmental concern in urban watersheds. We examined groundwater (GW) and surface water (SW) dynamics of Na+ and Cl− in Minebank Run (MBR), an urban stream in Maryland, USA. We observed an increasing salinity trend in this restored stream. Current baseflow salinity does not exceed water quality recommendations, but rapid “first flush” storm flow was approximately one-third that of seawater. Comparisons between the upstream and downstream study reaches suggest that a major interstate highway is the primary road salt source. A heavily used road parallels most of MBR and was an additional source to GW concentrations, especially the downstream right bank. A baseflow synoptic survey identified zones of increased salinity. Downstream piezometer wells exhibited increases in salt concentrations and there was evidence that Na+ is exchanging Ca2+ and Mg2+ on soils. SW salt concentrations were generally elevated above GW concentrations. Salinity levels persisted at MBR throughout the year and were above background levels at Bynum Run, a nearby reference stream not bisected by a major highway, suggesting that GW is a long-term reservoir for accumulating road salts. Chronic salinity levels may be high enough to damage vegetation and salinity peaks could impact other biota. Beneficial uses and green infrastructure investments may be at risk from salinity driven degradation. Therefore, road salt may represent an environmental risk that could af

Automatic Road Centerline Extraction from Imagery Using Road GPS Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuqing Cao

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Road centerline extraction from imagery constitutes a key element in numerous geospatial applications, which has been addressed through a variety of approaches. However, most of the existing methods are not capable of dealing with challenges such as different road shapes, complex scenes, and variable resolutions. This paper presents a novel method for road centerline extraction from imagery in a fully automatic approach that addresses the aforementioned challenges by exploiting road GPS data. The proposed method combines road color feature with road GPS data to detect road centerline seed points. After global alignment of road GPS data, a novel road centerline extraction algorithm is developed to extract each individual road centerline in local regions. Through road connection, road centerline network is generated as the final output. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed method can rapidly and accurately extract road centerline from remotely sensed imagery.

Transforming GIS data into functional road models for large-scale traffic simulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkie, David; Sewall, Jason; Lin, Ming C

2012-06-01

There exists a vast amount of geographic information system (GIS) data that model road networks around the world as polylines with attributes. In this form, the data are insufficient for applications such as simulation and 3D visualization-tools which will grow in power and demand as sensor data become more pervasive and as governments try to optimize their existing physical infrastructure. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for enhancing a road map from a GIS database to create a geometrically and topologically consistent 3D model to be used in real-time traffic simulation, interactive visualization of virtual worlds, and autonomous vehicle navigation. The resulting representation provides important road features for traffic simulations, including ramps, highways, overpasses, legal merge zones, and intersections with arbitrary states, and it is independent of the simulation methodologies. We test the 3D models of road networks generated by our algorithm on real-time traffic simulation using both macroscopic and microscopic techniques.

Using road markings as a continuous cue for speed choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Charlton, Samuel G; Starkey, Nicola J; Malhotra, Neha

2018-08-01

The potential for using road markings to indicate speed limits was investigated in a driving simulator over the course of two sessions. Two types of experimental road markings, an "Attentional" set designed to provide visually distinct cues to indicate speed limits of 60, 80 and 100 km/h, and a "Perceptual" set designed to also affect drivers' perception of speed, were compared to a standard undifferentiated set of markings. Participants (n = 20 per group) were assigned to one of four experimental groups (Attentional-Explicit, Attentional-Implicit, Perceptual-Explicit, Perceptual-Implicit) or a Control group (n = 22; standard road markings). The Explicit groups were instructed about the meaning of the road markings while those in the Implicit and Control groups did not receive any explanation. Participants drove five 10 km simulated roads containing three speed zones (60, 80 and 100 km/h) during the first session. The participants returned to the laboratory approximately 3 days later to drive five more trials including roads they had not seen before, a trial that included a secondary task, and a trial where speed signs were removed and only markings were present. The findings indicated that both types of road markings improved drivers' compliance with speed limits compared to the control group, but that explicit instruction as to the meaning of the markings was needed to realise their full benefit. Although previous research has indicated the benefit of road markings used as warnings to indicate speed reductions in advance of horizontal or vertical curves, the findings of the present experiment also suggest that systematically associating road markings with specific speed limits may be a useful way to improve speed limit compliance and increase speed homogeneity. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Examining the impact of ASE (automated speed enforcement) in work zones on driver attention : final report.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

Each year, there are over 500 fatal crashes in work zones in the U.S., with over 100 road construction workers : killed on work sites (NSC, 2011; FARS, 2011). Speed and distraction are among the top contributing factors to : work zone crashes (Garber...

Hydrogeomorphic connectivity on roads crossing in rural headwaters and its effect on stream dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomaz, Edivaldo L; Peretto, Gustavo T

2016-04-15

Unpaved roads are ubiquitous features that have been transforming the landscape through human history. Unpaved roads affect the water and sediment pathways through a catchment and impacts the aquatic ecosystem. In this study, we describe the effect of unpaved road on the hydrogeomorphic connectivity at the rural headwater scale. Measurement was based on the stream crossing approach, i.e., road superimposing the drainage system. We installed a Parshall flume coupled with single-stage suspended sediment sampler at each stream crossing. In addition, we displayed our monitoring scheme with an upscaling perspective from second-order to third-order stream. We concluded that the road-stream coupling dramatically changed the stream dynamic. The increase of discharge caused by roads at the headwater was 50% larger compared to unaffected streams. Additionally, suspended sediment concentration enhancement at stream crossings ranged from to 413% at second-order streams to 145% at third-order streams. The landform characteristics associated with the road network produced an important hydrogeomorphic disruption in the landscape. As a result, the sediment filter function of the riparian zone was reduced dramatically. Therefore, we recommend that projects for aquatic system restoration or conservation in rural landscape consider the role of the road network on stream dynamics. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Road user behaviour changes following a self-explaining roads intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackie, Hamish W; Charlton, Samuel G; Baas, Peter H; Villasenor, Pablo C

2013-01-01

The self-explaining roads (SER) approach uses road designs that evoke correct expectations and driving behaviours from road users to create a safe and user-friendly road network. Following the implementation of an SER process and retrofitting of local and collector roads in a suburb within Auckland City, lower speeds on local roads and less variation in speed on both local and collector roads were achieved, along with a closer match between actual and perceived safe speeds. Preliminary analyses of crash data shows that the project has resulted in a 30% reduction crash numbers and an 86% reduction in crash costs per annum, since the road changes were completed. In order to further understand the outcomes from this project, a study was carried out to measure the effects of the SER intervention on the activity and behaviour of all road users. Video was collected over nine separate days, at nine different locations, both before and after SER construction. Road user behaviour categories were developed for all potential road users at different location types and then used to code the video data. Following SER construction, on local roads there was a relatively higher proportion of pedestrians, less uniformity in vehicle lane keeping and less indicating by motorists along with less through traffic, reflecting a more informal/low speed local road environment. Pedestrians were less constrained on local roads following SER construction, possibly reflecting a perceptually safer and more user-friendly environment. These behaviours were not generally evident on collector roads, a trend also shown by the previous study of speed changes. Given that one of the objectives of SER is to match road user behaviour with functionally different road categories, the road user behaviour differences demonstrated on different road types within the SER trial area provides further reinforcement of a successful SER trial. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Verification of road databases using multiple road models

Science.gov (United States)

Ziems, Marcel; Rottensteiner, Franz; Heipke, Christian

2017-08-01

In this paper a new approach for automatic road database verification based on remote sensing images is presented. In contrast to existing methods, the applicability of the new approach is not restricted to specific road types, context areas or geographic regions. This is achieved by combining several state-of-the-art road detection and road verification approaches that work well under different circumstances. Each one serves as an independent module representing a unique road model and a specific processing strategy. All modules provide independent solutions for the verification problem of each road object stored in the database in form of two probability distributions, the first one for the state of a database object (correct or incorrect), and a second one for the state of the underlying road model (applicable or not applicable). In accordance with the Dempster-Shafer Theory, both distributions are mapped to a new state space comprising the classes correct, incorrect and unknown. Statistical reasoning is applied to obtain the optimal state of a road object. A comparison with state-of-the-art road detection approaches using benchmark datasets shows that in general the proposed approach provides results with larger completeness. Additional experiments reveal that based on the proposed method a highly reliable semi-automatic approach for road data base verification can be designed.

Estimation of efficiency of dust suppressing works at 30-km zone near the Chernobyl' NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakin, R.I.; Tkachenko, A.V.; Sukhoruchkin, A.K.

1989-01-01

Data on efficiency of dust suppressing works at 30-km zone near NPP are analyzed. It is necessary: to reduce radionuclide content in the air in the spring, when the weather is dry, to conduct dust suppressing works on roads and sections of surface with nonfixed ground; in the summer, to wash roads every day. 3 figs

Strabo's roads

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bekker-Nielsen, Tønnes

2017-01-01

in the Geography, and the world-view, of Strabo. Strabo did not take much interest in roads as artefacts or monuments, in the technology of road construction, or in the mythological and historical background of individual roads. He is primarily interested in roads from a functional point of view. For the general......To ancient geographers, roads were important not only as arteries of communication, but also as sources of information, since mileages measured along the Roman highways were among the very few precise distances available to the ancient geographer. This chapter explores the place of roads...... or the statesman, roads provide routes of communication; for the systematic geographer, they provide measured distances and directions. Through case studies of Spain, Gaul, Italy, Greece and Anatolia, this chapter attempts to reach a better understanding of the place of roads in Strabo’s universe, especially two...

An empirical model to predict road dust emissions based on pavement and traffic characteristics.

Science.gov (United States)

Padoan, Elio; Ajmone-Marsan, Franco; Querol, Xavier; Amato, Fulvio

2018-06-01

The relative impact of non-exhaust sources (i.e. road dust, tire wear, road wear and brake wear particles) on urban air quality is increasing. Among them, road dust resuspension has generally the highest impact on PM concentrations but its spatio-temporal variability has been rarely studied and modeled. Some recent studies attempted to observe and describe the time-variability but, as it is driven by traffic and meteorology, uncertainty remains on the seasonality of emissions. The knowledge gap on spatial variability is much wider, as several factors have been pointed out as responsible for road dust build-up: pavement characteristics, traffic intensity and speed, fleet composition, proximity to traffic lights, but also the presence of external sources. However, no parameterization is available as a function of these variables. We investigated mobile road dust smaller than 10 μm (MF10) in two cities with different climatic and traffic conditions (Barcelona and Turin), to explore MF10 seasonal variability and the relationship between MF10 and site characteristics (pavement macrotexture, traffic intensity and proximity to braking zone). Moreover, we provide the first estimates of emission factors in the Po Valley both in summer and winter conditions. Our results showed a good inverse relationship between MF10 and macro-texture, traffic intensity and distance from the nearest braking zone. We also found a clear seasonal effect of road dust emissions, with higher emission in summer, likely due to the lower pavement moisture. These results allowed building a simple empirical mode, predicting maximal dust loadings and, consequently, emission potential, based on the aforementioned data. This model will need to be scaled for meteorological effect, using methods accounting for weather and pavement moisture. This can significantly improve bottom-up emission inventory for spatial allocation of emissions and air quality management, to select those roads with higher emissions

Road profile estimation of city roads using DTPS

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qi; McDaniel, J. Gregory; Sun, Nian X.; Wang, Ming L.

2013-04-01

This work presents a non-destructive and non-contact acoustic sensing approach for measuring road profile of road and bridge deck with vehicles running at normal speed without stopping traffic. This approach uses an instantaneous and real-time dynamic tire pressure sensor (DTPS) that can measure dynamic response of the tire-road interaction and increases the efficiency of currently used road profile measuring systems with vehicle body-mounted profilers and axle-mounted accelerometers. In this work, a prototype of real-time DTPS system has been developed and demonstrated on a testing van at speeds from 5 to 80 miles per hour (mph). A data analysis algorithm has been developed to remove axle dynamic motions from the measured DTPS data and to find the transfer function between dynamic tire pressure change and the road profile. Field test has been performed to estimate road profiles. The road profile resolution is approximately 5 to 10 cm in width and sensitivity is 0. 3 cm for the height road surface features at driving speeds of 5 to 80 mph.

Level II scour analysis for Bridge 28 (ROCHTH00370028) on Town Highway 37, crossing Brandon Brook, Rochester, Vermont

Science.gov (United States)

Wild, Emily C.; Weber, Matthew A.

1998-01-01

This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure ROCHTH00370028 on Town Highway 37 crossing Brandon Brook, Rochester, Vermont (figures 1–8). A Level II study is a basic engineering analysis of the site, including a quantitative analysis of stream stability and scour (FHWA, 1993). Results of a Level I scour investigation also are included in appendix E of this report. A Level I investigation provides a qualitative geomorphic characterization of the study site. Information on the bridge, gleaned from VTAOT files, was compiled prior to conducting Level I and Level II analyses and is found in appendix D. The site is in the Green Mountain section of the New England physiographic province in central Vermont. The 8.0-mi2 drainage area is in a predominantly rural and forested basin. In the vicinity of the study site, the surface cover is pasture on the upstream left overbank although the immediate banks have dense woody vegetation. The upstream right overbank and downstream left and right overbanks are forested. In the study area, the Brandon Brook has an incised, sinuous channel with a slope of approximately 0.01 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 44 ft and an average bank height of 7 ft. The channel bed material ranges from gravel to cobbles with a median grain size (D50) of 84.2 mm (0.276 ft). The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level I site visit on April 12, 1995 and Level II site visit on July 8, 1996, indicated that the reach was stable. The Town Highway 37 crossing of the Brandon Brook is a 33-ft-long, one-lane bridge consisting of a 31-foot timber-stringer span (Vermont Agency of Transportation, written communication, March 22, 1995). The opening length of the structure parallel to the bridge face is 29.6 ft. The bridge is supported by vertical, timber log cribbing abutments with wingwalls. The channel is skewed approximately 5 degrees to the opening while the computed opening-skew-to-roadway is zero

Do Stochastic Traffic Assignment Models Consider Differences in Road Users Utility Functions?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Otto Anker

1996-01-01

of travel time versus travel length). A simple heuristic modification on SUE is presented which models both. To illustrate the theoretical discussions in the paper, bundles of routes between two zones in Copenhagen are presented according to the different principles and compared with results from a stop...... to overcome this problem. Sheffi & Powell (1981) presented a practically operational solution algorithm in which the travel resistance for each road segment is adjusted according to a Monte Carlo simulation following the Normal-distribution. By this the road users’ ‘perceived travel resistances’ are simulated....... A similar concept is used as a part of the Sto-chastic User Equilibrium model (SUE) suggested by Daganzo and Sheffi (1977) and operationalized by Sheffi & Powell (1982). In the paper it is discussed whether this way of modelling the ‘perceived travel resistance’ is sufficient to describe the road users...

Is road safety management linked to road safety performance?

Science.gov (United States)

Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Yannis, George

2013-10-01

This research aims to explore the relationship between road safety management and road safety performance at country level. For that purpose, an appropriate theoretical framework is selected, namely the 'SUNflower' pyramid, which describes road safety management systems in terms of a five-level hierarchy: (i) structure and culture, (ii) programmes and measures, (iii) 'intermediate' outcomes'--safety performance indicators (SPIs), (iv) final outcomes--fatalities and injuries, and (v) social costs. For each layer of the pyramid, a composite indicator is implemented, on the basis of data for 30 European countries. Especially as regards road safety management indicators, these are estimated on the basis of Categorical Principal Component Analysis upon the responses of a dedicated road safety management questionnaire, jointly created and dispatched by the ETSC/PIN group and the 'DaCoTA' research project. Then, quasi-Poisson models and Beta regression models are developed for linking road safety management indicators and other indicators (i.e. background characteristics, SPIs) with road safety performance. In this context, different indicators of road safety performance are explored: mortality and fatality rates, percentage reduction in fatalities over a given period, a composite indicator of road safety final outcomes, and a composite indicator of 'intermediate' outcomes (SPIs). The results of the analyses suggest that road safety management can be described on the basis of three composite indicators: "vision and strategy", "budget, evaluation and reporting", and "measurement of road user attitudes and behaviours". Moreover, no direct statistical relationship could be established between road safety management indicators and final outcomes. However, a statistical relationship was found between road safety management and 'intermediate' outcomes, which were in turn found to affect 'final' outcomes, confirming the SUNflower approach on the consecutive effect of each layer

Soil Heavy Metal Concentration Patterns at Two Speed Zones along ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Soil Heavy Metal Concentration Patterns at Two Speed Zones along the Gaborone- Tlokweng Border Post Highway, Southeast Botswana. ... Since 1988 Botswana has been experiencing an unprecedented increase in vehicular traffic which is suspected to be having contamination effects on soils along heavily used roads ...

Hygienic assessment of using rocks with high content of natural radionuclides in road construction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kornilov, A.N.; Ryabchikov, S.G.

1983-01-01

Experimental investigations on radiation hygienic assessment of the possibilities of using rocks with an increased content of natural radionuclides (NRN) are carried out. At experimental road portions constructed using such rocks, γ-radiation levels have been measured and radioactive contamination of the ad-- jacent territory has been determined. The danger presented by such roads for highway engineering workers and population also has been assessed. The results obtained permit to express a possitive opinion on the use of solid wastes with an increased NRN content for construction of roads with asphalt coating. Rocks with specific α-activity 3 Bq/kg are recommended to be used for any types of road construction, whereas wastes with specific α-activity 3 Bq/kg - only for road construction in an industrial zone, between populated areas and for thoroughfares and highways. The use of wastes with a higher NRN content is unreasonable as it leads to a growth of annular dose to population and excessive exposure of construction workers engaged in highway engineering operations

Fate of Brine Applied to Unpaved Roads at a Radioactive Waste Subsurface Disposal Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larry C. Hull; Carolyn W. Bishop

2004-01-01

Between 1984 and 1993, MgCl 2 brine was used to suppress dust on unpaved roads at a radioactive waste subsurface disposal area. Because Cl - might enhance corrosion of buried metals in the waste, we investigated the distribution and fate of Cl - in the vadose zone using pore water samples collected from suction lysimeters and soluble salt concentrations extracted from sediment samples. The Cl/Br mass ratio and the total dissolved Cl - concentration of pore water show that brine contamination occurs primarily within 13 m of treated roads, but can extend as much as 30 m laterally in near-surface sedimentary deposits. Within the deep vadose zone, which consists of interlayered basalt lava flows and sedimentary interbeds, brine has moved up to 110 m laterally. This lateral migration suggests formation of perched water and horizontal transport during periods of high recharge. In a few locations, brine migrated to depths of 67 m within 3 to 5 yr. Elevated Cl - concentrations were found to depths of 2 m in roadbed material. In drainage ditches along roads, where runoff accumulates and recharge of surface water is high, Cl - was flushed from the sediments in 3 to 4 yr. In areas of lower recharge, Cl - remained in the sediments after 5 yr. Vertical brine movement is directly related to surface recharge through sediments. The distribution of Cl - in pore water and sediments is consistent with estimates of vadose zone residence times and spatial distribution of surface water recharge from other investigations at the subsurface disposal area

Uncertainty analysis of accident notification time and emergency medical service response time in work zone traffic accidents.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Qiang; Weng, Jinxian

2013-01-01

Taking into account the uncertainty caused by exogenous factors, the accident notification time (ANT) and emergency medical service (EMS) response time were modeled as 2 random variables following the lognormal distribution. Their mean values and standard deviations were respectively formulated as the functions of environmental variables including crash time, road type, weekend, holiday, light condition, weather, and work zone type. Work zone traffic accident data from the Fatality Analysis Report System between 2002 and 2009 were utilized to determine the distributions of the ANT and the EMS arrival time in the United States. A mixed logistic regression model, taking into account the uncertainty associated with the ANT and the EMS response time, was developed to estimate the risk of death. The results showed that the uncertainty of the ANT was primarily influenced by crash time and road type, whereas the uncertainty of EMS response time is greatly affected by road type, weather, and light conditions. In addition, work zone accidents occurring during a holiday and in poor light conditions were found to be statistically associated with a longer mean ANT and longer EMS response time. The results also show that shortening the ANT was a more effective approach in reducing the risk of death than the EMS response time in work zones. To shorten the ANT and the EMS response time, work zone activities are suggested to be undertaken during non-holidays, during the daytime, and in good weather and light conditions.

Distributed road assessment system

Science.gov (United States)

Beer, N. Reginald; Paglieroni, David W

2014-03-25

A system that detects damage on or below the surface of a paved structure or pavement is provided. A distributed road assessment system includes road assessment pods and a road assessment server. Each road assessment pod includes a ground-penetrating radar antenna array and a detection system that detects road damage from the return signals as the vehicle on which the pod is mounted travels down a road. Each road assessment pod transmits to the road assessment server occurrence information describing each occurrence of road damage that is newly detected on a current scan of a road. The road assessment server maintains a road damage database of occurrence information describing the previously detected occurrences of road damage. After the road assessment server receives occurrence information for newly detected occurrences of road damage for a portion of a road, the road assessment server determines which newly detected occurrences correspond to which previously detected occurrences of road damage.

Chronology and geochemistry of late Holocene eolian deposits in the Brandon Sand Hills, Manitoba, Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, S.A.; Muhs, D.R.; David, P.P.; McGeehin, J.P.

2000-01-01

Accelerator mass spectrometry and conventional radiocarbon age determinations of organic matter from paleosols indicate that the Brandon Sand Hills area of southern Manitoba has been subjected to recurrent intervals of eolian activity in the past 5000 years. Although precise regional correlations are precluded by dating uncertainties, periods of most notable paleosol development occurred around 2300 to 2000, 1400 to 1000, and 600 to 500 cal yr BP with eolian activity occurring before and after each of these periods. Episodes of eolian activity may correspond to periods of regional drought, whereas paleosols mark periods of increased moisture availability and stabilization by vegetation. The geochemistry of the eolian sands, paleosols and source sediments indicates that partial leaching of carbonates occurs from pedogenesis during humid climatic phases, and that this is probably the primary mechanism of carbonate depletion of eolian sands in this area. Recent trends in sand dune activity from historic aerial photography and early explorers' accounts indicate that the few active dunes that presently exist have stabilized at a rate of 10-20% per decade, despite several severe droughts in the 20th century. This may be attributed to pre-settlement droughts that were more severe than those in historic times although regional dune stabilization may also be related, in part, to the spread of forest cover in the past few hundred years. Crown copyright (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Securing the Chernobyl exclusion zone against illegal movement of radioactive materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bondarenko, O. O.; Proskura, M. I.; Duftschmid, K. E.; Kravchencko, N. E.

2004-01-01

. Within the framework of the IAEA Nuclear Security Program the technical cooperation project S trengthening Security of Nuclear Materials in Ukraine ( UKR/0/008) is aimed primarily to strengthen protection the entrance/exit checkpoints of the Chernobyl exclusion zone and adjacent State borders of Ukraine against illicit movement of radioactive materials (including nuclear materials). The particular situation of the exclusion zone presents a high risk of uncontrolled movement of radioactive materials from and into the exclusion zone. In view of the future construction of the S helter-2 a nd decommissioning of the three closed reactor blocks it is expected that the traffic through the exclusion zone will considerably increase in the next years and those large amounts of possibly contaminated metal scrap, construction material and equipment will leave the zone. There is also a risk of illegal movement of radioactive waste into the zone, possibly also through the international border, which could make the zone to an illegal dumping ground for radioactive waste. As practice shows theft of nuclear materials cannot be excluded. The general concept of the project is based on modernization of old and deployment of new vehicle (road and railway) and pedestrian monitoring equipment at all checkpoints of the exclusion zone including road checkpoints, train stations and river ports. A central station of data acquisition and management is to be located in Chernobyl. The equipment to be installed has to meet new technical requirements developed by IAEA. This includes, e.g. sensitivity of gamma and neutron detection, identification of innocent alarms caused by NORM materials or medical radioisotopes, accurate indication of the source position in the vehicle, and remote identification of license plate by advanced video systems. The implementation of the project and deployment of the equipment is expected to start in 2003 and should be completed in 2005. (Author)

AN INVESTIGATION ON THE FOREST ROAD PLANNING AND ROAD GROUND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hafız Hulusi ACAR

2001-01-01

Full Text Available It is required that the capital used for construction of road must be technical, economical and used in its location. For this reason, the projects must be prepared for forest roads and all operations belong to roads must be guided according to these projects. In this investigation, available forest road network plan and constructed forest roads were investigated at the point of view technical and forest transportation. After this, it were studied to reach the highest exploitation rate as can as possible. Available forest road density were found as 11.9 m/ha in forest areas for Yesiltepe District. In this condition, exploitation rate was 78 %. After that, optimum forest road network were planned and road density were reached to 22 m/ha and exploitation rate to 86 %. Directed sample method were used from taking soil sample methods and samples were took in mixed system. According to results of the experiments, available forest roads were found in a good degree at the point of view endurance, pressing and transportation capacity. With these results, it is aimed to reach higher exploitation rate with given attention to landslide areas during planning of forest roads on the mountain areas such as Black Sea Region. For this reason, required importance must be given to planning of truck and logging roads. Ground analysis must be done and took care before during planning process of forest road network.

Miscellaneous Roads

Data.gov (United States)

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — This data set contains roadway centerlines for miscellanous roads, a catch-all category for all road types not present in the other DNR derived products. These road...

Winter road access to projected works in the diversion of the Little Whale River

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goulet, R.

1993-01-01

The Great Whale hydroelectric complex in northern Quebec will require diversion of the Little Whale River, involving construction of dams 40 m and 30 m high and a canal 600 m long. The main mode of access to the construction sites will be a winter road, supplemented by an airfield designed for large-capacity aircraft. The method used by Hydro-Quebec in its environmental assessment of the winter road project is described. This method comprises five steps: delimitation of the study zone; establishment of a road corridor of choice by successively eliminating territory according to given constraints; description of the physical and biological environment; determination and optimization of the road route; and evaluation of potential impacts, along with establishment of measures to mitigate those impacts. The optimal routing is determined on the basis of criteria such as the presence of permafrost, the nature of the soils, avoidance of slopes steeper than 10%, and the depth and width of ice crossings

Utilization of remote traffic monitoring devices for urban freeway work zone assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

The objective of this project was to promote and facilitate analysis and evaluation of the impacts of road construction activities in Smart : Work Zone Deployment Initiative (SWZDI) states. : The two primary objectives of this project were to assess ...

Geoelectric hazard assessment: the differences of geoelectric responses during magnetic storms within common physiographic zones

Science.gov (United States)

Cuttler, Stephen W.; Love, Jeffrey J.; Swidinsky, Andrei

2018-03-01

Geomagnetic field data obtained through the INTERMAGNET program are convolved with with magnetotelluric surface impedance from four EarthScope USArray sites to estimate the geoelectric variations throughout the duration of a magnetic storm. A duration of time from June 22, 2016, to June 25, 2016, is considered which encompasses a magnetic storm of moderate size recorded at the Brandon, Manitoba and Fredericksburg, Virginia magnetic observatories over 3 days. Two impedance sites were chosen in each case which represent different responses while being within close geographic proximity and within the same physiographic zone. This study produces estimated time series of the geoelectric field throughout the duration of a magnetic storm, providing an understanding of how the geoelectric field differs across small geographic distances within the same physiographic zone. This study shows that the geoelectric response of two sites within 200 km of one another can differ by up to two orders of magnitude (4484 mV/km at one site and 41 mV/km at another site 125 km away). This study demonstrates that the application of uniform 1-dimensional conductivity models of the subsurface to wide geographic regions is insufficient to predict the geoelectric hazard at a given site. This necessitates that an evaluation of the 3-dimensional conductivity distribution at a given location is necessary to produce a reliable estimation of how the geoelectric field evolves over the course of a magnetic storm.

Geoelectric hazard assessment: the differences of geoelectric responses during magnetic storms within common physiographic zones

Science.gov (United States)

Cuttler, Stephen W.; Love, Jeffrey J.; Swidinsky, Andrei

2018-01-01

Geomagnetic field data obtained through the INTERMAGNET program are convolved with with magnetotelluric surface impedance from four EarthScope USArray sites to estimate the geoelectric variations throughout the duration of a magnetic storm. A duration of time from June 22, 2016, to June 25, 2016, is considered which encompasses a magnetic storm of moderate size recorded at the Brandon, Manitoba and Fredericksburg, Virginia magnetic observatories over 3 days. Two impedance sites were chosen in each case which represent different responses while being within close geographic proximity and within the same physiographic zone. This study produces estimated time series of the geoelectric field throughout the duration of a magnetic storm, providing an understanding of how the geoelectric field differs across small geographic distances within the same physiographic zone. This study shows that the geoelectric response of two sites within 200 km of one another can differ by up to two orders of magnitude (4484 mV/km at one site and 41 mV/km at another site 125 km away). This study demonstrates that the application of uniform 1-dimensional conductivity models of the subsurface to wide geographic regions is insufficient to predict the geoelectric hazard at a given site. This necessitates that an evaluation of the 3-dimensional conductivity distribution at a given location is necessary to produce a reliable estimation of how the geoelectric field evolves over the course of a magnetic storm.

Invasive Brown Treesnake movements at road edges indicate road-crossing avoidance

Science.gov (United States)

Siers, Shane R.; Savidge, Julie S; Reed, Robert N.

2014-01-01

Roads have significant impacts on the dispersal of wildlife. Although this poses a threat to the abundance and diversity of desirable flora and fauna, it also affords some opportunity for enhancing control of invasive species. Roads are the most common terrain features that may affect the rate of landscape-scale movements of invasive Brown Treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) throughout Guam. We radio tracked 45 free-ranging Brown Treesnakes in close proximity to two roads in Guam and recorded instances where daily relocations of snakes spanned roads. Then we reconstructed observed movement histories with randomized turning angles, which served as a useful null hypothesis for assessing the effect of roads or road edge habitat on Brown Treesnake movement patterns. Random walk simulations demonstrated that Brown Treesnakes crossed these roads at a rate far lower than would be expected if snake movement was random with respect to roads and road edge habitat. We discuss two alternative hypotheses for these results: 1) habitat gaps posed by roads physically or behaviorally restrict snake movement; or 2) road edges provide preferred foraging habitat from which snakes are reluctant to depart. Because roads often form the boundaries of jurisdictional and management units, the effects of roads on the movement of invasive Brown Treesnakes will influence the prospects for success of future landscape-level suppression efforts.

An approach to locate and map swelling soils around Sohag – Safaga road, Eastern Desert, Egypt using remote sensing techniques for urban development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salwa F. Elbeih

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The detrimental consequences of swelling soils are most apparent in arid and semi-arid regions. Sedimentary clays are mixtures of illite, kaolinite and some montmorillonite. There are various soil types liable to swell such as shale, mudstone, siltstone and marl due to the presence of Smectite group in these soils. Large volume changes of these types of soils can cause extensive damages to civil engineering infrastructures; roads, airport pavements, pipelines and shallow foundations. A number of localities in Egypt are well-known by the presence of swelling soils. Sohag – Safaga highway in the Eastern Desert of Egypt is considered to be an investable transportation road and one of the most important lateral connections between Upper Egypt and the Red Sea area. The study area is located in a buffer zone of 25 km from both sides of the highway. This area is believed to be more influenced by the road and could be fully utilized to share in developing areas in the road vicinity. The research objectives are to use recent ASTER satellite imageries with the aid of field samples to map different swelling clay minerals and compare between the different sensors accuracy in locating them within the buffer zone. Certain engineering measures should be considered to enable construction over these types of swelling soils. The results confirmed the presence of montmorillonite in this buffer zone and in the 5 km buffer around the road which represents a hazard especially for the future planned projects within this area.

Lead pollution of road-side vegetation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quinche, J P; Zuber, R; Bovay, E

1969-01-01

In Switzerland, investigations have been made in 1967/1968 concerning the distribution of lead issued from the antiknocking additive of petrol. Observations show that the deposits in meadows in the immediate surrounding (first meter) of roads and highways with high traffic density were especially high (50-100 ppm in dry matter). The pollution is still perceptible even as far as 50 meters from the road. Moreover, during the summer (July and August), a second zone of high lead accumulation (more than 100 ppm) was detected 50 to 100 m from the road, particularly along the highways. This probably is caused by certain climatic conditions and the increase of traffic volume. With regard to fruits, only the downy species (e.g. apricots, peaches) retain some quantities of lead on their skin. Vegetables with large leaves, e.g. lettuce, spinach, and particularly vegetables with definite dissected foliage, such as fennel and parsley, may accumulate relatively high quantities of lead. According to some authors, up to 50 percent of these deposits may be eliminated by washing with water. Conversely, root vegetables (e.g. carrots, onions) do not show a perceptible lead contamination. Likewise the flesh of fruits is not markedly polluted by lead. Trials with foddering milk cows using hay harvested along a highway are not yet analyzed. The results from these trials should permit determining the proportion of lead which remains in the tissues (meat etc.) or passes over into the milk.

Road Service Performance Based On Integrated Road Design Consistency (IC) Along Federal Road F0023

OpenAIRE

Zainal Zaffan Farhana; Prasetijo Joewono; Musa Wan Zahidah

2017-01-01

Road accidents are one of the world’s largest public health and injury prevention problems. In Malaysia, the west coast area of Malaysia been stated as the highest motorcycle fatalities and road accidents are one of the factors that cause of death and injuries in this country. The most common fatal accident is between a motorcycle and passenger car. The most of the fatal accidents happened on Federal roads with 44 fatal accidents reported, which is equal to 29%. Lacks of road geometric design...

Predictability by recognizable road design. [previously called: Recognizable road design.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2007-01-01

One of the Sustainable Safety principles is that a road should have a recognizable design and a predictable alignment. If this is the case, road users know how they are expected to behave and what they can expect from other road users, so that crashes may be prevented. For roads to be recognizable,

Road analysis: a tool for cost-effective rehabilitation measures for Finnish roads

Science.gov (United States)

Roimela, Petri; Salmenkaita, Seppo; Maijala, Pekka; Saarenketo, Timo

2000-04-01

Public funding for road network maintenance has decreased 30% during the last few years in Finland. Reduced resources, together with the current rehabilitation strategies, will in the long term result in increasing deterioration of the Finnish road network. For this reason road rehabilitation funding should be focused more specifically on those roads and road sections requiring measures and these measures should be optimized to ensure that only the specific problem structure will be repaired. Roadscanners Oy, in cooperation with the Finnish National Road Administration (Finnra), has developed a new and effective Road Analysis technique to survey the condition of roads and road networks. Road Analysis is based on the integrated analysis of the measured data collected from the road under survey. The basic survey methods used in Road Analysis include Ground Penetrating Data (GPR), falling weight deflectometer (FWD), roughness and rutting measurements, pavement distress mapping and GPS-positioning, as well as reference drilling based on preliminary GPR data analysis. The collected road survey data is processed, interpreted, analyzed and classified using Road Doctor software, specifically developed for this purpose. GPR measurements in road analysis are carried out using a 400 MHz ground-coupled antenna and a 1.0 GHz horn antenna. Horn antenna data is used to measure the thickness of the pavement and base course layers, as well as to evaluate their quality based on their dielectric properties. The 400 MHz ground-coupled data is used to estimate the thickness of the pavement structure and embankment. Ground-coupled antenna data is used for subgrade quality estimations and in evaluating the causes of subgrade- related frost defects. GPR data also provides important location information about special structures, such as steel reinforcements, cables and pipelines. Road Analysis includes a classification of the critical elements affecting the lifetime of the road: (1

Road pricing and road safety : possible effects on road safety of 23 variants of road pricing.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eenink, R.G. Dijkstra, A. Wijnen, W. & Janssen, S.T.M.C.

2007-01-01

The Nouwen Committee (National Platform Paying Differently for Mobility) advised the Cabinet in 2005 about the introduction of a system of road pricing. Part of this advice consisted of a calculation of the expected road safety effects of such a system. In a letter to the Minister of Transport, SWOV

Slip Control of Electric Vehicle Based on Tire-Road Friction Coefficient Estimation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gaojian Cui

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The real-time change of tire-road friction coefficient is one of the important factors that influence vehicle safety performance. Besides, the vehicle wheels’ locking up has become an important issue. In order to solve these problems, this paper comes up with a novel slip control of electric vehicle (EV based on tire-road friction coefficient estimation. First and foremost, a novel method is proposed to estimate the tire-road friction coefficient, and then the reference slip ratio is determined based on the estimation results. Finally, with the reference slip ratio, a slip control based on model predictive control (MPC is designed to prevent the vehicle wheels from locking up. In this regard, the proposed controller guarantees the optimal braking torque on each wheel by individually controlling the slip ratio of each tire within the stable zone. Theoretical analyses and simulation show that the proposed controller is effective for better braking performance.

Road Service Performance Based On Integrated Road Design Consistency (IC Along Federal Road F0023

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zainal Zaffan Farhana

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Road accidents are one of the world’s largest public health and injury prevention problems. In Malaysia, the west coast area of Malaysia been stated as the highest motorcycle fatalities and road accidents are one of the factors that cause of death and injuries in this country. The most common fatal accident is between a motorcycle and passenger car. The most of the fatal accidents happened on Federal roads with 44 fatal accidents reported, which is equal to 29%. Lacks of road geometric designs consistency where the drivers make mistakes errors due to the road geometric features causes the accident kept rising in Malaysia. Hence, models are based on operating speed to calculate design consistency of road. The profiles were obtained by continuous speed profile using GPS data. The continuous operating speed profile models were plotted based on operating speed model (85th percentile. The study was conduct at F0023 from km 16 until km 20. The purpose of design consistency is to know the relationship between the operating speed and elements of geometric design on the road. As a result, the integrated design consistency motorcycle and cars along a segment at F0023, the threshold shows poor design quality for motorcycles and cars.

Assessing the Influence of the Automobile Traffic on the Amphibians and Reptiles in the Buffer Zone of Biosphere Reserve “Srebarna” (NE Bulgaria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivelin A. Mollov

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Currently the problem of the effects of the road network and traffic on the amphibians and reptiles in Bulgaria is poorly studied. During the period March 2002 - March 2004 in the Buffer Zone of Biosphere Reserve "Srebarna" (NE Bulgaria were built two anti-fire roads from the eastern and western side of the lake in area of grasslands of semi-steppe type, typical for north-eastern Bulgaria. The aim of the constructed roads is to provide access for fire vehicles to areas in and around the reserve. The current study aims to provide data on the impact of road traffic and the newly constructed road network and another previously existing road on the amphibians and reptiles inhabiting the buffer zone of the biosphere reserve "Srebarna". For the entire period of study in the three studied road sections a total of 15 dead specimens of amphibians belonging to 4 species (Bombina bombina, Hyla arborea, Bufo bufo, Bufo viridis and 70 dead specimens of reptiles belonging to 8 species (Emys orbicularis, Ablepharus kitaibelii, Lacerta viridis, Podarcis tauricus, Podarcis muralis, Natrix natrix, Coronella austriaca and Dolichophis caspius were recorded. Several “hot spots”, where most cadavers were recorded are well described and possible conservation measures are discussed.

Proximity of public elementary schools to major roads in Canadian urban areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Amram, Ofer; Abernethy, Rebecca; Brauer, Michael; Davies, Hugh; Allen, Ryan W

2011-12-21

Epidemiologic studies have linked exposure to traffic-generated air and noise pollution with a wide range of adverse health effects in children. Children spend a large portion of time at school, and both air pollution and noise are elevated in close proximity to roads, so school location may be an important determinant of exposure. No studies have yet examined the proximity of schools to major roads in Canadian cities. Data on public elementary schools in Canada's 10 most populous cities were obtained from online databases. School addresses were geocoded and proximity to the nearest major road, defined using a standardized national road classification scheme, was calculated for each school. Based on measurements of nitrogen oxide concentrations, ultrafine particle counts, and noise levels in three Canadian cities we conservatively defined distances roads as the zone of primary interest. Census data at the city and neighborhood levels were used to evaluate relationships between school proximity to major roads, urban density, and indicators of socioeconomic status. Addresses were obtained for 1,556 public elementary schools, 95% of which were successfully geocoded. Across all 10 cities, 16.3% of schools were located within 75 m of a major road, with wide variability between cities. Schools in neighborhoods with higher median income were less likely to be near major roads (OR per $20,000 increase: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.65, 1.00), while schools in densely populated neighborhoods were more frequently close to major roads (OR per 1,000 dwellings/km²: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.16). Over 22% of schools in the lowest neighborhood income quintile were close to major roads, compared to 13% of schools in the highest income quintile. A substantial fraction of students at public elementary schools in Canada, particularly students attending schools in low income neighborhoods, may be exposed to elevated levels of air pollution and noise while at school. As a result, the locations of

Road safety performance indicators for the interurban road network.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yannis, G. Weijermars, W.A.M. Gitelman, V. Vis, M. Chazirisa, A. Papadimitriou, E. & Lima Azevedo, C.

2013-01-01

Various road safety performance indicators (SPIs) have been proposed for different road safety research areas, mainly as regards driver behaviour (e.g. seat belt use, alcohol, drugs, etc.) and vehicles (e.g. passive safety); however, no SPIs for the road network and design have been developed. The

Optimization of Highway Work Zone Decisions Considering Short-Term and Long-Term Impacts

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

year when rehabilitation is conducted c0 vph Maximum discharge rate without work zone cw vph Maximum discharge rate with work zone CT $/project...vehicle class Q(t) vph Time-varying traffic flow volume Qp,max vph Maximum allowed diverted volume q(t) veh Time-varying number of vehicles in queue...and road capacity=1600 vph . Unlike single-regime Greenshield’s model, the traffic flow model converted from CORSIM car-following logic is multi

How effective is road mitigation at reducing road-kill? A meta-analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rytwinski, Trina; Soanes, Kylie; Jaeger, Jochen A.G.; Fahrig, Lenore; Findlay, C.S.; Houlahan, Jeff; Ree, van der Rodney; Grift, van der Edgar A.

2016-01-01

Road traffic kills hundreds of millions of animals every year, posing a critical threat to the populations of many species. To address this problem there are more than forty types of road mitigation measures available that aim to reduce wildlife mortality on roads (road-kill). For road planners,

Statistical modeling of road contribution as emission sources to total suspended particles (TSP) under MCF model downtown Medellin - Antioquia - Colombia, 2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomez, Miryam; Saldarriaga, Julio; Correa, Mauricio; Posada, Enrique; Castrillon M, Francisco Javier

2007-01-01

Sand fields, constructions, carbon boilers, roads, and biologic sources are air-contaminant-constituent factors in down town Valle de Aburra, among others. the distribution of road contribution data to total suspended particles according to the source receptor model MCF, source correlation modeling, is nearly a gamma distribution. Chi-square goodness of fit is used to model statistically. This test for goodness of fit also allows estimating the parameters of the distribution utilizing maximum likelihood method. As convergence criteria, the estimation maximization algorithm is used. The mean of road contribution data to total suspended particles according to the source receptor model MCF, is straightforward and validates the road contribution factor to the atmospheric pollution of the zone under study

Joint road safety operations in tunnels and open roads

Science.gov (United States)

Adesiyun, Adewole; Avenoso, Antonio; Dionelis, Kallistratos; Cela, Liljana; Nicodème, Christophe; Goger, Thierry; Polidori, Carlo

2017-09-01

The objective of the ECOROADS project is to overcome the barrier established by the formal interpretation of the two Directives 2008/96/EC and 2004/54/EC, which in practice do not allow the same Road Safety Audits/Inspections to be performed inside tunnels. The projects aims at the establishment of a common enhanced approach to road infrastructure and tunnel safety management by using the concepts and criteria of the Directive 2008/96/CE on road infrastructure safety management and the results of related European Commission (EC) funded projects. ECOROADS has already implemented an analysis of national practices regarding Road Safety Inspections (RSI), two Workshops with the stakeholders, and an exchange of best practices between European tunnel experts and road safety professionals, which led to the definition of common agreed safety procedures. In the second phase of the project, different groups of experts and observers applied the above common procedures by inspecting five European road sections featuring both open roads and tunnels in Belgium, Albania, Germany, Serbia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. This paper shows the feedback of the 5 joint safety operations and how they are being used for a set of - recommendations and guidelines for the application of the RSA and RSI concepts within the tunnel safety operations.

How Effective Is Road Mitigation at Reducing Road-Kill? A Meta-Analysis

OpenAIRE

Rytwinski, Trina; Soanes, Kylie; Jaeger, Jochen A. G.; Fahrig, Lenore; Findlay, C. Scott; Houlahan, Jeff; van der Ree, Rodney; van der Grift, Edgar A

2016-01-01

Road traffic kills hundreds of millions of animals every year, posing a critical threat to the populations of many species. To address this problem there are more than forty types of road mitigation measures available that aim to reduce wildlife mortality on roads (road-kill). For road planners, deciding on what mitigation method to use has been problematic because there is little good information about the relative effectiveness of these measures in reducing road-kill, and the costs of these...

Tire-road noise: an experimental study of tire and road design parameters

OpenAIRE

Bekke, Dirk; Wijnant, Ysbrand H.; Weegerink, Thijs; de Boer, Andries

2013-01-01

It is widely known that road traffic noise has negative influences on human health. Hence, as tire-road noise is considered to be the most dominant cause of road traffic noise above 30-50 km/h, a lot of research is performed by the two involving industries: road authorities/manufacturers and tire manufacturers. Usually, the parameters influencing exterior tire-road noise are often examined separately, whereas it is the tire-road interaction which obviously causes the actual noise. An integral...

How Effective Is Road Mitigation at Reducing Road-Kill? A Meta-Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rytwinski, Trina; Soanes, Kylie; Jaeger, Jochen A G; Fahrig, Lenore; Findlay, C Scott; Houlahan, Jeff; van der Ree, Rodney; van der Grift, Edgar A

2016-01-01

Road traffic kills hundreds of millions of animals every year, posing a critical threat to the populations of many species. To address this problem there are more than forty types of road mitigation measures available that aim to reduce wildlife mortality on roads (road-kill). For road planners, deciding on what mitigation method to use has been problematic because there is little good information about the relative effectiveness of these measures in reducing road-kill, and the costs of these measures vary greatly. We conducted a meta-analysis using data from 50 studies that quantified the relationship between road-kill and a mitigation measure designed to reduce road-kill. Overall, mitigation measures reduce road-kill by 40% compared to controls. Fences, with or without crossing structures, reduce road-kill by 54%. We found no detectable effect on road-kill of crossing structures without fencing. We found that comparatively expensive mitigation measures reduce large mammal road-kill much more than inexpensive measures. For example, the combination of fencing and crossing structures led to an 83% reduction in road-kill of large mammals, compared to a 57% reduction for animal detection systems, and only a 1% for wildlife reflectors. We suggest that inexpensive measures such as reflectors should not be used until and unless their effectiveness is tested using a high-quality experimental approach. Our meta-analysis also highlights the fact that there are insufficient data to answer many of the most pressing questions that road planners ask about the effectiveness of road mitigation measures, such as whether other less common mitigation measures (e.g., measures to reduce traffic volume and/or speed) reduce road mortality, or to what extent the attributes of crossing structures and fences influence their effectiveness. To improve evaluations of mitigation effectiveness, studies should incorporate data collection before the mitigation is applied, and we recommend a

How Effective Is Road Mitigation at Reducing Road-Kill? A Meta-Analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trina Rytwinski

Full Text Available Road traffic kills hundreds of millions of animals every year, posing a critical threat to the populations of many species. To address this problem there are more than forty types of road mitigation measures available that aim to reduce wildlife mortality on roads (road-kill. For road planners, deciding on what mitigation method to use has been problematic because there is little good information about the relative effectiveness of these measures in reducing road-kill, and the costs of these measures vary greatly. We conducted a meta-analysis using data from 50 studies that quantified the relationship between road-kill and a mitigation measure designed to reduce road-kill. Overall, mitigation measures reduce road-kill by 40% compared to controls. Fences, with or without crossing structures, reduce road-kill by 54%. We found no detectable effect on road-kill of crossing structures without fencing. We found that comparatively expensive mitigation measures reduce large mammal road-kill much more than inexpensive measures. For example, the combination of fencing and crossing structures led to an 83% reduction in road-kill of large mammals, compared to a 57% reduction for animal detection systems, and only a 1% for wildlife reflectors. We suggest that inexpensive measures such as reflectors should not be used until and unless their effectiveness is tested using a high-quality experimental approach. Our meta-analysis also highlights the fact that there are insufficient data to answer many of the most pressing questions that road planners ask about the effectiveness of road mitigation measures, such as whether other less common mitigation measures (e.g., measures to reduce traffic volume and/or speed reduce road mortality, or to what extent the attributes of crossing structures and fences influence their effectiveness. To improve evaluations of mitigation effectiveness, studies should incorporate data collection before the mitigation is applied, and we

How Effective Is Road Mitigation at Reducing Road-Kill? A Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Rytwinski, Trina; Soanes, Kylie; Jaeger, Jochen A. G.; Fahrig, Lenore; Findlay, C. Scott; Houlahan, Jeff; van der Ree, Rodney; van der Grift, Edgar A

2016-01-01

Road traffic kills hundreds of millions of animals every year, posing a critical threat to the populations of many species. To address this problem there are more than forty types of road mitigation measures available that aim to reduce wildlife mortality on roads (road-kill). For road planners, deciding on what mitigation method to use has been problematic because there is little good information about the relative effectiveness of these measures in reducing road-kill, and the costs of these measures vary greatly. We conducted a meta-analysis using data from 50 studies that quantified the relationship between road-kill and a mitigation measure designed to reduce road-kill. Overall, mitigation measures reduce road-kill by 40% compared to controls. Fences, with or without crossing structures, reduce road-kill by 54%. We found no detectable effect on road-kill of crossing structures without fencing. We found that comparatively expensive mitigation measures reduce large mammal road-kill much more than inexpensive measures. For example, the combination of fencing and crossing structures led to an 83% reduction in road-kill of large mammals, compared to a 57% reduction for animal detection systems, and only a 1% for wildlife reflectors. We suggest that inexpensive measures such as reflectors should not be used until and unless their effectiveness is tested using a high-quality experimental approach. Our meta-analysis also highlights the fact that there are insufficient data to answer many of the most pressing questions that road planners ask about the effectiveness of road mitigation measures, such as whether other less common mitigation measures (e.g., measures to reduce traffic volume and/or speed) reduce road mortality, or to what extent the attributes of crossing structures and fences influence their effectiveness. To improve evaluations of mitigation effectiveness, studies should incorporate data collection before the mitigation is applied, and we recommend a

Road Network Selection Based on Road Hierarchical Structure Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HE Haiwei

2015-04-01

Full Text Available A new road network selection method based on hierarchical structure is studied. Firstly, road network is built as strokes which are then classified into hierarchical collections according to the criteria of betweenness centrality value (BC value. Secondly, the hierarchical structure of the strokes is enhanced using structural characteristic identification technique. Thirdly, the importance calculation model was established according to the relationships among the hierarchical structure of the strokes. Finally, the importance values of strokes are got supported with the model's hierarchical calculation, and with which the road network is selected. Tests are done to verify the advantage of this method by comparing it with other common stroke-oriented methods using three kinds of typical road network data. Comparision of the results show that this method had few need to semantic data, and could eliminate the negative influence of edge strokes caused by the criteria of BC value well. So, it is better to maintain the global hierarchical structure of road network, and suitable to meet with the selection of various kinds of road network at the same time.

Integrated geomorphologic and GIS analysis for the assessment of erosion zones and its relationship with hazardous zones in the Zacatecas and Guadalupe quadrangles, Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Escalona-Alcázar, F. d. J.; Escobedo-Arellano, B.; Castillo-Félix, B.; Carrillo-Castillo, C.; García-Sandoval, P.; Gurrola-Menchaca, L. L.; Núñez-Peña, E. P.; Esparza-Martínez, A.; Bluhm-Gutiérrez, J.; Guijarro-Rodríguez, C. J.

2012-04-01

The morphology of the Zacatecas and Guadalupe quadrangles is composed to the West by a NNE-SSW fault bounded range and to the East a valley cut by minor hills. The most important and fast growing cities in the state are located in that range. However, in urban development plans variables such as the geology and geomorphologic processes, as well as the land cover characteristics, are poorly taken into consideration. Due to the landscape modification the erosion agents, mainly water, removes loose materials that are either natural or artificial. The effects on the buildings and roads are fractures, slope instability, and rock falling. In this study we present a model that considers the detailed geologic mapping, the geomorphology, land use, vegetation, and the digital slope model scale 1:50 000. The geomorphologic parameters considered were: relief energy, dissection density, general dissection density, and maximum dissection depth. The location and internal characteristics of mapped talus deposits were the basis to define the erosion criteria. High erosion zones are located in slopes over 20° where the talus deposits initiate due to the relative abundance of loose debris. Medium erosion areas are located in slopes over 10° that downslope has progressive accumulation of sediments. While the low erosion zones are located in slopes ranging from 5° to 20° with almost flat lying beds. These parameters were analyzed in ArcGIS together with the digital slope model, detailed geology mapping, the land use cover, and the soil information. The results where verified in the range where the city has been growing in recent years. The soils all over the range are lithosols which are only 10 to 15 cm thick; while the vegetation is composed mainly of bushes and nopals. Even though both, vegetation and soil are not modified, the erosion effects in them are very slow regardless of their location. The faults located in high erosion zones facilitate rock falling mainly during the

Road pricing policy implementation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vonk Noordegraaf, D.M.

2016-01-01

Urban areas suffer from the negative externalities of road transport like congested road networks, air pollution and road traffic accidents. A measure to reduce these negative externalities is road pricing, meaning policies that impose direct charges on road use (Jones and Hervik, 1992). Since the

The flip-or-flop boutique: Marine debris on the shores of St Brandon's rock, an isolated tropical atoll in the Indian Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouwman, Hindrik; Evans, Steven W; Cole, Nik; Choong Kwet Yive, Nee Sun; Kylin, Henrik

2016-03-01

Isolated coral atolls are not immune from marine debris accumulation. We identified Southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent, and the countries on the Arabian Sea as most probable source areas of 50 000 items on the shores of St. Brandon's Rock (SBR), Indian Ocean. 79% of the debris was plastics. Flip-flops, energy drink bottles, and compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) were notable item types. The density of debris (0.74 m(-)(1) shore length) is comparable to similar islands but less than mainland sites. Intact CFLs suggests product-facilitated long-range transport of mercury. We suspect that aggregated marine debris, scavenged by the islands from currents and gyres, could re-concentrate pollutants. SBR islets accumulated debris types in different proportions suggesting that many factors act variably on different debris types. Regular cleaning of selected islets will take care of most of the accumulated debris and may improve the ecology and tourism potential. However, arrangements and logistics require more study. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

eRoads

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Connolly, David

vehicles enable more renewable electricity to be integrated onto the electricity grid. This is particularly evident in 2050, since the price of fossil fuels increases while the price of renewable electricity and batteries decreases. Finally, the electric road scenarios can facilitate more reductions......This study compares electric roads with oil (petrol and diesel) and battery electric vehicles, using Denmark as a case study. Electric roads can reduce the cost of electric vehicles by supplying them with electricity directly from the road rather than via a battery for long-distance journeys....... In this paper, an electric road scenario is compared to both an oil and battery electric vehicle scenario using the 2010 Danish energy system, but for two sets of costs: one set based on historical costs from the year 2010 and one based on projected costs for the year 2050. The results indicate that electric...

[Prevention of road accidents in the road haulage field].

Science.gov (United States)

Rosso, G L; Zanelli, R; Corino, P; Bruno, S

2007-01-01

Every year many traffic accidents with fatal outcomes occur in our Country. According to the recent indications of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the Piedmont region has financed the plan: Prevention of road accidents in the road haulage field. The aims of the plan are to stimulate transport companies to the target of road safety and to improve and enforce sanitary surveillance, in order to improve the safety on road haulage and to prevent traffic injuries. the plan foresees, over a period of two years, a few encounters with all the interested parties (companies, police forces, labour unions etc). During those encounters we have to give a questionnaire for evaluating the companies' knowledge about the problem and we have to choose a common plan with the aim of improving road safety. The Piedmont regional plan recalls the need to increase the attention to numerous and diversified hazards for safety on road haulage. It also imposes the choice of measures that include: risk assessment, health education, technical and environmental prevention, sanitary surveillance and clinical interventions (diagnosis and rehabilitation of occupational accidents).

All-terrain vehicle fatalities on paved roads, unpaved roads, and off-road: Evidence for informed roadway safety warnings and legislation.

Science.gov (United States)

Denning, Gerene M; Jennissen, Charles A

2016-05-18

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are designed for off-highway use only, and many of their features create increased risk with roadway travel. Over half of all ATV-related fatalities occur on roadways, and nonfatal roadway crashes result in more serious injuries than those off the road. A number of jurisdictions have passed or have considered legislation allowing ATVs on public roadways, sometimes limiting them to those unpaved, arguing that they are safe for ATVs. However, no studies have determined the epidemiology of ATV-related fatalities on different road surface types. The objective of the study was to compare ATV-related deaths on paved versus unpaved roads and to contrast them with off-road fatalities. Retrospective descriptive and multivariable analyses were performed using U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission fatality data from 1982 through 2012. After 1998, ATV-related deaths increased at twice the rate on paved versus unpaved roads. Still, 42% of all roadway deaths during the study period occurred on unpaved surfaces. States varied considerably, ranging from 18% to 79% of their ATV-related roadway deaths occurring on unpaved roads. Paved road crashes were more likely than those on unpaved surfaces to involve males, adolescents and younger adults, passengers, and collisions with other vehicles. Both the pattern of other vehicles involved in collisions and which vehicle hit the other were different for the 2 road types. Alcohol use was higher, helmet use was lower, and head injuries were more likely in paved versus unpaved roadway crashes. However, head injuries still occurred in 76% of fatalities on unpaved roads. Helmets were associated with lower proportions of head injuries among riders, regardless of road surface type. Relative to off-road crashes, both paved and unpaved roads were more likely to involve collisions with another vehicle. The vast majority of roadway crashes, however, did not involve a traffic collision on either paved or unpaved roads

Using endemic road features to create self-explaining roads and reduce vehicle speeds.

Science.gov (United States)

Charlton, Samuel G; Mackie, Hamish W; Baas, Peter H; Hay, Karen; Menezes, Miguel; Dixon, Claire

2010-11-01

This paper describes a project undertaken to establish a self-explaining roads (SER) design programme on existing streets in an urban area. The methodology focussed on developing a process to identify functional road categories and designs based on endemic road characteristics taken from functional exemplars in the study area. The study area was divided into two sections, one to receive SER treatments designed to maximise visual differences between road categories, and a matched control area to remain untreated for purposes of comparison. The SER design for local roads included increased landscaping and community islands to limit forward visibility, and removal of road markings to create a visually distinct road environment. In comparison, roads categorised as collectors received increased delineation, addition of cycle lanes, and improved amenity for pedestrians. Speed data collected 3 months after implementation showed a significant reduction in vehicle speeds on local roads and increased homogeneity of speeds on both local and collector roads. The objective speed data, combined with residents' speed choice ratings, indicated that the project was successful in creating two discriminably different road categories. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PAEs occurrence and sources in road dust and soil in/around parks in May in Tianjin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jie; Ji, Yaqin; Zhu, Zhenyu; Zhang, Wei; Zhang, Lei; Zhao, Jingbo

2018-01-01

This is the first study reporting the presence of six phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in 45 composite soil and road dust samples collected in the urban zone of Tianjin, China. Three sample types (one soil and two road dust) were collected from the city parks. Soil samples (SI) were obtained from inside the park, road dust samples (RDI) were gathered from inside the park roads and the others (RDA) from roads surrounding parks. The range of concentrations of ∑ 6 PAEs in SI, RDI and RDA were 0.07-0.92μgg -1 , 0.42-6.32μgg -1 and 0.40-7.54μgg -1 , respectively. The highest SI ∑ 6 PAEs concentration (0.92μgg -1 in The People's Park) was 13 times higher than that of the lowest content (0.07μgg -1 in XiLiu Park). Furthermore, the spatial distribution of PAEs in RDI showed higher contents in the Nankai and Hexi districts. PAEs concentrations in different types of roads displayed significant differences (P roads such as arterial road > sub-arterial road > branch road. The results of nonparametric tests on ∑ 6 PAEs revealed significant differences between every two different sample types (P < 0.05). The analysis of the six PAEs types indicated DnBP and DEHP were the primary contaminating compounds in all sample types. The PCA results showed cosmetics and personal care products were important sources of PAEs in SI, and plasticizers were the key sources of PAEs in RDI and RDA. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Road Expansion and Its Influence on Trail Sustainability in Bhutan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taiichi Ito

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Bhutan was an inhabited wilderness until 1961, when road construction started after the closure of the Tibetan border. Since then, the road network has expanded from the Indian boarder, often tracing traditional trails. This has accelerated commerce as well as movement of people from India, benefitting both the Bhutanese and foreign tourists. At the same time, dependence on imported automobiles and fossil fuel has risen, and roadless areas have begun to shrink. This brought an inevitable loss of traditional environmental knowledge, such as the care of mules for packing, and reduction in physical and mental health among the Bhutanese. People who lost jobs as horsemen moved into towns to find jobs. Road extension is also a double-edged sword for visitors. It has resulted in shrinking trekking areas and loss of traditional culture, both of which have been sacrificed for easy access. Protected areas often function as fortifications against mechanical civilization. However, protected-area status or its zoning does not guarantee that an area will remain roadless where there is considerable resident population. An analysis in Jigme Dorji National Park showed the gradual retreat of trailheads and increasing dependence on automobiles among residents and trekkers. B. MacKaye, a regional planner in the Eastern United States, proposed using trails as a tool to control such mechanical civilization. His philosophy of regional planning suggests two measures; one is consolidated trailheads as dams, and the other is confinement of roads by levees, consisting of new trails and wilderness belts. According to case studies, the author proposed six options for coexistence of trails with roads.

Determination of pumper truck intervention ratios in zones with high fire potential by using geographical information system

Science.gov (United States)

Aricak, Burak; Kucuk, Omer; Enez, Korhan

2014-01-01

Fighting forest fires not only depends on the forest type, topography, and weather conditions, but is also closely related to the technical properties of fire-fighting equipment. Firefighting is an important part of fire management planning. However, because of the complex nature of forests, creating thematic layers to generate potential fire risk maps is difficult. The use of remote sensing data has become an efficient method for the discrete classification of potential fire risks. The study was located in the Central District of the Kastamonu Regional Forest Directorate, covering an area of 24,320 ha, 15,685 ha of which is forested. On the basis of stand age, crown closure, and tree species, the sizes and distributions of potential fire risk zones within the study area were determined using high-resolution GeoEye satellite imagery and geographical information system data. The status of pumper truck intervention in zones with high fire risk and the sufficiency of existing forest roads within an existing forest network were discussed based on combustible matter characteristics. Pumper truck intervention was 83% for high-risk zones, 79% for medium-risk zones, and 78% for low-risk zones. A pumper truck intervention area map along existing roads was also created.

Road safety performance indicators for the interurban road network.

Science.gov (United States)

Yannis, George; Weijermars, Wendy; Gitelman, Victoria; Vis, Martijn; Chaziris, Antonis; Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Azevedo, Carlos Lima

2013-11-01

Various road safety performance indicators (SPIs) have been proposed for different road safety research areas, mainly as regards driver behaviour (e.g. seat belt use, alcohol, drugs, etc.) and vehicles (e.g. passive safety); however, no SPIs for the road network and design have been developed. The objective of this research is the development of an SPI for the road network, to be used as a benchmark for cross-region comparisons. The developed SPI essentially makes a comparison of the existing road network to the theoretically required one, defined as one which meets some minimum requirements with respect to road safety. This paper presents a theoretical concept for the determination of this SPI as well as a translation of this theory into a practical method. Also, the method is applied in a number of pilot countries namely the Netherlands, Portugal, Greece and Israel. The results show that the SPI could be efficiently calculated in all countries, despite some differences in the data sources. In general, the calculated overall SPI scores were realistic and ranged from 81 to 94%, with the exception of Greece where the SPI was relatively lower (67%). However, the SPI should be considered as a first attempt to determine the safety level of the road network. The proposed method has some limitations and could be further improved. The paper presents directions for further research to further develop the SPI. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trace metal analysis of road dust by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Powell, M.J.; Liu, L.; Gnanalingham, N.; Peters, L.

2000-01-01

Dust from roads in an air impingement zone close to anthropogenic sources of air pollutants can be a concern for people living in the immediate vicinity. The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) has conducted a case study to monitor the concentration of uranium, strontium, thorium and arsenic in road dust from one such area. A method for the analysis of road dust by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been developed with detection limits in the ng/1 range. A digestion technique has been developed by conducting experiments using single and combinations of acids in open-vessel wet digestions. Accuracy has been determined by the use of matrix representative certified reference materials (CRMs). Digestion precision was determined by elemental concentration measurements of the most representative CRM through replicates. Spike recovery data were from 95% to 110% for all elements, and inter-method comparison studies between hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and ICP-MS for arsenic and strontium show good agreement. (author)

Road density

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Road density is generally highly correlated with amount of developed land cover. High road densities usually indicate high levels of ecological disturbance. More...

Road accident rates: strategies and programmes for improving road traffic safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Goniewicz, K; Goniewicz, M; Pawłowski, W; Fiedor, P

2016-08-01

Nowadays, the problem of road accident rates is one of the most important health and social policy issues concerning the countries in all continents. Each year, nearly 1.3 million people worldwide lose their life on roads, and 20-50 million sustain severe injuries, the majority of which require long-term treatment. The objective of the study was to identify the most frequent, constantly occurring causes of road accidents, as well as outline actions constituting a basis for the strategies and programmes aiming at improving traffic safety on local and global levels. Comparative analysis of literature concerning road safety was performed, confirming that although road accidents had a varied and frequently complex background, their causes have changed only to a small degree over the years. The causes include: lack of control and enforcement concerning implementation of traffic regulation (primarily driving at excessive speed, driving under the influence of alcohol, and not respecting the rights of other road users (mainly pedestrians and cyclists), lack of appropriate infrastructure and unroadworthy vehicles. The number of fatal accidents and severe injuries, resulting from road accidents, may be reduced through applying an integrated approach to safety on roads. The strategies and programmes for improving road traffic should include the following measures: reducing the risk of exposure to an accident, prevention of accidents, reduction in bodily injuries sustained in accidents, and reduction of the effects of injuries by improvement of post-accident medical care.

Tire-road noise: an experimental study of tire and road design parameters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bekke, Dirk; Wijnant, Ysbrand H.; Weegerink, Thijs; de Boer, Andries

2013-01-01

It is widely known that road traffic noise has negative influences on human health. Hence, as tire-road noise is considered to be the most dominant cause of road traffic noise above 30-50 km/h, a lot of research is performed by the two involving industries: road authorities/manufacturers and tire

Demonstrating a correlation between the maturity of road safety practices and road safety incidents.

Science.gov (United States)

Amador, Luis; Willis, Christopher Joseph

2014-01-01

The objective of this study is to demonstrate a correlation between the maturity of a country's road safety practices and road safety incidents. Firstly, data on a number of road injuries and fatalities for 129 countries were extracted from the United Nations Global Status on Road Safety database. These data were subdivided according to road safety incident and accident causation factors and normalized based on vehicular fleet (per 1000 vehicles) and road network (per meter of paved road). Secondly, a road safety maturity model was developed based on an adaptation of the concept of process maturity modeling. The maturity of countries with respect to 10 road safety practices was determined through the identification of indicators recorded in the United Nations Global Status of Road Safety Database. Plots of normalized road safety performance of the 129 countries against their maturity scores for each road safety practice as well as an aggregation of the road safety practices were developed. An analysis of variance was done to determine the extent of the correlation between the road safety maturity of the countries and their performance. In addition, a full Bayesian analysis was done to confirm the correlation of each of the road safety practices with injuries and fatalities. Regression analysis for fatalities, injuries, and combined accidents identified maturity with respect to road safety practices associated with speed limits and use of alternative modes as being the most significant predictors of traffic fatalities. A full Bayesian regression confirms that there is a correlation between the maturity of road safety practices and road safety incidents. Road safety practices associated with enforcement of speed limits and promotion of alternative modes are the most significant road safety practices toward which mature countries have concentrated their efforts, resulting in a lower frequency of fatalities, injury rates, and property damage accidents. The authors

Road traffic injury on rural roads in Tanzania: measuring the effectiveness of a road safety program.

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmerman, Karen; Jinadasa, Deepani; Maegga, Bertha; Guerrero, Alejandro

2015-01-01

Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a major public health burden, especially in low- and middle-income countries. There is limited data on RTIs in low-volume, rural African settings. This study attempted to survey all individuals living in households within 200 m of two low-volume rural roads in Tanzania and to collect data on RTIs. Local communities and users of the Bago to Talawanda road (intervention site) and Kikaro to Mihuga road (control site) were targeted and received an intensive program of road safety measures tailored using the crash characteristics of the baseline sample. Demographic data on all household members were collected, and those individuals who suffered an RTI in the previous 3 months had comprehensive information collected about the crash characteristics and the socioeconomic impact. The follow-up data collection occurred nine months after the baseline data were collected. The majority of crashes that caused an RTI involved a motorcycle (71%) and the majority of victims were male (82%) with an average age of 27. Injuries to the legs (55%) were most common and the average length of time away from normal activity was 27 (±33) days. RTI incidence at the intervention site increased during the course of the study (incidence before vs. incidence after) and was unchanged in the community control (incidence before vs. incidence after). The incidence of RTIs in the low-volume rural setting is unacceptably high and most commonly associated with motorcycles. The change in incidence is unreliable due to logistic restraints of the project and more research is needed to quantify the impact of various RTI prevention strategies in this setting. This study provides insight into road traffic injuries on low-volume rural roads, areas where very little research has been captured. Additionally, it provides a replicable study design for those interested in collecting similar data on low-volume rural roads.

Gravel roads management : volume 1, gravel roads management.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

This report establishes procedures for managing dirt and gravel roads, with a primary focus on smaller agencies, such as Wyoming counties, that must manage their roads with very limited resources. The report strives, first, to guide and assist smalle...

Quantifying rockfall risk on roads in the Port Hills, Christchurch, New Zealand

Science.gov (United States)

Unterrader, Stefan; Fuchs, Sven

2016-04-01

The Canterbury earthquake sequence starting on 22 September 2010 triggered widespread mass movements in the Port Hills area of Christchurch, the largest agglomeration of New Zealand's South Island. The MW 6.2 Christchurch earthquake of 22 February 2011 in particular generated the largest ground motions ever recorded in New Zealand and as a result initiated several thousands of rockfalls. Over 6,000 boulders were released and mapped shortly after the event. The risk from rockfall to residents in the Port Hills was quantitatively assessed by the regulatory authorities in order to develop an adjusted land zoning policy. Apart from damaging residential buildings many of these boulders also hit several road sections across the Port Hills. Due to the inherent differences between identifying hazard and risk to people in static structures and in moving objects, a recently carried out risk assessment of rockfall was limited to exposed properties. However, given the importance of local road infrastructure for commuter traffic, local risk management strategies would clearly benefit from quantifying the threat of boulders endangering traffic lines. For this study, existing datasets describing the hazard including recently estimated frequency-magnitude bands for earthquakes and non-seismic triggering events, boulder production rates, boulder size distribution and associated run-out distances, were used. These data were provided by the Christchurch City Council's (CCC) GIS web service. A digital layer of the local road network as well as a detailed dataset of traffic counts was used for GIS analysis, and the probability of individuals being hit by boulders was calculated for each road segment that intersects one or more rockfall hazard zones. Finally, risk was computed. The method applied follows a state-of-the-art approach in risk assessment which is generally based on the risk equation defining risk as the probability of occurrence of an event times the expected loss. More

Fate of Magnesium Chloride Brine Applied to Suppress Dust from Unpaved Roads at the INEEL Subsurface Disposal Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larry Hull; Carolyn Bishop

2004-01-01

Between 1984 and 1993, MgCl 2 brine was used to suppress dust on unpaved roads at a radioactive waste subsurface disposal area. Because Cl - might enhance corrosion of buried metals in the waste, we investigated the distribution and fate of Cl - in the vadose zone using pore water samples collected from suction lysimeters and soluble salt concentrations extracted from sediment samples. The Cl/Br mass ratio and the total dissolved Cl - concentration of pore water show that brine contamination occurs primarily within 13 m of treated roads, but can extend as much as 30 m laterally in near-surface sedimentary deposits. Within the deep vadose zone, which consists of interlayered basalt lava flows and sedimentary interbeds, brine has moved up to 110 m laterally. This lateral migration suggests formation of perched water and horizontal transport during periods of high recharge. In a few locations, brine migrated to depths of 67 m within 3 to 5 yr. Elevated Cl - concentrations were found to depths of 2 m in roadbed material. In drainage ditches along roads, where runoff accumulates and recharge of surface water is high, Cl - was flushed from the sediments in 3 to 4 yr. In areas of lower recharge, Cl - remained in the sediments after 5 yr. Vertical brine movement is directly related to surface recharge through sediments. The distribution of Cl - in pore water and sediments is consistent with estimates of vadose zone residence times and spatial distribution of surface water recharge from other investigations at the subsurface disposal area

Sustainable road safety: a new (?) neighbourhood road pattern that saves VRU lives.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Vicky Feng; Lovegrove, Gord

2012-01-01

Both the UN (2007) and World Health Organizations (2004) have declared the enormous social and economic burden imposed on society by injuries due to road collisions as a major global problem. While the road safety problem is not new, this prominent global declaration sends an important signal of frustration regarding progress to date on reducing road collisions. It is clear that governments, communities, businesses and the public must discover ways of reducing this burden, especially as it relates to vulnerable road users (VRUs), typically meaning pedestrian and bicyclist road users. Recent comparisons of global VRU collisions statistics suggest that, in addition to mixed land use density, the layout of neighbourhood roads plays a vital role in the encouragement of walkable, safe and quiet, yet accessible and sustainable communities. The purpose of this paper was to: The Dutch Sustainable Road Safety (SRS) Program has produced a number of innovative land use and transportation initiatives for vehicular road users as well as non-vehicular VRUs. Following from the Dutch initiatives, these new 3-way offset, and fused grid neighbourhood patterns appear to not only have positive effects in encouraging mode split (i.e. increasing walking and bicycling, and transit), slowing traffic, and reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions; but also, to hold potential to improve road safety. To test the road safety hypothesis, UBCO researchers evaluated the level of road safety relative to five neighbourhood patterns - grid, culs-de-sac, and Dutch Sustainable Road Safety (SRS) (or limited access), 3-way offset, and fused grid networks. Analysis using standard transportation planning methodology revealed that they would maintain both mobility and accessibility. Analysis using standard road safety analysis methodology further revealed that these 3-way offset, and fused grid patterns would significantly improve road safety levels by as much as 60% compared to prevalent patterns (i

Road Closures

Data.gov (United States)

Montgomery County of Maryland — This is an up to date map of current road closures in Montgomery County.This dataset is updated every few minutes from the Department of Transportation road closure...

Road rage and road traffic accidents among commercial vehicle drivers in Lahore, Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaikh, M A; Shaikh, I A; Siddiqui, Z

2012-04-01

Road rage and road traffic accidents increase the burden of morbidity and mortality in a population. A cross-sectional survey with convenience sampling was conducted among commercial vehicle drivers in Lahore, Pakistan (n = 901) to record their behaviours/experiences regarding road rage and road traffic accidents. Respondents were asked about incidents of shouting/cursing/rude gestures or threats to physically hurt the person/vehicle, by others or themselves, in the previous 24 hours or 3 months, and their involvement in road traffic accidents in the previous 12 months. Auto-rickshaw drivers were significantly more likely to report various road rage experiences/behaviours and involvement in accidents compared with bus and wagon drivers. A total of 112 respondents (12.4%) reported being involved in a road traffic accident in the previous 12 months but traffic police did not record the accident in 52.7% of cases. The results of this study underline the need to improve road safety in Pakistan.

ENHANCEMENT OF ROAD SAFETY THROUGH MORE EFFECTIVE ROAD AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz SZCZURASZEK

2016-07-01

Full Text Available To make the policy aimed at mitigating the risk of road incidents more effective, Poland should see the introduction of the more efficient road and traffic management. In November 2008 the European Parliament and the European Council published the Directive on "infrastructure safety management" which provides guidance on the procedures for carrying impact assessments of traffic safety, traffic safety audits, safety management on the road network and monitoring traffic safety in Member States. In this article, the authors have proposed a systemic approach to road and traffic management, involving the implementation of consistent procedures that should include regular revisions of roads, eliminating hazardous sites, speed management, as well as the approval and implementation of traffic organization designs.

Wildlife friendly roads: the impacts of roads on wildlife in urban areas and potential remedies

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Seth P D; Brown, Justin L.; Sikich, Jeff A.; Schoonmaker, Catherine M.; Boydston, Erin E.

2014-01-01

Roads are one of the most important factors affecting the ability of wildlife to live and move within an urban area. Roads physically replace wildlife habitat and often reduce habitat quality nearby, fragment the remaining habitat, and cause increased mortality through vehicle collisions. Much ecological research on roads has focused on whether animals are successfully crossing roads, or if the road is a barrier to wildlife movement, gene flow, or functional connectivity. Roads can alter survival and reproduction for wildlife, even among species such as birds that cross roads easily. Here we examine the suite of potential impacts of roads on wildlife, but we focus particularly on urban settings. We report on studies, both in the literature and from our own experience, that have addressed wildlife and roads in urban landscapes. Although road ecology is a growing field of study, relatively little of this research, and relatively few mitigation projects, have been done in urban landscapes. We also draw from the available science on road impacts in rural areas when urban case studies have not fully addressed key topics.

Visibility of road markings on wet road surfaces : a literature study.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schreuder, D.A.

1981-01-01

The English version of B 14153 is presented. Road markings, notably lane markers, are often only poorly visible when the road is wet. This is particularly a problem at night on unlit roads. A study is made of whether a solution for this problem can be found on the basis of the known, published

Access road reclamation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manson, T.; Blok, M.

1997-01-01

A general review of the measures involved in restoring abandoned access road sites in British Columbia was presented. Permits and licences are needed for the use of crown land for roads used by the petroleum and natural gas industry for exploration activities. However, the regulatory framework for road site reclamation is not well developed. The nature of access road reclamation is very site-specific. Some of the issues that are considered for all reclamation projects include slope stability, water control, revegetation, soil rehabilitation, access management and monitoring. The primary objective of reclaiming access road sites is to return the site to conditions that are equal or better than pre-disturbance conditions. Restoration measures must be approved by BC Environment and by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans where federal fisheries responsibilities are involved. 54 refs., 5 tabs., 3 figs

Armenia - Rural Road Rehabilitation

Data.gov (United States)

Millennium Challenge Corporation — The key research questions guiding our design of the RRRP evaluation are: • Did rehabilitating roads affect the quality of roads? • Did rehabilitating roads improve...

Road Accident Prevention with Instant Emergency Warning Message Dissemination in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P Gokulakrishnan

Full Text Available A Road Accident Prevention (RAP scheme based on Vehicular Backbone Network (VBN structure is proposed in this paper for Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET. The RAP scheme attempts to prevent vehicles from highway road traffic accidents and thereby reduces death and injury rates. Once the possibility of an emergency situation (i.e. an accident is predicted in advance, instantly RAP initiates a highway road traffic accident prevention scheme. The RAP scheme constitutes the following activities: (i the Road Side Unit (RSU constructs a Prediction Report (PR based on the status of the vehicles and traffic in the highway roads, (ii the RSU generates an Emergency Warning Message (EWM based on an abnormal PR, (iii the RSU forms a VBN structure and (iv the RSU disseminates the EWM to the vehicles that holds the high Risk Factor (RF and travels in High Risk Zone (HRZ. These vehicles might reside either within the RSU's coverage area or outside RSU's coverage area (reached using VBN structure. The RAP scheme improves the performance of EWM dissemination in terms of increase in notification and decrease in end-to-end delay. The RAP scheme also reduces infrastructure cost (number of RSUs by formulating and deploying the VBN structure. The RAP scheme with VBN structure improves notification by 19 percent and end-to-end delay by 14.38 percent for a vehicle density of 160 vehicles. It is also proved from the simulation experiment that the performance of RAP scheme is promising in 4-lane highway roads.

Road Accident Prevention with Instant Emergency Warning Message Dissemination in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network.

Science.gov (United States)

Gokulakrishnan, P; Ganeshkumar, P

2015-01-01

A Road Accident Prevention (RAP) scheme based on Vehicular Backbone Network (VBN) structure is proposed in this paper for Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET). The RAP scheme attempts to prevent vehicles from highway road traffic accidents and thereby reduces death and injury rates. Once the possibility of an emergency situation (i.e. an accident) is predicted in advance, instantly RAP initiates a highway road traffic accident prevention scheme. The RAP scheme constitutes the following activities: (i) the Road Side Unit (RSU) constructs a Prediction Report (PR) based on the status of the vehicles and traffic in the highway roads, (ii) the RSU generates an Emergency Warning Message (EWM) based on an abnormal PR, (iii) the RSU forms a VBN structure and (iv) the RSU disseminates the EWM to the vehicles that holds the high Risk Factor (RF) and travels in High Risk Zone (HRZ). These vehicles might reside either within the RSU's coverage area or outside RSU's coverage area (reached using VBN structure). The RAP scheme improves the performance of EWM dissemination in terms of increase in notification and decrease in end-to-end delay. The RAP scheme also reduces infrastructure cost (number of RSUs) by formulating and deploying the VBN structure. The RAP scheme with VBN structure improves notification by 19 percent and end-to-end delay by 14.38 percent for a vehicle density of 160 vehicles. It is also proved from the simulation experiment that the performance of RAP scheme is promising in 4-lane highway roads.

Identifying significant predictors of head-on conflicts on two-lane rural roads using inductive loop detectors data.

Science.gov (United States)

Shariat-Mohaymany, Afshin; Tavakoli-Kashani, Ali; Nosrati, Hadi; Ranjbari, Andisheh

2011-12-01

To identify the significant factors that influence head-on conflicts resulting from dangerous overtaking maneuvers on 2-lane rural roads in Iran. A traffic conflict technique was applied to 12 two-lane rural roads in order to investigate the potential situations for accidents to occur and thus to identify the geometric and traffic factors affecting traffic conflicts. Traffic data were collected via the inductive loop detectors installed on these roads, and geometric characteristics were obtained through field observations. Two groups of data were then analyzed independently by Pearson's chi-square test to evaluate their relationship to traffic conflicts. The independent variables were percentage of time spent following (PTSF), percentage of heavy vehicles, directional distribution of traffic (DDT), mean speed, speed standard deviation, section type, road width, longitudinal slope, holiday or workday, and lighting condition. It was indicated that increasing the PTSF, decreasing the percentage of heavy vehicles, increasing the mean speed (up to 75 km/h), increasing DDT in the range of 0 to 60 percent, and decreasing the standard deviation of speed significantly increased the occurrence of traffic conflicts. It was also revealed that traffic conflicts occur more frequently on curve sections and on workdays. The variables road width, slope, and lighting condition were found to have a minor effect on conflict occurrence. To reduce the number of head-on conflicts on the aforementioned roads, some remedial measures are suggested, such as not constructing long "No Passing" zones and constructing passing lanes where necessary; keeping road width at the standard value; constructing roads with horizontal curves and a high radius and using appropriate road markings and overtaking-forbidden signs where it is impossible to modify the radius; providing enough light and installing caution signs/devices on the roads; and intensifying police control and supervision on workdays

Probing the deep critical zone beneath the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico

Science.gov (United States)

Buss, Heather L.; Brantley, Susan L.; Scatena, Fred; Bazilevskaya, Katya; Blum, Alex E.; Schulz, Marjorie S.; Jiménez, Rafael; White, Arthur F.; Rother, G.; Cole, D.

2013-01-01

Recent work has suggested that weathering processes occurring in the subsurface produce the majority of silicate weathering products discharged to the world's oceans, thereby exerting a primary control on global temperature via the well-known positive feedback between silicate weathering and CO2. In addition, chemical and physical weathering processes deep within the critical zone create aquifers and control groundwater chemistry, watershed geometry and regolith formation rates. Despite this, most weathering studies are restricted to the shallow critical zone (e.g. soils, outcrops). Here we investigate the chemical weathering, fracturing and geomorphology of the deep critical zone in the Bisley watershed in the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, Puerto Rico, from two boreholes drilled to 37.2 and 27.0 m depth, from which continuous core samples were taken. Corestones exposed aboveground were also sampled. Weathered rinds developed on exposed corestones and along fracture surfaces on subsurface rocks slough off of exposed corestones once rinds attain a thickness up to ~1 cm, preventing the corestones from rounding due to diffusion limitation. Such corestones at the land surface are assumed to be what remains after exhumation of similar, fractured bedrock pieces that were observed in the drilled cores between thick layers of regolith. Some of these subsurface corestones are massive and others are highly fractured, whereas aboveground corestones are generally massive with little to no apparent fracturing. Subsurface corestones are larger and less fractured in the borehole drilled on a road where it crosses a ridge compared with the borehole drilled where the road crosses the stream channel. Both borehole profiles indicate that the weathering zone extends to well below the stream channel in this upland catchment; hence weathering depth is not controlled by the stream level within the catchment and not all of the water in the watershed is discharged to the stream

Road Infrastructure Safety Management in Poland

Science.gov (United States)

Budzynski, Marcin; Jamroz, Kazimierz; Kustra, Wojciech; Michalski, Lech; Gaca, Stanislaw

2017-10-01

The objective of road safety infrastructure management is to ensure that when roads are planned, designed, built and used road risks can be identified, assessed and mitigated. Road transport safety is significantly less developed than that of rail, water and air transport. The average individual risk of being a fatality in relation to the distance covered is thirty times higher in road transport that in the other modes. This is mainly because the different modes have a different approach to safety management and to the use of risk management methods and tools. In recent years Poland has had one of the European Union’s highest road death numbers. In 2016 there were 3026 fatalities on Polish roads with 40,766 injuries. Protecting road users from the risk of injury and death should be given top priority. While Poland’s national and regional road safety programmes address this problem and are instrumental in systematically reducing the number of casualties, the effects are far from the expectations. Modern approaches to safety focus on three integrated elements: infrastructure measures, safety management and safety culture. Due to its complexity, the process of road safety management requires modern tools to help with identifying road user risks, assess and evaluate the safety of road infrastructure and select effective measures to improve road safety. One possible tool for tackling this problem is the risk-based method for road infrastructure safety management. European Union Directive 2008/96/EC regulates and proposes a list of tools for managing road infrastructure safety. Road safety tools look at two criteria: the life cycle of a road structure and the process of risk management. Risk can be minimized through the application of the proposed interventions during design process as reasonable. The proposed methods of risk management bring together two stages: risk assessment and risk response occurring within the analyzed road structure (road network, road

Road safety analysis on Achmad Yani frontage road Surabaya

Science.gov (United States)

Machsus; Prayogo, I.; Chomaedhi; Hayati, D. W.; Utanaka, A.

2017-11-01

This research discusses road safety analysis on the operation of frontage road on the west side of Achmad Yani Road Surabaya. This research began by conducting survey on secondary data of traffic accidents. In addition, primary data survey was conducted to obtain traffic data, geometric road data, and other supporting data at the study site along the west side frontage of Ahmad Yani Road Surabaya. Devices used in this research include camera, handy cam, speed gun, counters of vehicles, rolling meter, computer and others. In outline, the stages to conduct this research are divided into 4 stages, namely 1.the preparation stage, 2.data collection and processing, 3. analysis and discussion, and 4. conclusion. The results of this study showed that the accident characteristics of the frontage road are (i) 3 accidents occured per month, (ii) motorcycles was accounted for the largest proportion of accidents which amounted to 74.6 percent, (iii) there were 3 accident victims per month, and (iv) material losses per month worths 1.2 million. The accident rate in 2016 was 0.04 crashes per one million vehicle travels per kilometer, while during 2 months in 2017 it was 0.15 accidents per one million vehicle travels per kilometer. Black spot area of accident is located on Sta 2 + 800 to 2 + 900 which is in front of Graha Pena building and DBL Arena. The high rate of accidents is influenced by the speed of the vehicle which 85 percentile exceeds the speed limit of 40km per hour.

Road Accidents and Road Fatalities in Denmark from 1968 to 2004

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Orozova-Bekkevold, Ivanka; Hels, Tove; Bernhoft, Inger Marie

2008-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe the road accidents and road fatalities in Denmark in the period 1968-2004. Only accidents registered by the police were used. Crude and gender & age specific fatality rates (counts per 1,000,000 inhabitants) were estimated for all road users...... and for bicyclists. The accident and fatality rates have decreased by around 70% from 1968 to 2004, while the motorisation rate has increased by approximately 90%. The sharpest decrease in the fatality rate was observed among the youngest (below 18 years old) and the older (above 64) road users. Gender related...... and actions targeted to improve road safety have indeed led to a significant reduction in injury accidents and fatalities. Further research and more detailed data, especially on traffic volume and individual exposure are necessary in order to investigate properly a causal relation between the number...

Epidemiologic study of road traffic injuries by road user type characteristics and road environment in Iran: a community-based approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatamabadi, Hamidreza; Vafaee, Reza; Hadadi, Mashyaneh; Abdalvand, Ali; Esnaashari, Hamidreza; Soori, Hamid

2012-01-01

Crash injuries in traffic accidents are affected by a variety of factors. In this study we analyzed road user type information based on different contributing factors. Data from all of the road traffic victims on a road extending from the east of the city of Tehran to Mazandaran province were included prospectively over a one-year period (May 2008 to May 2009). Data collected included the crash time, patient's age and sex, road user category, helmet or seat belt use, anatomical site of injury, Injury Severity Score (ISS), and mortality. Prevalence and cross-tabulations were included in the analysis. There were 433 patients, of whom 345 were hospitalized and 33 died either before or after arriving at the hospital. Sixty-nine percent of injured patients were vehicle occupants. Mean and median of ISS were higher for pedestrians, who accounted for 49 percent of the deaths. Head injury was the most common injury and injury to upper and lower extremities was the most common cause of admission. A significant difference in lower extremity injuries between vehicle occupants and nonoccupants was found. Sex and age group did not have a significant effect on mortality. Mortality was significantly higher in pedestrians (P road user type. Because pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users, stricter legislation and law enforcement should be used to protect them. Greater protection can also be reached by holding effective public awareness campaigns on how to use different roads safely. On the other hand, because rear seat passengers are at the same risk for road traffic injuries as front seat passengers, employment of newer laws and preventive measures targeting this group of occupants can prevent many road traffic injuries (RTIs).

Use of fatal real-life crashes to analyze a safe road transport system model, including the road user, the vehicle, and the road.

Science.gov (United States)

Stigson, Helena; Krafft, Maria; Tingvall, Claes

2008-10-01

To evaluate if the Swedish Road Administration (SRA) model for a safe road transport system, which includes the interaction between the road user, the vehicle, and the road, could be used to classify fatal car crashes according to some safety indicators. Also, to present a development of the model to better identify system weakness. Real-life crashes with a fatal outcome were classified according to the vehicle's safety rating by Euro NCAP (European Road Assessment Programme) and fitment of ESC (Electronic Stability Control). For each crash, the road was also classified according to EuroRAP (European Road Assessment Programme) criteria, and human behavior in terms of speeding, seat belt use, and driving under the influence of alcohol. Each crash was compared with the model criteria, to identify components that might have contributed to fatal outcome. All fatal crashes where a car occupant was killed that occurred in Sweden during 2004 were included: in all, 215 crashes with 248 fatalities. The data were collected from the in-depth fatal crash data of the Swedish Road Administration (SRA). It was possible to classify 93% of the fatal car crashes according to the SRA model. A number of shortcomings in the criteria were identified since the model did not address rear-end or animal collisions or collisions with stationary/parked vehicles or trailers (18 out of 248 cases). Using the further developed model, it was possible to identify that most of the crashes occurred when two or all three components interacted (in 85 of the total 230 cases). Noncompliance with safety criteria for the road user, the vehicle, and the road led to fatal outcome in 43, 27, and 75 cases, respectively. The SRA model was found to be useful for classifying fatal crashes but needs to be further developed to identify how the components interact and thereby identify weaknesses in the road traffic system. This developed model might be a tool to systematically identify which of the components are

Miscellaneous flow discharge measurements collected downstream of Brandon Road Lock and Dam

Data.gov (United States)

Department of the Interior — Flow discharges were measured in the Des Plaines River from approximately river mile 286 to river mile 284 on October 19–21, 2015 using Teledyne Rio Grande 1200 kHz...

Overload road damage model

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Roux, MP

2005-03-01

Full Text Available Not only do overloaded vehicles pose an increased safety risk on the road (reduced stability and braking efficiency etc.), but they also accelerate the rate of deterioration of the road network and increase road maintenance costs, which in turn...

CAD-DRASTIC: chloride application density combined with DRASTIC for assessing groundwater vulnerability to road salt application

Science.gov (United States)

Salek, Mansour; Levison, Jana; Parker, Beth; Gharabaghi, Bahram

2018-06-01

Road salt is pervasively used throughout Canada and in other cold regions during winter. For cities relying exclusively on groundwater, it is important to plan and minimize the application of salt accordingly to mitigate the adverse effects of high chloride concentrations in water supply aquifers. The use of geospatial data (road network, land use, Quaternary and bedrock geology, average annual recharge, water-table depth, soil distribution, topography) in the DRASTIC methodology provides an efficient way of distinguishing salt-vulnerable areas associated with groundwater supply wells, to aid in the implementation of appropriate management practices for road salt application in urban areas. This research presents a GIS-based methodology to accomplish a vulnerability analysis for 12 municipal water supply wells within the City of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The chloride application density (CAD) value at each supply well is calculated and related to the measured groundwater chloride concentrations and further combined with soil media and aquifer vadose- and saturated-zone properties used in DRASTIC. This combined approach, CAD-DRASTIC, is more accurate than existing groundwater vulnerability mapping methods and can be used by municipalities and other water managers to further improve groundwater protection related to road salt application.

The impact of road improvements on road safety and related characteristics

OpenAIRE

Francis John Gichaga

2017-01-01

This paper presents the historical and cultural background relating to road improvement and road safety characteristics in Kenya, a developing country in East Africa. Some who come from low-developed areas of developing countries often take time to comprehend the modern transportation infrastructure, especially roads, and have difficulty assimilating and customizing the same to their culturally tailored modes. This paper discusses two case studies: one on the socio-economic impact followin...

Road dust emissions from paved roads measured using different mobile systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Pirjola, Liisa; Johansson, Christer; Kupiainen, Kaarle; Stojiljkovic, Ana; Karlsson, Hans; Hussein, Tareq

2010-12-01

Very few real-world measurements of road dust suspension have been performed to date. This study compares two different techniques (referred to as Sniffer and Emma) to measure road dust emissions. The main differences between the systems are the construction of the inlet, different instruments for recording particulate matter (PM) levels, and different loads on the wheel axes (the weight of Sniffer was much higher than that of Emma). Both systems showed substantial small-scale variations of emission levels along the road, likely depending on-road surface conditions. The variations observed correlated quite well, and the discrepancies are likely a result of variations in dust load on the road surface perpendicular to the driving direction that cause variations in the measurements depending on slightly different paths driven by the two vehicles. Both systems showed a substantial influence on the emission levels depending on the type of tire used. The summer tire showed much lower suspension than the winter tires (one nonstudded and one studded). However, the relative importance of the nonstudded versus studded tire was rather different. For the ratio of studded/nonstudded, Emma shows higher values on all road sections compared with Sniffer. Both techniques showed increased emission levels with increasing vehicle speed. When the speed increased from 50 to 80 km hr(-1), the relative concentrations increased by 30-170% depending on the tire type and dust load. However, for road sections that were very dirty, Sniffer showed a much higher relative increase in the emission level with the nonstudded tire. Sniffer's absolute concentrations were mostly higher than Emma's. Possible reasons for the differences are discussed in the paper. Both systems can be used for studying relative road dust emissions and for designing air quality management strategies.

Characteristics of public roads operation

OpenAIRE

Pryimak, V.; Kyiashko, I.

2009-01-01

Characteristics of public roads operation have been considered and factors influencing TEC of public roads that go via urban areas have been determined. There have been revealed contradictions in the normative-legal base concerning maintenance of public roads and municipal roads that merge into them.

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC TECHNIQUES FOR ROAD SURFACE ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. A. Knyaz

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The quality and condition of a road surface is of great importance for convenience and safety of driving. So the investigations of the behaviour of road materials in laboratory conditions and monitoring of existing roads are widely fulfilled for controlling a geometric parameters and detecting defects in the road surface. Photogrammetry as accurate non-contact measuring method provides powerful means for solving different tasks in road surface reconstruction and analysis. The range of dimensions concerned in road surface analysis can have great variation from tenths of millimetre to hundreds meters and more. So a set of techniques is needed to meet all requirements of road parameters estimation. Two photogrammetric techniques for road surface analysis are presented: for accurate measuring of road pavement and for road surface reconstruction based on imagery obtained from unmanned aerial vehicle. The first technique uses photogrammetric system based on structured light for fast and accurate surface 3D reconstruction and it allows analysing the characteristics of road texture and monitoring the pavement behaviour. The second technique provides dense 3D model road suitable for road macro parameters estimation.

Future Road Density

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Road density is generally highly correlated with amount of developed land cover. High road densities usually indicate high levels of ecological disturbance. More...

Detection of Hazardous Cavities Below a Road Using Combined Geophysical Methods

Science.gov (United States)

De Giorgi, L.; Leucci, G.

2014-07-01

their extent, as they may cause rock instability and lead to cracking of the road. Seismic refraction tomography and ground-penetrating radar surveys were carried out along several parallel traverses extending about 100 m on the cracked road. The acquired data were processed and interpreted integrally to elucidate the shallow structural setting of the site. Integrated interpretation led to the delineation of hazard zones rich with karstic features in the area. Most of these karstic features are associated with vertical and subvertical linear features and cavities. These features are the main reason of the rock instability that resulted in potentially dangerous cracking of road.

Challenges of raising road maintenance funds in developing countries: An analysis of road tolling in Zimbabwe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. C. Mbara

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The condition of Zimbabwe's roads has been declining due to insufficient maintenance and rehabilitation. Year on year, budget allocations have compared unfavourably with funding considered adequate to maintain highway networks and conduct modest construction work. Road infrastructure shortcomings have manifested themselves in the form of high vehicle operating costs and rampant potholes, leading to a decline in road safety and a deterioration of service levels for those who use roads to deliver goods or connect to international markets. In order to try and stop this vicious cycle of decline, the Government of Zimbabwe, on 8 August 2009, introduced a new policy of road-user charges, which involved the setting-up of 22 toll gates on the trunk road network. The overall objective was to raise revenue in order to close the funding gap, blamed for declining road quality. Although alternative methods of financing road maintenance have been debated for years, a generally accepted understanding is that road users should pay costs for road provisioning. This paper assesses the implementation of a road tolling system in Zimbabwe and describes matters relating to, inter alia, implementation strategy, initial performance outcomes and sustainability.

Gravel roads management : volume 2, gravel roads management : implementation guide.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-01

This report establishes procedures for managing dirt and gravel roads, with a primary focus on smaller agencies, such as Wyoming counties, that must manage their roads with very limited resources. The report strives, first, to guide and assist smalle...

Gravel roads management : volume 3, gravel roads management : programming guide.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

This report establishes procedures for managing dirt and gravel roads, with a primary focus on smaller agencies, such as Wyoming counties, that must manage their roads with very limited resources. The report strives, first, to guide and assist smalle...

VT Road Centerline

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata)(User Guide)(Symbology layer files: aotclass_only.lyr aotclass_surfacetyp.lyr)The Vermont Road Centerline data layer (TransRoad_RDS) contains all...

Perception of the Transition Zones from Urban to Suburban Area Using Mobile Eye

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paolo Magris

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Road users adjust their driving behavior based on the perception of the route and the surrounding environment. The eye-tracking technology allows interpreting the driver behavior, analyzing aspects otherwise not considered in the design stage. This technology has been used for transition zone analysis at town entrances along the SP 610 “Selice Montanara”, to verify the efficiency of gateway created to reduce the input speed in urban areas. Results show that the installation of traffic calming measures at transition zones leads to a change of the environment perception by drivers, and consequently safety increase.

RoADS: A road pavement monitoring system for anomaly detection using smart phones

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Seraj, Fatjon; van der Zwaag, B.J.; Dilo, Arta; Luarasi, Tamara; Havinga, Paul J.M.; Atzmueller, Martin; Chin, Alvin; Janssen, Frederik; Schweizer, Immanuel; Trattner, Christoph

2016-01-01

Monitoring the road pavement is a challenging task. Authorities spend time and finances to monitor the state and quality of the road pavement. This paper investigate road surface monitoring with smartphones equipped with GPS and inertial sensors: accelerometer and gyroscope. In this study we

RoADS: A road pavement monitoring system for anomaly detection using smart phones

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Seraj, Fatjon; van der Zwaag, B.J.; Dilo, Arta; Luarasi, Tamara; Havinga, Paul J.M.

2014-01-01

Monitoring the road pavement is a challenging task. Authorities spend time and finances to monitor the state and quality of the road pavement. This paper investigate road surface monitoring with smartphones equipped with GPS and inertial sensors: accelerometer and gyroscope. In this study we

Performance standards of road safety management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Čabarkapa Milenko R.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Road safety management controlling means the process of finding out the information whether the road safety is improving in a measure to achieve the objectives. The process of control consists of three basic elements: definition of performances and standards, measurement of current performances and comparison with the set standards, and improvement of current performances, if they deviate from the set standards. The performance standards of road safety management system are focused on a performances measurement, in terms of their design and characteristics, in order to support the performances improvement of road safety system and thus, ultimately, improve the road safety. Defining the performance standards of road safety management system, except that determines the design of the system for performances measurement, directly sets requirements whose fulfillment will produce a road safety improvement. The road safety management system, based on the performance standards of road safety, with a focus on results, will produce the continuous improvement of road safety, achieving the long-term 'vision zero', the philosophy of road safety, that human life and health take priority over mobility and other traffic objectives of the road traffic.

Estimation of Road Friction Coefficient in Different Road Conditions Based on Vehicle Braking Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, You-Qun; Li, Hai-Qing; Lin, Fen; Wang, Jian; Ji, Xue-Wu

2017-07-01

The accurate estimation of road friction coefficient in the active safety control system has become increasingly prominent. Most previous studies on road friction estimation have only used vehicle longitudinal or lateral dynamics and often ignored the load transfer, which tends to cause inaccurate of the actual road friction coefficient. A novel method considering load transfer of front and rear axles is proposed to estimate road friction coefficient based on braking dynamic model of two-wheeled vehicle. Sliding mode control technique is used to build the ideal braking torque controller, which control target is to control the actual wheel slip ratio of front and rear wheels tracking the ideal wheel slip ratio. In order to eliminate the chattering problem of the sliding mode controller, integral switching surface is used to design the sliding mode surface. A second order linear extended state observer is designed to observe road friction coefficient based on wheel speed and braking torque of front and rear wheels. The proposed road friction coefficient estimation schemes are evaluated by simulation in ADAMS/Car. The results show that the estimated values can well agree with the actual values in different road conditions. The observer can estimate road friction coefficient exactly in real-time and resist external disturbance. The proposed research provides a novel method to estimate road friction coefficient with strong robustness and more accurate.

Road grip test in Arjeplog

OpenAIRE

Engström, Niclas; Andrén, Henrik; Nybacka, Mikael; Fransson, Lennart; Larsson, Roland

2008-01-01

The Swedish road administration sees a need to improve the road grip estimation capacity for the Swedish road system. The challenge is to find methods to measure road grip fast and reliable. There where six different system types at the tests in Arjeplog, three continuous, two system measuring road grip through deceleration and one system based on GPS and accelerometers. Two system types used air craft runway tires. The other systems used either studded winter tires or friction winter tires. ...

Conceptual design and analysis of roads and road construction machinery for initial lunar base operations

Science.gov (United States)

Sines, Jeffrey L.; Banks, Joel; Efatpenah, Keyanoush

1990-01-01

Recent developments have made it possible for scientists and engineers to consider returning to the Moon to build a manned lunar base. The base can be used to conduct scientific research, develop new space technology, and utilize the natural resources of the Moon. Areas of the base will be separated, connected by a system of roads that reduce the power requirements of vehicles traveling on them. Feasible road types for the lunar surface were analyzed and a road construction system was designed for initial lunar base operations. A model was also constructed to show the system configuration and key operating features. The alternate designs for the lunar road construction system were developed in four stages: analyze and select a road type; determine operations and machinery needed to produce the road; develop machinery configurations; and develop alternates for several machine components. A compacted lunar soil road was selected for initial lunar base operations. The only machinery required to produce this road were a grader and a compactor. The road construction system consists of a main drive unit which is used for propulsion, a detachable grader assembly, and a towed compactor.

Roads Near Streams

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Roads are a source of auto related pollutants (e.g. gasoline, oil and other engine fluids). When roads are near streams, rain can wash these pollutants directly into...

Driving and off-road impairments underlying failure on road testing in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Devos, Hannes; Vandenberghe, Wim; Tant, Mark; Akinwuntan, Abiodun E; De Weerdt, Willy; Nieuwboer, Alice; Uc, Ergun Y

2013-12-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) affects driving ability. We aimed to determine the most critical impairments in specific road skills and in clinical characteristics leading to failure on a road test in PD. In this cross-sectional study, certified driving assessment experts evaluated specific driving skills in 104 active, licensed drivers with PD using a standardized, on-road checklist and issued a global decision of pass/fail. Participants also completed an off-road evaluation assessing demographic features, disease characteristics, motor function, vision, and cognition. The most important driving skills and off-road predictors of the pass/fail outcome were identified using multivariate stepwise regression analyses. Eighty-six (65%) passed and 36 (35%) failed the on-road driving evaluation. Persons who failed performed worse on all on-road items. When adjusted for age and gender, poor performances on lateral positioning at low speed, speed adaptations at high speed, and left turning maneuvers yielded the best model that determined the pass/fail decision (R(2) = 0.56). The fail group performed poorer on all motor, visual, and cognitive tests. Measures of visual scanning, motor severity, PD subtype, visual acuity, executive functions, and divided attention were independent predictors of pass/fail decisions in the multivariate model (R(2) = 0.60). Our study demonstrated that failure on a road test in PD is determined by impairments in specific driving skills and associated with deficits in motor, visual, executive, and visuospatial functions. These findings point to specific driving and off-road impairments that can be targeted in multimodal rehabilitation programs for drivers with PD. © 2013 Movement Disorder Society.

Road pricing, air pollution and external costs; Road pricing, luftforurening og eksternalitetsomkostninger

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Solvang Jensen, S.; Ketzel, M. (Aarhus Univ., Danmarks Miljoeundersoegelser, Afd. for Atmosfaerisk Miljoe, Roskilde (Denmark)); Skou Andersen, M. (Aarhus Univ., Danmarks Miljoeundersoegelser, Afd. for Systemanalyse, Roskilde (Denmark))

2010-06-15

The objective of this assessment is to improve the foundation for decision-making about introduction of a road pricing system that aims to reduce the health impacts and social costs of traffic-related air pollution. The analysis focuses on how road emissions, air quality, population exposure, and social costs of air pollution depend on geography (different city sizes and rural areas) and time of the day (rush hours versus non-rush hours). A review of Danish studies related to road pricing has also been carried out to assess the expected effect of road pricing on traffic performance (km travelled), vehicle composition and speed that are factors affecting air pollution. (LN)

Distance from roads and cities as a predictor of habitat loss and fragmentation in the caatinga vegetation of Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. M. SANTOS

Full Text Available Roads and cities represent huge sources of degradation for adjacent ecosystems regarding nutrient cycling, energy, water flow and species composition. In this study we test the hypothesis that distance from roads and cities is associated with habitat loss and fragmentation in the caatinga vegetation- a dry forest to scrub vegetation that covers ca. 736,000 km² of northeast Brazil. The study site comprised a 2,828.8 km² piece (64 km x 44.2 km of Xingó region (09°36'S, 37°50'W, which is located between the States of Alagoas and Sergipe. Based on satellite imagery we mapped the remaining vegetation, 145 km of paved roads and the seven small-sized cities set in the study site. A positive correlation was found between the combined distance from roads and cities and the percentage of remaining vegetation as it dropped from 18% at 12 km distant to 5.9% at 1 km distant from cities and roads. Thus, remaining vegetation was reduced by one third near cities and roads. A positive correlation was also found between distance from cities and roads and the percentage of fragments larger than 200 ha, which ranged from 3.6% (within 3 km distance class to 23.3% (15 km distance class of all fragments. Our results suggest a road/city-effect zone of 12 to 15 km width, over which habitat loss and fragmentation extend throughout the caatinga vegetation. These findings should be considered in the regional polices for biodiversity conservation and economic development of the caatinga region.

Road safety and road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia

Science.gov (United States)

Mansuri, Farah A.; Al-Zalabani, Abdulmohsen H.; Zalat, Marwa M.; Qabshawi, Reem I.

2015-01-01

Objectives: To identify the changing trends and crucial preventive approaches to road traffic accidents (RTAs) adopted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) over the last 2.5 decades, and to analyze aspects previously overlooked. Methods: This systematic review was based on evidence of RTAs in KSA. All articles published during the last 25 years on road traffic accident in KSA were analyzed. This study was carried out from December 2013 to May 2014 in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, KSA. Results: Road traffic accidents accounted for 83.4% of all trauma admissions in 1984-1989, and no such overall trend was studied thereafter. The most frequently injured body regions as reported in the latest studies were head and neck, followed by upper and lower extremities, which was found to be opposite to that of the studies reported earlier. Hospital data showed an 8% non-significant increase in road accident mortalities in contrast to police records of a 27% significant reduction during the years 2005-2010. Excessive speeding was the most common cause reported in all recent and past studies. Conclusion: Disparity was common in the type of reporting of RTAs, outcome measures, and possible causes over a period of 2.5 decade. All research exclusively looked into the drivers’ faults. A sentinel surveillance of road crashes should be kept in place in the secondary and tertiary care hospitals for all regions of KSA. PMID:25828277

Road traffic noise: self-reported noise annoyance versus GIS modelled road traffic noise exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Birk, Matthias; Ivina, Olga; von Klot, Stephanie; Babisch, Wolfgang; Heinrich, Joachim

2011-11-01

self-reported road traffic noise annoyance is commonly used in epidemiological studies for assessment of potential health effects. Alternatively, some studies have used geographic information system (GIS) modelled exposure to road traffic noise as an objective parameter. The aim of this study was to analyse the association between noise exposure due to neighbouring road traffic and the noise annoyance of adults, taking other determinants into consideration. parents of 951 Munich children from the two German birth cohorts GINIplus and LISAplus reported their annoyance due to road traffic noise at home. GIS modelled road traffic noise exposure (L(den), maximum within a 50 m buffer) from the noise map of the city of Munich was available for all families. GIS-based calculated distance to the closest major road (≥10,000 vehicles per day) and questionnaire based-information about family income, parental education and the type of the street of residence were explored for their potential influence. An ordered logit regression model was applied. The noise levels (L(den)) and the reported noise annoyance were compared with an established exposure-response function. the correlation between noise annoyance and noise exposure (L(den)) was fair (Spearman correlation r(s) = 0.37). The distance to a major road and the type of street were strong predictors for the noise annoyance. The annoyance modelled by the established exposure-response function and that estimated by the ordered logit model were moderately associated (Pearson's correlation r(p) = 0.50). road traffic noise annoyance was associated with GIS modelled neighbouring road traffic noise exposure (L(den)). The distance to a major road and the type of street were additional explanatory factors of the noise annoyance appraisal.

Paving the Road for Student Success: Building a Case for Integrated Strategic Planning from Pre-K to Post-Doc

Science.gov (United States)

Kealey, Jarrett; Peterson, Renee; Thompson, Angela; Waters, Kristin

2015-01-01

The road from prekindergarten (pre-K) to post-doctoral (post-doc) work is riddled with potholes, detours, u-turns, and construction zones. National education initiatives such as No Child Left Behind, the Common Core, Race to the Top, Performance-Based Funding, College Readiness and Completion Acts, and Post-Graduate Gainful Employment Reports…

FEATURES ROAD SAFETY AUDIT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Abramova

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Development of the road network, increasing motorization of the population significantly increase the risk of accidents. Experts in the field of traffic are developing methods to reduce the probability of accidents. The ways of solving the problems of road safety audit at various stages of the «life» of roads are considered.

75 FR 17692 - Foreign-Trade Zone 75 -- Phoenix, Arizona, Application for Reorganization under Alternative Site...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-07

...'' in the context of the Board's standard 2,000-acre activation limit for a general-purpose zone project... terminal at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix; Site 2 (18 acres) CC&F South Valley..., 4747 West Buckeye Road, Phoenix; Site 4 (18 acres) - Santa Fe Business Park, 47th Avenue and Campbell...

78 FR 53671 - Regulated Navigation Areas, Security Zones: Dignitary Arrival/Departure and United Nations...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-30

... waters of the Bronx Kill southeast of the Bronx Kill Rail Road Bridge (mile 0.6) (NAD 1983). (3) Marine... zone on the waters of the East River and Bronx Kill during the arrival and departure of the President... River and Bronx Kill in the vicinity of Randalls and Wards Islands. The RNA is approximately 2,150 yards...

Identifying unstable sites on logging roads

Science.gov (United States)

R. M. Rice; J. Lewis

1986-01-01

Logging roads are an important source of forestry-related erosion. The amount of erosion on a forest road is determined by the interaction between how the road is constructed and maintained and the environment in which it is built. The roads in this study were constructed with large bulldozers, and most excavated material was sidecast. The roads studied were...

Resource Roads demonstration project : final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-07-15

British Columbia's vast network of resource roads are considered to be amongst the most dangerous, high-risk workplaces in the province. Resource roads, also known as industrial roads, forest service roads, or petroleum development roads, present several unique safety challenges as workplaces. They are built for the purpose of access, egress and transport of materials, resources, equipment and people. However, the lack the same diligence of enforcement and a consistent design, construction, maintenance and standard for use as public highways or municipal roads. There are also safety challenges related to public use of resource roads. This report presented a project, called ResourceRoads by WorkSafe BC that focused on the organization and implementation of a management structure that would provide a system of coordination and a process of compliance for the users of the defined road systems. The project was based on information gathered in two forest districts of Prince George and the South Peace Forest Districts. A committee consisting of the actual owner of the road and other users was formed. The report presented a history of British Columbia's resource road system, and discussed resource roads as industrial workplaces and worksites, as well as resource road fatality statistics. The demonstration project was outlined in terms of project leadership; scope; strategic objectives; project purpose; performance objectives; project communication; demonstration areas; and project stages. Project fundamentals and project findings were also presented along with recommendations and responses to the Auditor General report and the Forest Safety Ombudsman report. It was concluded that potential uses of new technologies for resource road vehicles should be reviewed. tabs., figs.

TRUPACT-I over-the-road test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glass, R.E.; Gwinn, K.W.

1987-10-01

The TRUPACT-I was subjected to an over-the-road test to determine the package response to normal road environments. This test consisted of six road events: a rough primary road, a railroad grade crossing, an asphalt primary road, a concrete primary road, a bridge approach, and a rough secondary road. The package was instrumented with four vertical accelerometers to determine the package response to road vibration and shock. The results are given in the form of time histories, spectral densities, root mean square, and maximum accelerations for all accelerometers during each event. The results indicated that the railroad grade crossing produced the maximum average vertical accelerations. The maximum accelerations for all events were less than 1 g, and the root mean square loads remained below 0.25 g. 4 refs., 57 figs., 7 tabs

Road deaths in the Netherlands. [Previously known as: Road fatalities in The Netherlands.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2011-01-01

This fact sheet outlines the development of the number of road deaths in the Netherlands since 1950. After a rise in the 1950s and 1960s, the number of road deaths in the Netherlands has shown a gradual decline since 1973. In 2016, there were 629 road deaths in the Netherlands. After the years of

What is vision Hampton Roads?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

What is Vision Hampton Roads? : Vision Hampton Roads is... : A regionwide economic development strategy based on the collective strengths of all : localities of Hampton Roads, created with the input of business, academia, nonprofits, : government,...

Assessment of noise environment during construction of a major bridge and associated approach road.

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, T K; Mukhopadhyay, A R; Ghosh, S K; Majumder, G

2011-10-01

In this paper a methodology to quantify the noise environment, during a major bridge construction and upgrading approach road connectivity, has been provided. Noise levels were monitored at eleven sites. These eleven sites have been classified into three categories - commercial, residential and silence zones. The study was carried out to measure the ambient noise levels in all the eleven sites falling in the above three categories during both day and night times considering both "working" and "non-working" days. It was found that the mean noise level during night time was more, compared to that during day time for commercial, residential as well as silence zones. The likely causes of more noise during night time have been explored. Appropriate remedial measures have been suggested to reduce the noise levels. In addition, the noise levels in the above three zones have been compared, wherever feasible statistically, with the respective zonal standards. Significance has been found in all the cases. The underlying causes and remedies have been provided.

A Study on the Influence of Speed on Road Roughness Sensing: The SmartRoadSense Case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giacomo Alessandroni

2017-02-01

Full Text Available SmartRoadSense is a crowdsensing project aimed at monitoring the conditions of the road surface. Using the sensors of a smartphone, SmartRoadSense monitors the vertical accelerations inside a vehicle traveling the road and extracts a roughness index conveying information about the road conditions. The roughness index and the smartphone GPS data are periodically sent to a central server where they are processed, associated with the specific road, and aggregated with data measured by other smartphones. This paper studies how the smartphone vertical accelerations and the roughness index are related to the vehicle speed. It is shown that the dependence can be locally approximated with a gamma (power law. Extensive experimental results using data extracted from SmartRoadSense database confirm the gamma law relationship between the roughness index and the vehicle speed. The gamma law is then used for improving the SmartRoadSense data aggregation accounting for the effect of vehicle speed.

Road Infrastructure and Road User’s Satisfactions: A Case Study of Motorway Route 7, Thailand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suanmali Suthathip

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The development of tourism in Thailand relies on the development of appropriate infrastructure. Road access is the key infrastructure issue for tourist destinations throughout Thailand. Each year Thailand has welcomed over 15 million travelers, accounted approximately 7% of GDP. To support tourist activities, variety types of transportation modes have designed. However, road transportation is one of the most effective modes that connect most places together. Beside high-standard vehicles, road is another mechanism that derive comfort and safety of travelling. For this reason, Motorway networks were initiated and constructed to support high speed traffic with high safety and standard. Motorway route 7 is one of major motorway networks that lies between major cities and tourist landmarks. To raise the road standard could be the key to support tourist industry and economic growth. The road developments may not be precise and accurate without knowing the needs from road users’. Therefore, a questionnaire is developed and distributed to 890 randomly selected road users along Motorway route 7. Factor analysis and t-test are employed to analyze the factors affecting road users’ satisfaction and to compare the satisfaction level between both inbound and outbound travelers.

Louisiana ESI: ROADS (Road Lines)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains the state maintained primary and secondary road network of Louisiana. Vector lines in the data set represent Interstates, U.S. Highways, and...

The safe road transport system approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vollpracht Hans-Joachim

2016-07-01

Full Text Available More than 1,24 million people die each year on the worlds roads and between 20 to 50 million suffer from nonfatal injuries. The UN Road Safety Collaboration Meetings under the leadership of WHO developed the Programme for the Decade of Actions for road safety taking nations into the responsibility of improving their accident figures by the five pillars of a national Road Safety Policy, safer Roads, safer Vehicles, safer Road Users and Post Crash Care. It is this Safe System Approach that takes into consideration the land use, infrastructure and transport planning, road user’s abilities and limitations and the close cooperation of all governmental and none governmental stakeholders involved.

77 FR 10960 - Security Zone, East River and Bronx Kill; Randalls and Wards Islands, NY

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-24

...'' W (Port Morris Stacks), and all waters of the Bronx Kill southeast of the Bronx Kill Rail Road...-AA87 Security Zone, East River and Bronx Kill; Randalls and Wards Islands, NY AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... waters of the East River and Bronx Kill, in the vicinity of Randalls and Wards Islands, New York. This...

77 FR 55777 - Security Zones; Dignitary Arrival/Departure and United Nations Meetings, New York, NY

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-11

... (Port Morris Stacks), and all waters of the Bronx Kill southeast of the Bronx Kill Rail Road Bridge... a permanent security zone on the waters of the East River and Bronx Kill, in the vicinity of... portion of the East River and Bronx Kill when public officials are scheduled to arrive and depart the area...

A Geo-Aware Taxi Carrying Management System by Using Location Based Services and Zone Queuing Techniques on Internet of Things

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chyi-Ren Dow

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Taxi plays a crucial role in the transportation system because of the characteristic that can be hailed conveniently. Most of the taxi drivers obtain passengers by hunting on the road or waiting in a fixed taxi queuing point; however these methods have poor performance, high vacancy rate, and several critical problems such as air pollution and foul up traffic. This study proposed a taxi carrying management system by using location based services and zone queuing techniques on Internet of things. The proposed system allows drivers to both hunt on the road and wait in a queuing zone. A queuing table is used in the control center and neighbor tables are used in RSUs for zone queuing establishment. Joining and leaving mechanisms are developed for zone queuing management. To enhance service efficiency and quality, we present a scheme to prevent the ping-pong effect which is based on the location based services, a hunting rate calculation scheme, and a path planning service for taxi drivers according to the history carrying record. PRISM is used to simulate the proposed system, and the results indicated that our scheme outperforms the waiting and hunting models in terms of number of customers, vacancy rate, and profit.

Reflection properties of road surfaces. Contribution to OECD Scientific Expert Group AC4 on Road Surface Characteristics.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schreuder, D.A.

1983-01-01

Photometric characteristics of road surfaces are dealt with. Representation of reflection properties in public lighting; quality criteria of road lighting installations; classification of road surfaces; the relation between reflection characteristics and other properties of road pavements in public

Road safety audits: The way forward

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Labuschagne, FJJ

2010-08-01

Full Text Available The South African Road Safety Manual (SARSM) was published in 1999 and includes guidelines on road safety audits (RSA). The development of SARSM was a proactive process for improving the road environment with respect to road safety but was never...

Using medico-legal data to investigate fatal older road user crash circumstances and risk factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Koppel, Sjaan; Bugeja, Lyndal; Smith, Daisy; Lamb, Ashne; Dwyer, Jeremy; Fitzharris, Michael; Newstead, Stuart; D'Elia, Angelo; Charlton, Judith

2018-02-17

road system to fully accommodate RU errors. Initiatives related to safer roads and roadsides, vehicles, speed zones, as well as behavioral approaches are key areas of priority for targeted activity to prevent fatal ORU crashes in the future.

Parameterizing road construction in route-based road weather models: can ground-penetrating radar provide any answers?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hammond, D S; Chapman, L; Thornes, J E

2011-01-01

A ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of a 32 km mixed urban and rural study route is undertaken to assess the usefulness of GPR as a tool for parameterizing road construction in a route-based road weather forecast model. It is shown that GPR can easily identify even the smallest of bridges along the route, which previous thermal mapping surveys have identified as thermal singularities with implications for winter road maintenance. Using individual GPR traces measured at each forecast point along the route, an inflexion point detection algorithm attempts to identify the depth of the uppermost subsurface layers at each forecast point for use in a road weather model instead of existing ordinal road-type classifications. This approach has the potential to allow high resolution modelling of road construction and bridge decks on a scale previously not possible within a road weather model, but initial results reveal that significant future research will be required to unlock the full potential that this technology can bring to the road weather industry. (technical design note)

The importance of accurate road data for spatial applications in public health: customizing a road network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laraia Barbara A

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Health researchers have increasingly adopted the use of geographic information systems (GIS for analyzing environments in which people live and how those environments affect health. One aspect of this research that is often overlooked is the quality and detail of the road data and whether or not it is appropriate for the scale of analysis. Many readily available road datasets, both public domain and commercial, contain positional errors or generalizations that may not be compatible with highly accurate geospatial locations. This study examined the accuracy, completeness, and currency of four readily available public and commercial sources for road data (North Carolina Department of Transportation, StreetMap Pro, TIGER/Line 2000, TIGER/Line 2007 relative to a custom road dataset which we developed and used for comparison. Methods and Results A custom road network dataset was developed to examine associations between health behaviors and the environment among pregnant and postpartum women living in central North Carolina in the United States. Three analytical measures were developed to assess the comparative accuracy and utility of four publicly and commercially available road datasets and the custom dataset in relation to participants' residential locations over three time periods. The exclusion of road segments and positional errors in the four comparison road datasets resulted in between 5.9% and 64.4% of respondents lying farther than 15.24 meters from their nearest road, the distance of the threshold set by the project to facilitate spatial analysis. Agreement, using a Pearson's correlation coefficient, between the customized road dataset and the four comparison road datasets ranged from 0.01 to 0.82. Conclusion This study demonstrates the importance of examining available road datasets and assessing their completeness, accuracy, and currency for their particular study area. This paper serves as an example for assessing

Tools for road infrastructure safety management in poland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kustra Wojciech

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Road safety can be improved by implementing principles of road safety infrastructure management (RIS on the network of European roads as adopted in the Directive. The document recommends that member states should use tried and tested tools for road safety management such as: road safety impact assessment (RIA, road safety audit (RSA, safety management on existing road networks including road safety ranking (RSM and road safety inspection (RSI. The objective of the methods is to help road authorities to take rational decisions in the area of road safety and road infrastructure safety and understand the consequences occurring in the particular phases of road life cycle. To help with assessing the impact of a road project on the safety of related roads, a method was developed for long-term forecasts of accidents and accident cost estimation as well as a risk classification to identify risks that are not acceptable risks. With regard to road safety audits and road safety inspection, a set of principles was developed to identify risks and the basic classification of mistakes and omissions.

Ranking EU progress on road safety : 11th road safety Performance Index (PIN) report.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Adminaite, D. Jost, G. Stipdonk, H. & Ward, H.

2017-01-01

In 2010, the European Union renewed its commitment to improve road safety by setting a target of reducing road deaths by 50% by 2020, compared to 2010 levels. This target followed an earlier target set in 2001 to halve road deaths by 2010. Since 2014, progress has virtually ground to a halt. 2016

Spatio-temporal patterns of hazards and their use in risk assessment and mitigation. Case study of road accidents in Romania

Science.gov (United States)

Catalin Stanga, Iulian

2013-04-01

Road accidents are among the leading causes of death in many world countries, partly as an inherent consequence of the increasing mobility of today society. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.3 million people died in road accidents in 2011, which means 186 deaths per million. The tragic picture is completed by millions of peoples experiencing different physical injuries or by the enormous social and economic costs that these events imply. Romania has one of the most unsafe road networks within the European Union, with annual averages of 9400 accidents, 8300 injuries and almost 2680 fatalities (2007-2012). An average of 141 death per million is more than twice the average fatality rate in European Union (about 60 death per million). Other specific indicators (accidents or fatalities reported to the road length, vehicle fleet size, driving license owners or adult population etc.) are even worst in the same European context. Road accidents are caused by a complex series of factors, some of them being a relatively constant premise, while others act as catalyzing factors or triggering agent: road features and quality, vehicle technical state, weather conditions, human related factors etc. All these lead to a complex equation with too many unknown variables, making almost impossible a probabilistic approach. However, the high concentration of accidents in a region or in some road sectors is caused by the existence of a specific context, created by factors with permanent or repetitive character, and leads to the idea of a spatial autocorrelation between locations of different adjoining accident. In the same way, the increasing frequency of road accidents and of their causes repeatability in different periods of the year would allow to identify those black timeframes with higher incidence of road accidents. Identifying and analyzing the road blackspots (hotspots) and black zones would help to improve road safety by acting against the common causes that create

A combined road weather forecast system to prevent road ice formation in the Adige Valley (Italy)

Science.gov (United States)

Di Napoli, Claudia; Piazza, Andrea; Antonacci, Gianluca; Todeschini, Ilaria; Apolloni, Roberto; Pretto, Ilaria

2016-04-01

Road ice is a dangerous meteorological hazard to a nation's transportation system and economy. By reducing the pavement friction with vehicle tyres, ice formation on pavements increases accident risk and delays travelling times thus posing a serious threat to road users' safety and the running of economic activities. Keeping roads clear and open is therefore essential, especially in mountainous areas where ice is likely to form during the winter period. Winter road maintenance helps to restore road efficiency and security, and its benefits are up to 8 times the costs sustained for anti-icing strategies [1]. However, the optimization of maintenance costs and the reduction of the environmental damage from over-salting demand further improvements. These can be achieved by reliable road weather forecasts, and in particular by the prediction of road surface temperatures (RSTs). RST is one of the most important parameters in determining road surface conditions. It is well known from literature that ice forms on pavements in high-humidity conditions when RSTs are below 0°C. We have therefore implemented an automatic forecast system to predict critical RSTs on a test route along the Adige Valley complex terrain, in the Italian Alps. The system considers two physical models, each computing heat and energy fluxes between the road and the atmosphere. One is Reuter's radiative cooling model, which predicts RSTs at sunrise as a function of surface temperatures at sunset and the time passed since then [2]. One is METRo (Model of the Environment and Temperature of Roads), a road weather forecast software which also considers heat conduction through road material [3]. We have applied the forecast system to a network of road weather stations (road weather information system, RWIS) installed on the test route [4]. Road and atmospheric observations from RWIS have been used as initial conditions for both METRo and Reuter's model. In METRo observations have also been coupled to

30 CFR 816.151 - Primary roads.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Primary roads. 816.151 Section 816.151 Mineral... roads. Primary roads shall meet the requirements of section 816.150 and the additional requirements of this section. (a) Certification. The construction or reconstruction of primary roads shall be certified...

Road Anomalies Detection System Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Nuno; Shah, Vaibhav; Soares, João; Rodrigues, Helena

2018-06-21

Anomalies on road pavement cause discomfort to drivers and passengers, and may cause mechanical failure or even accidents. Governments spend millions of Euros every year on road maintenance, often causing traffic jams and congestion on urban roads on a daily basis. This paper analyses the difference between the deployment of a road anomalies detection and identification system in a “conditioned” and a real world setup, where the system performed worse compared to the “conditioned” setup. It also presents a system performance analysis based on the analysis of the training data sets; on the analysis of the attributes complexity, through the application of PCA techniques; and on the analysis of the attributes in the context of each anomaly type, using acceleration standard deviation attributes to observe how different anomalies classes are distributed in the Cartesian coordinates system. Overall, in this paper, we describe the main insights on road anomalies detection challenges to support the design and deployment of a new iteration of our system towards the deployment of a road anomaly detection service to provide information about roads condition to drivers and government entities.

Road design, human behaviour, and road accidents : towards a `learning design community'. Paper presented at the international conference `Road safety in Europe', Birmingham, England, September 9-11, 1996.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wegman, F.C.M.

1996-01-01

This paper discusses a number of unsolved problems in the field of road design (i.e. geometric design), human behaviour and road safety, particularly concerning the operationalisation of the existing design principles for a safe road network in terms of concrete road design in existing

The Development of child road safety competence : the new approach tо road safety education

OpenAIRE

Vilkonis, Rytis

2005-01-01

The education and information are the strategies of the Road safety. However, some of the documents and scientific findings revealed the chaotic, desultory and theoretically groundless Road safety education and it can be stated that Road safety education system in Lithuania is still being established. The shortage of the theoretical and empirical base of Road safety education is slowing down the process of the system development. Aim of the research is to disclose the assumptions for developm...

Child pedestrian safety knowledge, behaviour and road injury in Cape Town, South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Koekemoer, Karin; Van Gesselleen, Megan; Van Niekerk, Ashley; Govender, Rajen; Van As, Arjan Bastiaan

2017-02-01

Pedestrian injuries are a leading cause of death among South African children, and young children residing in low-income communities are more at risk, due to various factors such as inadequate road infrastructure, exposure to traffic due to reliance on walking as a means of transport, and lack of supervision. This study used a cross-sectional, non-randomized self-report survey to assess pedestrian safety knowledge, road-crossing behaviour and pedestrian injuries of primary school children in selected low-income settings in Cape Town. The survey focused on three primary schools that had joined the Safe Kids Worldwide Model School Zone Project and was administered to 536 children aged 6-15 years, in their home language of isiXhosa. Descriptive and bivariate analyses as well as multivariate regression analyses were conducted to investigate potential predictor variables for pedestrian collision severity and unsafe road-crossing behaviour. Walking was the sole form of travel for 81% of the children, with a large proportion regularly walking unsupervised. Children who walk to or from school alone were younger and reported riskier road-crossing behaviour, although children who walk accompanied tended to have higher pedestrian collision severity. "Negligent Behaviour" related to road-crossing was significantly associated with higher pedestrian collision severity, with predictors of "Negligent Behaviour" including the lack of pedestrian safety knowledge and greater exposure to traffic in terms of time spent walking. More than half of the reported pedestrian collisions involved a bicycle, and older boys (10-15 years) were most at risk of experiencing a severe pedestrian injury. The findings substantiate emerging evidence that children in low-income settings are at greater risk for child pedestrian injury, and emphasise the need for evidence-based safety promotion and injury prevention interventions in these settings. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Road crash costs.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2010-01-01

Road crashes result in all kinds of social costs, such as medical costs, production loss, human losses, property damage, settlement costs and costs due to congestion. Studies into road crash costs and their trends are carried out quite regularly. In 2009, the costs amounted to € 12.5 billion, or

Tyre and road wear prediction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lupker, H.A.

2003-01-01

Both tyre wear and road polishing are complex phenomenon, which are obviously strongly related; the energy that polishes the road is the energy that wears the tyre. The both depend non-linearly on numerous parameters, like materials used, vehicle and road usage, environmental conditions (i.e.

30 CFR 817.151 - Primary roads.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Primary roads. 817.151 Section 817.151 Mineral... roads. Primary roads shall meet the requirements of § 817.150 and the additional requirements of this section. (a) Certification. The construction or reconstruction of primary roads shall be certified in a...

Identifying a preservation zone using multicriteria decision analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farashi, A.; Naderi, M.; Parvian, N.

2016-07-01

Zoning of a protected area is an approach to partition landscape into various land use units. The management of these landscape units can reduce conflicts caused by human activities. Tandoreh National Park is one of the most biologically diverse, protected areas in Iran. Although the area is generally designed to protect biodiversity, there are many conflicts between biodiversity conservation and human activities. For instance, the area is highly controversial and has been considered as an impediment to local economic development, such as tourism, grazing, road construction, and cultivation. In order to reduce human conflicts with biodiversity conservation in Tandoreh National Park, safe zones need to be established and human activities need to be moved out of the zones. In this study we used a systematic methodology to integrate a participatory process with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) using a multi–criteria decision analysis (MCDA) technique to guide a zoning scheme for the Tandoreh National Park, Iran. Our results show that the northern and eastern parts of the Tandoreh National Park that were close to rural areas and farmlands returned less desirability for selection as a preservation area. Rocky Mountains were the most important and most destructed areas and abandoned plains were the least important criteria for preservation in the area. Furthermore, the results reveal that the land properties were considered to be important for protection based on the obtaine. (Author)

In–Service Road Safety Audits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Mendoza–Díaz

2009-04-01

Full Text Available A road safety audit is a formal analysis that seeks to guarantee that an existing or future road fulfills optimal safety criteria, conducted by a team of experts who se members are independent of the road project. It can be carried out in one, several or all of the stages of the project (planning, design, construction, before opening the road to traffic, and operation. The development and implementation of a road safety audit process is one of the strategies that have been applied in Mexico in recent years to reduce road accidents and their associated consequences. The objective of this work is to present the procedures that have been developed and applied in Mexico, as well as the benefits and problems that have been encountered. The application of those procedures to a specific case is also shown. Emphasis is made in the audit of high ways in the operation stage, which is the type that greater application and development has had in Mexico.

Road weather information for travelers : improving road weather messages and dissemination methods.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Road Weather Management Program (RWMP) recently completed a study titled Human Factors Analysis of Road Weather Advisory and Control Information (Publication No. FHWAJPO- 10-053). The goal of the study was to...

How long do the dead survive on the road? Carcass persistence probability and implications for road-kill monitoring surveys.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara M Santos

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Road mortality is probably the best-known and visible impact of roads upon wildlife. Although several factors influence road-kill counts, carcass persistence time is considered the most important determinant underlying underestimates of road mortality. The present study aims to describe and model carcass persistence variability on the road for different taxonomic groups under different environmental conditions throughout the year; and also to assess the effect of sampling frequency on the relative variation in road-kill estimates registered within a survey. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Daily surveys of road-killed vertebrates were conducted over one year along four road sections with different traffic volumes. Survival analysis was then used to i describe carcass persistence timings for overall and for specific animal groups; ii assess optimal sampling designs according to research objectives; and iii model the influence of road, animal and weather factors on carcass persistence probabilities. Most animal carcasses persisted on the road for the first day only, with some groups disappearing at very high rates. The advisable periodicity of road monitoring that minimizes bias in road mortality estimates is daily monitoring for bats (in the morning and lizards (in the afternoon, daily monitoring for toads, small birds, small mammals, snakes, salamanders, and lagomorphs; 1 day-interval (alternate days for large birds, birds of prey, hedgehogs, and freshwater turtles; and 2 day-interval for carnivores. Multiple factors influenced the persistence probabilities of vertebrate carcasses on the road. Overall, the persistence was much lower for small animals, on roads with lower traffic volumes, for carcasses located on road lanes, and during humid conditions and high temperatures during the wet season and dry seasons, respectively. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The guidance given here on monitoring frequencies is particularly relevant to provide

How long do the dead survive on the road? Carcass persistence probability and implications for road-kill monitoring surveys.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Sara M; Carvalho, Filipe; Mira, António

2011-01-01

Road mortality is probably the best-known and visible impact of roads upon wildlife. Although several factors influence road-kill counts, carcass persistence time is considered the most important determinant underlying underestimates of road mortality. The present study aims to describe and model carcass persistence variability on the road for different taxonomic groups under different environmental conditions throughout the year; and also to assess the effect of sampling frequency on the relative variation in road-kill estimates registered within a survey. Daily surveys of road-killed vertebrates were conducted over one year along four road sections with different traffic volumes. Survival analysis was then used to i) describe carcass persistence timings for overall and for specific animal groups; ii) assess optimal sampling designs according to research objectives; and iii) model the influence of road, animal and weather factors on carcass persistence probabilities. Most animal carcasses persisted on the road for the first day only, with some groups disappearing at very high rates. The advisable periodicity of road monitoring that minimizes bias in road mortality estimates is daily monitoring for bats (in the morning) and lizards (in the afternoon), daily monitoring for toads, small birds, small mammals, snakes, salamanders, and lagomorphs; 1 day-interval (alternate days) for large birds, birds of prey, hedgehogs, and freshwater turtles; and 2 day-interval for carnivores. Multiple factors influenced the persistence probabilities of vertebrate carcasses on the road. Overall, the persistence was much lower for small animals, on roads with lower traffic volumes, for carcasses located on road lanes, and during humid conditions and high temperatures during the wet season and dry seasons, respectively. The guidance given here on monitoring frequencies is particularly relevant to provide conservation and transportation agencies with accurate numbers of road

Solutions to Improve Road Circulation in the Pitesti City Based on Analysis-Diagnostics of Road Traffic

Science.gov (United States)

Vîlcan, A.; Neagu, E.; Badarau Suster, H.; Boroiu, A. A.

2017-10-01

Road traffic congestion has become a daily phenomenon in the central area of Pitesti in the peak traffic periods. In order to achieve the mobility plan of Pitesti, an important stage is the diagnostic analysis of the road traffic. For this purpose, the urban road network was formalized through a graph containing the most important 40 intersections and traffic measurements were made at all these intersections and on the main roads connecting the peri-urban area. The data obtained by traffic macrosimulation confirmed the overloading of the street network during peak traffic hours and the analyzes made for various road traffic organization scenarios have shown that there are sustainable solutions for urban mobility only if the road network is fundamentally reconfigured (a belt outside the city and a median ring). Thus, the necessity of realizing the road passage in the Prundu neighbourhood and the finishing of the city belt by realizing the “detour West” of the city is argued. The importance of the work is that it brings scientific arguments for the realization of these road infrastructure projects, integrated in the urban mobility plan, which will base the development strategy of the Pitesti municipality.

25 CFR 265.3 - Roads prohibited.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Roads prohibited. 265.3 Section 265.3 Indians BUREAU OF... ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS § 265.3 Roads prohibited. (a) Within the boundaries of this officially... highways, roads, truck trails, work roads, and all other types of ways constructed to make possible the...

Opportunities of forest roads usage as emergency access road for natural disaster

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Can Vatandaşlar

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This study was carried out to examine the applicability of forest roads as emergency access and evacuation corridor for an alternative to motorways following a prospective earthquake in İstanbul. For this purpose, various disaster scenarios were created in the district of Beykoz and the shortest routes between critical points were determined through network analysis in Geographic Information System (GIS. Results indicated that access was possible between Beykoz city center and shelter, hospital, fire station, disaster management center, and military area via forest roads even if motorways became unusable. However, distance generally got longer and time of arrival increased on the routes of forest road. The increase in time of arrival was attributed to decrease in average cruising speed in addition to the increase in distance. This limitation can be overcome by enhancing the geometric standards of forest roads and completing superstructure operations. Results are important for revealing that forest roads can be used in other fields besides forestry activities, they can strengthen decision support system of managers, and enable first aid crew to reach the scene in the minimal time.

Noise Costs from Road Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Margorínová, Martina; Trojanová, Mária; Decký, Martin; Remišová, Eva

2018-06-01

Building and improving road infrastructure in Slovakia is currently influenced by the amount of state funding. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the effectiveness of each proposed solution of road project, which is based on life-cycle costs. Besides capital costs, social costs are also important, which valued the negative impacts due to road construction and operation on road users, the environment, and the population living in the affected area. Some components of social costs have shortcomings in quantifying and valuating, which need to be resolved. The one of important components which affects human health and the value of an area, and have some shortcomings are noise costs. Improvement of this component will lead to more accurate valuation of economic efficiency of roads.

Effecten van inrichting tot 30 km/uur zone in 15 experimentele gebieden : een evaluatiestudie op basis van integratie van resultaten uit verkeerskundige studies, bewonersonderzoeken en een ongevallenanalyse.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vis, A.A.

1992-01-01

Dutch municipal authorities have been able to institute a maximum speed of 30 km/h roads in zones within built-up areas, since the year 1984. The safety effects of 30 km/h zones are positive. In order to be sure about this, the Ministry of Transport and Public Works has encouraged 15 municipalities

24 CFR 1710.210 - Roads.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Roads. 1710.210 Section 1710.210... (INTERSTATE LAND SALES REGISTRATION PROGRAM) LAND REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements § 1710.210 Roads. (a) State the estimated cost to the developer of the proposed road system. (b) If the developer is to...

14 CFR 151.89 - Roads.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Roads. 151.89 Section 151.89 Aeronautics... AID TO AIRPORTS Project Programming Standards § 151.89 Roads. (a) Federal-aid Airport Program funds may not be used to resolve highway problems. Only those airport entrance roads that are definitely...

24 CFR 1710.110 - Roads.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Roads. 1710.110 Section 1710.110... (INTERSTATE LAND SALES REGISTRATION PROGRAM) LAND REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements § 1710.110 Roads. (a) Access to the subdivision. (1) Is access to the subdivision provided by public or private roads? What...

Kilburn High Road Revisited

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Capineri

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Drawing on John Agnew’s (1987 theoretical framework for the analysis of place (location, locale and sense of place and on Doreen Massey’s (1991 interpretation of Kilburn High Road (London, the contribution develops an analysis of the notion of place in the case study of Kilburn High Road by comparing the semantics emerging from Doreen Massey’s interpretation of Kilburn High Road in the late Nineties with those from a selection of noisy and unstructured volunteered geographic information collected from Flickr photos and Tweets harvested in 2014–2015. The comparison shows how sense of place is dynamic and changing over time and explores Kilburn High Road through the categories of location, locale and sense of place derived from the qualitative analysis of VGI content and annotations. The contribution shows how VGI can contribute to discovering the unique relationship between people and place which takes the form given by Doreen Massey to Kilburn High Road and then moves on to the many forms given by people experiencing Kilburn High Road through a photo, a Tweet or a simple narrative. Finally, the paper suggests that the analysis of VGI content can contribute to detect the relevant features of street life, from infrastructure to citizens’ perceptions, which should be taken into account for a more human-centered approach in planning or service management.

Road Nail: Experimental Solar Powered Intelligent Road Marking System

Science.gov (United States)

Samardžija, Dragan; Teslić, Nikola; Todorović, Branislav M.; Kovač, Erne; Isailović, Đorđe; Miladinović, Bojan

2012-03-01

Driving in low visibility conditions (night time, fog or heavy precipitation) is particularly challenging task with an increased probability of traffic accidents and possible injuries. Road Nail is a solar powered intelligent road marking system of wirelessly networked signaling devices that improve driver safety in low visibility conditions along hazardous roadways. Nails or signaling devices are autonomous nodes with capability to accumulate energy, exchange wireless messages, detect approaching vehicles and emit signalization light. We have built an experimental test-bed that consists of 20 nodes and a cellular gateway. Implementation details of the above system, including extensive measurements and performance evaluations in realistic field deployments are presented. A novel distributed network topology discovery scheme is proposed which integrates both sensor and wireless communication aspects, where nodes act autonomously. Finally, integration of the Road Nail system with the cellular network and the Internet is described.

PROPOSAL OF VOIVODESHIP ROAD SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz SZCZURASZEK

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The article presents a proposal of the ‘GAMBIT KUJAWSKO-POMORSKI’ Road Safety Improvement Programme. The main idea of the Programme is to establish and initiate systems that will be responsible for the most important areas of activity within road safety, including road safety control, supervision, and management systems in the whole Voivodeship. In total, the creation and start of nine such systems has been proposed, namely: the Road Safety Management, the Integrated Road Rescue Service, the Personnel Continuing Education, the Hazardous Road Behaviour Monitoring, the Social Education for Safe Behaviour on Road, the Teaching Personnel Improvement, the Area Development and Planning Process Improvement, the Road Infrastructure Design Quality Improvement, and the Road and Traffic Management Process Efficiency Improvement. The basic aim of each system has been discussed as well as the most important tasks implemented as its part. The Road Safety Improvement Programme for the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship presented in this article is a part of the National Road Safety Programme 2013-2020. Moreover, it is not only an original programme in Poland, but also a universal project that may be adapted for other voivodeships as well.

Do roads reduce painted turtle (Chrysemys picta populations?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra Dorland

Full Text Available Road mortality is thought to be a leading cause of turtle population decline. However, empirical evidence of the direct negative effects of road mortality on turtle population abundance is lacking. The purpose of this study was to provide a strong test of the prediction that roads reduce turtle population abundance. While controlling for potentially confounding variables, we compared relative abundance of painted turtles (Chrysemys picta in 20 ponds in Eastern Ontario, 10 as close as possible to high traffic roads (Road sites and 10 as far as possible from any major roads (No Road sites. There was no significant effect of roads on painted turtle relative abundance. Furthermore, our data do not support other predictions of the road mortality hypothesis; we observed neither a higher relative frequency of males to females at Road sites than at No Road sites, nor a lower average body size of turtles at Road than at No Road sites. We speculate that, although roads can cause substantial adult mortality in turtles, other factors, such as release from predation on adults and/or nests close to roads counter the negative effect of road mortality in some populations. We suggest that road mitigation for painted turtles can be limited to locations where turtles are forced to migrate across high traffic roads due, for example, to destruction of local nesting habitat or seasonal drying of ponds. This conclusion should not be extrapolated to other species of turtles, where road mortality could have a larger population-level effect than on painted turtles.

Do roads reduce painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) populations?

Science.gov (United States)

Dorland, Alexandra; Rytwinski, Trina; Fahrig, Lenore

2014-01-01

Road mortality is thought to be a leading cause of turtle population decline. However, empirical evidence of the direct negative effects of road mortality on turtle population abundance is lacking. The purpose of this study was to provide a strong test of the prediction that roads reduce turtle population abundance. While controlling for potentially confounding variables, we compared relative abundance of painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) in 20 ponds in Eastern Ontario, 10 as close as possible to high traffic roads (Road sites) and 10 as far as possible from any major roads (No Road sites). There was no significant effect of roads on painted turtle relative abundance. Furthermore, our data do not support other predictions of the road mortality hypothesis; we observed neither a higher relative frequency of males to females at Road sites than at No Road sites, nor a lower average body size of turtles at Road than at No Road sites. We speculate that, although roads can cause substantial adult mortality in turtles, other factors, such as release from predation on adults and/or nests close to roads counter the negative effect of road mortality in some populations. We suggest that road mitigation for painted turtles can be limited to locations where turtles are forced to migrate across high traffic roads due, for example, to destruction of local nesting habitat or seasonal drying of ponds. This conclusion should not be extrapolated to other species of turtles, where road mortality could have a larger population-level effect than on painted turtles.

EDITORIAL ROAD SAFETY IN KENYA

African Journals Online (AJOL)

data for the purpose of legal prosecution and insurance claims. The accident data P41 form filled at the Police Stations are collated and forwarded to the Roads Department, Ministry of Roads and Public. Works for further processing and analysis (1, 12). The. Roads Department analyses the information in order to determine:.

Future Roads Near Streams

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Roads are a source of auto related pollutants (e.g. gasoline, oil and other engine fluids). When roads are near streams, rain can wash these pollutants directly into...

Road Maintenance in Africa: Approaches and Perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Mostafa Hassan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In Africa, roads are the dominant mode of passenger and freight transport, for which the need is growing rapidly. It is noticeable that most of the African countries do not do enough to ensure the sustainability of road infrastructure as it has been widely reported that roads are affected, to varying degrees, by premature deterioration. Most of the African countries have adopted institutional reforms, notably entailing the creation of road funds and road agencies, and made significant progress on road maintenance. However, many challenges remain to be addressed in all of them to ensure appropriate maintenance. Although spending on road maintenance has increased over time in all African countries it remains insufficient to cover the needs. Poorly maintained roads constrain mobility, significantly raise vehicle operating costs, increase accident rates and their associated human and property costs, and aggravate isolation, poverty, poor health, and illiteracy in rural communities. This paper focuses, in particular, on road maintenance in some African countries considering types of road maintenance and the different approaches aiming at a comparison to reflect on similarities and differences.

Road Maintenance in Africa: Approaches and Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

M, Mostafa Hassan

2018-06-01

In Africa, roads are the dominant mode of passenger and freight transport, for which the need is growing rapidly. It is noticeable that most of the African countries do not do enough to ensure the sustainability of road infrastructure as it has been widely reported that roads are affected, to varying degrees, by premature deterioration. Most of the African countries have adopted institutional reforms, notably entailing the creation of road funds and road agencies, and made significant progress on road maintenance. However, many challenges remain to be addressed in all of them to ensure appropriate maintenance. Although spending on road maintenance has increased over time in all African countries it remains insufficient to cover the needs. Poorly maintained roads constrain mobility, significantly raise vehicle operating costs, increase accident rates and their associated human and property costs, and aggravate isolation, poverty, poor health, and illiteracy in rural communities. This paper focuses, in particular, on road maintenance in some African countries considering types of road maintenance and the different approaches aiming at a comparison to reflect on similarities and differences.

Rapid road repair vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Mara, Leo M.

1998-01-01

Disclosed is a rapid road repair vehicle capable of moving over a surface to be repaired at near normal posted traffic speeds to scan for and find an the high rate of speed, imperfections in the pavement surface, prepare the surface imperfection for repair by air pressure and vacuum cleaning, applying a correct amount of the correct patching material to effect the repair, smooth the resulting repaired surface, and catalog the location and quality of the repairs for maintenance records of the road surface. The rapid road repair vehicle can repair surface imperfections at lower cost, improved quality, at a higher rate of speed than was was heretofor possible, with significantly reduced exposure to safety and health hazards associated with this kind of road repair activities in the past.

Competitiveness in Road Transport

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borgström, Benedikte; Gammelgaard, Britta; Bruun, Poul

Road transport is an important sector, connecting time and space of production and consumption. Its market conditions has changed. The EU single market implementation has increased price pressure due to supply of low cost road freight transport from counties with lower cost structures. Changes...... in the market also encourage strategic development of some road hauliers into providers of unique services. Such road haulier strategic development contributes to efficiency and effectiveness in basically all business sectors of EU. Little research is available of such strategic and operational management....... In this paper we will explore that knowledge gap and analyze what value proposition(s) and capabilities can transform potential cost disadvantages of acting in a market that includes both high- and low-cost-country actors? And in conceptual terminology, how are capabilities deployed and developed to construct...

An Evaluation of Forest Road Standards and Road Gradients in Turkey in View of FAO Criteria and Some EU Practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sadık Çağlar

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Forest roads are one of the inevitable infrastructures in conducting forestry operations. Around 1000 km under standardized forest roads have been largely repaired in addition to construction of 1000 km new forest roads in Turkey. Implementing uniform road gradient along the road sections is very important in terms of transportation techniques and safety, as well as the geometrical standardizations of the forest road. In this study, current road standards, longitudinal gradient values and their limitations in forest road constructions recommended by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO and some Europe Union (EU countries were examined. Firstly, the forest road standards and their gradient values have been defined in Turkish forest road construction practices. Afterwards, the forest road standards and the gradient values applied by FAO and some EU countries were presented, and finally, the specifications were examined by comparing them with the current practices in Turkish forestry.

Road safety and road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia

OpenAIRE

Mansuri, Farah A.; Al-Zalabani, Abdulmohsen H.; Zalat, Marwa M.; Qabshawi, Reem I.

2015-01-01

Objectives: To identify the changing trends and crucial preventive approaches to road traffic accidents (RTAs) adopted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) over the last 2.5 decades, and to analyze aspects previously overlooked. Methods: This systematic review was based on evidence of RTAs in KSA. All articles published during the last 25 years on road traffic accident in KSA were analyzed. This study was carried out from December 2013 to May 2014 in the Department of Family and Community Med...

Drawing Road Networks with Mental Maps.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Shih-Syun; Lin, Chao-Hung; Hu, Yan-Jhang; Lee, Tong-Yee

2014-09-01

Tourist and destination maps are thematic maps designed to represent specific themes in maps. The road network topologies in these maps are generally more important than the geometric accuracy of roads. A road network warping method is proposed to facilitate map generation and improve theme representation in maps. The basic idea is deforming a road network to meet a user-specified mental map while an optimization process is performed to propagate distortions originating from road network warping. To generate a map, the proposed method includes algorithms for estimating road significance and for deforming a road network according to various geometric and aesthetic constraints. The proposed method can produce an iconic mark of a theme from a road network and meet a user-specified mental map. Therefore, the resulting map can serve as a tourist or destination map that not only provides visual aids for route planning and navigation tasks, but also visually emphasizes the presentation of a theme in a map for the purpose of advertising. In the experiments, the demonstrations of map generations show that our method enables map generation systems to generate deformed tourist and destination maps efficiently.

Road accident fatality risks for "vulnerable" versus "protected" road users in northern Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Damsere-Derry, James; Palk, Gavan; King, Mark

2017-10-03

Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a serious epidemic that claims more than a million lives across the globe each year. The burden of RTIs is particularly pronounced in Africa and other low- and middle-income countries. The unfavorable disparity of the burden of road trauma in the world is largely attributable to unsafe vehicles, lack of appropriate road infrastructure, and the predominance of vulnerable road users (VRUs) in developing countries. However, little research exists in northern Ghana to highlight the scale and risk of death among road users. The objective of this research was to establish the relative risk of death among road users in northern Ghana. Crash data from police reports between 2007 and 2011 were analyzed for the Upper Regions of Ghana. Conditional probabilities and multivariable logistic regression techniques were used to report proportions and adjusted odds ratios (AORs), respectively. Generally, crashes in northern Ghana were extremely severe; that is, 35% of all injury related collisions were fatal. The proportion of fatal casualties ranged between 21% among victims of sideswipe collisions and 41% among pedestrians and victims of rear-end collisions. Though males were 6 times more likely to die than females overall, females were more likely to die as pedestrians (90% of all female casualty deaths) and males were more likely to die as riders/drivers (78% of all male casualty deaths). Pedestrians were 3 times more likely to die (odds ratio [OR] = 3.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.4 to 4.1) compared with drivers/riders. Compared with drivers, the odds of death among cyclists was about 4 times higher (AOR = 3.6; 95% CI, 2.3 to 5.6) and about 2 times higher among motorcyclists (AOR = 1.6; 95% CI, 1.2 to 2.2). Compared with casualties aged between 30 and 59 years, children under 10 years and those aged 60 years and above were independently 2 times more likely to die in traffic collisions. Provision of requisite road infrastructure is vital

Overview of the neural network based technique for monitoring of road condition via reconstructed road profiles

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Ngwangwa, HM

2008-07-01

Full Text Available on the road and driver to assess the integrity of road and vehicle infrastructure. In this paper, vehicle vibration data are applied to an artificial neural network to reconstruct the corresponding road surface profiles. The results show that the technique...

Experimental study of collapsing properties of the compacted soil foundation of auto-road embankment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yushkov Boris Semenovich

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The loess collapsing soils are practically ubiquitously distributed in the Perm region. They occupy about 30% of the region area. The mass construction of buildings and structures of different purposes is conducted there. Design and construction of auto-roads on the collapsing soils by ensuring their strength and normal operation is one of the most important and difficult problems of the modern construction. It is recommended to eliminate collapsing properties of soils within the entire collapsing strata with the use of deep compaction by rammers and presoaking of foundation soils, including that with deepwater explosions, chemical or thermal fixing. Multi-year practice of construction on the collapsing soils in the regions of our country showed that during erection of the various structures the removal of the powerful loess soil collapsibility is achieved with the help of methods described above, each of which is selected on the basis of the conditions and possibilities of application. This article describes the following tasks: 1. Study and generalization of the available experience of road construction on the loess soils; 2. Zoning and classification (typing of the loess strata; 3. Selection of the engineering-geological factors influencing the choice of method for compacting collapsing soils; 4. General provisions for road construction on the collapsing soils.

A case study of identify importance of land use planning in road safety, Benidorm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Casares Blanco, J.; Sanchez Galiano, J.C.; Fernandez Aracil, P.; Ortuño Padilla, A.

2016-07-01

This research analyses how urban form, land use and urban density, may influence the incidence of traffic-related crashes injuries and deaths. It begins with a theoretical overview of studies which deal with the study of the relationship between urban patterns and road safety. Next, it details the development of a database of crash incidence and urban form at the district level for the city of Benidorm (Alicante, Spain) in 2010. Subsequently, it is developed a negative binomial approach for intra-city motor vehicle crash analysis. One-year crash data for Benidorm (the fourth largest tourism destination of Spain, after Barcelona, Madrid and San Bartolomé de Tirajana, and exclusively tourist-oriented city) are analyzed using a geographic information system (GIS) to generate relevant inputs for the analysis. In general, the study finds that a strong land use mix results on fewer road accidents, whereas accidents are more common but less severe in areas of high urban density. Finally, pedestrian accidents research showed that rural and low density environment is related to an important road accident numbers unlike tourism-oriented zones, much more safe for them. Based on these findings, the paper discusses the implications for urban design practice. (Author)

Road design and environment : best practice on self-explaining and forgiving roads. Deliverable D3 of the RiPCORD-iSEREST project (Road Infrastructure Safety Protection - Core-Research and Development for Road Safety in Europe; Increasing safety and reliability of secondary roads for a sustainable Surface Transport).

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Matena, S. Louwerse, W. Schermers, G. Vaneerdewegh, P. Pokorny, P. Gaitanidou, L. Elvik, R. & Cardoso, J.

2009-01-01

Main objective of work-package 3 of Ripcord-lserest was to collect information on best practices concerning the design of self-explaining and forgiving roads. In order to gain an overview on existing practises on road categorisation and the layout of typical rural roads a questionnaire survey had

New innovative educational method to prevent accidents involving young road users (aged 15-24 – European Road Safety Tunes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jankowska-Karpa Dagmara

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents a new teaching method designed to improve road safety among young road users. Developed under “European Road Safety Tunes”, this international project was cofunded by EU DG MOVE. Its main aim is to improve road safety and minimize the number of road accidents, injuries and fatalities among road users who are 15-24 years old. The Safety Tunes method contains a series of workshops addressed to young vocational school students: cyclists, moped and motor riders and car drivers. The workshops incorporate peer and emotive education, and delivery of road safety related messages through different types of artistic forms. The topics tackled during class address awareness of possible risks and risk-behaviour, prevention of distraction and reduction in young fatalities and serious injuries on the road. All actions within the project are evaluated, both in terms of the impact of the workshops on students’ attitudes towards road safety problems and in terms of process assessment.

Analysis of Individual and Environmental Factors for Road Traffic Accidents in Sirjan-Bandarabbas Road between 2010 and 2011, Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghorbanali Mohammadi

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Sirjan -Bandarabbas road is one of the important commercial roads in Iran and for Sirjan’s area situation and relevance between Sirjan and other states in Iran so high percentage of goods that forwarded from Bandarabbas to other states transit from Sirjan .Therefore this road is as one important transition road and traffic road too .This study analyzed road traffic accidents were occurred between 2010 and 201in Sirjan- Bandarabbas road. Individual and demographic factors include Time of accidents, Drivers age, time of the days, seat belt and safety laws, Guilty vehicle, Mode of accident and education Level. Time of day analyses suggested that the highest percentage of road traffic injuries occurred in the time group between 12-18 hours. Drivers with the age group of 36-50 had more involvement in death accidents. The findings of this study also revealed that most of the collisions was front to back and front to side. Female drivers were found to be generally safer drivers than their male counterparts; male drivers had a higher involvement rate in road traffic accidents. This study indicated that Observe safety laws, Guilty vehicle and Mode of accidents have a meaningful relationship with Type of accidents in road traffic accidents in Sirjan Bandarabbas road.

Detection of the local sliding in the tyre-road contact by measuring vibrations on the inner liner of the tyre

Science.gov (United States)

Niskanen, Arto J.; Tuononen, Ari J.

2017-04-01

Intelligent tyres can provide vital information from the tyre-road contact, especially for autonomous cars and intelligent infrastructure. In this paper, the acceleration measured on the inner liner of a tyre is used to detect the local sliding in the tyre-road contact. The Hilbert-Huang transform is utilized to extract the relevant vibration components and localize them in the wheel rotation angle domain. The energy of the vibration in the trailing part of the contact is shown to increase in low-friction conditions which can be related to the sliding of the tread part as a result of the shear stresses exceeding the local friction limit. To separate the effect of the surface roughness and the friction, different road surfaces were used in the measurements. In addition, the effects of different driving manoeuvres on the measured accelerations and the propagation of the sliding zone in the contact patch during braking are illustrated.

Detection of the local sliding in the tyre-road contact by measuring vibrations on the inner liner of the tyre

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niskanen, Arto J; Tuononen, Ari J

2017-01-01

Intelligent tyres can provide vital information from the tyre-road contact, especially for autonomous cars and intelligent infrastructure. In this paper, the acceleration measured on the inner liner of a tyre is used to detect the local sliding in the tyre-road contact. The Hilbert–Huang transform is utilized to extract the relevant vibration components and localize them in the wheel rotation angle domain. The energy of the vibration in the trailing part of the contact is shown to increase in low-friction conditions which can be related to the sliding of the tread part as a result of the shear stresses exceeding the local friction limit. To separate the effect of the surface roughness and the friction, different road surfaces were used in the measurements. In addition, the effects of different driving manoeuvres on the measured accelerations and the propagation of the sliding zone in the contact patch during braking are illustrated. (paper)

Development and enhancement of road lighting principles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ekrias, A.

2010-07-01

The work starts with a short introduction concerning the history of road lighting, outlining the trends and changes that have taken place in road lighting research during the past century. The introduction is followed by a review of trends, directions, and problems in current road lighting research and practice. The following part of the work introduces an advanced approach to road lighting measurements and calculations, based on the use of an imaging luminance photometer and the Road LumiMeter v2.0 computer program. The work sets out to investigate the variations in the characteristics of the quality of the road lighting at the same pilot locations in relation to the calculation methods used. In the work mesopic visual performance and the effects of the spectral transmittance of the vehicle windshield on the visibility conditions of the driver are also analysed. The work continues with road lighting measurements in various weather conditions in order to study the effects of snowy and wet road surface conditions on road lighting luminances. The results show that in Finland, snowy conditions offer very good opportunities to save electricity without adversely affecting either the safety of driving or the quality of road lighting. The following measurements set out to investigate the contribution of halogen and high-intensity discharge headlights to road lighting and whether this has a conflicting effect on the luminance contrasts of various targets located on the road or at the side of the road. The results indicate that, in general, the use of vehicle headlights in the presence of road lighting reduces the luminance contrasts of targets. The work continues with road lighting visibility experiments which study the visibility of achromatic and coloured targets in MH lamp and HPS lamp installations. The results show that colours have a major effect on target visibility if the road is illuminated with a light source with adequate colour rendering properties. Finally

Tourist Assessment of Croatian Roads

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joso Vurdelja

2012-10-01

Full Text Available As environmentally clean industry and as the most significantworld industry regarding the number of employees and theimpact on the social and economic development of a countTy,tourism represents an extremely important social and economicbranch for Croatia.As a functional unit of the mutually interweaving socialand economic relations, tourism is a complex phenomenonwhose development depends on a number of compatible factorsout of which the transport infrastructure is considered to bethe most obvious and almost the most significant one, i.e. thefirst among the equal. This is primarily true for road traffic infrastructure,since road trai!Sportation of tourists by passengercars, buses and motorcycles accounts for more than 90 percentof the overall tourist journeys in Croatia.The topic of this paper is precisely, among other things, thetourist assessment of the Croatian road network by means ofthe so-called econometric model regarding the contribution ofa certain road route to the overall tourist traffic.Practical implementation of the elaborated problematicshould result in the improvement of road infrastructure eitherby constructing new motonvays and/or roads, or by reconstructionand/or modernisation of the existing traffic routes.

How Long Do the Dead Survive on the Road? Carcass Persistence Probability and Implications for Road-Kill Monitoring Surveys

OpenAIRE

Santos, Sara; Carvalho, Filipe; Mira, António

2011-01-01

Background: Road mortality is probably the best-known and visible impact of roads upon wildlife. Although several factors influence road-kill counts, carcass persistence time is considered the most important determinant underlying underestimates of road mortality. The present study aims to describe and model carcass persistence variability on the road for different taxonomic groups under different environmental conditions throughout the year; and also to assess the eff...

Using CART to segment road images

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Bob; Lienhart, Rainer

2006-01-01

The 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge is a 132 mile race through the desert with autonomous robotic vehicles. Lasers mounted on the car roof provide a map of the road up to 20 meters ahead of the car but the car needs to see further in order to go fast enough to win the race. Computer vision can extend that map of the road ahead but desert road is notoriously similar to the surrounding desert. The CART algorithm (Classification and Regression Trees) provided a machine learning boost to find road while at the same time measuring when that road could not be distinguished from surrounding desert.

Disturbance of beach sediment by off-road vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Anders, Fred J.; Leatherman, Stephen P.

1987-10-01

A three-year investigation was undertaken to examine the effects of off-road vehicles (ORVs) on the beach at Fire Island, New York. Within the National Seashore over 45,000 vehicle trips per year are concentrated in the zone seaward of the dune toe. The experimental approach was adopted in order to assess the environmental effects of ORVs. Specially developed instrumentation was used to measure the direct displacement of sand by vehicles traversing the beach. Direct displacement data were reduced graphically and analyzed by stepwise linear regression. The results of 89 field experiments (788 cases) showed that slope, sand compaction, and number of vehicle passes in the same track were the principal factors controlling the measured net seaward displacement of sand. The data suggest that ORV use levels within the National Seashore could be contributing to the overall erosion rate by delivering large quantities of sand to the swash zone (max. of 119,300 m3/yr). However, with proper management downslope movement of sand could be reduced by an order of magnitude. While vehicular passage over the open beach displaces sand seaward, it is not known if such activity actually increases the amount of erosion, measured as net loss to the beach face.

Road diet informational guide.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-11-01

A classic Road Diet converts an existing four-lane undivided roadway segment to a three-lane segment consisting of two : through lanes and a center two-way left turn lane (TWLTL). A Road Diet improves safety by including a protected left-turn lane : ...

ERGONOMICS AND ROAD SAFETY

NARCIS (Netherlands)

BROOKHUIS, K; BROWN, [No Value

1992-01-01

Modifications to the design of vehicles and road infrastructures have improved road safety significantly over the past decades, but all such developments depend upon user acceptance and institutional backing for their success. New R&D programmes combining ergonomic and engineering approaches are

Exploring schema-driven differences in situation awareness between road users: an on-road study of driver, cyclist and motorcyclist situation awareness.

Science.gov (United States)

Salmon, Paul M; Lenne, Michael G; Walker, Guy H; Stanton, Neville A; Filtness, Ashleigh

2014-01-01

Collisions between different road users make a substantial contribution to road trauma. Although evidence suggests that different road users interpret the same road situations differently, it is not clear how road users' situation awareness differs, nor is it clear which differences might lead to conflicts. This article presents the findings from an on-road study conducted to examine driver, motorcyclist and cyclist situation awareness in different road environments. The findings suggest that, in addition to minor differences in the structure of different road users' situation awareness (i.e. amount of information and how it is integrated), the actual content of situation awareness in terms of road user schemata, the resulting interaction with the world and the information underpinning situation awareness is markedly different. Further examination indicates that the differences are likely to be compatible along arterial roads, shopping strips and at roundabouts, but that they may create conflicts between different road users at intersections. Interventions designed to support compatible situation awareness and behaviour between different road users are discussed.

Construction and maintenance of underground mine roads

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Logan, A.S.; Seedsman, R.W. [Coffey Partners International Pty. Ltd. (Australia)

1995-12-31

Good roads are essential in moving men and materials to and from the underground workplace. An underground coal industry funded project was recently completed on underground mine road construction and maintenance. This paper discusses practical approaches to construction and maintenance of underground mine roads using transferable civil technologies and innovative techniques. Mine pavements are generally low-cost (relative to civil roads), constructed to varying standards using locally available materials to best meet the mobility needs of the mine. Performance of pavements is thus largely dependent on the environmental conditions, quality of the available road making materials, maintenance policies and available resources. This paper explains the causes of bad roads in various underground environments. It details available management strategies, construction and water control techniques, road maintenance and vehicle considerations. It concludes that the trend to larger rubber tires mining equipment needs to be matched with construction and maintenance of high quality road surfaces. For large operations, the total cost due to poor roads may equate to in excess of $A1 million per annum. The strategies outlined in this paper provide the basis for construction and maintenance of underground mine roads to help achieve desired production targets. (author). 2 tabs., 4 figs., 7 refs.

Vehicle speed control using road bumps

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. A. O. Salau

2004-06-01

Full Text Available Road bumps play a crucial role in enforcing speed limits, thereby preventing overspeeding of vehicles. It significantly contributes to the overall road safety objective through the prevention of accidents that lead to deaths of pedestrians and damage of vehicles. Despite the importance of road bumps, very little research has been done to investigate into their design. While documentation exists on quantitative descriptions of road bumps, they offer little guidance to decision making. This work presents a unique approach to solving road bumps design problems. The results of our study reveal three important road bumps variables that influence the control of vehicle speeds. The key variables are bump height, bump width, and effective distance between two consecutive road bumps. Since vehicle speed control is the ultimate aim of this study the relationship between vehicle speed and other variables earlier mentioned is established. Vehicle speed is defined as the product of frequency at which a vehicle is moving over road bumps and the sum of effective distance between two consecutive road bumps. In the determination of bump height we assume a conical shaped curve for analysis as a matter of research strategy. Based on this, two stages of motion were analysed. The first concerns the motion over the bump itself while the second relates to the motion between two consecutive road bumps. Fourier series was then used to formulate a holistic equation that combines these two stages. We used trigonometric functions to model the behaviour of the first stage while with the second stage giving a functional value of zero since no changes in height are observed. We carried out vibration analysis to determine the effect of road bumps on a vehicular system. Arising from this a model component is referred to as an isolation factor. This offers guidance to the safe frequency at which vehicles could travel over road bumps. The work appears to contribute to knowledge

Recognizablility of rural roads in the Netherlands.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aarts, L.T. & Davidse, R.J.

2008-01-01

In the Netherlands, the Sustainable Safety vision is an important guide in improving road safety. It is considered that the road environment shouldconform to the expectations of road users in order to prevent errors thatcould lead to road crashes. These expectations are based on the characteristics

SmartRoads: training Indonesian workers to become road safety ambassadors in industrial and community settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Montero, Kerry; Spencer, Graham; Ariens, Bernadette

2012-06-01

This paper reports on a programme to improve road safety awareness in an industrial community in the vicinity of Jakarta, in Indonesia. Adapting the model of a successful community and school-based programme in Victoria, in Australia, and using a peer education approach, 16 employees of a major manufacturing company were trained to implement road safety education programmes amongst their peers. Specific target groups for the educators were colleagues, schools and the local community. Over 2 days the employees, from areas as diverse as production, public relations, personnel services, administration and management, learned about road safety facts, causes of traffic casualties, prevention approaches and peer education strategies. They explored and developed strategies to use with their respective target groups and practised health education skills. The newly trained workers received certificates to acknowledge them as 'SmartRoads Ambassadors' and, with follow-up support and development, became road safety educators with a commitment and responsibility to deliver education to their respective work and local communities. This paper argues that the model has potential to provide an effective and locally relevant response to road safety issues in similar communities.

[Accidents on Iceland's most dangerous roads].

Science.gov (United States)

Bjarnason, Thóroddur; Arnarsson, Sveinn

2012-02-01

The objective of this paper was to identify the most dangerous segments of the Icelandic road system in terms of the number of accidents pr km and the rate of accidents pr million km travelled. First to identify the segments where the number of accidents is highest and where the risk of the individual traveller is the greatest. Second to evaluate if the association between the number and the rate of accidents is positive or negative. Third to identify the road segments that are the most dangerous in the sense of many accidents and great risk to individual travellers. Main roads outside urban centers were divided into 45 segments that were on average 78 km in length. Infrequently travelled roads and roads within urban centers were omitted. Information on the length of roads, traffic density and number of accidents was used to calculate the number of accidents per km and the rate of accidents per million km travelled. The correlation between the number and rate of accidents was calculated and the most dangerous road segments were identified by the average rank order on both dimensions. Most accidents pr km occurred on the main roads to and from the capital region, but also east towards Hvolsvöllur, north towards Akureyri and in the Mideast region of the country. The rate of accidents pr million km travelled was highest in the northeast region, in northern Snæfellsnes and in the Westfjords. The most dangerous roads on both dimensions were in Mideast, northern Westfjords, in the north between Blönduós and Akureyri and in northern Snæfellsnes. Most accidents pr km occurred on roads with a low accident rate pr million km travelled. It is therefore possible to reduce accidents the most by increasing road safety where it is already the greatest but that would however increase inequalities in road safety. Policy development in transportation is therefore in part a question of priorities in healthcare. Individual equality in safety and health are not always fully

Gender Stereotypes among Road Users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kabalevskaya, Alexandra I.

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the mechanism of stereotyping as exemplified by gender stereotypes of road users. Gender stereotypes are not only viewed as an a priori image of a percept, but also examined ‘in action’ — at the very moment of their actualization with road users. In the paper we have identified the content of road users’ gender stereotypes; analyzed the behaviour of male and female drivers, pinpointing a number of gender-specific behavioural features; demonstrated that male and female driving differ from each other in terms of speed, intensity and roughness; and identified the conditions and mechanisms underlying the actualization of gender stereotypes. Based on video and audio materials, we have found that drivers’ gender-specific behavioural features are perceivable to road users: such features trigger the actualization of gender stereotypes as attributive schemes, which determine the interaction between road users, while also laying the foundation for gender stereotypes.

Road Transport Entrepreneurs and Road Transportation Revolution ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Toshiba

upon a massive road-building programme throughout the colony. The rapid expansion ..... transportation problems of his textile customers and palm produce producers and ... unflinching loyalty and solidarity with their illustrious son, General.

PROPOSAL OF VOIVODESHIP ROAD SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME

OpenAIRE

Tomasz SZCZURASZEK; Jan KEMPA

2016-01-01

The article presents a proposal of the ‘GAMBIT KUJAWSKO-POMORSKI’ Road Safety Improvement Programme. The main idea of the Programme is to establish and initiate systems that will be responsible for the most important areas of activity within road safety, including road safety control, supervision, and management systems in the whole Voivodeship. In total, the creation and start of nine such systems has been proposed, namely: the Road Safety Management, the Integrated Road Rescue Service, the ...

Safety impacts of rural road construction

Science.gov (United States)

2001-02-01

Crash data in Kentucky show that the fatal crash rate on two-lane rural roads is substantially higher than on any other type of road. Improvements have been proposed at some locations on this type of road which involve either upgrading the existing t...

Psychological aspects of road user behaviour

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rothengatter, J.A.

The behaviour of road users is an important factor in accident causation. Traffic psychology, defined as ''the study of the behaviour of road users and the psychological processes underlying that behaviour'', attempts to identify the determinants of road user behaviour with the aim of developing

Nonfatal road traffic injuries: can road safety campaigns prevent hazardous behavior? An Italian experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Zampetti, R; Messina, G; Quercioli, C; Vencia, F; Genco, L; Di Bartolomeo, L; Nante, N

2013-01-01

Road traffic injuries are a widespread problem and are very difficult to prevent. The purpose of this study was to verify whether intensive versus basic road safety education programs are associated with different incidence and severity of nonfatal road injuries. The study had an ecological design and involved Local Health Authority One (LHA1) in Salerno, Italy, which includes 20 municipalities. Data on nonfatal road injuries occurring in the periods June to August 2003 and June to August 2008 were obtained from trained operators through the information system of the emergency department. All 20 municipalities received a basic community road safety education program (publicity campaign using bill-posting, brochures, mass media communication with press conferences, articles in local papers, radio and television interviews, and a dedicated LHA1 web site), and 12 municipalities also received an intensive education campaign (in secondary schools, community conferences, and activities organized by police and firefighters). The incidence and severity of nonfatal road traffic injuries were compared between June to August 2003 (before the campaign) and June to August 2008. The total number of injuries in all 20 municipalities in 2003 and 2008 was 907 and 755, respectively. The incidence of injuries decreased in the study period both in the 8 municipalities where only the basic campaign was run (difference in incidence = -0.4; P = .053) and in the 12 municipalities where the intensive campaign was implemented (difference in incidence = -0.5; P road safety education. This does not mean that such campaigns are useless (they are important to raise awareness) but that they should be supplemented with complementary activities in order to be really effective.

Road Lane Detection by Discriminating Dashed and Solid Road Lanes Using a Visible Light Camera Sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoang, Toan Minh; Hong, Hyung Gil; Vokhidov, Husan; Park, Kang Ryoung

2016-08-18

With the increasing need for road lane detection used in lane departure warning systems and autonomous vehicles, many studies have been conducted to turn road lane detection into a virtual assistant to improve driving safety and reduce car accidents. Most of the previous research approaches detect the central line of a road lane and not the accurate left and right boundaries of the lane. In addition, they do not discriminate between dashed and solid lanes when detecting the road lanes. However, this discrimination is necessary for the safety of autonomous vehicles and the safety of vehicles driven by human drivers. To overcome these problems, we propose a method for road lane detection that distinguishes between dashed and solid lanes. Experimental results with the Caltech open database showed that our method outperforms conventional methods.

Global patterns of current and future road infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

Meijer, Johan R.; Huijbregts, Mark A. J.; Schotten, Kees C. G. J.; Schipper, Aafke M.

2018-06-01

Georeferenced information on road infrastructure is essential for spatial planning, socio-economic assessments and environmental impact analyses. Yet current global road maps are typically outdated or characterized by spatial bias in coverage. In the Global Roads Inventory Project we gathered, harmonized and integrated nearly 60 geospatial datasets on road infrastructure into a global roads dataset. The resulting dataset covers 222 countries and includes over 21 million km of roads, which is two to three times the total length in the currently best available country-based global roads datasets. We then related total road length per country to country area, population density, GDP and OECD membership, resulting in a regression model with adjusted R 2 of 0.90, and found that that the highest road densities are associated with densely populated and wealthier countries. Applying our regression model to future population densities and GDP estimates from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios, we obtained a tentative estimate of 3.0–4.7 million km additional road length for the year 2050. Large increases in road length were projected for developing nations in some of the world’s last remaining wilderness areas, such as the Amazon, the Congo basin and New Guinea. This highlights the need for accurate spatial road datasets to underpin strategic spatial planning in order to reduce the impacts of roads in remaining pristine ecosystems.

Ultra Low Noise Poroelastic Road Surfaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jerzy A. Ejsmont

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Noise is one of the most important environmental problems related to road traffic. During the last decades, the noise emitted by the engines and powertrains of vehicles was greatly reduced and tires became a clearly dominant noise source. The article describes the concept of low noise poroelastic road surfaces that are composed of mineral and rubber aggregate bound by polyurethane resin. Those surfaces have a porous structure and are much more flexible than standard asphalt or cement concrete pavements due to high content of rubber aggregate and elastic binder. Measurements performed in several European countries indicate that such surfaces decrease tire/road noise between 7 dB and 12 dB with respect to reference surfaces such as dense asphalt concrete or stone matrix asphalt. Furthermore, poroelastic road surfaces ascertain the rolling resistance of car tires, which is comparable to classic pavements. One of the unforeseen properties of the poroelastic road surfaces is their ability to decrease the risks related to car fires with fuel spills. The article presents the road and laboratory results of noise, rolling resistance, and fire tests performed on a few types of poroelastic road surfaces.

CLEAR: a model for the calculation of evacuation-time estimates in Emergency Planning Zones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLean, M.A.; Moeller, M.P.; Desrosiers, A.E.

1983-01-01

This paper describes the methodology and application of the computer model CLEAR (Calculates Logical Evacuation And Response) which estimates the time required for a specific population density and distribution to evacuate an area using a specific transportation network. The CLEAR model simulates vehicle departure and movement on a transportation network according to the conditions and consequences of traffice flow. These include handling vehicles at intersecting road segments, calculating the velocity of travel on a road segment as a function of its vehicle density, and accounting for the delay of vehicles in traffice queues. The program also models the distribution of times required by individuals to prepare for an evacuation. CLEAR can calculate realistic evacuation time estimates using site specific data and can identify troublesome areas within an Emergency Planning Zone

23 CFR 660.517 - Maneuver area roads.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Maneuver area roads. 660.517 Section 660.517 Highways... PROGRAMS (DIRECT FEDERAL) Defense Access Roads § 660.517 Maneuver area roads. (a) Claims by a highway agency for costs incurred to restore, to their former condition, roads damaged by maneuvers involving a...

Case study: the Argentina Road Safety Project: lessons learned for the decade of action for road safety, 2011-2020.

Science.gov (United States)

Raffo, Veronica; Bliss, Tony; Shotten, Marc; Sleet, David; Blanchard, Claire

2013-12-01

This case study of the Argentina Road Safety Project demonstrates how the application of World Bank road safety project guidelines focused on institution building can accelerate knowledge transfer, scale up investment and improve the focus on results. The case study highlights road safety as a development priority and outlines World Bank initiatives addressing the implementation of the World Report on Road Traffic Injury's recommendations and the subsequent launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety, from 2011-2020. The case study emphasizes the vital role played by the lead agency in ensuring sustainable road safety improvements and promoting the shift to a 'Safe System' approach, which necessitated the strengthening of all elements of the road safety management system. It summarizes road safety performance and institutional initiatives in Argentina leading up to the preparation and implementation of the project. We describe the project's development objectives, financing arrangements, specific components and investment staging. Finally, we discuss its innovative features and lessons learned, and present a set of supplementary guidelines, both to assist multilateral development banks and their clients with future road safety initiatives, and to encourage better linkages between the health and transportation sectors supporting them.

Dynamics of vehicle-road coupled system

CERN Document Server

Yang, Shaopu; Li, Shaohua

2015-01-01

Vehicle dynamics and road dynamics are usually considered to be two largely independent subjects. In vehicle dynamics, road surface roughness is generally regarded as random excitation of the vehicle, while in road dynamics, the vehicle is generally regarded as a moving load acting on the pavement. This book suggests a new research concept to integrate the vehicle and the road system with the help of a tire model, and establishes a cross-subject research framework dubbed vehicle-pavement coupled system dynamics. In this context, the dynamics of the vehicle, road and the vehicle-road coupled system are investigated by means of theoretical analysis, numerical simulations and field tests. This book will be a valuable resource for university professors, graduate students and engineers majoring in automotive design, mechanical engineering, highway engineering and other related areas. Shaopu Yang is a professor and deputy president of Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, China; Liqun Chen is a professor at Shanghai Univ...

Spatial and temporal disaggregation of the on-road vehicle emission inventory in a medium-sized Andean city. Comparison of GIS-based top-down methodologies

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez, C. D.; González, C. M.; Osses, M.; Aristizábal, B. H.

2018-04-01

Emission data is an essential tool for understanding environmental problems associated with sources and dynamics of air pollutants in urban environments, especially those emitted from vehicular sources. There is a lack of knowledge about the estimation of air pollutant emissions and particularly its spatial and temporal distribution in South America, mainly in medium-sized cities with population less than one million inhabitants. This work performed the spatial and temporal disaggregation of the on-road vehicle emission inventory (EI) in the medium-sized Andean city of Manizales, Colombia, with a spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km and a temporal resolution of 1 h. A reported top-down methodology, based on the analysis of traffic flow levels and road network distribution, was applied. Results obtained allowed the identification of several hotspots of emission at the downtown zone and the residential and commercial area of Manizales. Downtown exhibited the highest percentage contribution of emissions normalized by its total area, with values equal to 6% and 5% of total CO and PM10 emissions per km2 respectively. These indexes were higher than those obtained in residential-commercial area with values of 2%/km2 for both pollutants. Temporal distribution showed strong relationship with driving patterns at rush hours, as well as an important influence of passenger cars and motorcycles in emissions of CO both at downtown and residential-commercial areas, and the impact of public transport in PM10 emissions in the residential-commercial zone. Considering that detailed information about traffic counts and road network distribution is not always available in medium-sized cities, this work compares other simplified top-down methods for spatially assessing the on-road vehicle EI. Results suggested that simplified methods could underestimate the spatial allocation of downtown emissions, a zone dominated by high traffic of vehicles. The comparison between simplified methods

CLEAN-ROADS project: air quality considerations after the application of a novel MDSS on winter road maintenance activities

Science.gov (United States)

Pretto, Ilaria; Malloci, Elisa; Tonidandel, Gabriele; Benedetti, Guido; Di Napoli, Claudia; Piazza, Andrea; Apolloni, Roberto; Cavaliere, Roberto

2016-04-01

With this poster we present the environmental benefit on air quality derived by the application of the CLEAN-ROADS pilot project. The CLEAN-ROADS project addresses the problem of the environmental pollution caused by de-icing salts during winter road maintenance activities in the Province of Trento (Italy). A demonstrative Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) has been developed in order to improve the intervention procedures of the road management service. Specifically it aims to optimize the efficiency of how available resources (e.g., salt consumption) are currently used while guaranteeing the current level of road safety. The CLEAN-ROADS project has been tested and validated on a test area located in a valley bottom (Adige Valley), where the highest optimization margins are to be expected. The project supports current road maintenance practices, which has proved to be reliable and accurate, with a new scalable and energy-efficient road monitoring system. This system is based on a network of road weather stations (road weather information system, RWIS) installed on the test route. It is capable to collect real-time data about the road conditions and to perform short-term and now-cast road weather forecasts, which actively integrate weather data and bulletins covering the target area [1]. This poster presents the results obtained from a three-year monitoring activity with the aim to (1) determine the impact of de-icing salts on air quality and (2) quantify the improvements obtained by the application of the CLEAN-ROADS project on air quality. The Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe Directive (2008/50/EC) states that contributions to exceedances of particulate matter PM10 limit values that are attributable to road winter salting may be subtracted when assessing compliance with air quality limit values, once provided that reasonable measures have been taken to lower concentrations [2]. As the de-icing salts used in road maintenance are mainly based

Road Lane Detection by Discriminating Dashed and Solid Road Lanes Using a Visible Light Camera Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Toan Minh Hoang

2016-08-01

Full Text Available With the increasing need for road lane detection used in lane departure warning systems and autonomous vehicles, many studies have been conducted to turn road lane detection into a virtual assistant to improve driving safety and reduce car accidents. Most of the previous research approaches detect the central line of a road lane and not the accurate left and right boundaries of the lane. In addition, they do not discriminate between dashed and solid lanes when detecting the road lanes. However, this discrimination is necessary for the safety of autonomous vehicles and the safety of vehicles driven by human drivers. To overcome these problems, we propose a method for road lane detection that distinguishes between dashed and solid lanes. Experimental results with the Caltech open database showed that our method outperforms conventional methods.

Hydrologic Impact of Harvesting and Road Construction in Mountainous Regime of Pacific Northwest

Science.gov (United States)

Du, E.; Hubbart, J.; Gravelle, J.; Link, T.

2006-12-01

The impact of forest management practices on hydrologic flow regimes have been debated for years. Vegetation removal and forest road construction are two anthropogenic disturbances that may affect watershed hydrology. The Mica Creek Experimental Watershed (MCEW), ID was initiated by Potlatch Corporation in 1990 to evaluate how contemporary forest harvest practices may impact water flows, quality and aquatic health. The study was recently expanded to identify the specific mechanisms producing the observed flow responses. The extensive and long term monitoring program in MCEW enables the validation of simulated internal watershed processes, thereby increasing our confidence in the ability of models to simulate the hydrologic effects of land cover change. The spatially-distributed, physically-based Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM), will be used to deconvolve the effects of canopy change, forest road construction, and climate variability in MCEW. First, the model performance will be assessed for pre-harvest, post-road, and post-harvest experimental periods. The model will then be used to explore how the flow regime would be expected to differ under historical, alternative management and future scenarios. A retrospective study of fully-harvested and increased forest road density (as opposed to current road density of 3 to 5 percent by surface area) will be compared with contemporary management practices. The impact of harvest patterns on sub-catchment flows will be assessed to understand the degree to which flow synchronization or desynchronization on confluent streams might affect cumulative downstream flow regime. Future scenarios will assess the potential impact of climatic variability that is expected to raise the transient snow zone and increase the wintertime rain to snow ratios in the Pacific Northwest. Variables such as harvest patterns and climate variation will be manipulated to project whether the hydrologic effects of land cover and

Assessing reactivation of the Pourewa Landslide Zone, Auckland, New Zealand, using Structure-from-Motion, LiDAR, and geophysics

Science.gov (United States)

Brook, Martin; Liu, Shanshan; Richards, Nick; Bevan, David; Prebble, Warwick

2017-04-01

Landslides pose significant risks to communities and infrastructure particularly in urban areas, and mitigating these risks relies on understanding landslide triggering processes that may cause reactivation. Previous work has shown that landslides are often complex, multiphase processes where gradual deterioration of shear strength within the subsurface precedes slope failure and the appearance of surface morphological features. Here, we combine a suite of remote sensing and direct invasive testing techniques to assess reactivation of the Pourewa Landslide Zone (PLZ), located in Auckland, New Zealand. The PLZ is located on the inner wall of the north-eastern flank of the Orakei volcano, 4 km east of Auckland CBD. The landslide zone occupies slopes above the east bank of the tidal Pourewa Creek, which lies within a residential area. Four landslides are located within the PLZ (from west to east): Ngapipi Road Landslide, Kepa Road Landslide, St Josephs Landslide, and Pourewa Landslide. Inward collapse of the crater walls since the initial eruption (>85 ka) has enlarged the crater to c. 1000 m diameter, with some slopes prone to ongoing mass movements. Indeed, reactivation during the 20th century led to the realignment of Kepa Road, and surface cracking of roads in the vicinity is ongoing. LiDAR imagery was used to develop high resolution geomorphological maps, and this data was compared with more recent Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry, obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The digital surface models and derived cross-sections developed from these data allow both the initial failure, and subsequent reactivations to be assessed in detail. Geophysical surveys included Electromagnetic Induction (EMI), augmented by information relating to lithological, moisture and strength variation with depth, allowing initial interpretation of zones likely to be prone to reactivation. Ongoing slope deformation includes shallow, retrogressive failure on the upper

Road safety in Poland: magnitude, causes and injuries.

Science.gov (United States)

Goniewicz, Krzysztof; Goniewicz, Mariusz; Pawłowski, Witold; Fiedor, Piotr; Lasota, Dorota

2017-01-01

Road accidents are a serious problem of the modern world. They are one of the main causes of injuries and are the third most frequent cause of death. Every year, about one million people, adults and children, die on the roads and several millions get injured. Mortality rate due to injuries from road accidents amounts to 2.2% of all deaths in the world. The research presents epidemiology of road accidents in the period 2004-2015 with particular emphasis on the key issues of road safety in Poland, related to the dangerous behaviour of road users (disregard toward traffic rules). Between years 2004 and 2015 on Polish roads took place more than 508000 accidents with 53155 fatalities and more then 572000 casualties. Despite the various measures which are taken to improve safety on Polish roads, the number of dead and wounded in the vehicle mishap is still large, and losses borne by society are high. To improve safety on Polish roads, it is necessary to continue multi- action plan to systematically progress in the level of road safety.

Evaluation and Analysis of Road Traffic Noise in Asansol: An Industrial Town of Eastern India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Gangopadhyay

2008-09-01

Full Text Available The objectives of the study were to monitor and assess the road traffic noise in its spatial-temporal aspect in an urban area. The paper discusses the observations, results and their interpretation based on the study. Noise recordings from site, collected from April 2006 to March 2006, were used for statistical analysis and generation of various noise indices. Noise maps were also created for impact analysis and formulation of Noise Risk Zones. Mean Ldn value ranged between 55.1 and 87.3 dB (A. Day time Leq level ranged between 51.2 and 89.0 dB (A, where it ranged between 43.5 and 81.9 dB (A during night. The study reveals that present noise level in all the locations exceeds the limit prescribed by CPCB. Based on the finding it can be said that the population in this industrial town are exposed to significantly high noise level, which is caused mostly due to road traffic.

Factors contributing to amphibian road mortality in a wetland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haijun GU, Qiang DAI, Qian WANG, Yuezhao WANG

2011-12-01

Full Text Available To understand road characteristics and landscape features associated with high road mortality of amphibians in Zoige Wetland National Nature Reserve, we surveyed road mortality along four major roads after rainfall in May and September 2007. Road mortality of three species, Rana kukunoris, Nanorana pleskei and Bufo minshanicus, was surveyed across 225 transects (115 in May and 110 in September. Transects were 100 m long and repeated every two kilometers along the four major roads. We used model averaging to assess factors that might determine amphibian road mortality. We recorded an average of 24.6 amphibian road mortalities per kilometer in May and 19.2 in September. Among road characteristics, road width was positively associated with road morality for R. kukunori and B. minshanicus. Traffic volume also increased the road mortality of B. minshanicus in September. Of the landscape features measured, area proportions of three types of grassland (wet, mesic and dry within 1 km of the roads, particularly that of wet grassland, significantly increased road mortality for R. kukunori and total mortality across all three species. To most effectively reduce road mortality of amphibians in the Zoige wetlands, we suggest better road design such as avoiding wet grasslands, minimizing road width, underground passes and traffic control measures. The implementation of public transit in the area would reduce traffic volume, and hence mortality [Current Zoology 57 (6: 768–774, 2011].

Information technology road map 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-09-01

This book introduces information technology road map 2015 with presentation, process, plan and conclusion of it. It also has introduction of IT road map by field : information technology road map 2015 on the next-generation of semiconductor, display, light emitting diode and light industry, home network and home electronic appliances, digital TV and broadcasting, radio technology, satellite communications, mobile communication for the next-generation, BcN field, software, computer for the next-generation and security of knowledge information.

Safety Evaluation of the Lighting at the Entrance of a Very Long Road Tunnel: A Case Study in Ilam

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Mehri

2017-06-01

Conclusion: A comparison between the results of the safe levels of lighting at the entrance of the tunnel and the De Boer scale showed that the phenomenon of black holes is created at the tunnel entrance. This may lead to a misadaptation of the drivers’ eyes to the change in luminance level at the entrance of the tunnel, thereby increasing the risk of road accidents in this zone.

Spatial Analysis Methods of Road Traffic Collisions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Loo, Becky P. Y.; Anderson, Tessa Kate

Spatial Analysis Methods of Road Traffic Collisions centers on the geographical nature of road crashes, and uses spatial methods to provide a greater understanding of the patterns and processes that cause them. Written by internationally known experts in the field of transport geography, the book...... outlines the key issues in identifying hazardous road locations (HRLs), considers current approaches used for reducing and preventing road traffic collisions, and outlines a strategy for improved road safety. The book covers spatial accuracy, validation, and other statistical issues, as well as link...

Tailpipe, resuspended road dust, and brake-wear emission factors from on-road vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Abu-Allaban, Mahmoud; Gillies, John A.; Gertler, Alan W.; Clayton, Russ; Proffitt, David

Intensive mass and chemical measurements were performed at roadside locations in Reno, Nevada, and Durham/Research Triangle Park), North Carolina to derive tailpipe, resuspended road dust, and brake-wear emission factors from in-use vehicles. Continuous particulate matter (PM) data were utilized to derive total emission factors while integrated PM data were used to attribute the calculated emission factors to different mechanisms using chemical mass balance receptor modeling and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Resuspended road dust and tailpipe emissions were found to be the dominant mechanisms that contribute significantly to the total PM 10 and PM 2.5 emission factors, respectively. Small contributions from brake-wear were observed at locations where strong braking occurs, but no tire-wear was seen at any sampling location. PM 10 emission rates from light-duty spark ignition (LDSI) vehicles ranged from 40 to 780 mg/km, 10 to 70 mg/km, and 0 to 80 mg/km per vehicle for road dust, tailpipe, and brake-wear, respectively. PM 10 emission rates from heavy-duty vehicles ranged from 230 to 7800 mg/km, 60 to 570 mg/km, and 0 to 610 mg/km per vehicle for road dust, tailpipe, and brake-wear, respectively. PM 2.5 emission rates from LDSI vehicles ranged from 2 to 25 mg/km, 10 to 50 mg/km, and 0 to 5 mg/km per vehicle for road dust, tailpipe, and brake-wear, respectively. PM 2.5 emission rates from heavy-duty vehicles ranged from 15 to 300 mg/km, 60 to 480 mg/km, and 0 to 15 mg/km per vehicle for road dust, tailpipe, and brake-wear, respectively.

Distraction-related road traffic collisions

African Journals Online (AJOL)

drivers involved in road traffic collisions (RTC) were using mobile phones. Our study supports ... while driving. Keywords: Distraction, prevention, road traffic collision, mobile phone. ..... keeps us connected with others with great advantages.

Road icing forecasting and detecting system

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Hongke; Zheng, Jinnan; Li, Peiqi; Wang, Qiucai

2017-05-01

Regard for the facts that the low accuracy and low real-time of the artificial observation to determine the road icing condition, and it is difficult to forecast icing situation, according to the main factors influencing the road-icing, and the electrical characteristics reflected by the pavement ice layer, this paper presents an innovative system, that is, ice-forecasting of the highway's dangerous section. The system bases on road surface water salinity measurements and pavement temperature measurement to calculate the freezing point of water and temperature change trend, and then predicts the occurrence time of road icing; using capacitance measurements to verdict the road surface is frozen or not; This paper expounds the method of using single chip microcomputer as the core of the control system and described the business process of the system.

A Review of Vehicles Speed on School Safety Zone Areas in Pekanbaru City

Science.gov (United States)

Dwi Putri, Lusi; Soehardi, Fitridawati; Saleh, Alfian

2017-12-01

School Safety Zone is a location or region on particular roads that are time-based speed zone to set the speed of the vehicle in the school environment. The maximum speed limit permits entering a School Safety Zone, especially in Pekanbaru City is 25 km / h and an outline of the speed limit permit vehicles that pass through the School Safety Zone in Indonesia is generally 20-30 km / h. However, the vehicles speeds that pass School Safety Zone are higher than permit speeds.To ensure the level of vehicle offense across the territory of the School Safety Zone so it is necessary a primary data which is taken randomly based on field survey for 3 days at schools that has that facility ie SDN 3 Jalan Kesehatan Pekanbaru City, SDN 68 Jalan Balam Ujung Kota Pekanbaru and SDN 143 Jalan Taskurun Kota Pekanbaru. Furthermore, the data were taken in good condition that is at 6:30 to 7:30 am and at 12:00 to 13:00 pm. In addition, the data obtained is mileage and travel time of the vehicle. Both of these data can generate good speed value that passes through the area of School Safety Zone. Based on the research findings, the vehicle speed passing through the area of School Safety Zone is incompatible with speed permit at 35 km / h with a maximum average percentage of the rate of offense in the area of the school zone is 91.7%. This indicates that the vehicle passes School Safety Zone not following the rules of the maximum limit area and can be potentially harmful to elementary school students.

Road Safety Education in a Science Course: Evaluation of "Science and the Road."

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Paul L.

1989-01-01

A traffic safety instructional package--"Science and the Road"--was assessed. It was designed by the Road Traffic Authority of Victoria (Australia) for use in tenth-grade science courses. Evaluation findings resulted in revision of the unit and implementation of more inservice courses for teachers lacking relevant biology and physics…

Kansas Road Centerline Fle (KRCF)

Data.gov (United States)

Kansas Data Access and Support Center — This version of the Kansas Road Centerline File (0801) represents the first effort to create a statewide roads layer from best available data sources. KGS integrated...

Spread of Ebola virus disease based on the density of roads in West Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana Gomez-Barroso

2017-11-01

Full Text Available On March 23rd 2014 the World Health Organization announced that a new Ebola outbreak had appeared in West Africa involving three countries. The objective of this study was to show how a road density index (RDI could be constructed and a study of its association with Ebola cases during the outbreak. The study was carried out at the district level across the affected countries. RDI was calculated by km2 of territory as a proxy for the mobility of the population. To calculate this index, the number of km of road constructed in each district was estimated and subsequently divided by the area of each district expressed in km2. The accumulated incidence of Ebola was calculated per district. A generalised linear model with a Poisson distribution was used. The RDI varied from 0.12 to 0.84 between the districts. An RDI increase of 0.01 indicates a 3% increase in Ebola infection risk (RR is 1.03; CI 1.03-1.04. The density of the road network can influence the increased incidence of Ebola cases in the affected zone. An exhaustive mapping of the area could help the relevant organisations to manage another outbreak in the future and it could help the distribution of resources in an emergency situation.

49 CFR 391.31 - Road test.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Road test. 391.31 Section 391.31 Transportation... COMBINATION VEHICLE (LCV) DRIVER INSTRUCTORS Tests § 391.31 Road test. (a) Except as provided in subpart G, a person shall not drive a commercial motor vehicle unless he/she has first successfully completed a road...

Use of wood ash for road stabilisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lagerkvist, A.; Lind, B.

2009-01-01

Due to warmer winters in Sweden, the bearing capacity of forestry roads has become increasingly problematic in recent years. Road stabilization is needed in order to get timber out from the forests. This usually involves the addition of cement to the road body. However, wood ash is a possible substitute for cement because it has similar properties. Using wood ash has the added advantage of saving landfill space. This paper presented an ongoing laboratory study on leaching and mechanical stability, as well as frost-sensitivity using a 30 per cent ash addition to natural soils for reinforcing a forestry road near Timra in central Sweden. The road was being monitored with regard to environmental impact and mechanical properties. The paper discussed the potential of biofuel ashes and the increasing need to reinforce infrastructure due to climate change. The environmental impact from ash use in road constructions was then addressed. It was concluded that the application of ash in road construction would help to strengthen forest roads, make them more resistant to climatic change and render them accessible year-round. 32 refs., 3 tabs., 2 figs.

Gender Stereotypes among Road Users

OpenAIRE

Kabalevskaya, Alexandra I.

2013-01-01

This article analyzes the mechanism of stereotyping as exemplified by gender stereotypes of road users. Gender stereotypes are not only viewed as an a priori image of a percept, but also examined ‘in action’ — at the very moment of their actualization with road users. In the paper we have identified the content of road users’ gender stereotypes; analyzed the behaviour of male and female drivers, pinpointing a number of gender-specific behavioural features; demonstrated that male and female dr...

Gender stereotypes among road users

OpenAIRE

Dontsov, Alexander; Kabalevskaya, Alexandra

2013-01-01

This article analyzes the mechanism of stereotyping as exemplified by gender stereotypes of road users. Gender stereotypes are not only viewed as an a priori image of a percept, but also examined ‘in action’ at the very moment of their actualization with road users. In the paper we have identified the content of road users’ gender stereotypes; analyzed the behaviour of male and female drivers, pinpointing a number of gender-specific behavioural features; demonstrated that male and female driv...

Using PAVER 6.5.7 and GIS program for pavement maintenance management for selected roads in Kerbala city

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raid R.A. Almuhanna

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Pavement Maintenance Management System (PMMS includes systematic actions to get effective management and economic maintenance cost, depending on pavement condition index (PCI. PAVER 6.5.7 software are used to compute PCI values for a selected zone of road network in Kerbala City Center (KCC. Visual inspection survey is conducted to investigate the type, severity level, and extent of failure at sections and sample unites of selected roads. The area under study had 56.8 km length and contain functionally all types of urban roads. The data collection is achieved for a total of 109 road sections in; 20 Major arterials, 28 Minor arterials, 14 Collectors, and 47 Local sections. Further, the collected data for each section are inventoried and evaluated using PAVER 6.5.7. Also, analysis and prediction of the PCI curve for different sections are determined for different design lives. PAVER 6.5.7 is linked with GIS to layout the results and show the priority for maintenance and rehabilitation for the whole network are established using the critical PCI value.The resulted PCI indicated that 63% of the network sections of the study area have good condition, 12% have fair condition and 25% have poor condition. Keywords: Pavement maintenance management system, Pavement condition index (PCI, PAVER 6.5.7 system, GIS, Distress type

GREEN DEVELOPMENT MODES OF THE BELT AND ROAD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong Suocheng

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A number of countries are concerned, to a certain degree, about the prospects for the implementation of the Chinese strategic initiative for the joint creation of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” (SREB. These concerns relate to fears of the transfer from China to the “belt” countries of excessive capacities of the polluting primaries industries, possible environmental degradation, and the destruction of the traditional way of life as a result of the implementation of mega-projects, and the fragility and vulnerability of many ecosystems along the routes of the prospective throughways between the eastern provinces of China and Europe [Bezrukov, 2016]. Environmental problems are clearly of key importance for the prospects of China’s initiative. The initiative’s program documents have stressed the need to take into account the interests of all parties and act solely on the basis of mutual benefit. The authors briefly consider the variety of natural and socio-economic conditions in the SREB zone and the sharp differences in the degree of economic development of the territory, which require close attention and scientific justification for political and economic decisions. Particular differences include temperature regime, precipitation, modern atmospheric circulation, transport of particulate matter and contaminants, soils, vegetation, land use, and risks of desertification in the SREB zone. The potential of complementarity of the natural resources of China and a number of neighboring countries may be realized. The paper also discusses China’s present policy in the transition to sustainable development and its underlying concepts and achievements, especially at the level of regions and cities, including the concept of “ecological civilization” and the six stages of greening of cities. The authors believe that tourism related activities should be coordinated specifically at the city level as part of �

Perils of using speed zone data to assess real-world compliance to speed limits.

Science.gov (United States)

Chevalier, Anna; Clarke, Elizabeth; Chevalier, Aran John; Brown, Julie; Coxon, Kristy; Ivers, Rebecca; Keay, Lisa

2017-11-17

Real-world driving studies, including those involving speeding alert devices and autonomous vehicles, can gauge an individual vehicle's speeding behavior by comparing measured speed with mapped speed zone data. However, there are complexities with developing and maintaining a database of mapped speed zones over a large geographic area that may lead to inaccuracies within the data set. When this approach is applied to large-scale real-world driving data or speeding alert device data to determine speeding behavior, these inaccuracies may result in invalid identification of speeding. We investigated speeding events based on service provider speed zone data. We compared service provider speed zone data (Speed Alert by Smart Car Technologies Pty Ltd., Ultimo, NSW, Australia) against a second set of speed zone data (Google Maps Application Programming Interface [API] mapped speed zones). We found a systematic error in the zones where speed limits of 50-60 km/h, typical of local roads, were allocated to high-speed motorways, which produced false speed limits in the speed zone database. The result was detection of false-positive high-range speeding. Through comparison of the service provider speed zone data against a second set of speed zone data, we were able to identify and eliminate data most affected by this systematic error, thereby establishing a data set of speeding events with a high level of sensitivity (a true positive rate of 92% or 6,412/6,960). Mapped speed zones can be a source of error in real-world driving when examining vehicle speed. We explored the types of inaccuracies found within speed zone data and recommend that a second set of speed zone data be utilized when investigating speeding behavior or developing mapped speed zone data to minimize inaccuracy in estimates of speeding.

Dissolved oxygen analysis for hydropower additions on the Illinois River

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sundquist, M.J.; Elver, S.A.

1993-01-01

The Illinois Waterway is comprised of a system of eight locks along the Illinois River, the Des Plaines River, and the Chicago Sanitary Ship Canal which allow commercial barge traffic between the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan at the City of Chicago. Opportunities for production of hydroelectric power is present at several of these lock and dams. This paper presents the field study and computer simulation conducted to determine the feasibility of constructing hydroelectric powerhouses on two of these lock and dams. So as not to degrade recent improvements to water quality, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), in issuing the construction and operating licenses for these two hydroelectric facilities, requires the hydropower additions to not reduce the dissolved oxygen (D.O.) level downstream of the hydroelectric facilities below 6 parts per million (ppm). Presently, the waterway discharge passes through taintor gates at both of these lock and dam facilities which creates aeration. The addition of hydroelectric powerhouses would divert water from these spillways through generation equipment; consequently, the spillway aeration would not occur. The purpose of the study was to determine the amount of power generation from these facilities, given the existing waterway water quality and the FERC D.O. criteria. A computer simulation generation analysis was conducted to provide a database of the waterway water quality. A four-month extensive field collection survey was conducted over the 63 kilometer (39 mile) reach of the waterway which comprises the two downstream pools of the Brandon Road and Dresden Island projects, and 3 kilometers (2 miles) upstream of the Brandon Road Project. The analysis revealed that the hydroelectric additions were economically feasible and are an example of how the benefits of hydroelectric development can be balanced with environmental concerns

Scaling roads and wildlife: The Cinderella principle

Science.gov (United States)

Bissonette, J.A.

2002-01-01

It is clear that a reduction in both direct and indirect effects of roads and road networks must be the goal of management agencies. However, increased permeability of roaded landscapes can only be achieved by up-front planning and subsequent mitigative actions. The key is to understand that roads must be made permeable to the movement of animals. More profoundly, ecosystem services, i.e., clean water, clean air, uncontaminated soil, natural landscapes, recreation opportunities, abundant wildlife, and life sustaining ecological processes must not be seriously impacted. In other words, quality of life as measured by ecosystem services should be a major component of the planning process when roads are constructed or improved. Mitigative structures exist to increase permeability of roads. Wildlife overpasses and underpasses, often referred to as ecoducts or green bridges, with associated structures to enable larger animals to exit the road right of way, e.g., earthen escape ramps (BISSONETTE and HAMMER, 2001), various culvert designs for smaller animals including badger pipes and amphibian and reptile tunnels, and fish ladders are but a small sampling of the structures already in place around the world. What is needed is attention to the big picture. Landscapes need to be reconnected and made more permeable. Responsible agencies and organizations need to be aggressive about promoting mitigations and a conservation ethic into road planning. Only with a broad based effort between a concerned public, a database to work from, and a willingness of responsible agencies, will the now very large virtual footprint of roads and road networks be reduced to more closely approximate the physical footprint. By embracing the Cinderella Principle of making the virtual shoe fit more closely the actual physical footprint of roads, we will be able to achieve a closer connection with ecological harmony with its resultant effect of abundant wildlife.

Global collaboration on road traffic injury prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Peden, Margie

2005-06-01

Worldwide, nearly 1.2 million people are killed in road traffic crashes every year and 20 million to 50 million more are injured or disabled. These injuries account for 2.1% of global mortality and 2.6% of all disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost. Low- and middle-income countries account for about 85% of the deaths and 90% of the DALYs lost annually. Without appropriate action, by 2020, road traffic injuries are predicted to be the third leading contributor to the global burden of disease. The economic cost of road traffic crashes is enormous. Globally it is estimated that US$518 billion is spent on road traffic crashes with low- and middle-income countries accounting for US$65 billion--more than these countries receive in development assistance. But these costs are just the tip of the iceberg. For everyone killed, injured or disabled by a road traffic crash there are countless others deeply affected. Many families are driven into poverty by the expenses of prolonged medical care, loss of a family breadwinner or the added burden of caring for the disabled. There is an urgent need for global collaboration on road traffic injury prevention. Since 2000, WHO has stepped up its response to the road safety crisis by firstly developing a 5-year strategy for road traffic injury prevention and following this by dedicating World Health Day 2004 to road safety and launching the WHO/World Bank World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention at the global World Health Day event in Paris, France. This short article highlights the main messages from the World Report and the six recommendations for action on road safety at a national and international level. It goes on to briefly discuss other international achievements since World Health Day and calls for countries to take up the challenge of implementing the recommendations of the World Report.

The Relationship between Road Design and Driving Behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abele, Liva; Møller, Mette

2011-01-01

Speed is a substantial factor contributing to road safety. Currently, speed reduction is mainly achieved through law enforcement and the implementation of traffic calming measures. An alternative speed reducing approach is to encourage drivers to voluntarily choose an appropriate driving speed....... Improving road infrastructure safety can be achieved by making roads forgiving and self-explaining. This could be done by clarifying the road design characteristics for each road category. The effect on driver behavior by varying road-shoulders and presence of roadside trees was tested by means of a fixed-driving...... simulator experiment. Speed and lateral position were used as performance indicators. The results indicated that shoulders might not be applied to decrease the speed on the experimental road stretch, but their presence cause drivers to drive closer to the road edge, hence eliminating the probability of head...

Multispectral Image Road Extraction Based Upon Automated Map Conflation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Bin

Road network extraction from remotely sensed imagery enables many important and diverse applications such as vehicle tracking, drone navigation, and intelligent transportation studies. There are, however, a number of challenges to road detection from an image. Road pavement material, width, direction, and topology vary across a scene. Complete or partial occlusions caused by nearby buildings, trees, and the shadows cast by them, make maintaining road connectivity difficult. The problems posed by occlusions are exacerbated with the increasing use of oblique imagery from aerial and satellite platforms. Further, common objects such as rooftops and parking lots are made of materials similar or identical to road pavements. This problem of common materials is a classic case of a single land cover material existing for different land use scenarios. This work addresses these problems in road extraction from geo-referenced imagery by leveraging the OpenStreetMap digital road map to guide image-based road extraction. The crowd-sourced cartography has the advantages of worldwide coverage that is constantly updated. The derived road vectors follow only roads and so can serve to guide image-based road extraction with minimal confusion from occlusions and changes in road material. On the other hand, the vector road map has no information on road widths and misalignments between the vector map and the geo-referenced image are small but nonsystematic. Properly correcting misalignment between two geospatial datasets, also known as map conflation, is an essential step. A generic framework requiring minimal human intervention is described for multispectral image road extraction and automatic road map conflation. The approach relies on the road feature generation of a binary mask and a corresponding curvilinear image. A method for generating the binary road mask from the image by applying a spectral measure is presented. The spectral measure, called anisotropy-tunable distance (ATD

Sediment deposition from forest roads at stream crossings as influenced by road characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

A.J. Lang; W.M. Aust; M.C. Bolding; K.J. McGuire

2015-01-01

Recent controversies associated with ditched forest roads and stream crossings in the Pacific Northwest have focused national attention on sediment production and best management practices (BMPs) at stream crossings. Few studies have quantified soil erosion rates at stream crossings as influenced by road characteristics and compared them to modeled rates. Soil erosion...

Intermediate Volatility Organic Compound Emissions from On-Road Gasoline Vehicles and Small Off-Road Gasoline Engines.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yunliang; Nguyen, Ngoc T; Presto, Albert A; Hennigan, Christopher J; May, Andrew A; Robinson, Allen L

2016-04-19

Dynamometer experiments were conducted to characterize the intermediate volatility organic compound (IVOC) emissions from a fleet of on-road gasoline vehicles and small off-road gasoline engines. IVOCs were quantified through gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of adsorbent samples collected from a constant volume sampler. The dominant fraction (>80%, on average) of IVOCs could not be resolved on a molecular level. These unspeciated IVOCs were quantified as two chemical classes (unspeciated branched alkanes and cyclic compounds) in 11 retention-time-based bins. IVOC emission factors (mg kg-fuel(-1)) from on-road vehicles varied widely from vehicle to vehicle, but showed a general trend of lower emissions for newer vehicles that met more stringent emission standards. IVOC emission factors for 2-stroke off-road engines were substantially higher than 4-stroke off-road engines and on-road vehicles. Despite large variations in the magnitude of emissions, the IVOC volatility distribution and chemical characteristics were consistent across all tests and IVOC emissions were strongly correlated with nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), primary organic aerosol and speciated IVOCs. Although IVOC emissions only correspond to approximately 4% of NMHC emissions from on-road vehicles over the cold-start unified cycle, they are estimated to produce as much or more SOA than single-ring aromatics. Our results clearly demonstrate that IVOCs from gasoline engines are an important class of SOA precursors and provide observational constraints on IVOC emission factors and chemical composition to facilitate their inclusion into atmospheric chemistry models.

EVALUATION OF ANTHROPIC IMPACT ON LANDS FROM ROAD ZONES OF BUCOVYNA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasile GUŢULEAC

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Due to critical ecological situations in the region, the elaboration of complex approaches to improve this situation is very actual. There are needed also mixed researches of ecological situations of all main complexes of landscape: soil, water, atmospheres and others, that allow determining the degree of their pollution because of technogenesis, to obtain integrated indicators of ecological danger. The most active pollution factor of natural landscapes is automobiles (almost 74% from all damages. Experimental researches show that in transportation areas, the highest change in concentration of chemical substances in natural components is observed. Tothese are concluded automobiles high ways and the neighbourhood lines along the roads up to 100 meters on both sides. There can be noticed anomalies with increases of 2-4 times of Pb quantity in soils. In the places where high ways intersect industrial areas the quantity of Pb in soils reach 80 mg/kg. The territorial distribution in quantity of chemical solutions, contained in soils is shown in the following way: turbulence of air stream, the direction and power of wind, airhumidity, the character of landscapes substructure (relief and anthropogenical structures, the distance from the source of pollution factor it’s thermal, physical, geographicalcharacteristics and others. For the evaluation of ecological situations of territory are important pollution indicators of geochemical and natural components, and also the integrated indicator of ecological danger of landscape in conditional units (Gutuleac, 1995.

Mayan Forest Road Projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Conde, Dalia Amor

2008-01-01

Road-building projects in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve to connect Mexico and Guatemala were subjected to a cost-benefit evaluation. Up to an estimated 311,000 hectares of jaguar habitat were found to be at risk of deforestation due to these projects. Some of the projects were shown to have negativ...... of continued conservation rather than road development....

BRICS: opportunities to improve road safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Hyder, Adnan A; Vecino-Ortiz, Andres I

2014-06-01

Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa--the countries known as BRICS--are currently undergoing a deep epidemiological transition that is mainly driven by rapid economic growth and technological change. The changes being observed in the distribution of the burden of diseases and injuries--such as recent increases in the incidence of road traffic injuries--are matters of concern. BRICS may need stronger institutional capacity to address such changes in a timely way. In this paper, we present data on road traffic injuries in BRICS and illustrate the enormous challenge that these countries currently face in reducing the incidence of such injuries. There is an urgent need to improve road safety indicators in every country constituting BRICS. It is imperative for BRICS to invest in system-wide road safety interventions and reduce the mortality and morbidity from road traffic injuries.

A Fuel-Based Assessment of On-Road and Off-Road Mobile Source Emission Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Dallmann, T. R.; Harley, R. A.

2009-12-01

Mobile sources contribute significantly to emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the United States. These emissions lead to a variety of environmental concerns including adverse human health effects and climate change. In the electric power sector, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and NOx emissions from power plants are measured directly using continuous emission monitoring systems. In contrast for mobile sources, statistical models are used to estimate average emissions from a very large and diverse population of engines. Despite much effort aimed at improving them, mobile source emission inventories continue to have large associated uncertainties. Alternate methods are needed to help evaluate estimates of mobile source emissions and quantify and reduce the associated uncertainties. In this study, a fuel-based approach is used to estimate emissions from mobile sources, including on-road and off-road gasoline and diesel engines. In this approach, engine activity is measured by fuel consumed (in contrast EPA mobile source emission models are based on vehicle km of travel and total amount of engine work output for on-road and off-road engines, respectively). Fuel consumption is defined in this study based on highway fuel tax reports for on-road engines, and from surveys of fuel wholesalers who sell tax-exempt diesel fuel for use in various off-road sectors such as agriculture, construction, and mining. Over the decade-long time period (1996-2006) that is the focus of the present study, national sales of taxable gasoline and diesel fuel intended for on-road use increased by 15 and 43%, respectively. Diesel fuel use by off-road equipment increased by about 20% over the same time period. Growth in fuel consumption offset some of the reductions in pollutant emission factors that occurred during this period. This study relies on in-use measurements of mobile source emission factors, for example from roadside and tunnel studies, remote sensing, and

Road geometry as a factor for musculoskeletal injuries due to road traffic accidents in Sub-Himalayan State of Himachal Pradesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sunil Kumar Raina

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs kill 1.25 million people each year and injure between 20 and 50 million more people with many incurring a disability as a result of their injury. The road environment (design and geometry can affect driver speed choice, thereby increasing chances of accidents.Materials and Methods: Patients attending tertiary care center for musculoskeletal injuries after an RTA were enrolled in the study. The data were collected using a standard questionnaire. The details on the geometry of the road (type of road; highway or other, metaled or nonmetaled, straight, and curved were obtaine through inspection wherever possible. Results: Majority of the RTAs occurred on state highways (n = 154/313, 49.7% followed by national highways (NH (n = 94/313, 30%. Link roads account for comparatively less number (n = 65/313, 20.7% of cases. Majority of the accidents occurred on metaled road (n = 268, 85.6%; however, the association of different vehicles involved in RTA with the condition of road was not found to be significant statistically (P > 0.5. Further, the majority of the RTA occurred on straight roads (n = 204, 65.1%. Conclusion: Road geometry is an important factor in RTAs as drivers generally tend to choose their speed based on their perception of the appropriate speed for the road geometry.

Who is in control of road safety? A STAMP control structure analysis of the road transport system in Queensland, Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Salmon, Paul M; Read, Gemma J M; Stevens, Nicholas J

2016-11-01

Despite significant progress, road trauma continues to represent a global safety issue. In Queensland (Qld), Australia, there is currently a focus on preventing the 'fatal five' behaviours underpinning road trauma (drug and drink driving, distraction, seat belt wearing, speeding, and fatigue), along with an emphasis on a shared responsibility for road safety that spans road users, vehicle manufacturers, designers, policy makers etc. The aim of this article is to clarify who shares the responsibility for road safety in Qld and to determine what control measures are enacted to prevent the fatal five behaviours. This is achieved through the presentation of a control structure model that depicts the actors and organisations within the Qld road transport system along with the control and feedback relationships that exist between them. Validated through a Delphi study, the model shows a diverse set of actors and organisations who share the responsibility for road safety that goes beyond those discussed in road safety policies and strategies. The analysis also shows that, compared to other safety critical domains, there are less formal control structures in road transport and that opportunities exist to add new controls and strengthen existing ones. Relationships that influence rather than control are also prominent. Finally, when compared to other safety critical domains, the strength of road safety controls is brought into question. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predicting Freeway Work Zone Delays and Costs with a Hybrid Machine-Learning Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Du

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A hybrid machine-learning model, integrating an artificial neural network (ANN and a support vector machine (SVM model, is developed to predict spatiotemporal delays, subject to road geometry, number of lane closures, and work zone duration in different periods of a day and in the days of a week. The model is very user friendly, allowing the least inputs from the users. With that the delays caused by a work zone on any location of a New Jersey freeway can be predicted. To this end, tremendous amounts of data from different sources were collected to establish the relationship between the model inputs and outputs. A comparative analysis was conducted, and results indicate that the proposed model outperforms others in terms of the least root mean square error (RMSE. The proposed hybrid model can be used to calculate contractor penalty in terms of cost overruns as well as incentive reward schedule in case of early work competition. Additionally, it can assist work zone planners in determining the best start and end times of a work zone for developing and evaluating traffic mitigation and management plans.

Trismus: An unusual presentation following road accident

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thakur Jagdeep

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Trismus due to trauma usually follows road accidents leading to massive faciomaxillary injury. In the literature there is no report of a foreign body causing trismus following a road accident, this rare case is an exception. We present a case of isolated presentation of trismus following a road accident. This case report stresses on the thorough evaluation of patients presenting with trismus following a road accident.

Erosion and sediment delivery following removal of forest roads

Science.gov (United States)

Madej, Mary Ann

2001-01-01

Erosion control treatments were applied to abandoned logging roads in California, with the goal of reducing road-related sediment input to streams and restoring natural hydrologic patterns on the landscape. Treatment of stream crossings involved excavating culverts and associated road fill and reshaping streambanks. A variety of techniques were applied to road benches, which included decompacting the road surface, placing unstable road fill in more stable locations, and re-establishing natural surface drainage patterns. Following treatment and a 12-year recurrence-interval storm, some road reaches and excavated stream crossings showed evidence of mass movement failures, gullying, bank erosion and channel incision. Post-treatment erosion from excavated stream crossings was related to two variables: a surrogate for stream power (drainage area × channel gradient) and the volume of fill excavated from the channel. Post-treatment erosion on road reaches was related to four explanatory variables: method of treatment, hillslope position (upper, mid-slope or lower), date of treatment, and an interaction term (hillslope position × method of treatment). Sediment delivery from treated roads in upper, middle and lower hillslope positions was 10, 135 and 550 m3 of sediment per kilometre of treated roads, respectively. In contrast, inventories of almost 500 km of forest roads in adjacent catchments indicate that untreated roads produced 1500 to 4700 m3 of sediment per kilometre of road length. Erosion from 300 km of treated roads contributed less than 2 per cent of the total sediment load of Redwood Creek during the period 1978 to 1998. Although road removal treatments do not completely eliminate erosion associated with forest roads, they do substantially reduce sediment yields from abandoned logging roads.

Innovation as Road Safety Felicitator

Science.gov (United States)

Sahoo, S.; Mitra, A.; Kumar, J.; Sahoo, B.

2018-03-01

Transportation via Roads should only be used for safely commuting from one place to another. In 2015, when 1.5 Million people, across the Globe started out on a journey, it was meant to be their last. The Global Status Report on Road Safety, 2015, reflected this data from 180 countries as road traffic deaths, worldwide. In India, more than 1.37 Lakh[4] people were victims of road accidents in 2013 alone. That number is more than the number of Indians killed in all the wars put together. With these disturbing facts in mind, we found out some key ambiguities in the Indian Road Traffic Management systems like the non-adaptive nature to fluctuating traffic, pedestrians and motor vehicles not adhering to the traffic norms strictly, to name a few. Introduction of simple systems would greatly erase the effects of this silent epidemic and our Project aims to achieve the same. It would introduce a pair of Barricade systems to cautiously separate the pedestrians and motor vehicles to minimise road mishaps to the extent possible. Exceptional situations like that of an Ambulance or any emergency vehicles will be taken care off by the use of RFID tags to monitor the movement of the Barricades. The varied traffic scenario can be guided properly by using the ADS-B (Automatic Detection System-Broadcast) for monitoring traffic density according to the time and place.

The impact of road salt runoff on methanogens and other lacustrine prokaryotes

Science.gov (United States)

Sprague, E.; Dupuis, D.; Koretsky, C.; Docherty, K. M.

2017-12-01

Road salt deicers are widely used in regions that experience icy winters. The resulting saline runoff can negatively impact freshwater lake ecosystems. Saline runoff can cause density stratification, resulting in persistently anoxic hypolimnia. This may result in a shift in the structure of the hypolimnetic prokaryotic community, with potential increases in anaerobic and halotolerant taxa. Specifically, anoxia creates a habitat suitable for the proliferation of obligately anaerobic Archaeal methanogens. As a result, more persistent and expanded anoxic zones due to road salt runoff have the potential to increase hypolimnetic methane concentrations. If a portion of this methane is released to the atmosphere, it could be a currently uncharacterized contributor to atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions. This study examines two urban, eutrophic lakes with significant road salt influx and one rural, eutrophic lake with little road salt influx. All three lakes are located in southwest Michigan. Samples were taken from the water column at every meter at the deepest part of each lake, with a sample from the sediment-water interface, in May, August, and November 2016 and February 2017. The V4 and V5 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene in Bacteria and Archaea were amplified and sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq approach. Abundance of the mcrA gene, a marker for Archaeal methyl coenzyme A reductase, was quantified using qPCR. Water column methane levels, sediment methane production, water surface methane flux and a suite of supporting geochemical parameters were measured to determine changes in redox stratification in each lake and across seasons. Results indicate significant changes in the 16S rRNA-based community associated with depth, season, salinity and lake. Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria were among the phyla with the highest overall relative abundance. Sediment samples had more copies of the mcrA gene than the water column samples. In most

Improving road safety: Experiences from the Netherlands

OpenAIRE

Hagenzieker, M.P.

2012-01-01

Dr. Hagenzieker's research and education activities focus on the road safety effects of the transport system, with particular interest in road user behaviour aspects. Her PhD-research was on the effects of rewards on road user behaviour.

Profile of non-fatal injuries due to road traffic accidents from a industrial town in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayan, Pankaj; Bhawalkar, J S; Jadhav, S L; Banerjee, Amitav

2013-01-01

India has one of the highest road traffic accident rates in the world. To lessen this burden, information on the contributing factors is necessary. We studied a series of cases of non-fatal road traffic accidents in two tertiary care hospitals in Pimpri, Pune, India. A total of 212 non-fatal road traffic accidents admitted over a period of one year in these two hospitals constituted the study sample. The study variables were, the gender of the accident victims, mode of accident, days of week on which the accident took place, time of day when the injury was sustained, part of the body injured, nature of injury, and self-reported reasons for the accident. data were summarized using percentages. The Chi-square test for goodness of fit was applied, to see whether there was any association between the different weekdays or time of day and the accidents. MALE : female ratio was almost 5 : 1, which was statistically significant (Chi-Square for goodness of fit = 95.11, df = 1, P accidents occurred on Sundays and Mondays and the least around midweek (Wednesday). This pattern was also statistically significant (Chi-square for goodness of fit = 30.09, df = 6, P road users contributed to almost 80% of the cases of Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs). Accidents were more likely in the time zone of 8 pm to midnight, followed by 4 pm to 8 pm (Chi-square for goodness of fit = 89.58, df = 5, P accident. Almost half (46.22%) of the injured admitted to drinking alcohol on a regular basis. Wide pavements and safe zebra crossings should be provided for pedestrians, as the highest casualty in this study were pedestrians. More accidents occurred on Sundays and Mondays and in the late evenings. Extra supervision by traffic police may be considered on Sundays / Holidays and the day following. Roads should be well lit to improve visibility after sunset.

[Effects of road construction on regional vegetation types].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shi-Liang; Liu, Qi; Wang, Cong; Yang, Jue-Jie; Deng, Li

2013-05-01

As a regional artificial disturbance component, road exerts great effects on vegetation types, and plays a substantial role in defining vegetation distribution to a certain extent. Aiming at the tropical rainforest degradation and artificial forest expansion in Yunnan Province of Southwest China, this paper analyzed the effects of road network extension on regional vegetation types. In the Province, different classes of roads had different effects on the vegetation types, but no obvious regularity was observed in the effects on the patch areas of different vegetation types due to the great variations of road length and affected distance. However, the vegetation patch number was more affected by lower class roads because of their wide distribution. As for different vegetation types, the vegetations on cultivated land were most affected by roads, followed by Castanopsis hystrix and Schima wallichii forests. Road network formation contributed most to the vegetation fragmentation, and there existed significant correlations between the human disturbance factors including village- and road distributions.

Value of monitoring in road network management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zouch, M.; Courage, W.; Napoles-Morales, O.

2014-01-01

We present a framework for road network management to assist road authorities in maintenance budget estimations and long-term maintenance strategies definition. Information about road conditions is obtained from monitoring. Available data are used to estimate and update prediction of degradation

road sector development and economic growth in ethiopia1

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Eyerusalem

Regarding community roads, both the management and accountancy .... previous years and its impact on overall and sectoral economic growth. Descriptive analysis is deployed to capture the link between the road transport sector and performance indicators, like rural accessibility, road density, road network, road financing ...

Birds and Roads: Reduced Transit for Smaller Species over Roads within an Urban Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher D. Johnson

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Roads provide humans with a means of mobility between destinations, be it for transportation of goods and services or as a means of connecting with others. However, roads are also known to contribute toward a number of deleterious landscape processes, such as habitat destruction and fragmentation, pollution (e.g., chemical, noise and light and animal mortality. Few studies however have investigated their effects on avifauna. We investigated the influence of road width on movements of nearby bird assemblages in Australia by comparing crossing counts of four species guilds and sizes over roads of varying widths in Southern Brisbane. In addition, we also sought to determine the association of seasonality with species crossing richness and abundance. Species guild affiliations were based on definitions from previous literature: small forest dependent, large forest dependent, honeyeater, and urban tolerant; whereas body size classifications were arbitrarily defined: small (< 20 cm, medium (20–29 cm, and large (>30 cm. Road sites were selected based on their vegetation likeness, both within and between sites, and this was assessed using the Specht classification system. We detected strong, negative correlations between road width and forest species richness, crossing species richness and species crossing abundance. In particular, analysis of species guild classifications revealed species richness and crossing likelihoods of the small forest dependent guild to be consistently lower than those of large forest dependent, honeyeater and urban tolerant guilds. Analysis of species by body size classification yielded similar outcomes: small birds were consistently less likely to be present nearby and cross over roads of all widths compared to medium and large birds. We believe gap permeability, particularly changes in vegetation structure and complexity that may restrict a species ability to access to the gap, as well as competition and predation, play an

Distributed Road Grade Estimation for Heavy Duty Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sahlholm, Per

2011-07-01

An increasing need for goods and passenger transportation drives continued worldwide growth in traffic. As traffic increases environmental concerns, traffic safety, and cost efficiency become ever more important. Advancements in microelectronics open the possibility to address these issues through new advanced driver assistance systems. Applications such as predictive cruise control, automated gearbox control, predictive front lighting control, and hybrid vehicle state-of-charge control decrease the energy consumption of vehicles and increase the safety. These control systems can benefit significantly from preview road grade information. This information is currently obtained using specialized survey vehicles, and is not widely available. This thesis proposes new methods to obtain road grade information using on-board sensors. The task of creating road grade maps is addressed by the proposal of a framework where vehicles using a road network collect the necessary data for estimating the road grade. The estimation can then be carried out locally in the vehicle, or in the presence of a communication link to the infrastructure, centrally. In either case the accuracy of the map increases over time, and costly road surveys can be avoided. This thesis presents a new distributed method for creating accurate road grade maps for vehicle control applications. Standard heavy duty vehicles in normal operation are used to collect measurements. Estimates from multiple passes along a road segment are merged to form a road grade map, which improves each time a vehicle retraces a route. The design and implementation of the road grade estimator are described, and the performance is experimentally evaluated using real vehicles. Three different grade estimation methods, based on different assumption on the road grade signal, are proposed and compared. They all use data from sensors that are standard equipment in heavy duty vehicles. Measurements of the vehicle speed and the engine

Climate Projection Data base for Roads - CliPDaR: Design a guideline for a transnational database of downscaled climate projection data for road impact models - within the Conference's of European Directors of Roads (CEDR) TRANSNATIONAL ROAD RESEARCH PROG

Science.gov (United States)

Matulla, Christoph; Namyslo, Joachim; Fuchs, Tobias; Türk, Konrad

2013-04-01

The European road sector is vulnerable to extreme weather phenomena, which can cause large socio-economic losses. Almost every year there occur several weather triggered events (like heavy precipitation, floods, landslides, high winds, snow and ice, heat or cold waves, etc.), that disrupt transportation, knock out power lines, cut off populated regions from the outside and so on. So, in order to avoid imbalances in the supply of vital goods to people as well as to prevent negative impacts on health and life of people travelling by car it is essential to know present and future threats to roads. Climate change might increase future threats to roads. CliPDaR focuses on parts of the European road network and contributes, based on the current body of knowledge, to the establishment of guidelines helping to decide which methods and scenarios to apply for the estimation of future climate change based challenges in the field of road maintenance. Based on regional scale climate change projections specific road-impact models are applied in order to support protection measures. In recent years, it has been recognised that it is essential to assess the uncertainty and reliability of given climate projections by using ensemble approaches and downscaling methods. A huge amount of scientific work has been done to evaluate these approaches with regard to reliability and usefulness for investigations on possible impacts of climate changes. CliPDaR is going to collect the existing approaches and methodologies in European countries, discuss their differences and - in close cooperation with the road owners - develops a common line on future applications of climate projection data to road impact models. As such, the project will focus on reviewing and assessing existing regional climate change projections regarding transnational highway transport needs. The final project report will include recommendations how the findings of CliPDaR may support the decision processes of European

Geotechnical Monitoring of the Automobile Road

Science.gov (United States)

Matsiy, Vladimir

2017-12-01

In the present article, the results of geotechnical monitoring of A-147 automobile road “Dzhubga-Sochi” are given. Some sections of the automobile road suffered from the landslide adjustment movements; it resulted in many deformations of the retaining structures, the damages of the roadbed and ground crawling over the retaining walls. The observation data made it possible to specify the borders of the active landslide and to form a forecast of the landslide activity in the sections of the automobile roads. Due to monitoring being carried out, there was substantiated the necessity to correct the service forms and records connected with the automobile road reconstruction.

Roads Belong in the Urban Landscape

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clemmensen, Thomas Juel

2013-01-01

Roads are often associated with a fragmentation or splintering of landscapes and their natural connectivity; particularly in relation to ‘green infrastructure’ they are often considered problematic elements that rupture and barricade. Conversely, as part of larger networks, roads can be considered...... important elements in the creation of new, ‘green infrastructures’ that can qualify urban landscapes in terms of improving their overall porosity and connectivity. This argument will be unfolded and substantiated in this article through theoretical reflections which conceptually re-locate road networks...... in the urban landscape, supported by relevant reference projects that illustrate the potential of road networks as a platform for ‘green infrastructure’....

Why Did the Snake Cross the Road? Effects of Roads on Movement and Location of Mates by Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard Shine

2004-06-01

Full Text Available If animals avoid road surfaces or are unable to follow conspecific trails across such surfaces, previously continuous populations may be fragmented. We gathered data on the effects of a small (4-m wide gravel road on the behavior and trail-following abilities of garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis in Manitoba, central Canada. As expected, the road surface had less vegetation cover, a more open canopy and, thus, higher incident radiation than did the surrounding grassland. Contrary to expectations, however, substrate temperatures were lower on the road than in its surrounds, because of the higher reflectivity of the road's surface. On a nearby asphalt road, substrate temperatures were relatively high on the road surface only in the evening, as surrounding areas cooled. Focal sampling showed that snakes avoided the gravel road, typically changing direction when they encountered it. If they crossed the road, they did so by the shortest possible route (straight across. Mate-searching male snakes were less able to follow substrate-deposited pheromonal trails left by females if those trails crossed a road than if the trails were entirely within the surrounding grassland. Thus, roads may significantly modify snake movement patterns, as well as the ability of males to locate reproductive females. Our study provides the first detailed information on the effects of roads on snake behavior.

Functional classification of the Gauteng provincial road network ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The built environment consists of various land uses and activities connected by a road network. The efficiency and effectiveness of the road network directly impacts economic growth and societal movement. This study involved the functional classification of the Gauteng provincial road network using the South African Road ...

Problematics of Reliability of Road Rollers

Science.gov (United States)

Stawowiak, Michał; Kuczaj, Mariusz

2018-06-01

This article refers to the reliability of road rollers used in a selected roadworks company. Information on the method of road rollers service and how the service affects the reliability of these rollers is presented. Attention was paid to the process of the implemented maintenance plan with regard to the machine's operational time. The reliability of road rollers was analyzed by determining and interpreting readiness coefficients.

Zoning of the Russian Federation territory based on forest management and forest use intensity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. A. Маrtynyuk

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Over extended periods issues of forest management intensification are important in all aspects of Russian forest sector development. Sufficient research has been done in silviculture, forest planning and forest economics to address forest management intensification targets. Systems of our national territory forest management and forest economics zoning due to specifics of timber processing and forest area infrastructure have been developed. Despite sufficient available experience in sustainable forest management so far intensification issues were addressed due to development of new woodlands without proper consideration of forest regeneration and sustainable forest management operations. It resulted in forest resource depletion and unfavorable substitution of coniferous forests with less valuable softwood ones in considerable territories (especially accessible for transport. The situation is complicated since degree of forest ecosystem changes is higher in territories with high potential productivity. Ongoing changes combined with the present effective forest management system resulted in a situation where development of new woodlands is impossible without heavy investments in road construction; meanwhile road construction is unfeasible due to distances to timber processing facilities. In the meantime, changes in forest legislation, availability of forest lease holding, and promising post-logging forest regeneration technologies generate new opportunities to increase timber volumes due to application of other procedures practically excluding development of virgin woodlands. With regard to above, the Russian territory was zoned on a basis of key factors that define forest management and forest use intensification based on forest ecosystem potential productivity and area transport accessibility. Based on available data with GIS analysis approach (taking into consideration value of various factors the Russian Federation forest resources have been

36 CFR 212.5 - Road system management.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... construction, reconstruction, decommissioning, and maintenance. (2) Identification of unneeded roads... share of the costs. (d) Maintenance and reconstruction of National Forest System roads by users—(1... to cover maintenance or reconstruction of roads shall be used for the purposes deposited, except that...

Introducing Dual Suspension System in Road Vehicles

OpenAIRE

Imtiaz Hussain; Jawaid Daudpoto; Ali Asghar Memon

2013-01-01

The main objective of suspension system is to reduce the motions of the vehicle body with respect to road disturbances. The conventional suspension systems in road vehicles use passive elements such as springs and dampers to suppress the vibrations induced by the irregularities in the road. But these conventional suspension systems can suppress vibrations to a certain limit. This paper presents a novel idea to improve the ride quality of roads vehicles without compromising vehicle?s stability...

Salt on roads and the environment (VB)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hessberg, Philipp von; Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

2000-01-01

This report descripes the extent of use of salt on roads in Denmark and the environmental consequences of this. Alternative strategies for reducing the risk of greasy roads and different ways of alleviating the vegetation are also discussed.The different consequences for the environment...... that this report discusses are:- The ground water.- Lakes and streams.- Plants and trees along roads.The consequences for the economy through usage of salt on roads has not been carried out....

The study of technological prevention method of road accident ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study of technological prevention method of road accident related to driver and vehicle. ... road accident prevention method based on the factors studied. The study of this paper can provide forceful data analysis support for the road traffic safety related research. Keywords: road accident; accident prevention; road safety.

The scaling structure of the global road network.

Science.gov (United States)

Strano, Emanuele; Giometto, Andrea; Shai, Saray; Bertuzzo, Enrico; Mucha, Peter J; Rinaldo, Andrea

2017-10-01

Because of increasing global urbanization and its immediate consequences, including changes in patterns of food demand, circulation and land use, the next century will witness a major increase in the extent of paved roads built worldwide. To model the effects of this increase, it is crucial to understand whether possible self-organized patterns are inherent in the global road network structure. Here, we use the largest updated database comprising all major roads on the Earth, together with global urban and cropland inventories, to suggest that road length distributions within croplands are indistinguishable from urban ones, once rescaled to account for the difference in mean road length. Such similarity extends to road length distributions within urban or agricultural domains of a given area. We find two distinct regimes for the scaling of the mean road length with the associated area, holding in general at small and at large values of the latter. In suitably large urban and cropland domains, we find that mean and total road lengths increase linearly with their domain area, differently from earlier suggestions. Scaling regimes suggest that simple and universal mechanisms regulate urban and cropland road expansion at the global scale. As such, our findings bear implications for global road infrastructure growth based on land-use change and for planning policies sustaining urban expansions.

Dust emissions from unpaved roads on the Colorado Plateau

Science.gov (United States)

Duniway, M.; Flagg, C.; Belnap, J.

2013-12-01

On the Colorado Plateau, elevated levels of aeolian dust have become a major land management and policy concern due to its influence on climate, weather, terrestrial ecosystem dynamics, landscape development and fertility, melting of snow and ice, air quality, and human health. Most desert soil surfaces are stabilized by plants, rocks, and/or physical or biological soil crusts, but once disturbed, sediment production from these surfaces can increase dramatically. Road development and use is a common surface disturbing activity in the region. The extent and density of roads and road networks is rapidly increasing due to continued energy exploration, infrastructure development, and off-highway recreation activities. Though it is well known that unpaved roads produce dust, the relative contribution of dust from existing roads or the implications of future road development to regional dust loading is unknown. To address this need, we have initiated a multifaceted research effort to evaluating dust emissions from unpaved roads regionally. At 34 sites arranged across various road surfaces and soil textures in southeastern Utah, we are: 1) monitoring dust emissions, local wind conditions, and vehicle traffic and 2) evaluating fugitive dust potential using a portable wind tunnel and measuring road characteristics that affect dust production. We will then 3) develop a GIS-based model that integrates results from 1 & 2 to estimate potential dust contributions from current and future scenarios of regional road development. Passive, horizontal sediment traps were installed at three distances downwind from the road edge. One control trap was placed upwind of the samplers to account for local, non-road dust emissions. An electronic vehicle counter and anemometer were also installed at monitoring sites. Dust samples were collected every three months at fixed heights, 15 cm up to 100 cm above the soil surface, from March 2010 to the present. Threshold friction velocities (TFV

Road safety policy of the European Union.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2013-01-01

The European Union (EU) is important for national road safety policies. The EU has several policymaking instruments, such as binding regulations and directives, and non-binding recommendations. An important element in the EU policy plans on road safety are the non-binding European road safety

Road lighting fundamentals, technology and application

CERN Document Server

van Bommel, Wout

2015-01-01

This book outlines the underlying principles on which modern road lighting is based, and provides the reader with knowledge of how these principles should be applied in practice. It offers a completely fresh approach to the subject, reflecting how the technology of road lighting has progressed to keep up with the changes in lamp technology, especially in solid state light sources, and the increasing awareness of energy use and environmental issues. The book is divided into three parts. Part One describes lighting of open roads, with chapters discussing visual performance and comfort (including the effects of mesopic vision and age), and international standards and recommendations for road lighting. Lighting equipment is introduced; specifically lamps and luminaires in terms of their practical properties and features, but also the road surface and its characteristics. A chapter on Lighting Design makes the link between theory and practice, providing the reader with the knowledge needed for effective lighting d...

Effect of joint mechanism on vehicle redirectional capability of water-filled road safety barrier systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Thiyahuddin, M I; Thambiratnam, D P; Gu, Y T

2014-10-01

Portable water-filled barriers (PWFBs) are roadside appurtenances that prevent vehicles from penetrating into temporary construction zones on roadways. PWFBs are required to satisfy the strict regulations for vehicle re-direction in tests. However, many of the current PWFBs fail to re-direct the vehicle at high speeds due to the inability of the joints to provide appropriate stiffness. The joint mechanism hence plays a crucial role in the performance of a PWFB system at high speed impacts. This paper investigates the desired features of the joint mechanism in a PWFB system that can re-direct vehicles at high speeds, while limiting the lateral displacement to acceptable limits. A rectangular "wall" representative of a 30m long barrier system was modeled and a novel method of joining adjacent road barriers was introduced through appropriate pin-joint connections. The impact response of the barrier "wall" and the vehicle was obtained and the results show that a rotational stiffness of 3000kNm/rad at the joints seems to provide the desired features of the PWFB system to re-direct impacting vehicles and restrict the lateral deflection. These research findings will be useful to safety engineers and road barrier designers in developing a new generation of PWFBs for increased road safety. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Road traffic noise and children's inattention.

Science.gov (United States)

Weyde, Kjell Vegard; Krog, Norun Hjertager; Oftedal, Bente; Magnus, Per; Øverland, Simon; Stansfeld, Stephen; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J; Vrijheid, Martine; de Castro Pascual, Montserrat; Aasvang, Gunn Marit

2017-11-21

An increasing number of children are exposed to road traffic noise levels that may lead to adverse effects on health and daily functioning. Childhood is a period of intense growth and brain maturation, and children may therefore be especially vulnerable to road traffic noise. The objective of the present study was to examine whether road traffic noise was associated with reported inattention symptoms in children, and whether this association was mediated by sleep duration. This study was based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Parental reports of children's inattention at age 8 were linked to modelled levels of residential road traffic noise. We investigated the association between inattention and noise exposure during pregnancy (n = 1934), noise exposure averaged over 5 years (age 3 to 8 years; n = 1384) and noise exposure at age 8 years (n = 1384), using fractional logit response models. The participants were children from Oslo, Norway. An association with inattention at age 8 years was found for road traffic noise exposure at age 8 years (coef = .0083, CI = [.0012, .0154]; 1.2% point increase in inattention score per 10 dB increase in noise level), road traffic noise exposure average for the last 5 years (coef = .0090, CI = [.0016, .0164]; 1.3% point increase/10 dB), and for pregnancy road traffic noise exposure for boys (coef = .0091, CI = [.0010, .0171]), but not girls (coef = -.0021, CI = [-.0094, .0053]). Criteria for doing mediation analyses were not fulfilled. Results indicate that road traffic noise has a negative impact on children's inattention. We found no mediation by sleep duration.

Road safety in developing countries.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schreuder, D.A.

1991-01-01

This paper presents a classification of countries (developing and developed alike), divided into two main categories: an economical and historical entry. When road safety problems are placed into the economical context, it then appears that, among other things: (1) The road safety problem in the

5 CFR 930.107 - Waiver of road test.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Waiver of road test. 930.107 Section 930....107 Waiver of road test. Under the following conditions, OPM or an agency head or his or her designated representative may waive the road test: (a) OPM waives the road test requirement for operators of...

Guidelines for upgrading of low volume roads

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Division of Roads

1993-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this manual is to provide guidelines on the upgrading of gravel low volume roads to roads and maintenance personnel of road authorities of all sizes. Low volume is, for the purpose of this document, defined to be less than 500...

Traffic mortality and the role of minor roads.

Science.gov (United States)

van Langevelde, Frank; van Dooremalen, Coby; Jaarsma, Catharinus F

2009-01-01

Roads have large impacts on wildlife, as they form one of the principal causes of mortality, and disturbance and fragmentation of habitat. These impacts are mainly studied and mitigated on major roads. It is, however, a widespread misconception that most animals are killed on major roads. In this paper, we argue that minor roads have a larger impact on wildlife with respect to habitat destruction, noise load and traffic mortality. We use data on traffic related deaths in badgers (Meles meles) in The Netherlands to illustrate that traffic mortality is higher on minor roads. We ask for a more extensive investigation of the environmental impacts of minor roads. Moreover, we argue that the success of mitigation on roads drastically increases when both major and minor roads are integrated in the planning of traffic flows. Therefore, we propose a strategy based on the concept of a "traffic-calmed area". Traffic-calmed areas create opportunities for wildlife by decreasing limitations for animal movement. We ask for further studies to estimate what size traffic-calmed areas should be to maintain minimum viable animal populations.

Extended investigation on road fatality in Brunei.

Science.gov (United States)

Yusof, N B; Hoque, M A; Steele, M C; Yong, S Y

2018-06-08

Road fatality is one of the leading causes of death in Brunei with 79 deaths in 1993, the highest ever recorded. The Brunei government has been trying to reduce this by implementing new traffic measures and successfully reduced fatalities to 24 fatalities in 2014. Yearly road fatality has been fluctuating, but there has been a declining tendency overall. The aim of this study is to investigate road fatality in Brunei by extending the research. We developed a multiple regression model and carried out an analysis on road fatality in Brunei. Our analysis indicates that the road fatality appears to rise depending on the increase in the number of young drivers between 15 to 24 years and the number of unemployed people. Comparisons of Brunei road fatality rate per 10,000 vehicles are made with some other countries and we conclude that Brunei has approximately the same rate as Australia in 2014.

Road dust from pavement wear and traction sanding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kupiainen, K.

2007-07-01

Vehicles affect the concentrations of ambient airborne particles through exhaust emissions, but particles are also formed in the mechanical processes in the tire-road interface, brakes, and engine. Particles deposited on or in the vicinity of the road may be re-entrained, or resuspended, into air through vehicle-induced turbulence and shearing stress of the tires. A commonly used term for these particles is 'road dust'. The processes affecting road dust emissions are complex and currently not well known. Road dust has been acknowledged as a dominant source of PM10 especially during spring in the sub-arctic urban areas, e.g. in Scandinavia, Finland, North America and Japan. The high proportion of road dust in sub-arctic regions of the world has been linked to the snowy winter conditions that make it necessary to use traction control methods. Traction control methods include dispersion of traction sand, melting of ice with brine solutions, and equipping the tires with either metal studs (studded winter tires), snow chains, or special tire design (friction tires). Several of these methods enhance the formation of mineral particles from pavement wear and/or from traction sand that accumulate in the road environment during winter. When snow and ice melt and surfaces dry out, traffic-induced turbulence makes some of the particles airborne. A general aim of this study was to study processes and factors underlying and affecting the formation and emissions of road dust from paved road surfaces. Special emphasis was placed on studying particle formation and sources during tire road interaction, especially when different applications of traction control, namely traction sanding and/or winter tires were in use. Respirable particles with aerodynamic diameter below 10 micrometers (PM10) have been the main concern, but other size ranges and particle size distributions were also studied. The following specific research questions were addressed: (i) How do traction

Large roads reduce bat activity across multiple species.

Science.gov (United States)

Kitzes, Justin; Merenlender, Adina

2014-01-01

Although the negative impacts of roads on many terrestrial vertebrate and bird populations are well documented, there have been few studies of the road ecology of bats. To examine the effects of large roads on bat populations, we used acoustic recorders to survey bat activity along ten 300 m transects bordering three large highways in northern California, applying a newly developed statistical classifier to identify recorded calls to the species level. Nightly counts of bat passes were analyzed with generalized linear mixed models to determine the relationship between bat activity and distance from a road. Total bat activity recorded at points adjacent to roads was found to be approximately one-half the level observed at 300 m. Statistically significant road effects were also found for the Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), and silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans). The road effect was found to be temperature dependent, with hot days both increasing total activity at night and reducing the difference between activity levels near and far from roads. These results suggest that the environmental impacts of road construction may include degradation of bat habitat and that mitigation activities for this habitat loss may be necessary to protect bat populations.

Preliminary Marine Safety Risk Assessment, Brandon Road Lock and Dam Invasive Species Control Measures

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-01

Decision makers must include control-measure monitoring and emergency “interventions” to insure safety. The Coast Guard operational commanders...system” incorporates a travelling car on a rail above the barge-loading wharf to prevent loading personnel, cargo surveyors, or others from falling...to the Gulf of Mexico . As “Loopers”, they will have already transited the CSSC electric barriers. Preliminary Marine Safety Risk Assessment, BRLD

Roads at risk - the impact of debris flows on road network reliability and vulnerability in southern Norway

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Nele Kristin; Schwanghart, Wolfgang; Korup, Oliver

2014-05-01

Norwegian's road network is frequently affected by debris flows. Both damage repair and traffic interruption generate high economic losses and necessitate a rigorous assessment of where losses are expected to be high and where preventive measures should be focused on. In recent studies, we have developed susceptibility and trigger probability maps that serve as input into a hazard calculation at the scale of first-order watersheds. Here we combine these results with graph theory to assess the impact of debris flows on the road network of southern Norway. Susceptibility and trigger probability are aggregated for individual road sections to form a reliability index that relates to the failure probability of a link that connects two network vertices, e.g., road junctions. We define link vulnerability as a function of traffic volume and additional link failure distance. Additional link failure distance is the extra length of the alternative path connecting the two associated link vertices in case the network link fails and is calculated by a shortest-path algorithm. The product of network reliability and vulnerability indices represent the risk index. High risk indices identify critical links for the Norwegian road network and are investigated in more detail. Scenarios demonstrating the impact of single or multiple debris flow events are run for the most important routes between seven large cities in southern Norway. First results show that the reliability of the road network is lowest in the central and north-western part of the study area. Road network vulnerability is highest in the mountainous regions in central southern Norway where the road density is low and in the vicinity of cities where the traffic volume is large. The scenarios indicate that city connections that have their shortest path via routes crossing the central part of the study area have the highest risk of route failure.

EFFECT OF A ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION INTERVENTION ON ROAD SAFETY KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSITY DRIVERS IN IBADAN, NIGERIA.

Science.gov (United States)

Olumide, A O; Owoaje, E T

2016-06-01

It is essential for drivers employed in the formal sector to have good knowledge of road safety in order to safeguard their lives and those of the staff they are employed to drive. The study was conducted to determine the effect of a road safety education intervention on road safety knowledge of drivers employed in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental study of 98 intervention and 78 control drivers selected using a cluster sampling technique was conducted. The intervention comprised a two-day training on road safety and first aid. The drivers' knowledge of road safety was measured at baseline, immediately and 4-months post-intervention. Aggregate scores of road safety knowledge were computed giving minimum and maximum obtainable scores of 0 and 16 respectively. Change in mean scores over the three measurement periods was assessed using Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Independent t-test was used to compare the scores between intervention and control drivers at each of the assessment periods. Twenty-nine drivers did not complete the study (attrition rate = 16.5%). At baseline, mean road safety knowledge scores for the intervention and control drivers were 12.7±2.2 and 12.9± 2.3 (p = 0.510) respectively. Immediately and four months post intervention, the scores of the intervention drivers were 13.8±1.9 and 12.8±1.6; while scores for the controls were 13.3±2.0 and 13.2±1.8. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that the increase in knowledge over the three assessment periods was not statistically significant. The intervention resulted in an initial increase in road safety knowledge of the intervention drivers. However, this was not sustained to the forth month post-intervention. This finding suggests periodic refresher trainings to sustain the knowledge acquired.

The Use of Theatre Tours in Road Safety Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Powney, Janet; And Others

The Scottish Road Safety Campaign and the Road Safety Council of Wales have made a large investment in theater tours as a method of providing road safety education. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a road safety message delivered by a theater group, Road Safety Officers (RSOs), or, teachers for pupils in upper secondary classes.…

Network Screening for Smarter Road Sites: A Regional Case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Attila Grieco

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Road safety has been a main societal and policy issue in many European countries since the early years of last decade. After the 2000-2010 Road Safety Programme launched by the European Commission, in 2011 the Commission adopted the new 2020 programme, even more demanding than the previous. As the societal consequences of road casualties are increasingly perceived as a core dimension of smart mobility, road safety system is now facing new challenges. Current mobility shifts to softer and greener transportation means raise new safety concerns for an increasingly larger share of vulnerable road users. The need to integrate road safety requirements with other residential, mobility, and environmental policies calls for a more detailed understanding of the phenomenon at different spatial levels and with different observation lenses. The pilot study described in this paper is a contribution to this end. It aims at identifying the accident prone sites of the regional road network to help prioritizing safety interventions, by the regional administration having road planning responsibilities. The study develops a screening approach to select hazardous road locations, outside urban premises, from the Piedmont provincial and state roads. The most recent data for the 2010-2012 years were considered, drawn from the ISTAT road accident database, managed by the CMRSS. The procedure consists of the following steps: identification of the elementary road sections to be screened, through a GIS analysis; definition of the screening groups (road sections have been subdivided in 4 length classes; definition of the selection criteria, with two severity thresholds based on the crash density; classification of the elementary road sections by severity thresholds.

Residential proximity to major roads and term low birth weight: the roles of air pollution, heat, noise, and road-adjacent trees.

Science.gov (United States)

Dadvand, Payam; Ostro, Bart; Figueras, Francesc; Foraster, Maria; Basagaña, Xavier; Valentín, Antònia; Martinez, David; Beelen, Rob; Cirach, Marta; Hoek, Gerard; Jerrett, Michael; Brunekreef, Bert; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J

2014-07-01

Maternal residential proximity to roads has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, there is no study investigating mediators or buffering effects of road-adjacent trees on this association. We investigated the association between mothers' residential proximity to major roads and term low birth weight (LBW), while exploring possible mediating roles of air pollution (PM(2.5), PM(2.5-10), PM(10), PM(2.5) absorbance, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen oxides), heat, and noise and buffering effect of road-adjacent trees on this association. This cohort study was based on 6438 singleton term births in Barcelona, Spain (2001-2005). Road proximity was measured as both continuous distance to and living within 200 m from a major road. We assessed individual exposures to air pollution, noise, and heat using, respectively, temporally adjusted land-use regression models, annual averages of 24-hour noise levels across 50 m and 250 m, and average of satellite-derived land-surface temperature in a 50-m buffer around each residential address. We used vegetation continuous fields to abstract tree coverage in a 200-m buffer around major roads. Living within 200 m of major roads was associated with a 46% increase in term LBW risk; an interquartile range increase in heat exposure with an 18% increase; and third-trimester exposure to PM(2.5), PM(2.5-10), and PM10 with 24%, 25%, and 26% increases, respectively. Air pollution and heat exposures together explained about one-third of the association between residential proximity to major roads and term LBW. Our observations on the buffering of this association by road-adjacent trees were not consistent between our 2 measures of proximity to major roads. An increased risk of term LBW associated with proximity to major roads was partly mediated by air pollution and heat exposures.

Prioritizing Road Treatments using the Geomorphic Roads Analysis and Inventory Package (GRAIP) to Improve Watershed Conditions in the Wall Creek Watershed, Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

Day, K. T.; Black, T.; Clifton, C.; Luce, C.; McCune, S.; Nelson, N.

2010-12-01

Wall Creek, tributary to the North Fork John Day River in eastern Oregon, was identified as a priority watershed by the Umatilla National Forest for restoration in 2002. Most streams in this 518 km2 multi-ownership watershed are designated critical habitat for threatened steelhead. Eight streams are listed on the Oregon 303(d) list for elevated temperatures and excess sedimentation. Over 1000 km of public and private roads in the watershed present a major source of potential water quality and habitat impairment. We conducted a watershed-wide inventory of roads using the Geomorphic Roads Analysis and Inventory Package (GRAIP) in 2009 to quantify sediment contributions from roads to streams. GRAIP is a field and GIS-based model developed by the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and Utah State University that georeferences and quantifies road hydrologic connectivity, sediment production and delivery, mass wasting, and risk of diversion and plugging at stream crossings. Field survey and modeling produced data for 6,473 drainage locations on 726 km of road (most of the publically owned roads) quantifying the location and mass of sediment produced and delivered to streams. Findings indicate a relatively small subset of roads deliver the majority of road-produced fine sediment; 12 percent of the road length delivers 90 percent of the total fine sediment to streams. Overall fine sediment production in the watershed is relatively low (with an estimated background erosion rate of 518,000 kg/yr for the watershed) and sediment produced and delivered from the road system appears to be a modest addition. Road surfaces produce approximately 81,455 kg of fine sediment per year, with 20,976 kg/year delivered to the stream network. Fifty-nine gullies were observed, 41 of which received road runoff. Sixteen road-related landslides were also observed. The excavated volume of these features totals 3,922,000 kg which is equivalent to 175 years of fine sediment delivery at

Road safety and trade and industry.

OpenAIRE

2014-01-01

Trade and industry mostly experience the negative consequences of crashes, but sometimes the consequences are positive. The negative consequences of road traffic crashes include loss of personnel and damage to vehicles. Some other industries, such as damage repair companies, on the other hand, derive income from road crashes. Trade and industry can also be of importance for road safety. Particularly the transport sector, the car industry and insurers take several initiatives which for example...

Self regulation initiative in heavy vehicle transport to address road safety, accelerated road deterioration and transport productivity in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Nordengen, Paul A

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Heavy vehicle overloading and road safety continue to be major problems in South Africa notwithstanding efforts at more effective enforcement by the road and traffic authorities. Overloading causes premature road deterioration and, together...

Effects of roads on survival of San Clemente Island foxes

Science.gov (United States)

Snow, N.P.; Andelt, William F.; Stanley, T.R.; Resnik, J.R.; Munson, L.

2012-01-01

Roads generate a variety of influences on wildlife populations; however, little is known about the effects of roads on endemic wildlife on islands. Specifically, road-kills of island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) on San Clemente Island (SCI), Channel Islands, California, USA are a concern for resource managers. To determine the effects of roads on island foxes, we radiocollared foxes using a 3-tiered sampling design to represent the entire population in the study area, a sub-population near roads, and a sub-population away from roads on SCI. We examined annual survival rates using nest-survival models, causes of mortalities, and movements for each sample. We found the population had high annual survival (0.90), although survival declined with use of road habitat, particularly for intermediate-aged foxes. Foxes living near roads suffered lower annual survival (0.76), resulting from high frequencies of road-kills (7 of 11 mortalities). Foxes living away from roads had the highest annual survival (0.97). Road-kill was the most prominent cause of mortality detected on SCI, which we estimated as killing 3-8% of the population in the study area annually. Based on movements, we were unable to detect any responses by foxes that minimized their risks from roads. The probabilities of road-kills increased with use of the road habitat, volume of traffic, and decreasing road sinuosity. We recommend that managers should attempt to reduce road-kills by deterring or excluding foxes from entering roads, and attempting to modify behaviors of motorists to be vigilant for foxes. ?? 2011 The Wildlife Society.

Second-best Road Pricing through Highway Franchising

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verhoef, E.T.

2007-01-01

This paper considers the welfare impacts of a range of franchising regimes for congestible highways. For a single road in isolation, it is shown that a competitive auction with the level of road use as the decision criterion produces the socially optimal road (in terms of capacity and toll level),

Quantification of Gravel Rural Road Sediment Production

Science.gov (United States)

Silliman, B. A.; Myers Toman, E.

2014-12-01

Unbound rural roads are thought to be one of the largest anthropogenic sources of sediment reaching stream channels in small watersheds. This sediment deposition can reduce water quality in the streams negatively impacting aquatic habitat as well as impacting municipal drinking water sources. These roads are thought to see an increase in construction and use in southeast Ohio due to the expansion of shale gas development in the region. This study set out to quantify the amount of sediment these rural roads are able to produce. A controlled rain event of 12.7 millimeters of rain over a half hour period was used to drive sediment production over a 0.03 kilometer section of gravel rural road. These 8 segments varied in many characteristics and produced from 2.0 to 8.4 kilograms of sediment per 0.03 kilometers of road with the average production over the 8 segments being 5.5 kilograms of sediment. Sediment production was not strongly correlated with road segment slope but traffic was found to increase sediment production from 1.1 to 3.9 times as much sediment after traffic use. These results will help inform watershed scale sediment budgeting, and inform best management practices for road maintenance and construction. This study also adds to the understanding of the impacts of rural road use and construction associated with the changing land use from agricultural to natural gas extraction.

Major Roads

Data.gov (United States)

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — This data set contains roadway centerlines for major roads (interstates and trunk highways) found on the USGS 1:24,000 mapping series. These roadways are current...

Optimal policies for aggregate recycling from decommissioned forest roads.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Matthew; Sessions, John

2008-08-01

To mitigate the adverse environmental impact of forest roads, especially degradation of endangered salmonid habitat, many public and private land managers in the western United States are actively decommissioning roads where practical and affordable. Road decommissioning is associated with reduced long-term environmental impact. When decommissioning a road, it may be possible to recover some aggregate (crushed rock) from the road surface. Aggregate is used on many low volume forest roads to reduce wheel stresses transferred to the subgrade, reduce erosion, reduce maintenance costs, and improve driver comfort. Previous studies have demonstrated the potential for aggregate to be recovered and used elsewhere on the road network, at a reduced cost compared to purchasing aggregate from a quarry. This article investigates the potential for aggregate recycling to provide an economic incentive to decommission additional roads by reducing transport distance and aggregate procurement costs for other actively used roads. Decommissioning additional roads may, in turn, result in improved aquatic habitat. We present real-world examples of aggregate recycling and discuss the advantages of doing so. Further, we present mixed integer formulations to determine optimal levels of aggregate recycling under economic and environmental objectives. Tested on an example road network, incorporation of aggregate recycling demonstrates substantial cost-savings relative to a baseline scenario without recycling, increasing the likelihood of road decommissioning and reduced habitat degradation. We find that aggregate recycling can result in up to 24% in cost savings (economic objective) and up to 890% in additional length of roads decommissioned (environmental objective).

Small-scale geodiversity and dirt road management, Ede (NL)

Science.gov (United States)

van den Ancker, Hanneke; Jungerius, Pieter Dirk

2016-04-01

A large part of the countryside roads on the Pleistocene sands of The Netherlands are dirt roads. Most are footpaths, but a small percentage are relatively heavily used by motorized vehicles. These latter roads are a cause subject of debate. Puddles and potholes develop during periods of wet weather, while dust whirls from the roads form during spells of dry weather as do washboard ripples. They cause problems for people living along these roads and tourists (walkers and bikers. The community of Ede (NL), like many other communities on the sand, wants to keep its 80 km of dirt roads because of the natural values they harbour as well as for their characteristic landscape quality and cultural heritage value. A part of the dirt roads in Ede is heavily used. In 2009, the community of Ede developed a decision model to support management of the dirt roads. Ede acknowledges that each dirt road is unique and asks for a tailor-made solution. Road maintenance measures include grading, making a camber, digging pits, applying loam or sandy loam. If problems become too large, one-way traffic can be an option. In more and more cases the dirt roads are barred for motorized through traffic (Gemeente Ede, 2009). As a reconnaissance we have studied the dirt roads of the Horabos/Horalaan over the last year. Incidentally we looked at other parts of the main Horalaan and the footpaths in the adjacent forest of Hoekelum. All dirt roads lie near the top of a Saalian push-moraine in which the upper course of dry valleys are present. Some results of the reconnaissance: - Most dirt roads sections in the Horabos lie lower than the surrounding terrain; - The problems develop in a short period of time during special weather conditions; - Certain dirt road sections e.g. those sections crossing a slight depression are quickly developing potholes; - Even a small slope of the road (differences that have consequences for its maintenance. Knowledge of geodiversity of the terrain and study of small

New optimization strategies of pavement maintenance: A case study for national road network in Indonesia using integrated road management system

Science.gov (United States)

Hamdi, Hadiwardoyo, Sigit P.; Correia, A. Gomes; Pereira, Paulo

2017-06-01

A road network requires timely maintenance to keep the road surface in good condition onward better services to improve accessibility and mobility. Strategies and maintenance techniques must be chosen in order to maximize road service level through cost-effective interventions. This approach requires an updated database, which the road network in Indonesia is supported by a manual and visual survey, also using NAASRA profiler. Furthermore, in this paper, the deterministic model of deterioration was used. This optimization model uses life cycle cost analysis (LCCA), applied in an integrated manner, using IRI indicator, and allows determining the priority of treatment, type of treatment and its relation to the cost. The purpose of this paper was focussed on the aspects of road maintenance management, i.e., maintenance optimization models for different levels of traffic and various initial of road distress conditions on the national road network in Indonesia. The implementation of Integrated Road Management System (IRMS) can provide a solution to the problem of cost constraints in the maintenance of the national road network. The results from this study found that as the lowest as agency cost, it will affect the increasing of user cost. With the achievement of the target plan scenario Pl000 with initial value IRI 2, it was found that the routine management throughout the year and in early reconstruction and periodic maintenance with a 30 mm thick overlay, will simultaneously provide a higher net benefit value and has the lowest total cost of transportation.

Evaluation of Shortest Paths in Road Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farrukh Shehzad

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Optimization is a key factor in almost all the topics of operations research / management science and economics.The road networks can be optimized within different constraints like time, distance, cost and traffic running onthe roads.This study is based on optimization of real road network by means of distances. Two main objectives arepursued in this research: 1 road distances among different routes are composed in detail; 2 two standardalgorithms (Dijkstra and Floyd-Warshall algoritms are applied to optimize/minimize these distances for bothsingle-source and all-pairs shortest path problems.

The importance of Radio Quiet Zone (RQZ) for radio astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

Umar, Roslan; Abidin, Zamri Zainal; Ibrahim, Zainol Abidin

2013-05-01

Most of radio observatories are located in isolated areas. Since radio sources from the universe is very weak, astronomer need to avoid radio frequency interference (RFI) from active spectrum users and radio noise produced by human made (telecommunication, mobile phone, microwave user and many more. There are many observatories around the world are surrounded by a Radio Quiet Zone (RQZ), which is it was set up using public or state laws. A Radio Quiet Zone normally consists of two areas: an exclusive area in which totally radio emissions are forbidden, with restrictions for residents and business developments, and a larger (radius up to 100 km above) coordination area where the power of radio transmission limits to threshold levels. Geographical Information System (GIS) can be used as a powerful tool in mapping large areas with varying RQZ profiles. In this paper, we report the initial testing of the usage of this system in order to identify the areas were suitable for Radio Quiet Zone. Among the important parameters used to develop the database for our GIS are population density, information on TV and telecommunication (mobile phones) transmitters, road networks (highway), and contour shielding. We will also use other information gathered from on-site RFI level measurements on selected 'best' areas generated by the GIS. The intention is to find the best site for the purpose of establishing first radio quiet zones for radio telescope in Malaysia.

Amphibian and reptile road-kills on tertiary roads in relation to landscape structure: using a citizen science approach with open-access land cover data.

Science.gov (United States)

Heigl, Florian; Horvath, Kathrin; Laaha, Gregor; Zaller, Johann G

2017-06-26

Amphibians and reptiles are among the most endangered vertebrate species worldwide. However, little is known how they are affected by road-kills on tertiary roads and whether the surrounding landscape structure can explain road-kill patterns. The aim of our study was to examine the applicability of open-access remote sensing data for a large-scale citizen science approach to describe spatial patterns of road-killed amphibians and reptiles on tertiary roads. Using a citizen science app we monitored road-kills of amphibians and reptiles along 97.5 km of tertiary roads covering agricultural, municipal and interurban roads as well as cycling paths in eastern Austria over two seasons. Surrounding landscape was assessed using open access land cover classes for the region (Coordination of Information on the Environment, CORINE). Hotspot analysis was performed using kernel density estimation (KDE+). Relations between land cover classes and amphibian and reptile road-kills were analysed with conditional probabilities and general linear models (GLM). We also estimated the potential cost-efficiency of a large scale citizen science monitoring project. We recorded 180 amphibian and 72 reptile road-kills comprising eight species mainly occurring on agricultural roads. KDE+ analyses revealed a significant clustering of road-killed amphibians and reptiles, which is an important information for authorities aiming to mitigate road-kills. Overall, hotspots of amphibian and reptile road-kills were next to the land cover classes arable land, suburban areas and vineyards. Conditional probabilities and GLMs identified road-kills especially next to preferred habitats of green toad, common toad and grass snake, the most often found road-killed species. A citizen science approach appeared to be more cost-efficient than monitoring by professional researchers only when more than 400 km of road are monitored. Our findings showed that freely available remote sensing data in combination with a

Mass-media information campaigns about road safety. [previously known as: Public information about road safety.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2009-01-01

In the Netherlands, public information is often used as an instrument to improve road safety. The purpose of each public information campaign is a voluntary and lasting change in traffic behaviour. This requires road users to have sufficient knowledge about a problem and to adapt their behaviour.

Forest road erosion control using multiobjective optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Matthew Thompson; John Sessions; Kevin Boston; Arne Skaugset; David Tomberlin

2010-01-01

Forest roads are associated with accelerated erosion and can be a major source of sediment delivery to streams, which can degrade aquatic habitat. Controlling road-related erosion therefore remains an important issue for forest stewardship. Managers are faced with the task to develop efficient road management strategies to achieve conflicting environmental and economic...

Updating Road Networks by Local Renewal from GPS Trajectories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tao Wu

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The long production cycle and huge cost of collecting road network data often leave the data lagging behind the latest real conditions. However, this situation is rapidly changing as the positioning techniques ubiquitously used in mobile devices are gradually being implemented in road network research and applications. Currently, the predominant approaches infer road networks from mobile location information (e.g., GPS trajectory data directly using various extracting algorithms, which leads to expensive consumption of computational resources in the case of large-scale areas. For this reason, we propose an alternative that renews road networks with a novel spiral strategy, including a hidden Markov model (HMM for detecting potential problems in existing road network data and a method to update the data, on the local scale, by generating new road segments from trajectory data. The proposed approach reduces computation costs on roads with completed or updated information by updating problem road segments in the minimum range of the road network. We evaluated the performance of our proposals using GPS traces collected from taxies and OpenStreetMap (OSM road networks covering urban areas of Wuhan City.

Vision Sensor-Based Road Detection for Field Robot Navigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keyu Lu

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Road detection is an essential component of field robot navigation systems. Vision sensors play an important role in road detection for their great potential in environmental perception. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical vision sensor-based method for robust road detection in challenging road scenes. More specifically, for a given road image captured by an on-board vision sensor, we introduce a multiple population genetic algorithm (MPGA-based approach for efficient road vanishing point detection. Superpixel-level seeds are then selected in an unsupervised way using a clustering strategy. Then, according to the GrowCut framework, the seeds proliferate and iteratively try to occupy their neighbors. After convergence, the initial road segment is obtained. Finally, in order to achieve a globally-consistent road segment, the initial road segment is refined using the conditional random field (CRF framework, which integrates high-level information into road detection. We perform several experiments to evaluate the common performance, scale sensitivity and noise sensitivity of the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits high robustness compared to the state of the art.

DNR State Forest Roads - WHEELS Database

Data.gov (United States)

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — Roads administered by the Commissioner of Natural Resources to provide access to lands administered by the Division of Forestry. These roads are generally open to...

An Efficient Framework for Road Sign Detection and Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duanling Li

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Road sign detection and recognition is a significant and challenging issue not only for assisting drivers but also navigating mobile robots. In this paper, we propose a novel and fast approach for the automatic detection and recognition of road signs. First, we use Hue Saturation Intensity (HSI color space to segment the road signs color. And then we locate the road signs based on the geometry symmetry, as almost all the shapes of road sign shapes are symmetrical such circle, rectangle, triangle and octagon. The proposed shape feature is further applied to classify the shape initially. Finally, the road signs are exactly recognized by support vector machine (SVM classifiers. We test our proposed method on real road images and the experimental results show that it can detect and recognize road signs rapidly and accurately.

Head-on crashes on two-way interurban roads: a public health concern in road safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Olabarria, Marta; Santamariña-Rubio, Elena; Marí-Dell'Olmo, Marc; Gotsens, Mercè; Novoa, Ana M; Borrell, Carme; Pérez, Katherine

2015-09-01

To describe the magnitude and characteristics of crashes and drivers involved in head-on crashes on two-way interurban roads in Spain between 2007 and 2012, and to identify the factors associated with the likelihood of head-on crashes on these roads compared with other types of crash. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the National Crash Register. The dependent variables were head-on crashes with injury (yes/no) and drivers involved in head-on crashes (yes/no). Factors associated with head-on crashes and with being a driver involved in a head-on crash versus other types of crash were studied using a multivariate robust Poisson regression model to estimate proportion ratios (PR) and confidence intervals (95% CI). There were 9,192 head-on crashes on two-way Spanish interurban roads. A total of 15,412 men and 3,862 women drivers were involved. Compared with other types of crash, head-on collisions were more likely on roads 7 m or more wide, on road sections with curves, narrowings or drop changes, on wet or snowy surfaces, and in twilight conditions. Transgressions committed by drivers involved in head-on crashes were driving in the opposite direction and incorrectly overtaking another vehicle. Factors associated with a lower probability of head-on crashes were the existence of medians (PR=0.57; 95%CI: 0.48-0.68) and a paved shoulder of less than 1.5 meters (PR=0.81; 95%CI: 0.77-0.86) or from 1.5 to 2.45 meters (PR=0.90; 95%CI: 0.84-0.96). This study allowed the characterization of crashes and drivers involved in head-on crashes on two-way interurban roads. The lower probability observed on roads with median strips point to these measures as an effective way to reduce these collisions. Copyright © 2014 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

THE GREAT SILK ROAD BECOMES THE GREAT OIL AND GAS ROAD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. S. Zonn

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The Great Silk Road (GSR called so in the late 19th century by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen started shaping in the 2nd century B.C. In the minds of peoples the Silk Road is a generalized symbol of trade caravan routes crossing Central Asia, connecting until the 16th century the Far East, in particular Japan, China, with Middle Asia. Appearance in the early 21st century of new independent states in Central Asia along the GSR route was a powerful impetus for revival of the ancient trade route. In September 2013 Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, during his visit to the Central Asian countries offered the strategic concept of joint construction of the “economic corridor along the Silk Road” based on innovative cooperation in order to revive and consolidate the economic contacts among the Eurasian countries. Establishment of the modern analog of GSR, a powerful transport and pipeline corridor includes the integrated system of railroads and automobile roads, oil and gas pipelines, airlines, and sea lines.

A theoretical perspective on road safety communication campaigns.

Science.gov (United States)

Elvik, Rune

2016-12-01

This paper proposes a theoretical perspective on road safety communication campaigns, which may help in identifying the conditions under which such campaigns can be effective. The paper proposes that, from a theoretical point of view, it is reasonable to assume that road user behaviour is, by and large, subjectively rational. This means that road users are assumed to behave the way they think is best. If this assumption is accepted, the best theoretical prediction is that road safety campaigns consisting of persuasive messages only will have no effect on road user behaviour and accordingly no effect on accidents. This theoretical prediction is not supported by meta-analyses of studies that have evaluated the effects of road safety communication campaigns. These analyses conclude that, on the average, such campaigns are associated with an accident reduction. The paper discusses whether this finding can be explained theoretically. The discussion relies on the distinction made by many modern theorists between bounded and perfect rationality. Road user behaviour is characterised by bounded rationality. Hence, if road users can gain insight into the bounds of their rationality, so that they see advantages to themselves of changing behaviour, they are likely to do so. It is, however, largely unknown whether such a mechanism explains why some road safety communication campaigns have been found to be more effective than others. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Putting road safety awareness into practice

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

To round off the series of articles and posters published as part of its road safety awareness campaign, CERN is organising two information and demonstration open days on 23 and 25 September. Can you brake in time ? Did you know that you are 21 times more at risk of being killed if you are not wearing a seat belt in the event of your car rolling over? All your questions on road safety will be answered at two special days that are being organized on 23 and 25 September. You will also be able to test your reflexes and your knowledge by taking part in demonstrations. The CERN Management attaches high priority to an improvement in safety standards on the Laboratory's roads. These two open days have been arranged to round off the road safety awareness and highway courtesy campaign which was launched last year. They are intended to provide us with an opportunity, through a more "hands-on" approach, of heightening our awareness of the risks associated with road traffic, of the legislation in force, and above all t...

Road Surfaces And Earthquake Engineering: A Theoretical And Experimental Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pratico, Filippo Giammaria

2008-01-01

As is well known, road surfaces greatly affect vehicle-road interaction. As a consequence, road surfaces have a paramount influence on road safety and pavement management systems. On the other hand, earthquakes produce deformations able to modify road surface structure, properties and performance. In the light of these facts, the main goal of this paper has been confined into the modelling of road surface before, during and after the seismic event. The fundamentals of road surface texture theory have been stated in a general formulation. Models in the field of road profile generation and theoretical properties, before, during and after the earthquake, have been formulated and discussed. Practical applications can be hypothesised in the field of vehicle-road interaction as a result of road surface texture derived from deformations and accelerations caused by seismic or similar events

Reconstruction of road defects and road roughness classification using vehicle responses with artificial neural networks simulation

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Ngwangwa, HM

2010-04-01

Full Text Available -1 Journal of Terramechanics Volume 47, Issue 2, April 2010, Pages 97-111 Reconstruction of road defects and road roughness classification using vehicle responses with artificial neural networks simulation H.M. Ngwangwaa, P.S. Heynsa, , , F...

An approach to accidents modeling based on compounds road environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandes, Ana; Neves, Jose

2013-04-01

The most common approach to study the influence of certain road features on accidents has been the consideration of uniform road segments characterized by a unique feature. However, when an accident is related to the road infrastructure, its cause is usually not a single characteristic but rather a complex combination of several characteristics. The main objective of this paper is to describe a methodology developed in order to consider the road as a complete environment by using compound road environments, overcoming the limitations inherented in considering only uniform road segments. The methodology consists of: dividing a sample of roads into segments; grouping them into quite homogeneous road environments using cluster analysis; and identifying the influence of skid resistance and texture depth on road accidents in each environment by using generalized linear models. The application of this methodology is demonstrated for eight roads. Based on real data from accidents and road characteristics, three compound road environments were established where the pavement surface properties significantly influence the occurrence of accidents. Results have showed clearly that road environments where braking maneuvers are more common or those with small radii of curvature and high speeds require higher skid resistance and texture depth as an important contribution to the accident prevention. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Simplified methods for evaluating road prism stability

Science.gov (United States)

William J. Elliot; Mark Ballerini; David Hall

2003-01-01

Mass failure is one of the most common failures of low-volume roads in mountainous terrain. Current methods for evaluating stability of these roads require a geotechnical specialist. A stability analysis program, XSTABL, was used to estimate the stability of 3,696 combinations of road geometry, soil, and groundwater conditions. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to...

Debris flow impact assessment along the Al-Raith Road, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, using remote sensing data and field investigations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed M. Youssef

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Jizan mountainous areas in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are suffering from a variety of slope failures. Most of these failures happen due to heavy rainfalls from time to time. These landslides include rock topples, rockslides, debris flow, and some combination of these which affected many roads, highways, and buildings. The Al-Raith Road is one of these roads connecting Red Sea coast cities with Asir and Al-Hasher areas. The length of this road reaches about 45 km and it has been exposed to landslides during each heavy rain storm. One of these events happened in 24 August 2013, which caused huge debris flows that cut and damaged the road. The current research aims to evaluate the debris flow assessment along this highway using remote sensing data and field studies. According to the detailed analysis of geological and geomorphological maps, as well as field investigation, it is evident that the debris flow materials are mainly related to the different types of landslides. These landslides included rock topples which are frequently observed along the side walls of the channels (flexture which occur in foliated rocks and block which occurs in massive rocks, rock sliding (planner failures where many rock joints and shear zones dip towards the channel, and rockfalls. Debris range in their size from up to 2 m in diameter to fine materials less than 2 mm. These materials can be easily moved with water causing a risk to vehicles, roads, and housing in the area. Field study indicated that these debris channels especially at the lower part have been reactivated several times in the past. Finally, suitable solutions have been suggested to these critical sites to minimize and/or avoid the debris flow hazards in the future.

VT Data - E911 Road Centerlines

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) EmergencyE911_RDS was originally derived from RDSnn (now called TransRoad_RDS). "Zero-length ranges" in the ROADS layer pertain to grand-fathered...

Introducing Dual Suspension System in Road Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Imtiaz Hussain

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The main objective of suspension system is to reduce the motions of the vehicle body with respect to road disturbances. The conventional suspension systems in road vehicles use passive elements such as springs and dampers to suppress the vibrations induced by the irregularities in the road. But these conventional suspension systems can suppress vibrations to a certain limit. This paper presents a novel idea to improve the ride quality of roads vehicles without compromising vehicle?s stability. The paper proposes the use of primary and secondary suspension to suppress the vibrations more effectively.

Targeted road safety programmes : a promising approach in road safety. Paper presented at `the second conference on Asian road safety', Beijing, October 28-31, 1996.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wegman, F.C.M.

1996-01-01

This paper gives a broad overview on targeted road safety programmes, mainly based on the activities of a so-called OECD scientific expert group, whose report has been published in 1994 (see C 2845 S (IRRD 864087). Examples of targeted road safety programmes are given in some more detail of Finland,

Frequency of Loaded Road March Training and Performance on a Loaded Road March

Science.gov (United States)

1990-04-01

heart rate through the use of beta - blockers can substantially improve shooting accuracy (29, 44). Post road march decrements in the grenade throw may...the road march. An Increase in body tremors due to fatigue or an elevated post exercise heart rate may account for this. Whole body sway while aiming...a rifle is substantially increased even after a short period of exercise (39) and this may effect accuracy. Muscle tremors increase after brief or

Value creation of road infrastructure networks: a structural equation approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hartmann, Andreas; Ling, F.Y.Y.

2016-01-01

Although road agencies need to provide road infrastructure that is beneficial for road users, little is known about how the activities of the agencies influence the value creation of road infrastructure. From a service-dominant logic perspective, the importance of road maintenance and traffic

Unofficial Road Building in the Amazon: Socioeconomic and Biophysical Explanations

Science.gov (United States)

Perz, Stephen G.; Caldas, Marcellus M.; Arima, Eugenio; Walker, Robert J.

2007-01-01

Roads have manifold social and environmental impacts, including regional development, social conflicts and habitat fragmentation. 'Road ecology' has emerged as an approach to evaluate the various ecological and hydrological impacts of roads. This article aims to complement road ecology by examining the socio-spatial processes of road building itself. Focusing on the Brazilian Amazon, a heavily-studied context due to forest fragmentation by roads, the authors consider non-state social actors who build 'unofficial roads' for the purpose of gaining access to natural resources to support livelihoods and community development. They examine four case studies of roads with distinct histories in order to explain the socio-spatial processes behind road building in terms of profit maximization, land tenure claims, co-operative and conflictive political ecologies, and constraints as well as opportunities afforded by the biophysical environment. The study cases illustrate the need for a multi-pronged theoretical approach to understanding road building, and call for more attention to the role of non-state actors in unofficial road construction.

AN AUTOMATED ROAD ROUGHNESS DETECTION FROM MOBILE LASER SCANNING DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Kumar

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Rough roads influence the safety of the road users as accident rate increases with increasing unevenness of the road surface. Road roughness regions are required to be efficiently detected and located in order to ensure their maintenance. Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS systems provide a rapid and cost-effective alternative by providing accurate and dense point cloud data along route corridor. In this paper, an automated algorithm is presented for detecting road roughness from MLS data. The presented algorithm is based on interpolating smooth intensity raster surface from LiDAR point cloud data using point thinning process. The interpolated surface is further processed using morphological and multi-level Otsu thresholding operations to identify candidate road roughness regions. The candidate regions are finally filtered based on spatial density and standard deviation of elevation criteria to detect the roughness along the road surface. The test results of road roughness detection algorithm on two road sections are presented. The developed approach can be used to provide comprehensive information to road authorities in order to schedule maintenance and ensure maximum safety conditions for road users.