Dynamic urban projection mapping

“Dynamic projection mapping” is a variation of the best-known “projection mapping”. It considers the perceptual analysis of the urban landscape in which the video projection and the observer’s displacement speed are hypothesized. This latter, in particular, is variable and may depend on factors not directly controllable by the driver (slowdowns due to accidents, rallies, etc.). This speed can be supported and controlled by a number of traffic flow measurement systems. These data are available on the internet, like Google Maps APIs and/or speed sensors located close to the point of interest. The content of projection becomes dynamic and varies according to how the observer perceives the vehicle: slow, medium, fast

Network effects of intelligent speed adaptation systems

Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) systems use in-vehicle electronic devices to enable the speed of vehicles to be regulated externally. They are increasingly appreciated as a flexible method for speed management and control, particularly in urban areas. On-road trials using a small numbers of ISA equipped vehicles have been carried out in Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. This paper describes the developments made to enhance a traffic microsimulation model in order to represent ISA implemented across a network and their impact on the networks. The simulation modelling of the control system is carried out on a real-world urban network, and the impacts on traffic congestion, speed distribution and the environment assessed. The results show that ISA systems are more effective in less congested traffic conditions. Momentary high speeds in traffic are effectively suppressed, resulting in a reduction in speed variation which is likely to have a positive impact on safety. Whilst ISA reduces excessive traffic speeds in the network, it does not affect average journey times. In particular, the total vehicle-hours travelling at speeds below 10 km/hr have not changed, indicating that the speed control had not induced more slow-moving queues to the network. A significant, eight percent, reduction in fuel consumption was found with full ISA penetration. These results are in accordance with those from field trials and they provide the basis for cost-benefit analyses on introducing ISA into the vehicle fleet. Contrary to earlier findings from the Swedish ISA road trials, these network simulations showed that ISA had no significant effect on emission of gaseous pollutants CO, NOx and HC. Further research is planned to investigate the impact on emission with a more comprehensive and up to date modal emission factor database

Road Expansion and Urban Highways: Consequences Outweigh Benefits in Kathmandu

Rapid urbanization has transformed Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in South Asia. This urbanization, in turn, is leading to considerable social, economic, and environmental stress. The region has seen unplanned growth despite continued planning exercises. In 2011, in response to the rapid urbanization then Prime Minster Baburam Bhattarai initiated road expansion throughout the city to reduce traffic congestion. By mid 2015, it was clear that the road expansion induced greater demand leading to further traffic congestion rather than alleviating the problem. Today, non-motorized (pedestrians and bicycle) road users are more unsafe on the roads than ever before, and the plight of public transport users has remained the same. Traffic congestion has become a more serious problem. Air pollution associated with road construction and an increasing number of vehicles has turned the Kathmandu Valley into a dust bowl with potential for serious human health consequences. Along with road expansion, the government’s inability to regulate land use has contributed to Kathmandu’s current urban sprawl. Road expansion done without proper planning has threatened traditional settlements, many with heritage sites, and led to loss of public spaces and temple courtyards to make space for increasing demand for parking. Another major landscape change has been the building of concrete embankments and exclusive motor roads along the river corridors. The road expansion campaign is still ongoing and is a top priority of the government’s efforts to reduce congestion and improve urban transportation. It is high time the government of Nepal rethinks its vehicle-centric urban transport policy and adopts policy where mobility of people is prioritized. Urban transport planning should work to build a more equitable and inclusive city while addressing accessibility, safety, and environmental health risks of its growing urban population. Today, non-motorized users (pedestrians and bicycle users) are unsafe on the roads than ever before, and the plight of public transport users has remained the same. Road expansion has led to destruction of traditional settlements many with heritage sites and loss of public spaces and temple courtyards to make space for increasing parking demand. Another major landscape change has been the building of concrete embankments and exclusive motor roads along the river corridors. Air pollution associated with road construction and increasing number of vehicles has turned the valley into a dust bowl with potential for serious human health consequences. Along with the road expansion, the government’s inability to regulate proper landuse has contributed to Kathmandu’s current urban sprawl. The road expansion drive is still ongoing and is still the priority for government’s urban transportation initiatives within the Valley. It is high time the government of Nepal rethinks its vehicle-centric urban transport policy and adopts policy where mobility of people is prioritized. Urban transport planning should work on building more equitable and inclusive city while addressing accessibility, safety, and environmental health risk associated for its growing urban population

A cost-benefit analysis of tunnel investment and tolling alternatives in Antwerp

A proposal has been made to build a new tunnel under the Scheldt river near the centre of Antwerp in order to relieve traffic congestion on the ring road and in an existing tunnel. The new tunnel is expected to cost more than €1 billion, and tolls have been suggested to help finance construction and to manage demand. This paper conducts a preliminary cost-benefit analysis of a new tunnel and three alternative tolling schemes, and compares them with a do-nothing scenario and an option to toll the existing tunnel without building a new one. The analysis is performed using a model that was recently developed as part of the European-Union funded REVENUE project. The two tunnels are treated as imperfect substitutes, and a multi-year accounting framework is adopted that accounts for emissions, accidents and noise externalities, road damage, revenues accruing to the national and regional governments from existing transport user charges, and the salvage value of the new tunnel. With the base-case parameter values it is found that building the tunnel is worthwhile with all three tolling regimes and yields a higher benefit than not building the tunnel and tolling the old one. Nevertheless, the net benefit from building the tunnel differs appreciably between tolling regimes, and it is sensitive to the value assumed for the marginal cost of public funds.infrastructure investment, route choice, congestion, tolls

The correlation of externalities in marginal cost pricing: lessons learned from a real-world case study

Negative externalities cause inefficiencies in the allocation of capacities and resources in a transport system. Marginal social cost pricing allows to correct for these inefficiencies in a simulation environment and to derive real-world policy recommendations. In this context, it has been shown for analytical models considering more than one externality, that the correlation between the externalities needs to be taken into account. Typically, in order to avoid overpricing, this is performed by introducing correction factors which capture the correlation effect. However, the correlation structure between, say, emission and congestion externalities changes for every congested facility over time of day. This makes it close to impossible to calculate the factors analytically for large-scale systems. Hence, this paper presents a simulation-based approach to calculate and internalize the correct dynamic price levels for both externalities simultaneously. For a real-world case study, it is shown that the iterative calculation of prices based on cost estimates from the literature allows to identify the amplitude of the correlation between the two externalities under consideration: for the urban travelers of the case study, emission toll levels—without pricing congestion—turn out to be 4.0% too high in peak hours and 2.8% too high in off-peak hours. In contrary, congestion toll levels—without pricing emissions—are overestimated by 3.0% in peak hours and by 7.2% in off-peak hours. With a joint pricing policy of both externalities, the paper shows that the approach is capable to determine the amplitude of the necessary correction factors for large-scale systems. It also provides the corrected average toll levels per vehicle kilometer for peak and off-peak hours for the case study under consideration: again, for urban travelers, the correct price level for emission and congestion externalities amounts approximately to 38 EURct/km in peak hours and to 30 EURct/km in off-peak hours. These toll levels can be used to derive real-world pricing schemes. Finally, the economic assessment indicators for the joint pricing policy provided in the paper allow to compare other policies to this benchmark state of the transport system

Dissipation of stop-and-go waves via control of autonomous vehicles: Field experiments

Traffic waves are phenomena that emerge when the vehicular density exceeds a critical threshold. Considering the presence of increasingly automated vehicles in the traffic stream, a number of research activities have focused on the influence of automated vehicles on the bulk traffic flow. In the present article, we demonstrate experimentally that intelligent control of an autonomous vehicle is able to dampen stop-and-go waves that can arise even in the absence of geometric or lane changing triggers. Precisely, our experiments on a circular track with more than 20 vehicles show that traffic waves emerge consistently, and that they can be dampened by controlling the velocity of a single vehicle in the flow. We compare metrics for velocity, braking events, and fuel economy across experiments. These experimental findings suggest a paradigm shift in traffic management: flow control will be possible via a few mobile actuators (less than 5%) long before a majority of vehicles have autonomous capabilities