Novel Big Data-supported dynamic toll charging system: Impact assessment on Portugal’s shadow-toll highways

Traffic congestion is a huge problem in many countries. It affects not only the inner workings of cities but also the quality of life of the people that endure it. In Portugal, traffic congestion happens mainly on national/urban roads, and this phenomenon has increased since the introduction of the so called shadow-toll systems in highways that were free to use. This work proposes a toll charging system that relies on a novel dynamic congestion charging scheme, supported by state of the art Big Data technologies, in order to shift traffic from national/urban roads to tolled highways, taking into account not only the Quality of Service of the highways and national roads, but also the competitiveness of toll prices for users. This Intelligent Transportation System was tested and validated in a real-world scenario with one of the biggest freight logistics companies in Portugal and with the Portuguese public road infrastructure operator.This work was performed under the scope of the OPTIMUM Project - Multi-source Big Data Fusion Driven Proactivity for Intelligent Mobility, grant agreement number 636160-2, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.Accepted versio

Integrated framework for satisfaction assessment in construction sector

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss assessment of the satisfaction levels of different members of a construction project team as a basis for meeting the needs of the client.Design/methodology/approachAn integrated framework is proposed that enables a collaboration of construction clients and project participants based on the recognition of the satisfaction requirements of every participant represented in the project team. The framework is developed to prioritise the satisfaction attributes of flexible number of construction clients and project participants, and enables the integration of these participants and their satisfaction attributes using mathematical and engineering techniques.FindingsThe framework can be applied at the different phases of the project life cycle. In addition, the satisfaction levels of construction clients and the project participants can be enhanced by focussing on the values of their satisfaction attributes and improving the integration of the project team.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that a collaboration of construction clients and project participants based on the recognition and acknowledgement of each participant and their requirements is essential to improving project satisfaction in the construction sector.Originality/valueThe framework captures and analyzes the level of integrated project team satisfaction. The outcome of the study will improve understanding the satisfaction requirements of every client and participant represented in a given construction project team.</jats:sec