scholarly journals Using Smart City Tools to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Low Emissions Zone in Spain: Madrid Central

Author(s):  
Irene Lebrusán ◽  
Jamal Toutouh

Population concentration in cities brings new risks as an increase in pollution, which causes urban health problems. In order to address this problem, traffic reduction measures are being implemented, as pedestrianization areas and the definition of Low Emissions Zones (LEZ). When the effectiveness of these types of measures is in doubt, smart city tools provide data that can be used to scientifically asses their impact. This article analyzes the situation of Madrid Central (Spain), a LEZ subject to controversy. We apply statistical and regression analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of this measure to reduce air pollution and outdoor noise. According to the results, this LEZ was able to significantly reduce NO$_2$, PM$_{2.5}$, and PM$_{10}$ concentration locally, having the same positive impact in the rest of the city. In terms of noise, this measure is able to mitigate background noise levels generated by the road traffic.

Smart Cities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 456-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Lebrusán ◽  
Jamal Toutouh

Population concentration in cities brings new risks as an increase in pollution, which causes urban health problems. In order to address this problem, traffic reduction measures are being implemented as pedestrianization areas; they are the definition of Low Emissions Zones (LEZs). When the effectiveness of these types of measures is in doubt, smart city tools provide data that can be used to scientifically asses their impact. This article analyzes the situation of Madrid Central (Spain), a LEZ subject to controversy. We apply statistical and regression analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of this measure to reduce air pollution and outdoor noise. According to the results, this LEZ was able to significantly reduce NO 2 , PM 2.5 , and PM 10 concentration locally, having the same positive impact in the rest of the city. In terms of noise, this measure was able to mitigate background noise levels generated by road traffic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2329
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Macioszek ◽  
Agata Kurek

Continuous, automatic measurements of road traffic volume allow the obtaining of information on daily, weekly or seasonal fluctuations in road traffic volume. They are the basis for calculating the annual average daily traffic volume, obtaining information about the relevant traffic volume, or calculating indicators for converting traffic volume from short-term measurements to average daily traffic volume. The covid-19 pandemic has contributed to extensive social and economic anomalies worldwide. In addition to the health consequences, the impact on travel behavior on the transport network was also sudden, extensive, and unpredictable. Changes in the transport behavior resulted in different values of traffic volume on the road and street network than before. The article presents road traffic volume analysis in the city before and during the restrictions related to covid-19. Selected traffic characteristics were compared for 2019 and 2020. This analysis made it possible to characterize the daily, weekly and annual variability of traffic volume in 2019 and 2020. Moreover, the article attempts to estimate daily traffic patterns at particular stages of the pandemic. These types of patterns were also constructed for the weeks in 2019 corresponding to these stages of the pandemic. Daily traffic volume distributions in 2020 were compared with the corresponding ones in 2019. The obtained results may be useful in terms of planning operational and strategic activities in the field of traffic management in the city and management in subsequent stages of a pandemic or subsequent pandemics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Francesco Piccialli ◽  
Fabio Giampaolo ◽  
Edoardo Prezioso ◽  
Danilo Crisci ◽  
Salvatore Cuomo

Nowadays, a sustainable and smart city focuses on energy efficiency and the reduction of polluting emissions through smart mobility projects and initiatives to “sensitize” infrastructure. Smart parking is one of the building blocks of intelligent mobility, innovative mobility that aims to be flexible, integrated, and sustainable and consequently integrated into a Smart City. By using the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors located in the parking areas or the underground car parks in combination with a mobile application, which indicates to citizens the free places in the different areas of the city and guides them toward the chosen parking, it is possible to reduce air pollution and fluidifying noise traffic. In this article, we present and discuss an innovative Deep Learning-based ensemble technique in forecasting the parking space occupancy to reduce the search time for parking and to optimize the flow of cars in particularly congested areas, with an overall positive impact on traffic in urban centres. A genetic algorithm has also been used to optimize predictors parameters. The main goal is to design an intelligent IoT-based service that can predict, in the next few hours, the parking spaces occupancy of a street. The proposed approach has been assessed on a real IoT dataset composed by over than 15M of collected sensor records. Obtained results demonstrate that our method outperforms both single predictors and the widely used strategy of the mean providing inherently robust predictions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 567-585
Author(s):  
Muhammad Masood Rafi ◽  
Ashar Hashmat Lodi ◽  
Muhammad Arsalan Effendi

Purpose – Road traffic crashes (RTCs) result in creating significant social and economic hazard for affectees, their families and society. The purpose of this paper is to present studies which were conducted to study the patterns of RTCs in Karachi which is a metropolitan city of Pakistan. The studies were conducted on one of the busiest roads in the city named as Shara-e-Faisal. The influence and contribution of different factors in RTCs has been studied and hazardous road sections of Shara-e-Faisal have been identified. Based on the data analysis, an evaluation model has been suggested to reduce the hazard of RTCs on Shara-e-Faisal. The objective of the presented studies is to increase the present level of safety of road travel by reducing crashes on Shara-e-Faisal. Design/methodology/approach – Existing data of RTCs in Karachi have been analysed for the presented studies. For this purpose, Shara-e-Faisal was divided in sections of 1 km length to study the vehicle crash pattern. Location surveys were conducted to record physical conditions of this road. A cluster analysis was carried out to identify hazardous sections of the road. An evaluation model has been suggested in the end to reduce the hazard of RTCs by identifying hazardous road sections of Shara-e-Faisal. Findings – The analysis of the data revealed that the crashes were higher over weekend and on Monday. Male population, particularly young people, and motorcycle riders were the largest affectees of RTCs. In general, more daytime crashes were recorded as compared to nighttime crashes. The crashes in the mid block of the road and those involving rear-end collisions were higher. The hazardous road locations were related to poor road conditions. Statistical analysis indicated that alternate routes were required to reduce the RTC hazard on Shara-e-Faisal. Research limitations/implications – The paper is a small, but an original, contribution to identify a potential hazard which is faced by the community in the city. This is the first attempt (to the best of authors’ knowledge) to address the issue of RTCs in Karachi from an engineering view point. Practical implications – The suggested model can be employed by the authorities as a guideline to mitigate the hazard of road crashes in the country. Originality/value – The paper provides valuable information on the road traffic incidents, their pattern and contributing factors in one of the largest metropolis of Pakistan. The suggested model can become helpful in reducing RTCs in Pakistan.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1044-1045 ◽  
pp. 1538-1540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Lin Fan ◽  
Bei Chen Cheng ◽  
Li Li Cao ◽  
Kun Cheng Huang

In this paper, we study the impact of city driveway occupancy on the urban road traffic capacity. Through the analysis of the scene of an accident case, we gained the vehicle statistics within a cross section in unit time and then did calculation and simulation. The work is concluded as a reasonable model of vehicle queue relationship evaluation.First, on the base of the definition of traffic capacity, statistics of the cars in the cross section before the accident, during the accident and after the accident have been respectively acquired in unit time (1 min). Then we employ Matlab to do the interpolation fitting, drawing the change of actual capacity of the road from the beginning time of an accident to the time when traffic resumes. The work comes to a conclusion that the change of the capacity at the cross section has a pattern of periodic fluctuation.


2022 ◽  
Vol 960 (1) ◽  
pp. 012020
Author(s):  
A Boroiu ◽  
E Neagu ◽  
A A Boroiu

Abstract The paper aims to explore the possibilities of improving road traffic in the central area of cities characterized by a longitudinal arrangement of the street network, with application for the case of Pitesti, where the road network in the central area consists of two main roads arranged longitudinally, having one-way regulated traffic, interconnected by several streets. A special traffic problem is reported in the city center: on the main road connecting the two boulevards, the vehicle storage space is insufficient - because the distance between the two road intersections is too small and there is no correlation between the Green phases of traffic lights in the two intersections. The research, based on traffic measurements performed with DataFromSky software and micro-simulation traffic analyses performed with Vissim PTV software, indicated that the best solution is the partial or total correlation of the green time from the traffic light intersections that delimit the connecting road artery. As, almost exclusively, the works dedicated to the correlation of green light of traffic lights treat the problem only along the road arteries, this paper raises a special issue and reveals the possibility of simple solutions, by correlating the traffic lights at the intersections connecting the main arteries.


Author(s):  
O K Golovnin

The article describes the road, institutional and weather conditions that affect the traffic flow. I proposed a method for traffic flow profiling using a data-driven approach. The method operates with macroscopic traffic flow characteristics and detailed data of road conditions. The article presents the results of traffic flow speed and intensity profiling taking into account weather conditions. The study used road traffic and conditions data for the city of Aarhus, Denmark. The results showed that the method is effective for traffic flow forecasting due to varying road conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Firman Widyaputra*

The condition of transportation as one of the pillars of the movement of people from one place to another safely, comfortably, quickly, cheaply in accordance with the environment, with the increasing growth rate of motor vehicles (four-wheeled and two-wheeled) is not balanced with the physical road, so that more dense road transportation, especially in the city, with the socio-economic development of the community will affect parents who provide concessions to their children who have not met the age of driving a motor vehicle, especially two wheels. Thus it will affect the road traffic and will result in the occurrence of violations and accidents. The approach to be used is a normative juridical approach or statutory approach, namely research that examines laws relating to road traffic and transportation in accordance with Law No. 22/2009 concerning Traffic and Road Transportation. In addition to this approach, the authors also carried out a sociological approach which can empirically be known symptoms of changes in  community behavior towards social development in society related  to road users in Malang. Existence in legislation relating to road users in traffic  can  be obeyed  and minimize the occurrence  of violations, crime, safety and comfort, and accidents. Thus the violation of the law will be reduced and order will be well realized. 


Author(s):  
R. N. Gorbunov ◽  

The article presents a description of approaches to evaluating the road traffic monitoring efficiency. The results of a comparative analysis of the efficiency and costs of road traffic monitoring are submitted using laboratory vehicles and geo-information data obtained from geo-information systems. Approaches to optimizing the processes of organizing traffic monitoring on the city road traffic network are proposed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (2) ◽  
pp. 4058-4069
Author(s):  
Dayane Cristina Lima Estercio ◽  
Paulo Fernando Soares

The objective of this research is to develop a mathematical model to predict the road traffic noise level at the bus stop, to assess the level of noise that users of these urban facilities are exposed daily. To help assess the exposure and the environmental impact, sound mapping will be performed using the IMMI software. In the model, the calculation of direct paths and specular reflections and diffuse was adopted. The study was applied in three sections in the city of Maringá, Brazil. At each point, the user was simulated standing and sitting. The sound source was positioned on the axis of each strip, every five meters. In total, 5124 readings of source positions were evaluated in 84 measured points. For the validation, the Anderson-Kurze, Kang, Yang and Zhang, Bistafa and Naish model were applied, and then the t-Student test were applied. The results showed a correspondence between the developed model, the data of the measurements and the reference models in the range of 25 Hz to 10000 Hz, there was a greater variance between the models applied in the high frequencies. It is concluded that the model was able to estimate the sound level of the stretches evaluated.


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