23 CFR 750.703 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... classifications. (b) Erect means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw... frontage roads, turning roadways, or parking areas. (i) Sign, display or device, hereinafter referred to as “sign,” means an outdoor advertising sign, light, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message...

23 CFR 750.703 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... classifications. (b) Erect means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw... frontage roads, turning roadways, or parking areas. (i) Sign, display or device, hereinafter referred to as “sign,” means an outdoor advertising sign, light, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message...

23 CFR 750.703 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... classifications. (b) Erect means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw... frontage roads, turning roadways, or parking areas. (i) Sign, display or device, hereinafter referred to as “sign,” means an outdoor advertising sign, light, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message...

23 CFR 750.153 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

...: (a) Sign means an outdoor sign, light, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard... lanes of the highway, exclusive of frontage roads, auxiliary lanes, and ramps. (c) Interstate System....S.C. (e) Erect means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw...

23 CFR 750.153 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

...: (a) Sign means an outdoor sign, light, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard... lanes of the highway, exclusive of frontage roads, auxiliary lanes, and ramps. (c) Interstate System....S.C. (e) Erect means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw...

23 CFR 750.153 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

...: (a) Sign means an outdoor sign, light, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard... lanes of the highway, exclusive of frontage roads, auxiliary lanes, and ramps. (c) Interstate System....S.C. (e) Erect means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw...

77 FR 53169 - De Soto Resource Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-31

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service De Soto Resource Advisory Committee AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The De Soto Resource Advisory Committee will meet in... public may inspect comments received at De Soto Ranger District, 654 West Frontage Road, Wiggins, MS...

76 FR 5829 - Manufacturer of Controlled Substances; Notice of Registration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-02

... 1, 2010, 75 FR 53719, Cambridge Isotope Lab, 50 Frontage Road, Andover, Massachusetts 01810, made... determined that the registration of Cambridge Isotope Lab to manufacture the listed basic class of controlled substance is consistent with the public interest at this time. DEA has [[Page 5830

76 FR 77257 - Manufacturer of Controlled Substances; Notice of Registration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-12

... 18, 2011, 76 FR 51400, Cambridge Isotope Lab, 50 Frontage Road, Andover, Massachusetts 01810, made... determined that the registration of Cambridge Isotope Lab to manufacture the listed basic class of controlled substance is consistent with the public interest at this time. DEA has investigated Cambridge Isotope Lab to...

77 FR 64143 - Manufacturer of Controlled Substances; Notice of Registration; Cambridge Isotope Lab

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-18

...; Notice of Registration; Cambridge Isotope Lab By Notice dated June 18, 2012, and published in the Federal Register on June 26, 2012, 77 FR 38086, Cambridge Isotope Lab, 50 Frontage Road, Andover, Massachusetts....C. 823(a) and determined that the registration of Cambridge Isotope Lab to manufacture the listed...

Influence of purchaser perceptions and intentions on price for forest land parcels: a hedonic pricing approach

Treesearch

Stephanie A. Snyder; Michael A. Kilgore; Rachel Hudson; Jacob Donnay

2008-01-01

A hedonic model was developed to analyze the market for undeveloped forest land in Minnesota. Variables describing in situ conditions, locational characteristics, buyer perceptions and intentions, and transactional terms were tested for their influence on sale price. The independent variables explained 67% of the per hectare sale price variation. Water frontage, road...

43 CFR 2568.93 - Is there a limit to how much water frontage my allotment can include?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Is there a limit to how much water frontage my allotment can include? 2568.93 Section 2568.93 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands (Continued) BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (2000) ALASKA OCCUPANCY AND USE Alaska Native...

Road network - land use interaction model: Malang City in Indonesian case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waloejo, B. S.

2017-06-01

Urban population in Indonesia is significantly increasing from 44% of total population in 2002 to approximately 60% in 2015. Rapid population growth has resulted in rapid urban land use changes. The problems became more complicated since the changes created mixed use development along the main urban corridors that resulted in higher trip generation and attraction while urban land very limited that made road widening and creation of new road less possible. This led to an accumulation of movement, worse road’s level of service and congestion in the main urban corridor. The aims of the research are to analyse trip generation/attraction of the mixed- land uses of the main corridors Malang City; and to formulate road network - land use interaction model in the case of Malang (a nearly 1 million population city in 2015). The selected corridors in Malang City a main road in the west district of Malang City - Indonesia. Correlational method (Pearson Product Moment) and regression method (stepwise, anova for land use’s trip generation/attraction), and analysis of road’s level of service (LOS), using Indonesian Road Capacity Manual, are employed in this research. The research formulated the interaction model as: \\begin{eqnarray}\\begin{array}{lll}{V}{total} & = & \\displaystyle \\sum {V}{internal}+\\displaystyle \\sum {V}{external} {Where}\\ \\displaystyle \\sum {V}{internal} & = & {e}{residential}{Y}{residential}+{e}{schools}{Y}{schools}+{e}{unis}{Y}{unis}+{e}{offices}{Y}{offices}+{e}{hospital}{Y}{hospital}+{e}{chemists}{Y}{chemists}+{e}{commercial}{Y}{commercial}+{e}{market}{Y}{market}+{e}{fuel {station}}{Y}{fuel {station}}+{e}{bus {station}}{Y}{bus {station}} {and}\\ \\displaystyle \\sum {V}{external} & = & \\displaystyle \\sum {V}{local {roads}}+{V}{continous {traffic} {flow}}\\end{array}\\end{eqnarray} The research showed that V_total=23,033 car unit/day (internal) + 32,746 car unit/day (external) = 55,779 car unit/day. The trip higher than the road’s capacity (C) which 40.695 car unit/day. The levels of services of road’s segments dominantly F (congested). The simulation of the model showed that traffic engineering can be used to increase road’s capacity while land use changes (reduction of the variety of mixed land uses), particularly mix land uses at frontage area, can improve level of services (from F to C).

Fabrication of nanopore and nanoparticle arrays with high aspect ratio AAO masks.

PubMed

Li, Z P; Xu, Z M; Qu, X P; Wang, S B; Peng, J; Mei, L H

2017-03-03

How to use high aspect ratio anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes as an etching and evaporation mask is one of the unsolved problems in the application of nanostructured arrays. Here we describe the versatile utilizations of the highly ordered AAO membranes with a high aspect ratio of more than 20 used as universal masks for the formation of various nanostructure arrays on various substrates. The result shows that the fabricated nanopore and nanoparticle arrays of substrates inherit the regularity of the AAO membranes completely. The flat AAO substrates and uneven AAO frontages were attached to the Si substrates respectively as an etching mask, which demonstrates that the two kinds of replication, positive and negative, represent the replication of the mirroring of Si substrates relative to the flat AAO substrates and uneven AAO frontages. Our work is a breakthrough for the broad research field of surface nano-masking.

Fabrication of nanopore and nanoparticle arrays with high aspect ratio AAO masks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Z. P.; Xu, Z. M.; Qu, X. P.; Wang, S. B.; Peng, J.; Mei, L. H.

2017-03-01

How to use high aspect ratio anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes as an etching and evaporation mask is one of the unsolved problems in the application of nanostructured arrays. Here we describe the versatile utilizations of the highly ordered AAO membranes with a high aspect ratio of more than 20 used as universal masks for the formation of various nanostructure arrays on various substrates. The result shows that the fabricated nanopore and nanoparticle arrays of substrates inherit the regularity of the AAO membranes completely. The flat AAO substrates and uneven AAO frontages were attached to the Si substrates respectively as an etching mask, which demonstrates that the two kinds of replication, positive and negative, represent the replication of the mirroring of Si substrates relative to the flat AAO substrates and uneven AAO frontages. Our work is a breakthrough for the broad research field of surface nano-masking.

Lakefront Property Owners' Willingness to Accept Easements for Conservation of Water Quality and Habitat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nohner, Joel K.; Lupi, Frank; Taylor, William W.

2018-03-01

Lakes provide valuable ecosystem services such as food, drinking water, and recreation, but shoreline development can degrade riparian habitats and lake ecosystems. Easement contracts for specific property rights can encourage conservation practices for enhanced water quality, fish habitat, and wildlife habitat, yet little is known about the easement market. We surveyed inland lake shoreline property owners in Michigan to assess supply of two conservation easements (in riparian and in littoral zones) and identified property and property owner characteristics influencing potential enrollment. Respondents were significantly less likely to enroll in littoral easements if they indicated there was social pressure for manicured lawns and more likely to enroll if they had more formal education, shoreline frontage, naturally occurring riparian plants, ecological knowledge, or if the lake shoreline was more developed. Enrollment in easements in the riparian zone was significantly less likely if property owners indicated social pressure for manicured lawns, but more likely if they had more formal education, naturally occurring riparian plants, or shoreline frontage. When payments were low (<1,000 yr-1), marginal gains in enrollment were relatively high. Some respondents may enroll in littoral (29.8% ± 2.2; mean ± SE) and riparian (24.4% ± 2.1) easements even without payment. Estimated mean willingness to accept values were 1,365 yr-1 (littoral) and $7,298 yr-1 (riparian). Targeting high-probability property owners with large shoreline frontages, more formal education, and high riparian plant coverages and conducting education to increase ecological knowledge and change social norms could increase conservation outcomes for water quality and habitat.

Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Fisher Scientific in Bridgewater, New Jersey

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Fisher Scientific Packaging Facility is an operating facility located on approximately 58 acres in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The site is bounded to the north by Route 202. Most of the frontage on Route 202 is retail/commercial, but there are still small

36 CFR 292.16 - Standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... on the property. Signs not to exceed 20 square feet in area, 6 feet in length and 15 feet maximum... and liquid waste originating on or resulting from use of the property. (4) All new utilities will be...-foot frontage on new building sites. (iv) All new buildings set in 10 feet from each side of property...

A New Library for Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Hugh

2004-01-01

The newly-built library at Ireland's Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) is innovative in design, responds to environmental conditions and identifies the campus with its location. The library is part of the Learning Resource Centre recently constructed to meet the institute's objective for a new landmark frontage. This article presents the…

Multifunctional Public Space As Exemplified By the Concept of the Development of Kopernik Square in Opole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilczek, Iwona; Tenczyński, Mariusz

2017-10-01

In 2015 the authorities of the city of Opole decided to sell a part of Kopernik Square, one of the main city squares, to a private investor. The objective of this project was the extension of the existing shopping mall and the construction of an underground car park within the scope of a public-private partnership. In order to find the best solution to design the remaining part of the square, a competition for its development was announced in cooperation with the Opole branch of the Association of Polish Architects. The article presents a description of the studies and analyses of the aforementioned space conducted by the db2 architekci architectural studio for the purpose of preparing a competition entry. The square development concept was based on an analysis of the urban context of the Opole city centre. The character of the public spaces within a twenty-minute walk from Kopernik Square was analysed. In the course of the works, a decision was made to develop the public space in a manner different from that originally intended by the Investor. A graphic visualization of the maximum scope of the shopping mall extension was presented in accordance with the urban layout of this part of the city, allowing the preservation of the historical view corridors. The article presents a competition entry prepared by us along with a justification of decisions concerning the design. One of the fundamental design assumptions was the connection of all frontages with the square and the creation of a recreational part abounding in green areas. The concept provided for the division of the area into three parts of various characters. The central part of the square is a green area of a recreational character - a space so far absent in the city centre. Catering and food services, shops, parking spaces for bicycles as well as services related to the parking area are located at the southern frontage of the square under one roofing. The area directly adjoining the shopping mall is an open multifunctional and partly roofed square - a place where cyclical events are held in the city. The project allows for a harmonious combination of various functions performed by Kopernik Square. The adopted traffic solutions, in particular the entrance to and exit from the underground car park have a positive influence on road traffic in this part of the city. Due to maintaining the historical urban layout and view corridors, the new building development does not overwhelm the square space but constitutes its harmonious closure.

Engineering Provision of Assault Crossing of Rivers,

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-21

in the first place, in the missile and nuclear weapons warfare sharply they increased frontage and the depth of troop dispositions in the defense...modern missile and nuclear weapons warfare the medium * and wide rivers, reinforced by mine fields and decomposition of water-engineering and other...PMP and transport motor pool PVD -20. The existing pontoon trains make it possible to mechanize labor-consuming fitters work, to the minimum to bring

Toward Combined Arms Warfare: A Survey of 20th-Century Tactics, Doctrine, and Organization

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-08-01

understandLng and cooperation, but a much greater confidence on the part of the infantry. Next, BruckmiEller allocated .different weapons against different...Army prevented major changes In equipment and organization until the mid-1930s. Then the army was able to use public works funds allocated to...of firepower and frontage that should be allocated per man and per unit, the proportion of artillery and transportation that should support the

Command and Control: Does Current U.S. Army Tactical Command and Control Doctrine Meet the Requirement for Today’s High Intensity Battlefield?

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-12-02

units, organized to fully integrate the effects of combined arms, merging individual capabilities of mobility, protection, and fire power to provide a... capability to meet a wide range of operational requirements with minimal reorganization. Organizations which provide this inherent flexibility...5 LA - .- f increasingly proficient and capable massed Soviet armies attacking on broad frontages, and finally the surprising German t-actica; and

Defense Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). Abstracts of Phase I Awards. 1985.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-01-01

AND MECHANICAL EROSION. THIS CAN CAUSE CAT - ASTROPHIC FAILURE OR STABILITY AND ACCURACY PROBLEMS OF REENTRY VEHICLES. THE TPS MUST BE ABLE TO PROTECT...RESPIRATORY, INFLUENZA AND ENCEPHALITIS VIRUSES . MCR TECHNOLOGY CORP SDIO $ 0 237 E DELAWARE PL - #10A CHICAGO, IL 60611 DR CHARLES K RHODES TITLE: SMALL RUGGED...MICROGENESYS INC ARMY $ 0 400 FRONTAGE RD W HAVEN, CT 06516 DR MARK A COCHRAN TITLE: BACULOVIRUS RECOMBINANTS THAT EXPRESS HEPATITIS B VIRUS SURFACE

Valuable water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlowicz, Michael

In some places, money flows with water. Studying both the water quality and property values around 22 lakes in south-central Maine, Kevin Boyle and Holly James of the University of Maine and Roy Bouchard of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection have found that good water quality makes waterfront property even more valuable. To gauge water quality, the researchers used Secchi disks to measure the clarity of the water at depth. They also reviewed 543 lakefront property sales between 1990 and 1994 to determine how values correlated with changing water conditions. The group also considered such factors as lake frontage, sizes of the houses and lots, and size of the lake.

Surface faulting near Livermore, California, associated with the January 1980 earthquakes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bonilla, Manuel G.; Lienkaemper, James J.; Tinsley, John C.

1980-01-01

The earthquakes of 24 January (Ms 5.8) 1980 north of Livermore, California, and 26 January (Ms 5.2), were accompanied by surface faulting in the Greenville fault zone and apparently in the Las Positas fault zone also. The surface faulting was discontinuous and of small displacement. The main rupture within the Greenville fault zone trended about N.38°W. It was at least 4.2 km long and may have extended southward to Interstate Highway 580, giving a possible length of 6.2 km; both of these lengths included more gaps than observed surface rupture. Maximum displacements measured by us were about 25 mm of right slip (including afterslip through 28 January); vertical components of as much as 50 mm were seen locally, but these included gravity effects of unknown amount. The main break within the Greenville fault zones is very close to a fault strand mapped by Herd (1977, and unpublished data). A subsidiary break within the Greenville fault zone was about 0.5 km. long, had a general trend of N.46°W., and lay 0.12 to 0.25 km east of the main break. It was characterized by extension of as much as 40 mm and right slip of as much as 20 mm. This break was no more than 25 m from a fault mapped by Herd (unpublished data). Another break within the Greenville fault zone lay about 0.3 km southwest of the projection of the main break and trended about N33°W. It was at least 0.3 km long and showed mostly extension, but at several places a right-lateral component (up to 5 mm) was seen. This break was 80 to 100 m from a strand of the Greenville fault mapped by Herd (1977). Extensional fractures within the Greenville fault zone on the frontage roads north and south of Interstate Highway 580 may be related to regional extension or other processes, but do not seem to have resulted from faulting of the usual kind. One exception in this group is a fracture at the east side of Livermore valley which showed progressive increase in right-lateral displacement in February and March, 1980, and is directly on the projection of a fault in the Greenville fault zone mapped by Herd (1977). A group of more than 20 extensional fractures in Laughlin Road 1 km north of Interstate 580 probably are related to small tectonic displacements on faults in the Greenville fault zone. They are adjacent and parallel to two faults mapped by Herd (1977), are diagonal to the road, and most of them developed between 25 and 29 January, a period that included the Ms 5.2 shock of 26 January. Observations at two locations indicate tectonic displacement on the Las Positas fault zone as mapped by Herd (1977). At Vasco Road a prominent break on a strand of the fault showed about 0.5 mm of left-lateral strike slip on 7 February. An alinement array across this and other fractures at the locality indicates about 6 mm of left-lateral displacement occurred between 21 February and 26 March. On Tesla Road several right-stepping fractures, one of which showed 1.5 mm of left-lateral strike slip, lie on or close tp previously mapped strands of the Las Positas fault zone. The evidence at these two localities indicates that tectonic surface displacement occurred along at least 1.1 km of the Las Positas fault zone.

Conservation of the `Piast' Cinema in Słubice: An Architectural, Urban or Moral Problem?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eckert, Wojciech

2016-12-01

For many years, attempts have been made to remove the relic of the `Piast' Cinema in the western town of Słubice from Poland's monuments register. This would allow for its demolition and construction of a modern commercial building on the site. The majority of the building has already be demolished, with only the front elevation remaining. The façade of the cinema has unique artistic value, representing a rare example of the art deco style in the region. The building also forms an important part of the cultural landscape of this border town, representing the history of both Słubice and nearby Frankfurt. With its total demolition, Słubice would lose a unique monument and the entire frontage of the street on which it is located would be downgraded.

Supplement Analysis for the Wildlife Mitigation Program EIS (DOE/EIS-0246/SA-23) - Canby Ferry Conservation Easement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stewart, Shannon C.

2002-05-15

BPA proposes to purchase a conservation easement on approximately 16 acres of the Canby Ferry parcel in Clackamas County, Oregon for the protection of wetland, riparian, and riverine habitats. This project is part of a multi-agency effort to protect Willamette River frontage and to connect existing Oregon State Park lands with recreational trails. Once the conservation easement is finalized, a management plan will be developed for the Canby Ferry parcel and adjacent parcels, including the Fish Eddy parcel and the Molalla State Park parcel. Future management actions on these lands will likely involve wildlife habitat and riparian area enhancement, restoration,more » and preservation activities. This Supplement Analysis covers the acquisition of the Canby Ferry conservation easement only; all proposed management activities (on the Canby Ferry parcel and adjacent parcels) will require additional NEPA analysis prior to implementation.« less

Predicting motor vehicle collisions using Bayesian neural network models: an empirical analysis.

PubMed

Xie, Yuanchang; Lord, Dominique; Zhang, Yunlong

2007-09-01

Statistical models have frequently been used in highway safety studies. They can be utilized for various purposes, including establishing relationships between variables, screening covariates and predicting values. Generalized linear models (GLM) and hierarchical Bayes models (HBM) have been the most common types of model favored by transportation safety analysts. Over the last few years, researchers have proposed the back-propagation neural network (BPNN) model for modeling the phenomenon under study. Compared to GLMs and HBMs, BPNNs have received much less attention in highway safety modeling. The reasons are attributed to the complexity for estimating this kind of model as well as the problem related to "over-fitting" the data. To circumvent the latter problem, some statisticians have proposed the use of Bayesian neural network (BNN) models. These models have been shown to perform better than BPNN models while at the same time reducing the difficulty associated with over-fitting the data. The objective of this study is to evaluate the application of BNN models for predicting motor vehicle crashes. To accomplish this objective, a series of models was estimated using data collected on rural frontage roads in Texas. Three types of models were compared: BPNN, BNN and the negative binomial (NB) regression models. The results of this study show that in general both types of neural network models perform better than the NB regression model in terms of data prediction. Although the BPNN model can occasionally provide better or approximately equivalent prediction performance compared to the BNN model, in most cases its prediction performance is worse than the BNN model. In addition, the data fitting performance of the BPNN model is consistently worse than the BNN model, which suggests that the BNN model has better generalization abilities than the BPNN model and can effectively alleviate the over-fitting problem without significantly compromising the nonlinear approximation ability. The results also show that BNNs could be used for other useful analyses in highway safety, including the development of accident modification factors and for improving the prediction capabilities for evaluating different highway design alternatives.

Vertical Displacement of the Surface Area over the Leakage to the Transverse salt Mine in 1992-2012

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipecki, Tomasz

2018-03-01

The leakage of water in the salt mine caused considerable deformation of the surface. This article shows the vertical displacement in the area of leakage to the mine excavation, measured by precision leveling, carried out from the first days of leakage in 1992 until 2012. The geological and hydrogeological conditions of the mine, as well as the associated water hazards were described, which in conjunction with the inconvenient location of the excavation site in the northern frontage of the Carpathians and also inadequately conducted mining operations, contributed to the risk of flooding mine. The analysis of the vertical movements of the surface - subsidence and uplift - were present as well as the process of formation of the depression trough in the form of maps and graphs. The analyzes were based on 49 measurement series, starting from the first days of the disaster within the next 20 years. The course of development of the depression trough and the condition of the surface after stopping the water from the rock mass has been shown, which caused the surface to uplift.

[Study on the application of pyroelectric infrared sensor to safety protection system].

PubMed

Wang, Song-de; Zhang, Shuan-ji; Zhu, Xiao-long; Yang, Jie-hui

2006-11-01

Using the infrared ray of human body, which is received and magnified by pyroelectric infrared sensor to form a certain voltage control signal, and using the control signal to trigger a voice recording-reproducing circuit, a pyroelectric infrared detector voice device with auto-control function designed. The circuit adopted new pyroelectric infrared detector assembly and voice recording-reproducing assembly. When someone is present in the detectable range of the pyroelectric infrared detector, first, the pyroelectric infrared sensor will transform the incepted radiation energy to a electric signal, which is then magnified and compared by an inside circuit, and an output control signal, touches off the voice recording-reproducing assembly with the reproducer sending out a beforehand transcribed caution voice to wise the man who does not know well the surrounding condition that the frontage is a danger zone and should not be approched. With the design of integrated structures, the distance-warning device has the advantages of strong anti-jamming ability, low temperature resistance, working stability and use-convenience, and it can be suitably installed and used in several locations which may endanger person safety, such as substation, high voltage switch panel, electric transformer, etc.

Panoramic Images Mapping Tools Integrated Within the ESRI ArcGIS Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Jiao; Zhong, Ruofei; Zeng, Fanyang

2014-03-01

There is a general study on panoramic images which are presented along with appearance of the Google street map. Despite 360 degree viewing of street, we can realize more applications over panoramic images. This paper developed a toolkits plugged in ArcGIS, which can view panoramic photographs at street level directly from ArcMap and measure and capture all visible elements as frontages, trees and bridges. We use a series of panoramic images adjoined with absolute coordinate through GPS and IMU. There are two methods in this paper to measure object from these panoramic images: one is to intersect object position through a stereogram; the other one is multichip matching involved more than three images which all cover the object. While someone wants to measure objects from these panoramic images, each two panoramic images which both contain the object can be chosen to display on ArcMap. Then we calculate correlation coefficient of the two chosen panoramic images so as to calculate the coordinate of object. Our study test different patterns of panoramic pairs and compare the results of measurement to the real value of objects so as to offer the best choosing suggestion. The article has mainly elaborated the principles of calculating correlation coefficient and multichip matching.

7 CFR 301.74-3 - Quarantined areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

...; then west on West County House Road to Maple Ridge Road; then west on Maple Ridge Road to Culvert Road; then north on Culvert Road to Telegraph Road; then west on Telegraph Road to Beales Road; then north on Beales Road to Portage Road; then east on Portage Road to Culvert Rd; then north on Culvert Road to Route...

7 CFR 301.74-3 - Quarantined areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

...; then west on West County House Road to Maple Ridge Road; then west on Maple Ridge Road to Culvert Road; then north on Culvert Road to Telegraph Road; then west on Telegraph Road to Beales Road; then north on Beales Road to Portage Road; then east on Portage Road to Culvert Rd; then north on Culvert Road to Route...

7 CFR 301.74-3 - Quarantined areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

...; then west on West County House Road to Maple Ridge Road; then west on Maple Ridge Road to Culvert Road; then north on Culvert Road to Telegraph Road; then west on Telegraph Road to Beales Road; then north on Beales Road to Portage Road; then east on Portage Road to Culvert Rd; then north on Culvert Road to Route...

7 CFR 301.74-3 - Quarantined areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

...; then west on West County House Road to Maple Ridge Road; then west on Maple Ridge Road to Culvert Road; then north on Culvert Road to Telegraph Road; then west on Telegraph Road to Beales Road; then north on Beales Road to Portage Road; then east on Portage Road to Culvert Rd; then north on Culvert Road to Route...

View east along Wolf Den Road showing residences on the ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

View east along Wolf Den Road showing residences on the north side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT

View northwest along Wolf Den Road showing residences on the ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

View northwest along Wolf Den Road showing residences on the north side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT

View southwest along Brown Road showing residential and commercial buildings ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

View southwest along Brown Road showing residential and commercial buildings on the north and south sides of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT

Distributed road assessment system

DOEpatents

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.

View southeast to Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing the Israel ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

View southeast to Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing the Israel Putnam Memorial - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT

Road Safety Barriers, the Need and Influence on Road Traffic Accidents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butāns, Ž.; Gross, K. A.; Gridnevs, A.; Karzubova, E.

2015-11-01

Constantly increasing intensity of road traffic and the allowed speed limits seem to impose stronger requirements on road infrastructure and use of road safety systems. One of the ways to improve road safety is the use of road restraint systems. Road safety barriers allow not only reducing the number of road traffic accidents, but also lowering the severity of accidents. The paper provides information on the technical requirements of road safety barriers. Various types of road safety barriers and their selection criteria for different types of road sections are discussed. The article views an example of a road traffic accident, which is also modelled by PC-Crash computer program. The given example reflects a road accident mechanism in case of a car-to-barrier collision, and provides information about the typical damage to the car and the barrier. The paper describes an impact of the road safety barrier type and its presence on the road traffic accident mechanism. Implementation and maintenance costs of different barrier types are viewed. The article presents a discussion on the necessity to use road safety barriers, as well as their optimal choice.

Do roads reduce painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) populations?

PubMed

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.

Do Roads Reduce Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) Populations?

PubMed Central

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. PMID:24858065

Rural rustic roads improvement program

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-11-11

This program provides for the initial pavement of rural roads. Under the Rural Rustic Roads Program, the governing body of any county, in consultation with the Department, may designate a road or road segment as a Rural Rustic Road provided such road...

Road Infrastructure Safety Management in Poland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 stretch, road section, junction, etc.). 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. This work has added to the Polish experience of preparing and implementing such tools within the competent road authorities.

36 CFR 294.23 - Road construction and reconstruction in Idaho Roadless Areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... be mitigated by road maintenance. Road realignment may occur under this subsection only if the road.... (e) Road maintenance. Maintenance of temporary and forest roads is permissible in Idaho Roadless... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Road construction and...

High-Fidelity Roadway Modeling and Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Jie; Papelis, Yiannis; Shen, Yuzhong; Unal, Ozhan; Cetin, Mecit

2010-01-01

Roads are an essential feature in our daily lives. With the advances in computing technologies, 2D and 3D road models are employed in many applications, such as computer games and virtual environments. Traditional road models were generated by professional artists manually using modeling software tools such as Maya and 3ds Max. This approach requires both highly specialized and sophisticated skills and massive manual labor. Automatic road generation based on procedural modeling can create road models using specially designed computer algorithms or procedures, reducing the tedious manual editing needed for road modeling dramatically. But most existing procedural modeling methods for road generation put emphasis on the visual effects of the generated roads, not the geometrical and architectural fidelity. This limitation seriously restricts the applicability of the generated road models. To address this problem, this paper proposes a high-fidelity roadway generation method that takes into account road design principles practiced by civil engineering professionals, and as a result, the generated roads can support not only general applications such as games and simulations in which roads are used as 3D assets, but also demanding civil engineering applications, which requires accurate geometrical models of roads. The inputs to the proposed method include road specifications, civil engineering road design rules, terrain information, and surrounding environment. Then the proposed method generates in real time 3D roads that have both high visual and geometrical fidelities. This paper discusses in details the procedures that convert 2D roads specified in shape files into 3D roads and civil engineering road design principles. The proposed method can be used in many applications that have stringent requirements on high precision 3D models, such as driving simulations and road design prototyping. Preliminary results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Response of moose to a high‐density road network

USGS Publications Warehouse

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 (<10 vehicles/day), we found moose crossed 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.

2. VIEW OF SWITCHBACKS IN FORESTA ROAD (OLD DAVIS CUTOFF ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

2. VIEW OF SWITCHBACKS IN FORESTA ROAD (OLD DAVIS CUT-OFF ROAD). NOTE FORESTA ROAD BRIDGE IN LOWER LEFT. ROAD CURVE HIDDEN IN TREES AT CENTER. NOTE ROAD CUT AT LEFT. LOOKING SSW. GIS: N-37"40'47.4"/W-119"47'22.2 - Foresta Road, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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) overall pavement condition, (2) condition assessment of the unbound pavement structure, (3) road fatigue related to subgrade frost-action, (4) drainage condition and (5) local damages, such as settlements of the surveyed road. The results of Road Analysis provide a better understanding of the causes of defects occurring on the road and allow more precise rehabilitation measures for problem layers.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 (< 2 degrees) causes water to flow over the road and form rills in the pavement. On preferential spots the rills develop into potholes; - Although in general the natural infiltration of the terrains surrounding the roads is sufficient, in some road sections water from adjacent sloping terrain brings extra water on the road; - A thin cover of leaves on the footpaths and road sections with low car traffic improves the infiltration in the road, and reduces the run-off to other the road sections to nearly zero. Leaves along the roadside also help to retard and reduce the run-off over the roads. However leaves on or along the road are not tolerated by most inhabitants, the roads need to be 'clean'. Our conclusion: Each dirt road is unique, but also within one dirt road there are important geological differences that have consequences for its maintenance. Knowledge of geodiversity of the terrain and study of small-scale erosion processes can help to improve the management of dirt roads. References Gemeente Ede, Nota Zandwegen, 2009.

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

PubMed

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.

Image feature based GPS trace filtering for road network generation and road segmentation

DOE PAGES

Yuan, Jiangye; Cheriyadat, Anil M.

2015-10-19

We propose a new method to infer road networks from GPS trace data and accurately segment road regions in high-resolution aerial images. Unlike previous efforts that rely on GPS traces alone, we exploit image features to infer road networks from noisy trace data. The inferred road network is used to guide road segmentation. We show that the number of image segments spanned by the traces and the trace orientation validated with image features are important attributes for identifying GPS traces on road regions. Based on filtered traces , we construct road networks and integrate them with image features to segmentmore » road regions. Lastly, our experiments show that the proposed method produces more accurate road networks than the leading method that uses GPS traces alone, and also achieves high accuracy in segmenting road regions even with very noisy GPS data.« less

Image feature based GPS trace filtering for road network generation and road segmentation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yuan, Jiangye; Cheriyadat, Anil M.

We propose a new method to infer road networks from GPS trace data and accurately segment road regions in high-resolution aerial images. Unlike previous efforts that rely on GPS traces alone, we exploit image features to infer road networks from noisy trace data. The inferred road network is used to guide road segmentation. We show that the number of image segments spanned by the traces and the trace orientation validated with image features are important attributes for identifying GPS traces on road regions. Based on filtered traces , we construct road networks and integrate them with image features to segmentmore » road regions. Lastly, our experiments show that the proposed method produces more accurate road networks than the leading method that uses GPS traces alone, and also achieves high accuracy in segmenting road regions even with very noisy GPS data.« less

Roads influence movement and home ranges of a fragmentation-sensitive carnivore, the bobcat, in an urban landscape

USGS Publications Warehouse

Poessel, Sharon A; Boydston, Erin E.; Lyren, Lisa M.; Fisher, Robert N.; Burdett, Christopher L.; Alonso, Robert S.; Crooks, Kevin R.

2014-01-01

Roads in urbanized areas can impact carnivore populations by constraining their movements and increasing mortality. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) are felids capable of living in urban environments, but are sensitive to habitat fragmentation and, thus, useful indicators of landscape connectivity; in particular, bobcat habitat selection, movement, and mortality may be affected by roads. We analyzed movement patterns of 52 bobcats in southern California in three study sites and investigated: (1) how bobcats responded to two types of roads within their home ranges; (2) how they placed their home ranges with respect to roads within the study area; and (3) whether male and female bobcats differed in their behavioral responses to roads. Within home ranges, primary and secondary roads did not influence movements, but bobcats more frequently crossed secondary roads when road densities were higher within their home ranges, thus increasing mortality risk. However, road densities within each study site were several times higher than road densities within home ranges, suggesting bobcats selected against roaded areas in home-range placement. Male home ranges bordering roads were smaller than home ranges for other males, but male home ranges containing roads were larger than those without roads. Male bobcats also were more likely to cross roads than females, potentially reflecting larger male home range sizes. Our results suggest roads have important impacts on urban bobcats, with stronger effects on males than females, and continued efforts to mitigate the effects of roads on carnivores and other fragmentation-sensitive species would help promote connectivity conservation in urban systems.

Effects of roads on survival of San Clemente Island foxes

USGS Publications Warehouse

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.

25 CFR 170.801 - What is the BIA Road Maintenance Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What is the BIA Road Maintenance Program? 170.801 Section... ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.801 What is the BIA Road Maintenance Program? The BIA Road... subpart contains a list of activities that are eligible for funding under the BIA road maintenance program. ...

1. Entrance to Heintooga Round Bottom Road and sign looking ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. Entrance to Heintooga Round Bottom Road and sign looking N. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Heintooga Round Bottom Road & Balsam Mountain Road, Between Blue Ridge Parkway & Big Cove Road, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN

A study on the relationship between urban roads and car fuel consumption based on the ST-matching algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Mingshan; Zhang, Wenbo; Zhou, Yuan; Xun, Yanqin; Wang, Rui

2017-07-01

Since the study of fuel consumptions is of great importance and the related data is accessible, many researches about factors affecting fuel consumptions have appeared.To sum up, the driving style of drivers, automobile emissions and the type of the routes are the mainly three factors.Classification is relatively single.In order to improve the classification accuracy' this text studies that there exist some special roads,when drivers drive through them,their fuel consumptions will be similar because of road qualities.To achieve this goal, the first step is to calculate fuel consumptions per 100km of all city roads.Recognizing and examining special roads based on the ST-Matching algorithm.Third is to analyze road qualities of special roads like the length of roads, the speed of driving, and compare them with other common roads.Then we choose 4 cases to analyze. We find that when driving through special roads, fuel consumptions would be similar because of road qualities.Besides, the average length of special roads is longer than common roads' and the mean velocity, the speed of getting and off special roads are faster than common roads'.The findings in this paper can filter out special road segments as noisy data in the study of relationship between driving styles and fuel consumptions,and it also has very high practical significance on recommending fuel-efficient paths.

Developing a 3D Road Cadastral System: Comparing Legal Requirements and User Needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gristina, S.; Ellul, C.; Scianna, A.

2016-10-01

Road transport has always played an important role in a country's growth and, in order to manage road networks and ensure a high standard of road performance (e.g. durability, efficiency and safety), both public and private road inventories have been implemented using databases and Geographical Information Systems. They enable registering and managing significant amounts of different road information, but to date do not focus on 3D road information, data integration and interoperability. In an increasingly complex 3D urban environment, and in the age of smart cities, however, applications including intelligent transport systems, mobility and traffic management, road maintenance and safety require digital data infrastructures to manage road data: thus new inventories based on integrated 3D road models (queryable, updateable and shareable on line) are required. This paper outlines the first step towards the implementation of 3D GIS-based road inventories. Focusing on the case study of the "Road Cadastre" (the Italian road inventory as established by law), it investigates current limitations and required improvements, and also compares the required data structure imposed by cadastral legislation with real road users' needs. The study aims to: a) determine whether 3D GIS would improve road cadastre (for better management of data through the complete life-cycle infrastructure projects); b) define a conceptual model for a 3D road cadastre for Italy (whose general principles may be extended also to other countries).

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

USGS Publications Warehouse

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.

Differential Effects of Roads and Traffic on Space Use and Movements of Native Forest-Dependent and Introduced Edge-Tolerant Species

PubMed Central

Chen, Hsiang Ling; Koprowski, John L.

2016-01-01

Anthropogenic infrastructure such as roads and non-native species are major causes of species endangerment. Understanding animal behavioral responses to roads and traffic provides insight into causes and mechanisms of effects of linear development on wildlife and aids effective mitigation and conservation. We investigated effects of roads and traffic on space use and movements of two forest-dwelling species: endemic, forest-dependent Mount Graham red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis) and introduced, edge-tolerant Abert’s squirrels (Sciurus aberti). To assess the effects of roads on space use and movement patterns, we compared the probability that a squirrel home range included roads and random lines in forests, and assessed effects of traffic intensity on rate of road crossing and movement patterns. Red squirrels avoided areas adjacent to roads and rarely crossed roads. In contrast, Abert’s squirrels were more likely to include roads in their home ranges compared to random lines in forests. Both red squirrels and Abert’s squirrels increased speed when crossing roads, compared to before and after road crossings. Increased hourly traffic volume reduced the rate of road crossings by both species. Behavioral responses of red squirrels to roads and traffic resemble responses to elevated predation risk, including reduced speed near roads and increased tortuosity of movement paths with increased traffic volume. In contrast, Abert’s squirrels appeared little affected by roads and traffic with tortuosity of movement paths reduced as distance to roads decreased. We found that species with similar body size category (<1 kg) but different habitat preference and foraging strategy responded to roads differently and demonstrated that behavior and ecology are important when considering effects of roads on wildlife. Our results indicate that roads restricted movements and space use of a native forest-dependent species while creating habitat preferred by an introduced, edge-tolerant species. PMID:26821366

Differential Effects of Roads and Traffic on Space Use and Movements of Native Forest-Dependent and Introduced Edge-Tolerant Species.

PubMed

Chen, Hsiang Ling; Koprowski, John L

2016-01-01

Anthropogenic infrastructure such as roads and non-native species are major causes of species endangerment. Understanding animal behavioral responses to roads and traffic provides insight into causes and mechanisms of effects of linear development on wildlife and aids effective mitigation and conservation. We investigated effects of roads and traffic on space use and movements of two forest-dwelling species: endemic, forest-dependent Mount Graham red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis) and introduced, edge-tolerant Abert's squirrels (Sciurus aberti). To assess the effects of roads on space use and movement patterns, we compared the probability that a squirrel home range included roads and random lines in forests, and assessed effects of traffic intensity on rate of road crossing and movement patterns. Red squirrels avoided areas adjacent to roads and rarely crossed roads. In contrast, Abert's squirrels were more likely to include roads in their home ranges compared to random lines in forests. Both red squirrels and Abert's squirrels increased speed when crossing roads, compared to before and after road crossings. Increased hourly traffic volume reduced the rate of road crossings by both species. Behavioral responses of red squirrels to roads and traffic resemble responses to elevated predation risk, including reduced speed near roads and increased tortuosity of movement paths with increased traffic volume. In contrast, Abert's squirrels appeared little affected by roads and traffic with tortuosity of movement paths reduced as distance to roads decreased. We found that species with similar body size category (<1 kg) but different habitat preference and foraging strategy responded to roads differently and demonstrated that behavior and ecology are important when considering effects of roads on wildlife. Our results indicate that roads restricted movements and space use of a native forest-dependent species while creating habitat preferred by an introduced, edge-tolerant species.

Why are some animal populations unaffected or positively affected by roads?

PubMed

Rytwinski, Trina; Fahrig, Lenore

2013-11-01

In reviews on effects of roads on animal population abundance we found that most effects are negative; however, there are also many neutral and positive responses [Fahrig and Rytwinski (Ecol Soc 14:21, 2009; Rytwinski and Fahrig (Biol Conserv 147:87-98, 2012)]. Here we use an individual-based simulation model to: (1) confirm predictions from the existing literature of the combinations of species traits and behavioural responses to roads that lead to negative effects of roads on animal population abundance, and (2) improve prediction of the combinations of species traits and behavioural responses to roads that lead to neutral and positive effects of roads on animal population abundance. Simulations represented a typical situation in which road mitigation is contemplated, i.e. rural landscapes containing a relatively low density (up to 1.86 km/km(2)) of high-traffic roads, with continuous habitat between the roads. In these landscapes, the simulations predict that populations of species with small territories and movement ranges, and high reproductive rates, i.e. many small mammals and birds, should not be reduced by roads. Contrary to previous suggestions, the results also predict that populations of species that obtain a resource from roads (e.g. vultures) do not increase with increasing road density. In addition, our simulations support the predation release hypothesis for positive road effects on prey (both small- and large-bodied prey), whereby abundance of a prey species increased with increasing road density due to reduced predation by generalist road-affected predators. The simulations also predict an optimal road density for the large-bodied prey species if it avoids roads or traffic emissions. Overall, the simulation results suggest that in rural landscapes containing high-traffic roads, there are many species for which road mitigation may not be necessary; mitigation efforts should be tailored to the species that show negative population responses to roads.

A tool to analyze environmental impacts of roads on forest watersheds

Treesearch

Ajay Prasad

2007-01-01

The construction and use of forest roads can have impacts on geomorphic processes and erosion patterns in forested basins. Analyzing these impacts will help forest managers to effectively manage road and road drainage system and hence minimize the negative impacts of forest roads. To manage forest roads effectively the USDA Forest Service (USFS) has developed a road...

Characteristics of the auto users and non-users of central Texas toll roads.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-08-01

As toll road usage increases to finance new road infrastructure or add capacity to existing road infrastructure, the : question of who does and does not use toll roads becomes increasingly important to toll road developers, financiers, : Traffic and ...

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

PubMed

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.

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

USGS Publications Warehouse

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.

Erosion and sediment delivery following removal of forest roads

USGS Publications Warehouse

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.

Automatic 3D high-fidelity traffic interchange modeling using 2D road GIS data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jie; Shen, Yuzhong

2011-03-01

3D road models are widely used in many computer applications such as racing games and driving simulations. However, almost all high-fidelity 3D road models were generated manually by professional artists at the expense of intensive labor. There are very few existing methods for automatically generating 3D high-fidelity road networks, especially for those existing in the real world. Real road network contains various elements such as road segments, road intersections and traffic interchanges. Among them, traffic interchanges present the most challenges to model due to their complexity and the lack of height information (vertical position) of traffic interchanges in existing road GIS data. This paper proposes a novel approach that can automatically produce 3D high-fidelity road network models, including traffic interchange models, from real 2D road GIS data that mainly contain road centerline information. The proposed method consists of several steps. The raw road GIS data are first preprocessed to extract road network topology, merge redundant links, and classify road types. Then overlapped points in the interchanges are detected and their elevations are determined based on a set of level estimation rules. Parametric representations of the road centerlines are then generated through link segmentation and fitting, and they have the advantages of arbitrary levels of detail with reduced memory usage. Finally a set of civil engineering rules for road design (e.g., cross slope, superelevation) are selected and used to generate realistic road surfaces. In addition to traffic interchange modeling, the proposed method also applies to other more general road elements. Preliminary results show that the proposed method is highly effective and useful in many applications.

Most common road safety engineering deficiencies in South Eastern Europe as a part of safe system approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jovanov, D.; Vollpracht, H. J.; Beles, H.; Popa, V.; Tolea, B. A.

2017-10-01

Most common road safety engineering deficiencies identified by the authors in South Eastern Europe, including Romania, have been collected together and presented in this paper as a part of road safety unbreakably connected to the safe system approach (driver-vehicle-road). In different South Eastern Europe countries Road Safety Audit (RSA), Road Safety Inspection (RSI), as well as Black Spot Management (BSM) was introduced and practical implementation experience enabled the authors to analyze the road safety problems. Typical road safety engineering deficiencies have been presented in 8 different subsections, based on PIARC (World Road Association) RSA approach. This paper presents collected common road safety problems with relevant illustrations (real pictures) with associated accident risks.

The road plan model: Information model for planning road building activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Azinhal, Rafaela K.; Moura-Pires, Fernando

1994-01-01

The general building contractor is presented with an information model as an approach for deriving a high-level work plan of construction activities applied to road building. Road construction activities are represented in a Road Plan Model (RPM), which is modeled in the ISO standard STEP/EXPRESS and adopts various concepts from the GARM notation. The integration with the preceding road design stage and the succeeding phase of resource scheduling is discussed within the framework of a Road Construction Model. Construction knowledge is applied to the road design and the terrain model of the surrounding road infrastructure for the instantiation of the RPM. Issues regarding the implementation of a road planner application supporting the RPM are discussed.

Vulnerability Analysis and Evaluation of Urban Road System in Tianjin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y. Q.; Wu, X.

In recent years, with the development of economy, the road construction of our country has entered into a period of rapid growth. The road transportation network has been expanding and the risk of disasters is increasing. In this paper we study the vulnerability of urban road system in Tianjin. After analyzed many risk factors of the urban road system security, including road construction, road traffic and the natural environment, we proposed an evaluation index of vulnerability of urban road system and established the corresponding evaluation index system. Based on the results of analysis and comprehensive evaluation, appropriate improvement measures and suggestions which may reduce the vulnerability of the road system and improve the safety and reliability of the road system are proposed.

The association of road safety knowledge and risk behaviour with paediatric road traffic injury in Guangzhou, China.

PubMed

Dong, Xiaomei; Peek-Asa, Corinne; Yang, Jingzhen; Wang, Shengyong; Chen, Xiongfei; Chi, Guibo; Ramirez, Marizen

2011-02-01

This study describes road traffic injuries among school-aged children in Guangzhou, China, and examines the effect of road safety knowledge and risk behaviours on road traffic injuries. A stratified cluster sample of 3747 children from six primary schools and six middle schools in Guangzhou, China, was surveyed. Data were collected on sociodemographic factors and road traffic injuries during the past year. Knowledge about road safety rules was assessed using a 14-item road safety knowledge index, and risky road safety behaviours were measured using a 25-item road safety behaviour index. A total of 403 (10.8%) students reported having at least one road traffic injury during the past 12 months. A high proportion of injuries was found among children who were boys, in primary school and from the suburbs. Bicycle-related injuries were the most common (46.0% of all injuries). Motor vehicle-related injuries had higher hospitalisation rates and worse psychological impact than bicycle or pedestrian injuries. Children with low and medium road safety knowledge had 1.5 to 3 times the odds of injury compared with students with high road safety knowledge. Students with high scores on the risky road behaviour index had twice the odds of injury (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.47 to 2.84) compared with students with low scores. Better road safety knowledge and the avoidance of walking or cycling-related risk behaviours are protective factors for road traffic injuries among Chinese school children. More injury prevention programmes are needed to improve road safety knowledge and reduce risk behaviours.

Characteristics of the truck users and non-users of Texas toll roads.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-08-01

As the use of toll roads increase to finance new road infrastructure or add capacity to existing road infrastructure, the : question of who use and do not use toll roads becomes increasingly important to toll road developers, financiers, : Traffic an...

GIS Data Based Automatic High-Fidelity 3D Road Network Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Jie; Shen, Yuzhong

2011-01-01

3D road models are widely used in many computer applications such as racing games and driving simulations_ However, almost all high-fidelity 3D road models were generated manually by professional artists at the expense of intensive labor. There are very few existing methods for automatically generating 3D high-fidelity road networks, especially those existing in the real world. This paper presents a novel approach thai can automatically produce 3D high-fidelity road network models from real 2D road GIS data that mainly contain road. centerline in formation. The proposed method first builds parametric representations of the road centerlines through segmentation and fitting . A basic set of civil engineering rules (e.g., cross slope, superelevation, grade) for road design are then selected in order to generate realistic road surfaces in compliance with these rules. While the proposed method applies to any types of roads, this paper mainly addresses automatic generation of complex traffic interchanges and intersections which are the most sophisticated elements in the road networks

Unofficial Road Building in the Amazon: Socioeconomic and Biophysical Explanations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Multispectral Image Road Extraction Based Upon Automated Map Conflation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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), differs from conventional measures and is created to account for both changes of spectral direction and spectral magnitude in a unified fashion. The ATD measure is particularly suitable for differentiating urban targets such as roads and building rooftops. The curvilinear image provides estimates of the width and orientation of potential road segments. Road vectors derived from OpenStreetMap are then conflated to image road features by applying junction matching and intermediate point matching, followed by refinement with mean-shift clustering and morphological processing to produce a road mask with piecewise width estimates. The proposed approach is tested on a set of challenging, large, and diverse image data sets and the performance accuracy is assessed. The method is effective for road detection and width estimation of roads, even in challenging scenarios when extensive occlusion occurs.

Spatial Resolution Effect on Forest Road Gradient Calculation and Erosion Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, L.; Elliot, W.

2017-12-01

Road erosion is one of the main sediment sources in a forest watershed and should be properly evaluated. With the help of GIS technology, road topography can be determined and soil loss can be predicted at a watershed scale. As a vector geographical feature, the road gradient should be calculated following road direction rather than hillslope direction. This calculation might be difficult with a coarse (30-m) DEM which only provides the underlying topography information. This study was designed to explore the effect of road segmentation and DEM resolution on the road gradient calculation and erosion prediction at a watershed scale. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model was run on road segments of 9 lengths ranging from 40m to 200m. Road gradient was calculated from three DEM data sets: 1m LiDAR, and 10m and 30m USGS DEMs. The 1m LiDAR DEM calculated gradients were very close to the field observed road gradients, so we assumed the 1m LiDAR DEM predicted the true road gradient. The results revealed that longer road segments skipped detail topographical undulations and resulted in lower road gradients. Coarser DEMs computed steeper road gradients as larger grid cells covered more adjacent areas outside road resulting in larger elevation differences. Field surveyed results also revealed that coarser DEM might result in more gradient deviation in a curved road segment when it passes through a convex or concave slope. As road segment length increased, the gradient difference between three DEMs was reduced. There were no significant differences between road gradients of different segment lengths and DEM resolution when segments were longer than 100m. For long segments, the 10m DEM calculated road gradient was similar to the 1m LiDAR gradient. When evaluating the effects of road segment length, the predicted erosion rate decreased with increasing length when road gradient was less than 3%. In cases where the road gradients exceed 3% and rill erosion dominates, predicted erosion rates exponentially increased with segment length. At the watershed scale, most of the predicted soil loss occurred on segments with gradients ranging from 3% to 9%. Based on the road gradient calculated with the 10-m and 30-m DEMs, soil loss was overestimated when compared to the 1m LiDAR DEM. Both the 10m and 30m DEM result in similar total road soil loss.

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

PubMed

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-kills, realistic mitigation measures, and detailed designs for road monitoring programs.

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

PubMed Central

Santos, Sara M.; 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 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 conservation and transportation agencies with accurate numbers of road-kills, realistic mitigation measures, and detailed designs for road monitoring programs. PMID:21980437

24 CFR 1710.110 - Roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... (4) Who is responsible for road maintenance? If the roads are to be maintained by a public authority... for maintaining the roads and that, if maintenance is not performed, the roads may soon deteriorate... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Roads. 1710.110 Section 1710.110...

40 CFR 81.306 - Colorado.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... boundary, then: east along the County line to Elbert Road; south on Elbert Road to Judge Orr Road; east on Judge Orr Road to Ellicott Highway; south on Ellicott Highway to Squirrel Creek Road; west on Squirrel Creek Road to Williams Creek; south along Williams Creek to the confluence of Williams and Fountain...

36 CFR 212.9 - Principles for sharing use of roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... roads. 212.9 Section 212.9 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... of roads. The use of roads under arrangements for sharing costs or performance shall be in accordance with the following: (a) Road improvement. Use of a road for commercial hauling, except occasional or...

36 CFR 212.9 - Principles for sharing use of roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... roads. 212.9 Section 212.9 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... of roads. The use of roads under arrangements for sharing costs or performance shall be in accordance with the following: (a) Road improvement. Use of a road for commercial hauling, except occasional or...

36 CFR 212.9 - Principles for sharing use of roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... roads. 212.9 Section 212.9 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... of roads. The use of roads under arrangements for sharing costs or performance shall be in accordance with the following: (a) Road improvement. Use of a road for commercial hauling, except occasional or...

75 FR 69619 - East Reservoir Project; Kootenai National Forest, Lincoln County, MT

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-15

... harvest. Vegetation treatments total approximately 13,000 acres of treated area. (2) Road management includes new road construction, road storage and adding existing, undetermined roads to the National Forest Service road system. Approximately 2.04 miles of new road construction is proposed. Approximately 40 miles...

An approach to accidents modeling based on compounds road environments.

PubMed

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.

The Priority of Road Rehabilitation in Karanganyar Regency Using IRI Estimation from Roadroid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Achmadi, F.; Suprapto, M.; Setyawan, A.

2017-02-01

The IRI (International Roughness Index) is a road roughness index commonly obtained from measured longitudinal road profiles. This is one of the functional performance a surface of road pavement. Therefore, needs to be done evaluation and monitoring periodically to getting priority of road rehabilitation right on target. The IRI standard has commonly been used worldwide for evaluating road system. The Roadroid is an application to measure road quality with a website to view road quality. It is designed for Android smartphones, so we can easily measure and monitor the road and also use the camera for GPS-tagged photo. By using the built-in vibration sensor in smartphones, it is possible to collect IRI value which can be an indicator road conditions. This study attempts to explain the priority of road rehabilitation in Karanganyar Regency. The location of the study focused on a collector street (primary, secondary and locally road). The result of IRI estimation will be combined with other aspects that influences; land use, policy, the connectivity of road and traffic average daily. Based on IRI estimation using Roadroid, the road conditions in Karanganyar Regency can be described 59,60% were good (IRI<4,5) 21,30% fair (4,512).

Testing road surface treatments to reduce erosion in forest roads in Honduras [Tratamientos de la superficie de rodadura para reducir la erosion en caminos forestales en Honduras

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rivera, Samuel; Kershner, Jeffrey L.; Keller, Gordon R.

2009-01-01

Testing road surface treatments to reduce erosion in forest roads in Honduras. Cien. Inv. Agr. 36(3):425-432. Using forest roads produces more erosion and sedimentation than any other forest or agricultural activity. This study evaluated soil losses from a forest road in central Honduras over two consecutive years. We divided a 400-m segment of road into 8 experimental units, each 50 m in length. Four units were treated with Best Management Practices (BMPs) and four were left untreated. The BMP treatments included reshaping the road prism, installing culverts and reshaping of road ditches, compacting 20-cm layers of the road tread, crowning the road surface (3% slope, double drainage), longitudinal sloping (less than 12%), and adding a 10-cm layer of gravel (crush size = 0.63 cm). Soil movement was measured daily during the rainy seasons. The highest soil loss occurred in the control road, around 500 m3 km-1 per year, while the road treated with BMP lost approximately 225 m3km-1 per year. These results show that road surface erosion can be reduced up to 50% with the implementation of surface treatments.

Scan Line Based Road Marking Extraction from Mobile LiDAR Point Clouds.

PubMed

Yan, Li; Liu, Hua; Tan, Junxiang; Li, Zan; Xie, Hong; Chen, Changjun

2016-06-17

Mobile Mapping Technology (MMT) is one of the most important 3D spatial data acquisition technologies. The state-of-the-art mobile mapping systems, equipped with laser scanners and named Mobile LiDAR Scanning (MLS) systems, have been widely used in a variety of areas, especially in road mapping and road inventory. With the commercialization of Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADASs) and self-driving technology, there will be a great demand for lane-level detailed 3D maps, and MLS is the most promising technology to generate such lane-level detailed 3D maps. Road markings and road edges are necessary information in creating such lane-level detailed 3D maps. This paper proposes a scan line based method to extract road markings from mobile LiDAR point clouds in three steps: (1) preprocessing; (2) road points extraction; (3) road markings extraction and refinement. In preprocessing step, the isolated LiDAR points in the air are removed from the LiDAR point clouds and the point clouds are organized into scan lines. In the road points extraction step, seed road points are first extracted by Height Difference (HD) between trajectory data and road surface, then full road points are extracted from the point clouds by moving least squares line fitting. In the road markings extraction and refinement step, the intensity values of road points in a scan line are first smoothed by a dynamic window median filter to suppress intensity noises, then road markings are extracted by Edge Detection and Edge Constraint (EDEC) method, and the Fake Road Marking Points (FRMPs) are eliminated from the detected road markings by segment and dimensionality feature-based refinement. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by three data samples and the experiment results indicate that road points are well extracted from MLS data and road markings are well extracted from road points by the applied method. A quantitative study shows that the proposed method achieves an average completeness, correctness, and F-measure of 0.96, 0.93, and 0.94, respectively. The time complexity analysis shows that the scan line based road markings extraction method proposed in this paper provides a promising alternative for offline road markings extraction from MLS data.

Scan Line Based Road Marking Extraction from Mobile LiDAR Point Clouds†

PubMed Central

Yan, Li; Liu, Hua; Tan, Junxiang; Li, Zan; Xie, Hong; Chen, Changjun

2016-01-01

Mobile Mapping Technology (MMT) is one of the most important 3D spatial data acquisition technologies. The state-of-the-art mobile mapping systems, equipped with laser scanners and named Mobile LiDAR Scanning (MLS) systems, have been widely used in a variety of areas, especially in road mapping and road inventory. With the commercialization of Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADASs) and self-driving technology, there will be a great demand for lane-level detailed 3D maps, and MLS is the most promising technology to generate such lane-level detailed 3D maps. Road markings and road edges are necessary information in creating such lane-level detailed 3D maps. This paper proposes a scan line based method to extract road markings from mobile LiDAR point clouds in three steps: (1) preprocessing; (2) road points extraction; (3) road markings extraction and refinement. In preprocessing step, the isolated LiDAR points in the air are removed from the LiDAR point clouds and the point clouds are organized into scan lines. In the road points extraction step, seed road points are first extracted by Height Difference (HD) between trajectory data and road surface, then full road points are extracted from the point clouds by moving least squares line fitting. In the road markings extraction and refinement step, the intensity values of road points in a scan line are first smoothed by a dynamic window median filter to suppress intensity noises, then road markings are extracted by Edge Detection and Edge Constraint (EDEC) method, and the Fake Road Marking Points (FRMPs) are eliminated from the detected road markings by segment and dimensionality feature-based refinement. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by three data samples and the experiment results indicate that road points are well extracted from MLS data and road markings are well extracted from road points by the applied method. A quantitative study shows that the proposed method achieves an average completeness, correctness, and F-measure of 0.96, 0.93, and 0.94, respectively. The time complexity analysis shows that the scan line based road markings extraction method proposed in this paper provides a promising alternative for offline road markings extraction from MLS data. PMID:27322279

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

PubMed

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 citizen science approach would be a cost-efficient method aiming to identify and monitor road-kill hotspots of amphibians and reptiles on a larger scale.

Supporting drivers in forming correct expectations about transitions between rural road categories.

PubMed

Stelling-Konczak, Agnieszka; Aarts, Letty; Duivenvoorden, Kirsten; Goldenbeld, Charles

2011-01-01

In order to support drivers in forming the right expectations on the road, road categories are being made recognisable and predictable in the Netherlands. The present study investigated which of the selected road layouts can make rural road categories most recognisable for road users, especially in transitions from one road category to another. A second objective was to study whether explicit information could contribute to a better recognisability of transitions. The experiment was performed with a series of photographs showing sections of two road categories with an intersection in between. The road layout of road categories varied in markings and separation of driving direction (within-subjects factor). Informed and non-informed participants (between-subjects factor) had to indicate their expectations regarding speed limit and access restriction of each road section, before and after a transition. The results show that for transitions between distributor and through roads, the physicality of separation of driving direction is a better distinctive characteristic than the currently used edge marking. The green centre marking on through roads also enhances recognisability, but only with additional information. As far as transitions between distributor and access roads are concerned, the results demonstrate that this type of transitions is better recognised when no markings on access roads are present. Physical separation of driving directions on distributor roads also improves recognisability, although this layout is associated with higher speed limits. Providing explicit information has in general a positive effect on the reconisability of transitions. Implications are discussed in the light of potential safety effects. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fugitive dust emissions from paved road travel in the Lake Tahoe basin.

PubMed

Zhu, Dongzi; Kuhns, Hampden D; Brown, Scott; Gillies, John A; Etyemezian, Vicken; Gertler, Alan W

2009-10-01

The clarity of water in Lake Tahoe has declined substantially over the past 40 yr. Causes of the degradation include nitrogen and phosphorous fertilization of the lake waters and increasing amounts of inorganic fine sediment that can scatter light. Atmospheric deposition is a major source of fine sediment. A year-round monitoring study of road dust emissions around the lake was completed in 2007 using the Testing Re-entrained Aerosol Kinetic Emissions from Roads (TRAKER) system developed at the Desert Research Institute (DRI). Results of this study found that, compared with the summer season, road dust emissions increased by a factor of 5 in winter, on average, and about a factor of 10 when traction control material was applied to the roads after snow events. For winter and summer, road dust emission factors (grams coarse particulate matter [PM10] per vehicle kilometer traveled [g/vkt]) showed a decreasing trend with the travel speed of the road. The highest emission factors were observed on very low traffic volume roads on the west side of the lake. These roads were composed of either a 3/8-in. gravel material or had degraded asphalt. The principle factors influencing road dust emissions in the basin are season, vehicle speed (or road type), road condition, road grade, and proximity to other high-emitting roads. Combined with a traffic volume model, an analysis of the total emissions from the road sections surveyed indicated that urban areas (in particular South Lake Tahoe) had the highest emitting roads in the basin.

3. ENVIRONMENT, FROM SOUTH, SHOWING RIVER ROAD RIDGE CARRYING CASSELMAN ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

3. ENVIRONMENT, FROM SOUTH, SHOWING RIVER ROAD RIDGE CARRYING CASSELMAN RIVER ROAD OVER CASSELMAN RIVER - River Road Bridge, Crossing Casselman River on Casselman River Road, Grantsville, Garrett County, MD

Sediment production from forest roads in western Oregon

Treesearch

Charlie Luce; Thomas A. Black

1999-01-01

Prevention and estimation of soil erosion from forest roads requires an understanding of how road design and maintenance affect sediment production. Seventy-four plots were installed on forest roads in the Oregon Coast Range to examine the relationship between sediment production and road attributes such as distance between culverts, road slope, soil texture,...

48 CFR 452.236-79 - Opted Timber Sale Road Requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Opted Timber Sale Road... Opted Timber Sale Road Requirements. As prescribed in 436.579, insert the following clause: Opted Timber Sale Road Requirements (NOV 1996) This contract is for the construction of timber sale road(s) which a...

36 CFR 294.23 - Road construction and reconstruction in Idaho Roadless Areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... safety; (v) Road reconstruction is needed to implement a road safety improvement project on a road... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Road construction and..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SPECIAL AREAS Idaho Roadless Area Management § 294.23 Road construction and...

An Automated Road Roughness Detection from Mobile Laser Scanning Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, P.; Angelats, E.

2017-05-01

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.

Encapsulating urban traffic rhythms into road networks.

PubMed

Wang, Junjie; Wei, Dong; He, Kun; Gong, Hang; Wang, Pu

2014-02-20

Using road GIS (geographical information systems) data and travel demand data for two U.S. urban areas, the dynamical driver sources of each road segment were located. A method to target road clusters closely related to urban traffic congestion was then developed to improve road network efficiency. The targeted road clusters show different spatial distributions at different times of a day, indicating that our method can encapsulate dynamical travel demand information into the road networks. As a proof of concept, when we lowered the speed limit or increased the capacity of road segments in the targeted road clusters, we found that both the number of congested roads and extra travel time were effectively reduced. In addition, the proposed modeling framework provided new insights on the optimization of transport efficiency in any infrastructure network with a specific supply and demand distribution.

Note on evaluating safety performance of road infrastructure to motivate safety competition.

PubMed

Han, Sangjin

2016-01-01

Road infrastructures are usually developed and maintained by governments or public sectors. There is no competitor in the market of their jurisdiction. This monopolic feature discourages road authorities from improving the level of safety with proactive motivation. This study suggests how to apply a principle of competition for roads, in particular by means of performance evaluation. It first discusses why road infrastructure has been slow in safety oriented development and management in respect of its business model. Then it suggests some practical ways of how to promote road safety between road authorities, particularly by evaluating safety performance of road infrastructure. These are summarized as decision of safety performance indicators, classification of spatial boundaries, data collection, evaluation, and reporting. Some consideration points are also discussed to make safety performance evaluation on road infrastructure lead to better road safety management.

Encapsulating Urban Traffic Rhythms into Road Networks

PubMed Central

Wang, Junjie; Wei, Dong; He, Kun; Gong, Hang; Wang, Pu

2014-01-01

Using road GIS (geographical information systems) data and travel demand data for two U.S. urban areas, the dynamical driver sources of each road segment were located. A method to target road clusters closely related to urban traffic congestion was then developed to improve road network efficiency. The targeted road clusters show different spatial distributions at different times of a day, indicating that our method can encapsulate dynamical travel demand information into the road networks. As a proof of concept, when we lowered the speed limit or increased the capacity of road segments in the targeted road clusters, we found that both the number of congested roads and extra travel time were effectively reduced. In addition, the proposed modeling framework provided new insights on the optimization of transport efficiency in any infrastructure network with a specific supply and demand distribution. PMID:24553203

The influence of thermal biology on road mortality risk in snakes.

PubMed

Mccardle, Logan D; Fontenot, Clifford L

2016-02-01

Road mortality is a significant threat to terrestrial vertebrates in many areas, and the novel thermal environment of black-topped roads may represent ecological traps for some species and demographic groups. We investigated the relationship between ambient temperature and on-road detection in a snake assemblage in southeastern Louisiana by comparing observations of live snakes on a black-topped road, across measurements of air temperature and road temperature on survey days. Analyses indicated on-road detection of snakes was significantly influenced by ambient temperature conditions for five snake species. Additionally, road temperatures, and the difference between air and road temperatures, were strong drivers of on-road snake detections. Permutation analysis methods revealed that significant temperature related group (species or sex) structure exists in occurrences of snakes on the roadway, and that road temperature was the strongest driver of species differences. We also compared how air and road temperatures affected occurrence on the road between sexes in the colubrid snakes Nerodia fasciata, Nerodia cyclopion, Thamnophis proximus, and Pantherophis obsoletus. Males and females of the viviparous species N. fasciata, N. cyclopion, and T. proximus diverged significantly in temperature preferences, with females found under warmer conditions, while males and females of the oviparous species P. obsoletus did not. Road temperature was also the strongest driver of differences between sexes. Our results indicate that black-topped roads are an ecological trap that is heavily influenced by sex, reproductive condition, and species specific thermoregulatory requirements, particularly for viviparous species. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban street structure and traffic safety.

PubMed

Mohan, Dinesh; Bangdiwala, Shrikant I; Villaveces, Andres

2017-09-01

This paper reports the influence of road type and junction density on road traffic fatality rates in U.S. cities. The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) files were used to obtain fatality rates for all cities for the years 2005-2010. A stratified random sample of 16 U.S. cities was taken, and cities with high and low road traffic fatality rates were compared on their road layout details (TIGER maps were used). Statistical analysis was done to determine the effect of junction density and road type on road traffic fatality rates. The analysis of road network and road traffic crash fatality rates in these randomly selected U.S. cities shows that, (a) higher number of junctions per road length was significantly associated with a lower motor- vehicle crash and pedestrian mortality rates, and, (b) increased number of kilometers of roads of any kind was associated with higher fatality rates, but an additional kilometer of main arterial road was associated with a significantly higher increase in total fatalities. When compared to non-arterial roads, the higher the ratio of highways and main arterial roads, there was an association with higher fatality rates. These results have important implications for road safety professionals. They suggest that once the road and street structure is put in place, that will influence whether a city has low or high traffic fatality rates. A city with higher proportion of wider roads and large city blocks will tend to have higher traffic fatality rates, and therefore in turn require much more efforts in police enforcement and other road safety measures. Urban planners need to know that smaller block size with relatively less wide roads will result in lower traffic fatality rates and this needs to be incorporated at the planning stage. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Distribution of heavy metals in road dust along an urban-rural gradient in Massachusetts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Apeagyei, Eric; Bank, Michael S.; Spengler, John D.

2011-04-01

Human exposures to particulate matter emitted from on-road motor vehicles include complex mixtures of metals from tires, brakes, parts wear and resuspended road dust. The aim of this study was to assess road dust for metals associated with motor vehicle traffic, particularly those metals coming from brake and tire wears. We hypothesized that the road dust would show significant difference in both composition and concentration by traffic type, road class and by location. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses of 115 parked car tires showed Zn and Ca were likely associated with tire wear dust. XRF results of three used brake pads indicated high concentrations of Fe, Ti, Cu, Ba, Mo and Zr. To assess heavy metal exposures associated with tires and brake wear adjacent to roads of varying traffic and functional classes, 85 samples of road dust were collected from road surfaces adjacent to the curb and analyzed by XRF. Median concentrations for Fe, Ca and K were greater than Ti (1619 ppm), with concentration ratios of Fe: Ca: K: Ti [16:5:3:1]. Cumulative frequency distribution graphs showed distribution of Fe, Ba, Cu, and Mo were similar regardless of road traffic rating. However, Zn, Ti, and Zr varied significantly ( p < 0.05) with traffic ratings of roadways (heavy > moderate > low traffic). Fe, Ba, Cu, and Mo also had similar distributions regardless of road class while composition of Zn, Ti, and Zr varied significantly across road class ( p < 0.05) (Major roads > Minor roads > highway). In comparing urban road dust to rural road dust, we observed Fe, Ca, K, and Ti were significantly greater in urban road dust ( p < 0.05). In urban road dust the Fe: Ca: K: Ti relationship with median Ti of 2216 ppm was 12: 6: 3.5: 1. These results indicate that roadway dust may be important sources of metals for runoff water and localized resuspended particulate matter.

On-road driving impairments and associated cognitive deficits after stroke.

PubMed

Devos, Hannes; Tant, Mark; Akinwuntan, Abiodun E

2014-01-01

Little is known about the critical on-road driving skills that get affected after a stroke. The purpose of this study was to investigate the key on-road driving impairments and their associated cognitive deficits after a stroke. A second aim was to investigate if lateralization of stroke impacts results of the cognitive and on-road driving tests. In this cross-sectional study, 99 participants with a first-ever stroke who were actively driving prior to stroke underwent a cognitive battery and a standardized road test that evaluated 13 specific on-road driving skills. These on-road driving skills were mapped onto an existing, theoretical framework that categorized the on-road items into hierarchic clusters of operational, tactical, visuo-integrative, and mixed driving skills. The total score on the road test and the on-road decision, made by a certified fitness-to-drive expert, decided the main outcome. The critical on-road driving skills predicting the on-road decision were identified using logistic regression analysis. Linear regression analysis was employed to determine the cognitive impairments leading to poor total on-road scores. Analyses were repeated for right- and left-sided strokes. In all, 37 persons scored poorly on the road test. These participants performed worse in all hierarchic clusters of on-road driving. Performances on the operational cluster and the visuo-integrative cluster best predicted on-road decisions (R(2) = 0.60). 'Lane changing' and 'understanding, insight, and quality of traffic participation' were the critical skill deficits leading to poor performance on the road test (R(2) = 0.65). Divided attention was the main determinant of on-road scores in the total group (R(2) = 0.06). Participants with right-sided stroke performed worse on visual field, visual neglect, visual scanning, visuo-constructive skills, and divided attention compared with those with left-sided stroke. Divided attention was the main determinant of total on-road scores in the right-sided stroke group (R(2) = 0.10). A combination of visual scanning, speed of processing, and executive dysfunction yielded the best model to predict on-road scores in left-sided strokes (R(2) = 0.46). Poor performance in the road test after stroke is determined by critical operational and visuo-integrative driving impairments. Specific and different driving evaluation and training programs are needed for right- and left-sided strokes. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Making road safety a public health concern for policy-makers in India.

PubMed

Dandona, Rakhi

2006-01-01

Road traffic injuries contribute substantially to the disease burden in India. This paper describes the road safety issues discussed by members of the Indian Parliament, and highlights the gaps that need to be addressed to make road safety visible as a public health problem to policy-makers in India. All questions asked to and information provided by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and questions relating to accident asked to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India were reviewed for the two Houses of the Indian Parliament for the years 2002 to 2004. Of the 1529 questions asked to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, only 140 (9.1%) were related to road safety, whereas 1076 (70.5%), 181 (11.8%), 51 (3.3%) and 81 (5.3%) were related to other aspects of the national highways, state roads, vehicles and other issues, respectively. Data on the magnitude of road crashes dealt only with the number of crashes and fatalities and not with the age, sex and type of road users affected by road traffic injuries. The parliamentarians were informed that human error was the main cause of road crashes in India; however, the robustness of this information is questionable. Strategies to prevent road crashes focused mainly on training of drivers with little attention to other factors that cause road crashes. The discussion on legislations also focused on drivers, ignoring other road users. Ten of the 4741 questions (0.2%) asked to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare were related to accident, the majority of which were about the setting up of trauma care services. An appropriate policy and intervention response by policy-makers is not possible with data that are presented in a manner that do not highlight the true nature of the problem, and are neither comprehensive nor robust. Majority of the proposed road safety interventions by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways are based on the traditional view of human error as a major cause of road crashes highlighting the lack of a scientific public health approach towards prevention of road crashes. It would be useful to build the technical capacity of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in road safety to use the available data more effectively, and to facilitate generation of further relevant data about the magnitude, underlying causes and impact of road traffic injuries, for policy-makers to better understand the critical issues for planning effective road safety policies and interventions to reduce the high burden of mortality and morbidity due to road crashes in India.

Effects of Road Density and Road-Salt Application Practices on Sodium and Chloride Loads to the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waldron, M. C.; Nimiroski, M.

2001-05-01

The Scituate Reservoir drainage basin is the drinking-water source area for two thirds of the population of Rhode Island. The effects of road density and road-salt-application practices on sodium and chloride concentrations in streams in the drainage basin were examined using concentration data collected at intervals of one to six months from January 1982 through June 2000 at 32 stream sites distributed throughout the basin. Median concentrations of sodium and chloride for individual streams during the period of data collection were related to 1995 road densities (road miles per square mile of subbasin) for roads maintained by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (State-maintained roads) and for roads maintained by the four municipalities in the drainage basin (locally maintained roads). Nearly 60 percent of the variation in median stream sodium and chloride concentrations was accounted for by the variation in density of State-maintained roads (R2= 0.595, p < 0.0001). In contrast, no correlations could be identified between median concentrations of sodium and chloride in streams and the densities of locally maintained roads in the subbasins (R2 = 0.001, p = 0.8771). Also, there was no difference in the relations between median stream sodium concentrations and subbasin road densities for data collected before and after a 1990 State-mandated reduction in the rate of application of sodium during winter deicing of State-maintained roads. Analysis of data on sources of sodium and chloride in the Scituate Reservoir drainage basin during water year 2000 (October 1999 through September 2000) indicates that, while the lengths and densities of locally maintained roads were greater than those of State-maintained roads in most subbasins, the total amount of sodium applied during water year 2000 was nearly three times greater for State-maintained roads than for locally maintained roads. This would be expected, given that State-maintained roads carry more traffic at higher speeds than do locally maintained roads. In addition, the State-maintained roads tend to have more efficient drainage systems that quickly transport runoff directly to the streams. The lack of effect of the reduced sodium application rate on the relation between median stream sodium concentration and density of State-maintained roads may be due to inaccurate monitoring of application rates or to mobilization of sodium previously applied and stored in drainage basin soils. Thus, the amounts of sodium and chloride transported by tributary streams to the Scituate Reservoir depend more on the type of roads and other conditions in the tributary subbasins than on the actual length or density of the roads.

Dust emissions from unpaved roads on the Colorado Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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), the minimum wind velocity required to initiate erosion, and sediment production were also quantified using a portable wind tunnel at monitoring sites. Additionally, numerous characteristics including gravel cover, particle-size distribution, soil compaction, and loose-erodible material were measured on road surfaces at monitoring sites. Preliminary results suggest that roads are an important regional dust source, as emissions from roads are comparable to non-road, rural sources that are being monitored concurrently. While gravel roads produce more dust per day on average, per vehicle emissions are larger on dirt roads. Dust flux decreases with distance from the road edge on all road types, however this decline is less pronounced on dirt roads. Portable wind tunnel results indicate that TFV is consistently lower on dirt versus gravel roads across all soil types. Fugitive dust flux is generally larger and more variable on dirt roads compared to gravel roads. Initial analyses suggest that several easily measurable road surface characteristics can potentially be used to predict both TFV and sediment production, including: total gravel cover, gravel particle-size classes, clay content, and road compaction. The relation between TFV and total gravel cover in particular appears to be non-linear, with TFV increasing rapidly above ~40% gravel cover.

Road and Roadside Feature Extraction Using Imagery and LIDAR Data for Transportation Operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ural, S.; Shan, J.; Romero, M. A.; Tarko, A.

2015-03-01

Transportation agencies require up-to-date, reliable, and feasibly acquired information on road geometry and features within proximity to the roads as input for evaluating and prioritizing new or improvement road projects. The information needed for a robust evaluation of road projects includes road centerline, width, and extent together with the average grade, cross-sections, and obstructions near the travelled way. Remote sensing is equipped with a large collection of data and well-established tools for acquiring the information and extracting aforementioned various road features at various levels and scopes. Even with many remote sensing data and methods available for road extraction, transportation operation requires more than the centerlines. Acquiring information that is spatially coherent at the operational level for the entire road system is challenging and needs multiple data sources to be integrated. In the presented study, we established a framework that used data from multiple sources, including one-foot resolution color infrared orthophotos, airborne LiDAR point clouds, and existing spatially non-accurate ancillary road networks. We were able to extract 90.25% of a total of 23.6 miles of road networks together with estimated road width, average grade along the road, and cross sections at specified intervals. Also, we have extracted buildings and vegetation within a predetermined proximity to the extracted road extent. 90.6% of 107 existing buildings were correctly identified with 31% false detection rate.

A global strategy for road building.

PubMed

Laurance, William F; Clements, Gopalasamy Reuben; Sloan, Sean; O'Connell, Christine S; Mueller, Nathan D; Goosem, Miriam; Venter, Oscar; Edwards, David P; Phalan, Ben; Balmford, Andrew; Van Der Ree, Rodney; Arrea, Irene Burgues

2014-09-11

The number and extent of roads will expand dramatically this century. Globally, at least 25 million kilometres of new roads are anticipated by 2050; a 60% increase in the total length of roads over that in 2010. Nine-tenths of all road construction is expected to occur in developing nations, including many regions that sustain exceptional biodiversity and vital ecosystem services. Roads penetrating into wilderness or frontier areas are a major proximate driver of habitat loss and fragmentation, wildfires, overhunting and other environmental degradation, often with irreversible impacts on ecosystems. Unfortunately, much road proliferation is chaotic or poorly planned, and the rate of expansion is so great that it often overwhelms the capacity of environmental planners and managers. Here we present a global scheme for prioritizing road building. This large-scale zoning plan seeks to limit the environmental costs of road expansion while maximizing its benefits for human development, by helping to increase agricultural production, which is an urgent priority given that global food demand could double by mid-century. Our analysis identifies areas with high environmental values where future road building should be avoided if possible, areas where strategic road improvements could promote agricultural development with relatively modest environmental costs, and 'conflict areas' where road building could have sizeable benefits for agriculture but with serious environmental damage. Our plan provides a template for proactively zoning and prioritizing roads during the most explosive era of road expansion in human history.

Using remote sensing data to predict road fill areas and areas affected by fill erosion with planned forest road construction: a case study in Kastamonu Regional Forest Directorate (Turkey).

PubMed

Aricak, Burak

2015-07-01

Forest roads are essential for transport in managed forests, yet road construction causes environmental disturbance, both in the surface area the road covers and in erosion and downslope deposition of road fill material. The factors affecting the deposition distance of eroded road fill are the slope gradient and the density of plant cover. Thus, it is important to take these factors into consideration during road planning to minimize their disturbance. The aim of this study was to use remote sensing and field surveying to predict the locations that would be affected by downslope deposition of eroding road fill and to compile the data into a geographic information system (GIS) database. The construction of 99,500 m of forest roads is proposed for the Kastamonu Regional Forest Directorate in Turkey. Using GeoEye satellite images and a digital elevation model (DEM) for the region, the location and extent of downslope deposition of road fill were determined for the roads as planned. It was found that if the proposed roads were constructed by excavators, the fill material would cover 910,621 m(2) and the affected surface area would be 1,302,740 m(2). Application of the method used here can minimize the adverse effects of forest roads.

Global patterns of current and future road infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

7. LASSEN PARK ROAD BRIDGE AT SULFUR WORKS. NOTE ROAD ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

7. LASSEN PARK ROAD BRIDGE AT SULFUR WORKS. NOTE ROAD TRAVERSING DISTANT RIDGE BEYOND BRIDGE. SEEN FROM WEST OF HIGHWAY FROM OLD HIGHWAY LOOP. LOOKING E. - Lassen Park Road, Mineral, Tehama County, CA

36 CFR 294.21 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... maintenance: The ongoing upkeep of a road necessary to retain or restore the road to the approved road...) Has a geographic feature that aids in creating an effective fire break, such as a road or a ridge top..., Appendix Q. Forest road: As defined at 36 CFR 212.1, the term means a road wholly or partly within or...

36 CFR 251.114 - Criteria, terms and conditions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... required to construct new roads or reconstruct existing roads to bring the roads to a safe and adequate standard. A landowner also may be required to provide for the operation and maintenance of the road. This may be done by arranging for such road to be made part of the local public road system, or formation...

25 CFR 170.804 - How is BIA's Road Maintenance Program related to the IRR Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How is BIA's Road Maintenance Program related to the IRR... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.804 How is BIA's Road Maintenance Program related to the IRR Program? The following chart illustrates how BIA's Road Maintenance Program is...

The Use of Theatre Tours in Road Safety Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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.…

Identifying unstable sites on logging roads

Treesearch

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...

14. VIEW OF NORTHSOUTH ROAD WHICH PARALLELS ROAD TO HATCH ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

14. VIEW OF NORTH-SOUTH ROAD WHICH PARALLELS ROAD TO HATCH ADIT (FEATURE B-28). NOTE MODERN 'LAY DOWN' FENCE ON ROAD. ROAD LIES TO THE WEST OF THE HATCH ADIT AND PHOTOGRAPH IS VIEW TO THE SOUTH. (OCTOBER, 1995) - Nevada Lucky Tiger Mill & Mine, East slope of Buckskin Mountain, Paradise Valley, Humboldt County, NV

A generalised model for traffic induced road dust emissions. Model description and evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berger, Janne; Denby, Bruce

2011-07-01

This paper concerns the development and evaluation of a new and generalised road dust emission model. Most of today's road dust emission models are based on local measurements and/or contain empirical emission factors that are specific for a given road environment. In this study, a more generalised road dust emission model is presented and evaluated. We have based the emissions on road, tyre and brake wear rates and used the mass balance concept to describe the build-up of road dust on the road surface and road shoulder. The model separates the emissions into a direct part and a resuspension part, and treats the road surface and road shoulder as two different sources. We tested the model under idealized conditions as well as on two datasets in and just outside of Oslo in Norway during the studded tyre season. We found that the model reproduced the observed increase in road dust emissions directly after drying of the road surface. The time scale for the build-up of road dust on the road surface is less than an hour for medium to heavy traffic density. The model performs well for temperatures above 0 °C and less well during colder periods. Since the model does not yet include salting as an additional mass source, underestimations are evident under dry periods with temperatures around 0 °C, under which salting occurs. The model overestimates the measured PM 10 (particulate matter less than 10 μm in diameter) concentrations under heavy precipitation events since the model does not take the amount of precipitation into account. There is a strong sensitivity of the modelled emissions to the road surface conditions and the current parameterisations of the effect of precipitation, runoff and evaporation seem inadequate.

Behaviourally relevant road categorisation: a step towards self-explaining rural roads.

PubMed

Weller, Gert; Schlag, Bernhard; Friedel, Tino; Rammin, Carmen

2008-07-01

In contrast to motorways, rural roads are characterised by a large variation in design, appearance and function which is reflected in a comparatively large number of rural road categories. Depending on these categories, a certain (normative) behaviour is usually expected from the driver. These normative behavioural expectations are conveyed to the driver either by formal cues (e.g. speed limit signs) or are expected to be inferred from the road appearance or the affordance (Gibson, J.J., 1986. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale (New Jersey)) of the respective road situation. Unsafe situations are likely to occur if the perceived message conveyed by cues or affordances does not match the normative behavioural expectations of the official road category. In order to avoid such mismatch it is important to know how drivers categorise (rural) roads and which elements are used for this subjective and behaviourally relevant road categorisation. We therefore summarized the processes behind this categorisation in a model and conducted a study in a laboratory setting during which subjects were asked to rate a variety of rural road pictures. The study revealed that drivers distinguish between three different rural road categories which can be distinguished with comparatively few objective criteria. Applying these criteria helps to categorise and design rural roads along self-explaining road principles.

Qualitative study to explore stakeholder perceptions related to road safety in Hyderabad, India.

PubMed

Tetali, Shailaja; Lakshmi, J K; Gupta, Shivam; Gururaj, G; Wadhwaniya, Shirin; Hyder, Adnan A

2013-12-01

The Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Programme in India focuses on reduction of drink driving and increase in helmet usage in the city of Hyderabad. During the early stages of implementation, perceptions of stakeholders on road safety were explored as part of the monitoring and evaluation process for a better understanding of areas for improving road safety in Hyderabad. Fifteen in-depth interviews with government officials, subject experts, and road traffic injury victims, and four focus group discussions with trauma surgeons, medical interns, nurses, and taxi drivers were conducted, analysed manually, and presented as themes. Respondents found Hyderabad unsafe for road-users. Factors such as inadequate traffic laws, gaps in enforcement, lack of awareness, lack of political will, poor road engineering, and high-risk road users were identified as threats to road safety. The responsibility for road safety was assigned to both individual road-users and the government, with the former bearing the responsibility for safe traffic behaviour, and the latter for infrastructure provision and enforcement of regulations. The establishment of a lead agency to co-ordinate awareness generation, better road engineering, and stricter enforcement of traffic laws with economic and non-economic penalties for suboptimal traffic behaviour, could facilitate improved road safety in Hyderabad. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Road weather management performance measures : a way to measure achievement.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-04-01

This flyer describes the Road Weather Management Performance Measures that will help the Road Weather Management Program (RWMP) maximize the use of available road weather information and technologies; expand road weather research and development effo...

Identifying critical road geometry parameters affecting crash rate and crash type.

PubMed

Othman, Sarbaz; Thomson, Robert; Lannér, Gunnar

2009-10-01

The objective of this traffic safety investigation was to find critical road parameters affecting crash rate (CR). The study was based on crash and road maintenance data from Western Sweden. More than 3000 crashes, reported from 2000 to 2005 on median-separated roads, were collected and combined with road geometric and surface data. The statistical analysis showed variations in CR when road elements changed confirming that road characteristics affect CR. The findings indicated that large radii right-turn curves were more dangerous than left curves, in particular, during lane changing manoeuvres. However sharper curves are more dangerous in both left and right curves. Moreover, motorway carriageways with no or limited shoulders have the highest CR when compared to other carriageway widths, while one lane carriageway sections on 2+1 roads were the safest. Road surface results showed that both wheel rut depth and road roughness have negative impacts on traffic safety.

Can roads be used as transects for primate population surveys?.

PubMed

Hilário, Renato R; Rodrigues, Flávio H G; Chiarello, Adriano G; Mourthé, Italo

2012-01-01

Line transect distance sampling (LTDS) can be applied to either trails or roads. However, it is likely that sampling along roads might result in biased density estimates. In this paper, we compared the results obtained with LTDS applied on trails and roads for two primate species (Callithrix penicillata and Callicebus nigrifrons) to clarify whether roads are appropriate transects to estimate densities. We performed standard LTDS surveys in two nature reserves in south-eastern Brazil. Effective strip width and population density were different between trails and roads for C. penicillata, but not for C. nigrifrons. The results suggest that roads are not appropriate for use as transects in primate surveys, at least for some species. Further work is required to fully understand this issue, but in the meantime we recommend that researchers avoid using roads as transects or treat roads and trails as covariates when sampling on roads is unavoidable. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Identifying Critical Road Geometry Parameters Affecting Crash Rate and Crash Type

PubMed Central

Othman, Sarbaz; Thomson, Robert; Lannér, Gunnar

2009-01-01

The objective of this traffic safety investigation was to find critical road parameters affecting crash rate (CR). The study was based on crash and road maintenance data from Western Sweden. More than 3000 crashes, reported from 2000 to 2005 on median-separated roads, were collected and combined with road geometric and surface data. The statistical analysis showed variations in CR when road elements changed confirming that road characteristics affect CR. The findings indicated that large radii right-turn curves were more dangerous than left curves, in particular, during lane changing manoeuvres. However sharper curves are more dangerous in both left and right curves. Moreover, motorway carriageways with no or limited shoulders have the highest CR when compared to other carriageway widths, while one lane carriageway sections on 2+1 roads were the safest. Road surface results showed that both wheel rut depth and road roughness have negative impacts on traffic safety. PMID:20184841

Development and Validity of Western University's On-Road Assessment.

PubMed

Classen, Sherrilene; Krasniuk, Sarah; Alvarez, Liliana; Monahan, Miriam; Morrow, Sarah A; Danter, Tim

2017-01-01

Although used across North America, many on-road studies do not explicitly document the content and metrics of on-road courses and accompanying assessments. This article discusses the development of the University of Western Ontario's on-road course, and elucidates the validity of its accompanying on-road assessment. We identified main components for developing an on-road course and used measurement theory to establish face, content, and initial construct validity. Five adult volunteer drivers and 30 drivers with multiple sclerosis participated in the study. The road course had face and content validity, representing 100% of roadway components determined through a content validity matrix and index. The known-groups method showed that debilitated drivers (vs. not debilitated), made more driving errors ( W = 463.50, p = .03), and failed the on-road course, indicating preliminary construct validity of the on-road assessment. This research guides and empirically supports a process for developing a road course and its assessment.

[Exploratory study of road safety in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire in Republic of the Congo].

PubMed

Batala Mpondo, Georges; Bouanga, Marianne; Saya, Yvette Marie Clarisse; Maurice, Pierre; Burigusa, Guillaume

2014-01-01

Although road accidents in the Congo are reaching alarming levels (2,720 accidents in 2010 and 3,126 accidents in 2011), especially with the massive arrival of "Jakarta" mopeds, no evaluation has been conducted to identify and understand the factors responsible for this problem. This article reports the results of an exploratory study conducted in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire based on information collected from existing documents and by semidirective questionnaire of people from various sectors able to elucidate the problem of road safety. Using William Haddon's matrix, the parameters investigated were : road user behaviour ; environmental and technological factors ; characteristics of road accident victims ; quality of care ; intervention times and organization of prevention. This study demonstrated the absence of a road safety policy in Congo. It also showed that the main factors responsible for road accidents are behavioural (failure to wear safety belts, failure to comply with road signs, fatigue, use of a telephone while driving, etc.), followed by environmental and technological factors (insufficient traffic lights, absence of sidewalks, disorganized occupation of roads, general state of vehicles). This study shows that, in order to improve road safety in the Congo, it is essential to promote the development of national road safety policies and an action plan, intervention on the determinants of road accidents, and a change of road user behaviours (compulsory use of safety belts, ban on the use of a telephone and smoking while driving, etc.). Effective organization of the management of road accident victims and allocation of a budget to implement a road safety policy are also necessary.

Adapting Road Safety Audits to Local Rural Roads

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-10-01

Many rural governments do not have an effective safety improvement program for their roads, yet crash rates are significantly higher on rural roads than on urban, state, and federal roads. Smaller agencies seldom have the financial resources or exper...

47. Spring 1935 Harold J. Cook, photographer "Summit Road construction. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

47. Spring 1935 Harold J. Cook, photographer "Summit Road construction. Early stage of road tunnel construction, while tunnel was being driven on Summit Road, Scotts Bluff National Monument." - Scotts Bluff Summit Road, Gering, Scotts Bluff County, NE

2. AERIAL VIEW, SHOWING GLENDALE ROAD BRIDGE WITHIN ITS SETTING ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

2. AERIAL VIEW, SHOWING GLENDALE ROAD BRIDGE WITHIN ITS SETTING AT GLENDALE ROAD CROSSING OF DEEP CREEK LAKE (PHOTOGRAPH BY RUTHVAN MORROW) - Glendale Road Bridge, Spanning Deep Creek Lake on Glendale Road, McHenry, Garrett County, MD

1. AERIAL VIEW, SHOWING GLENDALE ROAD BRIDGE WITHIN ITS SETTING ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. AERIAL VIEW, SHOWING GLENDALE ROAD BRIDGE WITHIN ITS SETTING AT GLENDALE ROAD CROSSING OF DEEP CREEK LAKE (PHOTOGRAPH BY RUTHVAN MORROW) - Glendale Road Bridge, Spanning Deep Creek Lake on Glendale Road, McHenry, Garrett County, MD

25 CFR 170.808 - Can BIA Road Maintenance Program funds be used to improve IRR transportation facilities?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Can BIA Road Maintenance Program funds be used to improve... THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.808 Can BIA Road Maintenance Program funds be used to improve IRR transportation facilities? No. BIA Road...

Cost estimators for construction of forest roads in the central Appalachians

Treesearch

Deborah, A. Layton; Chris O. LeDoux; Curt C. Hassler; Curt C. Hassler

1992-01-01

Regression equations were developed for estimating the total cost of road construction in the central Appalachian region. Estimators include methods for predicting total costs for roads constructed using hourly rental methods and roads built on a total-job bid basis. Results show that total-job bid roads cost up to five times as much as roads built than when equipment...

25 CFR 170.122 - Can a tribe close a cultural access road?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Can a tribe close a cultural access road? 170.122 Section... ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Use of Irr and Cultural Access Roads § 170.122 Can a tribe close a cultural access road? (a) A tribe with jurisdiction over a cultural...

25 CFR 170.138 - Can roads be built in roadless and wild areas?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Can roads be built in roadless and wild areas? 170.138... RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Recreation, Tourism and Trails § 170.138 Can roads be built in roadless and wild areas? Under 25 CFR part 265 no roads can be...

25 CFR 170.122 - Can a tribe close a cultural access road?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Can a tribe close a cultural access road? 170.122 Section... ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Use of Irr and Cultural Access Roads § 170.122 Can a tribe close a cultural access road? (a) A tribe with jurisdiction over a cultural...

Salamander abundance along road edges and within abandoned logging roads in Appalachian forests.

PubMed

Semlitsch, Raymond D; Ryan, Travis J; Hamed, Kevin; Chatfield, Matt; Drehman, Bethany; Pekarek, Nicole; Spath, Mike; Watland, Angie

2007-02-01

Roads may be one of the most common disturbances in otherwise continuous forested habitat in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Despite their obvious presence on the landscape, there is limited data on the ecological effects along a road edge or the size of the "road-effect zone." We sampled salamanders at current and abandoned road sites within the Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina (U.S.A.) to determine the road-effect zone for an assemblage of woodland salamanders. Salamander abundance near the road was reduced significantly, and salamanders along the edges were predominantly large individuals. These results indicate that the road-effect zone for these salamanders extended 35 m on either side of the relatively narrow, low-use forest roads along which we sampled. Furthermore, salamander abundance was significantly lower on old, abandoned logging roads compared with the adjacent upslope sites. These results indicate that forest roads and abandoned logging roads have negative effects on forest-dependent species such as plethodontid salamanders. Our results may apply to other protected forests in the southern Appalachians and may exemplify a problem created by current and past land use activities in all forested regions, especially those related to road building for natural-resource extraction. Our results show that the effect of roads reached well beyond their boundary and that abandonment or the decommissioning of roads did not reverse detrimental ecological effects; rather, our results indicate that management decisions have significant repercussions for generations to come. Furthermore, the quantity of suitable forested habitat in the protected areas we studied was significantly reduced: between 28.6% and 36.9% of the area was affected by roads. Management and policy decisions must use current and historical data on land use to understand cumulative impacts on forest-dependent species and to fully protect biodiversity on national lands.

Proximity to a high traffic road: glucocorticoid and life history consequences for nestling white-crowned sparrows.

PubMed

Crino, O L; Van Oorschot, B Klaassen; Johnson, E E; Malisch, J L; Breuner, C W

2011-09-01

Roads have been associated with decreased reproductive success and biodiversity in avian communities and increased physiological stress in adult birds. Alternatively, roads may also increase food availability and reduce predator pressure. Previous studies have focused on adult birds, but nestlings may also be susceptible to the detrimental impacts of roads. We examined the effects of proximity to a road on nestling glucocorticoid activity and growth in the mountain white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha). Additionally, we examined several possible indirect factors that may influence nestling corticosterone (CORT) activity secretion in relation to roads. These indirect effects include parental CORT activity, nest-site characteristics, and parental provisioning. And finally, we assessed possible fitness consequences of roads through measures of fledging success. Nestlings near roads had increased CORT activity, elevated at both baseline and stress-induced levels. Surprisingly, these nestlings were also bigger. Generally, greater corticosterone activity is associated with reduced growth. However, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis matures through the nestling period (as nestlings get larger, HPA-activation is greater). Although much of the variance in CORT responses was explained by body size, nestling CORT responses were higher close to roads after controlling for developmental differences. Indirect effects of roads may be mediated through paternal care. Nestling CORT responses were correlated with paternal CORT responses and paternal provisioning increased near roads. Hence, nestlings near roads may be larger due to increased paternal attentiveness. And finally, nest predation was higher for nests close to the road. Roads have apparent costs for white-crowned sparrow nestlings--increased predation, and apparent benefits--increased size. The elevation in CORT activity seems to reflect both increased size (benefit) and elevation due to road proximity (cost). Whether or not roads are good or bad for nestlings remains equivocal. However, it is clear that roads affect nestlings; how or if these effects influence adult survival or reproduction remains to be elucidated. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Permeability of roads to movement of scrubland lizards and small mammals.

PubMed

Brehme, Cheryl S; Tracey, Jeff A; McClenaghan, Leroy R; Fisher, Robert N

2013-08-01

A primary objective of road ecology is to understand and predict how roads affect connectivity of wildlife populations. Road avoidance behavior can fragment populations, whereas lack of road avoidance can result in high mortality due to wildlife-vehicle collisions. Many small animal species focus their activities to particular microhabitats within their larger habitat. We sought to assess how different types of roads affect the movement of small vertebrates and to explore whether responses to roads may be predictable on the basis of animal life history or microhabitat preferences preferences. We tracked the movements of fluorescently marked animals at 24 sites distributed among 3 road types: low-use dirt, low-use secondary paved, and rural 2-lane highway. Most data we collected were on the San Diego pocket mouse (Chaetodipus fallax), cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus), western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis), orange-throated whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra), Dulzura kangaroo rat (Dipodomys simulans) (dirt, secondary paved), and deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) (highway only). San Diego pocket mice and cactus mice moved onto dirt roads but not onto a low-use paved road of similar width or onto the highway, indicating they avoid paved road substrate. Both lizard species moved onto the dirt and secondary paved roads but avoided the rural 2-lane rural highway, indicating they may avoid noise, vibration, or visual disturbance from a steady flow of traffic. Kangaroo rats did not avoid the dirt or secondary paved roads. Overall, dirt and secondary roads were more permeable to species that prefer to forage or bask in open areas of their habitat, rather than under the cover of rocks or shrubs. However, all study species avoided the rural 2-lane highway. Our results suggest that microhabitat use preferences and road substrate help predict species responses to low-use roads, but roads with heavy traffic may deter movement of a much wider range of small animal species. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Regional analysis of the effect of paved roads on sodium and chloride in lakes.

PubMed

Kelting, Daniel L; Laxson, Corey L; Yerger, Elizabeth C

2012-05-15

Salinization of surface water from sodium chloride (road salt) applied to paved roads is a widely recognized environmental concern in the northern hemisphere, yet practical information to improve winter road management to reduce the environmental impacts of this deicer is lacking. The purpose of our study was to provide such information by developing baseline concentrations for sodium and chloride for lakes in watersheds without paved roads, and then determining the relationship between these ions and density, type, and proximity of paved roads to shoreline. We used average summer (June-September) sodium and chloride data for 138 lakes combined in a watershed based analysis of paved road networks in the Adirondack Park of New York, U.S.A. The watersheds used in our study represented a broad range in paved road density and type, 56 of which had no paved roads. Median lake sodium and chloride concentrations in these 56 watersheds averaged 0.55 and 0.24 mg/L, respectively. In contrast, the median sodium and chloride concentrations for the 82 lakes in watersheds with paved roads were 3.60 and 7.22 mg/L, respectively. Paved road density (lane-km/km(2)) was positively correlated with sodium and chloride concentrations, but only state roads were significantly correlated with sodium and chloride while local roads were not. State road density alone explained 84 percent of the variation in both ions. We also successfully modeled the relationship between road proximity to shoreline and sodium and chloride concentrations in lakes, which allowed us to identify sections of road that contributed more to explaining the variation in sodium and chloride in lakes. This model and our approach could be used as part of larger efforts to identify environmentally sensitive areas where alternative winter road management treatments should be applied. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Permeability of roads to movement of scrubland lizards and small mammals

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brehme, Cheryl S.; Tracey, Jeff A.; McClenaghan, Leroy R.; Fisher, Robert N.

2013-01-01

A primary objective of road ecology is to understand and predict how roads affect connectivity of wildlife populations. Road avoidance behavior can fragment populations, whereas lack of road avoidance can result in high mortality due to wildlife-vehicle collisions. Many small animal species focus their activities to particular microhabitats within their larger habitat. We sought to assess how different types of roads affect the movement of small vertebrates and to explore whether responses to roads may be predictable on the basis of animal life history or microhabitat preferences preferences. We tracked the movements of fluorescently marked animals at 24 sites distributed among 3 road types: low-use dirt, low-use secondary paved, and rural 2-lane highway. Most data we collected were on the San Diego pocket mouse (Chaetodipus fallax), cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus), western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis), orange-throated whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra), Dulzura kangaroo rat (Dipodomys simulans) (dirt, secondary paved), and deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) (highway only). San Diego pocket mice and cactus mice moved onto dirt roads but not onto a low-use paved road of similar width or onto the highway, indicating they avoidpaved road substrate. Both lizard species moved onto the dirt and secondary paved roads but avoided the rural 2-lane rural highway, indicating they may avoid noise, vibration, or visual disturbance from a steady flow of traffic. Kangaroo rats did not avoid the dirt or secondary paved roads. Overall, dirt and secondary roads were more permeable to species that prefer to forage or bask in open areas of their habitat, rather than under the cover of rocks or shrubs. However, all study species avoided the rural 2-lane highway. Our results suggest that microhabitat use preferences and road substrate help predict species responses to low-use roads,but roads with heavy traffic may deter movement of a much wider range of small animal species.

[Influence of road on breeding habitat of Nipponia nippon based on MaxEnt model].

PubMed

Zhang, Hui; Gao, Ji Xi; Ma, Meng Xiao; Shao, Fang Ze; Wang, Qiao; Li, Guang Yu; Qiu, Jie; Zhou, Ke Xin

2017-04-18

Quantitative study on effects of roads on suitable breeding habitats of wildlife is one of topics that need in-depth research in road ecology. Crested ibis (Nipponia nippon), a first class nationally protected bird species, is the species of interest in this research. Using the Maximum Entropy Models (MaxEnt) in the Species Distribution Model (SDM) toolbox of ArcGIS, autocorrelation of environmental variables were analyzed and environmental variables with r>0.8 were removed. Ten environmental variables were chosen as impact factors for the breeding habitat of crested ibis, including mean temperature of coldest quarter, landscape type, normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI), slope, aspect, distance to waters, distance to paddy field, distance to high-grade roads (expressway, national way, provincial way), and distance to low-grade roads (country road). By analyzing the contribution rate of each environmental variable, the results showed that the mean temperature of coldest quarter, landscape type, distance to paddy field, and distance to high-grade roads were the main factors determining breeding habitat of crested ibis. The suitable distribution of crested ibis' nesting area was under the following scenarios: variable road present (scenario1), high-grade road absent (scenario2), and low-grade road absent (scenario 3). The results showed that the presence of roads affected suitable nesting areas of crested ibis with high-grade roads showing a larger influence than low-grade roads. The presence of high-grade roads and low-grade roads decreased the suitable nesting areas of crested ibis by 66.23 and 35.69 km 2 , respectively. The crested ibis preferred to nest in areas distant from high-grade roads, with an average road avoidance distance of 1500 m. This study was of great significance for formulating management measures to protect crested ibis and provide a reference for quantitative assessment on impacts of engineering and construction projects on wildlife.

Repeatability of road pavement condition assessment based on three-dimensional analysis of linear accelerations of vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Staniek, Marcin

2018-05-01

The article provides a discussion concerning a tool used for road pavement condition assessment based on signals of linear accelerations recorded with high sampling frequency for typical vehicles traversing the road network under real-life road traffic conditions. Specific relationships have been established for the sake of road pavement condition assessment, including identification of road sections of poor technical condition. The data thus acquired have been verified with regard to repeatability of estimated road pavement assessment indices. The data make it possible to describe the road network status against an area in which users of the system being developed move. What proves to be crucial in the assessment process is the scope of the data set based on multiple transfers within the road network.

Optimal policies for aggregate recycling from decommissioned forest roads.

PubMed

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).

Effects of roads on habitat quality for bears in the southern Appalachians: A long-term study

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reynolds-Hogland, M. J.; Mitchell, M.S.

2007-01-01

We tested the hypothesis that gravel roads, not paved roads, had the largest negative effect on habitat quality for a population of American black bears (Ursus americanus) that lived in a protected area, where vehicle collision was a relatively minimal source of mortality. We also evaluated whether road use by bears differed by sex or age and whether annual variation in hard mast productivity affected the way bears used areas near roads. In addition, we tested previous findings regarding the spatial extent to which roads affected bear behavior negatively. Using summer and fall home ranges for 118 black bears living in the Pisgah Bear Sanctuary in western North Carolina during 1981-2001, we estimated both home-range-scale (2nd-order) and within-home-range-scale (3rd-order) selection for areas within 250, 500, 800, and 1,600 m of paved and gravel roads. All bears avoided areas near gravel roads more than they avoided areas near paved roads during summer and fall for 2nd-order selection and during summer for 3rd-order selection. During fall, only adult females avoided areas near gravel roads more than they avoided areas near paved roads for 3rd-order selection. We found a positive relationship between use of roads by adults and annual variability in hard mast productivity. Overall, bears avoided areas within 800 m of gravel roads. Future research should determine whether avoidance of gravel roads by bears affects bear survival. ?? 2007 American Society of Mammalogists.

Pocket facts 2008 : Swedish Road Administration, roads and traffic

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-05-01

Pocket Facts offers an overall picture of the road : transport system. Here you will find a selection of : brief facts about roads, road transports, vehicles and : people in traffic. In addition, it presents the functions : and organisation at the SR...

Pocket facts 2009 : Swedish Road Administration, roads and traffic

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-05-01

This publication offers an overall picture of the road transport : system. Here you will find a selection of brief facts about roads, : road transports, vehicles and people in traffic. In addition, it : includes an overview of SRA tasks and organisat...

35. PRATER GRADE ROAD VIEW, FACING NW. NOTE WEATHERING STEEL ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

35. PRATER GRADE ROAD VIEW, FACING NW. NOTE WEATHERING STEEL RAIL AND ROAD CUT IN DISTANCE. MONTEZUMA VALLEY OVERLOOK IS JUST TO RIGHT OF DISTANT ROAD CUT. - Mesa Verde National Park Main Entrance Road, Cortez, Montezuma County, CO

Evaluation of safety ratings of roads based on frontal crashes with known crash pulse and injury outcome.

PubMed

Stigson, H

2009-06-01

The objective in this study, using data from crashed cars fitted with on-board crash pulse recorders, was to present differences in average crash severity, distribution of crash severity, and injury outcomes, based on an independent safety rating of roads, also taking road type and speed limit into consideration. Furthermore, the objective was to evaluate differences in injury risk, based on the distribution of crash severity. The investigation included both frontal two-vehicle crashes and single-vehicle crashes with known injury outcome. In total, 209 real-world crashes involving cars fitted with crash pulse recorders were included. For all crashes, average mean acceleration and change of velocity of the vehicle acceleration pulse were measured and calculated. All crash spots were classified according to an independent road safety rating program (European Road Assessment Programme Road Protection Score), where the safety quality of roads is rated in relation to posted speed limits. The crash severity and injury outcome in crashes that occurred on roads with good safety ratings were compared with crashes on roads with poor safety ratings. The data were also divided into subcategories according to posted speed limit and road type, to evaluate whether there was a difference in crash severity and injury outcome within the categories. In total, crash severity was statistically significantly lower in crashes occurring on roads with good safety ratings than in crashes occurring on roads with poor safety ratings. It was found that crash severity and injury risk were lower on roads with good safety ratings with a speed limit of above 90 km/h compared with roads with poor safety ratings, irrespective of speed limit. On the other hand, crash severity was higher on roads with good safety ratings with speed limit of 70 km/h than on roads with poor safety ratings with the same speed limit. Though it was found that a higher speed limit resulted in higher crash severity on roads with poor safety ratings, the opposite was found on roads with good safety ratings. The main reason for this was that lanes for traffic traveling in opposite directions were more often separated at higher speeds on roads with good safety ratings. On divided roads with good safety ratings, there were no crashes resulting in crash severity above the level corresponding to a 10 percent risk of sustaining serious or fatal injury. This indicates that one of the most important safety measures is divided roads.

Road safety in Poland: magnitude, causes and injuries.

PubMed

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.

Vision Sensor-Based Road Detection for Field Robot Navigation

PubMed Central

Lu, Keyu; Li, Jian; An, Xiangjing; He, Hangen

2015-01-01

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. PMID:26610514

Road Maintenance in Africa: Approaches and Perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

[Characteristics of fugitive dust emission from paved road near construction activities].

PubMed

Tian, Gang; Fan, Shou-Bin; Li, Gang; Qin, Jian-Ping

2007-11-01

Because of the mud/dirt carryout from construction activities, the silt loading of paved road nearby is higher and the fugitive dust emission is stronger. By sampling and laboratory analysis of the road surface dust samples, we obtain the silt loading (mass of material equal to or less than 75 micromaters in physical diameter per unit area of travel surface) of paved roads near construction activities. The result show that silt loading of road near construction activities is higher than "normal road", and silt loading is negatively correlated with length from construction's door. According to AP-42 emission factor model of fugitive dust from roads, the emission factor of influenced road is 2 - 10 times bigger than "normal road", and the amount of fugitive dust emission influenced by one construction activity is "equivalent" to an additional road length of approximately 422 - 3 800 m with the baseline silt loading. Based on the spatial and temporal distribution of construction activities, in 2002 the amount of PM10 emission influenced by construction activities in Beijing city areas account of for 59% of fugitive dust from roads.

77 FR 10476 - Certain New Pneumatic Off-the-Road Tires From the People's Republic of China: Notice of Second...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-22

...-the-Road Tires From the People's Republic of China: Notice of Second Extension of Time Limit for the... duty order on certain new pneumatic off-the-road tires (``off-the-road tires'') from the People's... on off- the-road tires from the PRC. See Certain New Pneumatic Off-the-Road Tires from the People's...

Traveling the National Road: A National Park Service Curriculum Based Education Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Park Service (Dept. of Interior), Washington, DC.

In 1805, a U.S. Senate committee urged the building of a road that would connect the eastern United States with the western United States. The road came to be known as the National Road (or Cumberland Road). It began in Cumberland, Maryland, and eventually reached to Vandalia, Illinois. It was the first and only U.S. road built entirely with…

A GIS tool to analyze forest road sediment production and stream impacts

Treesearch

Ajay Prasad; David G. Tarboton; Charles H. Luce; Thomas A. Black

2005-01-01

A set of GIS tools to analyze the impacts of forest roads on streams considering sediment production, mass wasting risk, and fish passage barriers, has been developed. Sediment production for each road segment is calculated from slope, length, road surface condition and road-side drain vegetation gathered by a GPS inventory and by overlaying the road path on a Digital...

To cross or not to cross: modeling wildlife road crossings as a binary response variable with contextual predictors

USGS Publications Warehouse

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

2016-01-01

Roads are significant barriers to landscape-scale movements of individuals or populations of many wildlife taxa. The decision by an animal near a road to either cross or not cross may be influenced by characteristics of the road, environmental conditions, traits of the individual animal, and other aspects of the context within which the decision is made. We considered such factors in a mixed-effects logistic regression model describing the nightly road crossing probabilities of invasive nocturnal Brown Treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) through short-term radiotracking of 691 snakes within close proximity to 50 road segments across the island of Guam. All measures of road magnitude (traffic volume, gap width, surface type, etc.) were significantly negatively correlated with crossing probabilities. Snake body size was the only intrinsic factor associated with crossing rates, with larger snakes crossing roads more frequently. Humidity was the only environmental variable affecting crossing rate. The distance of the snake from the road at the start of nightly movement trials was the most significant predictor of crossings. The presence of snake traps with live mouse lures during a portion of the trials indicated that localized prey cues reduced the probability of a snake crossing the road away from the traps, suggesting that a snake's decision to cross roads is influenced by local foraging opportunities. Per capita road crossing rates of Brown Treesnakes were very low, and comparisons to historical records suggest that crossing rates have declined in the 60+ yr since introduction to Guam. We report a simplified model that will allow managers to predict road crossing rates based on snake, road, and contextual characteristics. Road crossing simulations based on actual snake size distributions demonstrate that populations with size distributions skewed toward larger snakes will result in a higher number of road crossings. Our method of modeling per capita road crossing probabilities as a binary response variable, influenced by contextual factors, may be useful for describing or predicting road crossings by individuals of other taxa provided that appropriate spatial and temporal resolution can be achieved and that potentially influential covariate data can be obtained.

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

PubMed

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 minimum study duration of four years for Before-After, and a minimum of either four years or four sites for Before-After-Control-Impact designs.

Automated road network extraction from high spatial resolution multi-spectral imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qiaoping

For the last three decades, the Geomatics Engineering and Computer Science communities have considered automated road network extraction from remotely-sensed imagery to be a challenging and important research topic. The main objective of this research is to investigate the theory and methodology of automated feature extraction for image-based road database creation, refinement or updating, and to develop a series of algorithms for road network extraction from high resolution multi-spectral imagery. The proposed framework for road network extraction from multi-spectral imagery begins with an image segmentation using the k-means algorithm. This step mainly concerns the exploitation of the spectral information for feature extraction. The road cluster is automatically identified using a fuzzy classifier based on a set of predefined road surface membership functions. These membership functions are established based on the general spectral signature of road pavement materials and the corresponding normalized digital numbers on each multi-spectral band. Shape descriptors of the Angular Texture Signature are defined and used to reduce the misclassifications between roads and other spectrally similar objects (e.g., crop fields, parking lots, and buildings). An iterative and localized Radon transform is developed for the extraction of road centerlines from the classified images. The purpose of the transform is to accurately and completely detect the road centerlines. It is able to find short, long, and even curvilinear lines. The input image is partitioned into a set of subset images called road component images. An iterative Radon transform is locally applied to each road component image. At each iteration, road centerline segments are detected based on an accurate estimation of the line parameters and line widths. Three localization approaches are implemented and compared using qualitative and quantitative methods. Finally, the road centerline segments are grouped into a road network. The extracted road network is evaluated against a reference dataset using a line segment matching algorithm. The entire process is unsupervised and fully automated. Based on extensive experimentation on a variety of remotely-sensed multi-spectral images, the proposed methodology achieves a moderate success in automating road network extraction from high spatial resolution multi-spectral imagery.

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

PubMed Central

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 minimum study duration of four years for Before-After, and a minimum of either four years or four sites for Before-After-Control-Impact designs. PMID:27870889

[Evidence-based effectiveness of road safety interventions: a literature review].

PubMed

Novoa, Ana M; Pérez, Katherine; Borrell, Carme

2009-01-01

Only road safety interventions with scientific evidence supporting their effectiveness should be implemented. The objective of this study was to identify and summarize the available evidence on the effectiveness of road safety interventions in reducing road traffic collisions, injuries and deaths. All literature reviews published in scientific journals that assessed the effectiveness of one or more road safety interventions and whose outcome measure was road traffic crashes, injuries or fatalities were included. An exhaustive search was performed in scientific literature databases. The interventions were classified according to the evidence of their effectiveness in reducing road traffic injuries (effective interventions, insufficient evidence of effectiveness, ineffective interventions) following the structure of the Haddon matrix. Fifty-four reviews were included. Effective interventions were found before, during and after the collision, and across all factors: a) the individual: the graduated licensing system (31% road traffic injury reduction); b) the vehicle: electronic stability control system (2 to 41% reduction); c) the infrastructure: area-wide traffic calming (0 to 20%), and d) the social environment: speed cameras (7 to 30%). Certain road safety interventions are ineffective, mostly road safety education, and others require further investigation. The most successful interventions are those that reduce or eliminate the hazard and do not depend on changes in road users' behavior or on their knowledge of road safety issues. Interventions based exclusively on education are ineffective in reducing road traffic injuries.

A Few Large Roads or Many Small Ones? How to Accommodate Growth in Vehicle Numbers to Minimise Impacts on Wildlife

PubMed Central

Rhodes, Jonathan R.; Lunney, Daniel; Callaghan, John; McAlpine, Clive A.

2014-01-01

Roads and vehicular traffic are among the most pervasive of threats to biodiversity because they fragmenting habitat, increasing mortality and opening up new areas for the exploitation of natural resources. However, the number of vehicles on roads is increasing rapidly and this is likely to continue into the future, putting increased pressure on wildlife populations. Consequently, a major challenge is the planning of road networks to accommodate increased numbers of vehicles, while minimising impacts on wildlife. Nonetheless, we currently have few principles for guiding decisions on road network planning to reduce impacts on wildlife in real landscapes. We addressed this issue by developing an approach for quantifying the impact on wildlife mortality of two alternative mechanisms for accommodating growth in vehicle numbers: (1) increasing the number of roads, and (2) increasing traffic volumes on existing roads. We applied this approach to a koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) population in eastern Australia and quantified the relative impact of each strategy on mortality. We show that, in most cases, accommodating growth in traffic through increases in volumes on existing roads has a lower impact than building new roads. An exception is where the existing road network has very low road density, but very high traffic volumes on each road. These findings have important implications for how we design road networks to reduce their impacts on biodiversity. PMID:24646891

A few large roads or many small ones? How to accommodate growth in vehicle numbers to minimise impacts on wildlife.

PubMed

Rhodes, Jonathan R; Lunney, Daniel; Callaghan, John; McAlpine, Clive A

2014-01-01

Roads and vehicular traffic are among the most pervasive of threats to biodiversity because they fragmenting habitat, increasing mortality and opening up new areas for the exploitation of natural resources. However, the number of vehicles on roads is increasing rapidly and this is likely to continue into the future, putting increased pressure on wildlife populations. Consequently, a major challenge is the planning of road networks to accommodate increased numbers of vehicles, while minimising impacts on wildlife. Nonetheless, we currently have few principles for guiding decisions on road network planning to reduce impacts on wildlife in real landscapes. We addressed this issue by developing an approach for quantifying the impact on wildlife mortality of two alternative mechanisms for accommodating growth in vehicle numbers: (1) increasing the number of roads, and (2) increasing traffic volumes on existing roads. We applied this approach to a koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) population in eastern Australia and quantified the relative impact of each strategy on mortality. We show that, in most cases, accommodating growth in traffic through increases in volumes on existing roads has a lower impact than building new roads. An exception is where the existing road network has very low road density, but very high traffic volumes on each road. These findings have important implications for how we design road networks to reduce their impacts on biodiversity.

Integrated use of spatial and semantic relationships for extracting road networks from floating car data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jun; Qin, Qiming; Xie, Chao; Zhao, Yue

2012-10-01

The update frequency of digital road maps influences the quality of road-dependent services. However, digital road maps surveyed by probe vehicles or extracted from remotely sensed images still have a long updating circle and their cost remain high. With GPS technology and wireless communication technology maturing and their cost decreasing, floating car technology has been used in traffic monitoring and management, and the dynamic positioning data from floating cars become a new data source for updating road maps. In this paper, we aim to update digital road maps using the floating car data from China's National Commercial Vehicle Monitoring Platform, and present an incremental road network extraction method suitable for the platform's GPS data whose sampling frequency is low and which cover a large area. Based on both spatial and semantic relationships between a trajectory point and its associated road segment, the method classifies each trajectory point, and then merges every trajectory point into the candidate road network through the adding or modifying process according to its type. The road network is gradually updated until all trajectories have been processed. Finally, this method is applied in the updating process of major roads in North China and the experimental results reveal that it can accurately derive geometric information of roads under various scenes. This paper provides a highly-efficient, low-cost approach to update digital road maps.

Comparison of High and Low Density Airborne LIDAR Data for Forest Road Quality Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiss, K.; Malinen, J.; Tokola, T.

2016-06-01

Good quality forest roads are important for forest management. Airborne laser scanning data can help create automatized road quality detection, thus avoiding field visits. Two different pulse density datasets have been used to assess road quality: high-density airborne laser scanning data from Kiihtelysvaara and low-density data from Tuusniemi, Finland. The field inventory mainly focused on the surface wear condition, structural condition, flatness, road side vegetation and drying of the road. Observations were divided into poor, satisfactory and good categories based on the current Finnish quality standards used for forest roads. Digital Elevation Models were derived from the laser point cloud, and indices were calculated to determine road quality. The calculated indices assessed the topographic differences on the road surface and road sides. The topographic position index works well in flat terrain only, while the standardized elevation index described the road surface better if the differences are bigger. Both indices require at least a 1 metre resolution. High-density data is necessary for analysis of the road surface, and the indices relate mostly to the surface wear and flatness. The classification was more precise (31-92%) than on low-density data (25-40%). However, ditch detection and classification can be carried out using the sparse dataset as well (with a success rate of 69%). The use of airborne laser scanning data can provide quality information on forest roads.

24. OLD TIOGA ROAD VIEW, NOW MAY LAKE ROAD , ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

24. OLD TIOGA ROAD VIEW, NOW MAY LAKE ROAD , AT SNOW FLAT. MOUNT HOFFMAN AT CENTER REAR. LOOKING NW. GIS: N-37 49 34.6 / W-119 29 58.2 - Tioga Road, Between Crane Flat & Tioga Pass, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA

75 FR 62048 - Proposed Flood Elevation Determinations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-07

... Road. Approximately 105 feet None +1556 downstream of Evergreen Road. Paint Creek Approximately 0.47... Pettit Creek. Mill Creek Just upstream of None +270 City of Pocahontas, Ridgecrest Road. Unincorporated... Martin Road. Approximately 710 feet None +1923 upstream of Martin Road. Clearfield Creek Approximately...

4. ENVIRONMENT, FROM NORTH, SHOWING RIVER ROAD BRIDGE CARRYING CASSELMAN ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

4. ENVIRONMENT, FROM NORTH, SHOWING RIVER ROAD BRIDGE CARRYING CASSELMAN RIVER ROAD OVER CASSELMAN RIVER, WITH MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY STREAM-GAUGING STATION AT NORTHEAST CORNER OF BRIDGE - River Road Bridge, Crossing Casselman River on Casselman River Road, Grantsville, Garrett County, MD

First Road Transportation Technology Transfer Conference in Africa (Africa T2 2001)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-05-23

The primary objective of Africa T2 2001 was to provide a forum for facilitating road technology information and experience sharing among the various local and international road transportation experts, road providers and road users. Papers were group...

An expert-based approach to forest road network planning by combining Delphi and spatial multi-criteria evaluation.

PubMed

Hayati, Elyas; Majnounian, Baris; Abdi, Ehsan; Sessions, John; Makhdoum, Majid

2013-02-01

Changes in forest landscapes resulting from road construction have increased remarkably in the last few years. On the other hand, the sustainable management of forest resources can only be achieved through a well-organized road network. In order to minimize the environmental impacts of forest roads, forest road managers must design the road network efficiently and environmentally as well. Efficient planning methodologies can assist forest road managers in considering the technical, economic, and environmental factors that affect forest road planning. This paper describes a three-stage methodology using the Delphi method for selecting the important criteria, the Analytic Hierarchy Process for obtaining the relative importance of the criteria, and finally, a spatial multi-criteria evaluation in a geographic information system (GIS) environment for identifying the lowest-impact road network alternative. Results of the Delphi method revealed that ground slope, lithology, distance from stream network, distance from faults, landslide susceptibility, erosion susceptibility, geology, and soil texture are the most important criteria for forest road planning in the study area. The suitability map for road planning was then obtained by combining the fuzzy map layers of these criteria with respect to their weights. Nine road network alternatives were designed using PEGGER, an ArcView GIS extension, and finally, their values were extracted from the suitability map. Results showed that the methodology was useful for identifying road that met environmental and cost considerations. Based on this work, we suggest future work in forest road planning using multi-criteria evaluation and decision making be considered in other regions and that the road planning criteria identified in this study may be useful.

Reptile road-kills in Southern Brazil: Composition, hot moments and hotspots.

PubMed

Gonçalves, Larissa Oliveira; Alvares, Diego Janisch; Teixeira, Fernanda Zimmermann; Schuck, Gabriela; Coelho, Igor Pfeifer; Esperandio, Isadora Beraldi; Anza, Juan; Beduschi, Júlia; Bastazini, Vinicius Augusto Galvão; Kindel, Andreas

2018-02-15

Understanding road-kill patterns is the first step to assess the potential effects of road mortality on wildlife populations, as well as to define the need for mitigation and support its planning. Reptiles are one of the vertebrate groups most affected by roads through vehicle collisions, both because they are intentionally killed by drivers, and due to their biological needs, such as thermoregulation, which make them more prone to collisions. We conducted monthly road surveys (33months), searching for carcasses of freshwater turtles, lizards, and snakes on a 277-km stretch of BR-101 road in Southernmost Brazil to estimate road-kill composition and magnitude and to describe the main periods and locations of road-kills. We modeled the distribution of road-kills in space according to land cover classes and local traffic volume. Considering the detection capacity of our method and carcass persistence probability, we estimated that 15,377 reptiles are road-killed per year (55reptiles/km/year). Road-kills, especially lizards and snakes, were concentrated during summer, probably due to their higher activity in this period. Road-kill hotspots were coincident among freshwater turtles, lizards, and snakes. Road-kill distribution was negatively related to pine plantations, and positively related to rice plantations and traffic volume. A cost-benefit analysis highlighted that if mitigation measures were installed at road-kill hotspots, which correspond to 21% of the road, they could have avoided up to 45% of recorded reptile fatalities, assuming a 100% mitigation effectiveness. Given the congruent patterns found for all three taxa, the same mitigation measures could be used to minimize the impacts of collision on local herpetofauna. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A comparative study of noise pollution levels in some selected areas in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria.

PubMed

Oyedepo, Olayinka S; Saadu, Abdullahi A

2009-11-01

The noise pollution is a major problem for the quality of life in urban areas. This study was conducted to compare the noise pollution levels at busy roads/road junctions, passengers loading parks, commercial, industrial and residential areas in Ilorin metropolis. A total number of 47-locations were selected within the metropolis. Statistical analysis shows significant difference (P < 0.05) in noise pollution levels between industrial areas and low density residential areas, industrial areas and high density areas, industrial areas and passengers loading parks, industrial areas and commercial areas, busy roads/road junctions and low density areas, passengers loading parks and commercial areas and commercial areas and low density areas. There is no significant difference (P > 0.05) in noise pollution levels between industrial areas and busy roads/road junctions, busy roads/road junctions and high density areas, busy roads/road junctions and passengers loading parks, busy roads/road junctions and commercial areas, passengers loading parks and high density areas, passengers loading parks and commercial areas and commercial areas and high density areas. The results show that Industrial areas have the highest noise pollution levels (110.2 dB(A)) followed by busy roads/Road junctions (91.5 dB(A)), Passengers loading parks (87.8 dB(A)) and Commercial areas (84.4 dB(A)). The noise pollution levels in Ilorin metropolis exceeded the recommended level by WHO at 34 of 47 measuring points. It can be concluded that the city is environmentally noise polluted and road traffic and industrial machineries are the major sources of it. Noting the noise emission standards, technical control measures, planning and promoting the citizens awareness about the high noise risk may help to relieve the noise problem in the metropolis.

A model to identify high crash road segments with the dynamic segmentation method.

PubMed

Boroujerdian, Amin Mirza; Saffarzadeh, Mahmoud; Yousefi, Hassan; Ghassemian, Hassan

2014-12-01

Currently, high social and economic costs in addition to physical and mental consequences put road safety among most important issues. This paper aims at presenting a novel approach, capable of identifying the location as well as the length of high crash road segments. It focuses on the location of accidents occurred along the road and their effective regions. In other words, due to applicability and budget limitations in improving safety of road segments, it is not possible to recognize all high crash road segments. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to identify high crash road segments and their real length to be able to prioritize the safety improvement in roads. In this paper, after evaluating deficiencies of the current road segmentation models, different kinds of errors caused by these methods are addressed. One of the main deficiencies of these models is that they can not identify the length of high crash road segments. In this paper, identifying the length of high crash road segments (corresponding to the arrangement of accidents along the road) is achieved by converting accident data to the road response signal of through traffic with a dynamic model based on the wavelet theory. The significant advantage of the presented method is multi-scale segmentation. In other words, this model identifies high crash road segments with different lengths and also it can recognize small segments within long segments. Applying the presented model into a real case for identifying 10-20 percent of high crash road segment showed an improvement of 25-38 percent in relative to the existing methods. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Forest Roadidentification and Extractionof Through Advanced Log Matching Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, W.; Hu, B.; Quist, L.

2017-10-01

A novel algorithm for forest road identification and extraction was developed. The algorithm utilized Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG) filter and slope calculation on high resolution multispectral imagery and LiDAR data respectively to extract both primary road and secondary road segments in the forest area. The proposed method used road shape feature to extract the road segments, which have been further processed as objects with orientation preserved. The road network was generated after post processing with tensor voting. The proposed method was tested on Hearst forest, located in central Ontario, Canada. Based on visual examination against manually digitized roads, the majority of roads from the test area have been identified and extracted from the process.

Modeling an impact of road geometric design on vehicle energy consumption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luin, Blaž; Petelin, Stojan; Al-Mansour, Fouad

2017-11-01

Some roads connect traffic origins and destinations directly, some use winding, indirect routes. Indirect connections result in longer distances driven and increased fuel consumption. A similar effect is observed on congested roads and mountain roads with many changes in altitude. Therefore a framework to assess road networks based on energy consumption is proposed. It has been shown that road geometry has significant impact on overall traffic energy consumption and emissions. The methodology presented in the paper analyzes impact of traffic volume, shares of vehicle classes, road network configuration on the energy used by the vehicles. It can be used to optimize energy consumption with efficient traffic management and to choose optimum new road in the design phase. This is especially important as the energy consumed by the vehicles shortly after construction supersedes the energy spent for the road construction.

Behavior of road accidents: Structural time series approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Junus, Noor Wahida Md; Ismail, Mohd Tahir; Arsad, Zainudin

2014-12-01

Road accidents become a major issue in contributing to the increasing number of deaths. Few researchers suggest that road accidents occur due to road structure and road condition. The road structure and condition may differ according to the area and volume of traffic of the location. Therefore, this paper attempts to look up the behavior of the road accidents in four main regions in Peninsular Malaysia by employing a structural time series (STS) approach. STS offers the possibility of modelling the unobserved component such as trends and seasonal component and it is allowed to vary over time. The results found that the number of road accidents is described by a different model. Perhaps, the results imply that the government, especially a policy maker should consider to implement a different approach in ways to overcome the increasing number of road accidents.

Road Safety: The Vital but Neglected Subject.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollins, Patsy

1989-01-01

Teacher training students (N=153) in England were surveyed about road safety education. Attitudes of students about their preparation for teaching road safety, ways of integrating road safety into the primary and secondary curriculum, and obstacles to teaching road safety in schools are discussed. (IAH)

36 CFR 223.83 - Contents of prospectus.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... specified roads to be constructed. (16) The estimated road construction cost and the estimated public works..., the prospectus shall also include: (1) The road standards applicable to construction of permanent... permanent roads. (3) A statement explaining how the Forest Service intends to perform road construction by...

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

PubMed

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.

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

PubMed Central

Alessandroni, Giacomo; Carini, Alberto; Lattanzi, Emanuele; Freschi, Valerio; Bogliolo, Alessandro

2017-01-01

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. PMID:28178224

Road profile estimation of city roads using DTPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 the current rate. These data are being used by the Umatilla National Forest to prioritize road rehabilitation activities including storm risk reduction and road decommissioning, and to move toward an ecologically and economically sustainable road system. The highest sediment-delivering road segments were evaluated in 2010 to prioritize stabilization and storm damage risk reduction projects. Approximately 30 km of hydrologically connected road segments will be proposed for treatments including closure, decommissioning, and stabilization activities. Once complete, these improvements would result in the reduction of about 7,000 kg/year of fine sediment delivered to the fluvial system from the road network, or a third of the total road contribution to stream sedimentation. Methods and results presented are part of federal land management agency involvement in Total Maximum Daily Load development in the John Day Basin. The project is a collaborative effort with funding and support from the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

75 FR 21039 - Notice of Temporary Road Closure of Coal Pit Spring-Cave Gulch Road (6287-0-B0), Within the Cave...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-22

... stabilization. The BLM posted signs at main entry points to the temporary closure area. Maps of the closed roads...; HAG10-0046] Notice of Temporary Road Closure of Coal Pit Spring--Cave Gulch Road (6287-0-B0), Within the... closure. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that a temporary road closure to public access, use, or occupancy...

Verification of road databases using multiple road models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Survey of the Influence of the Width of Urban Branch Roads on the Meeting of Two-Way Vehicle Flows

PubMed Central

Chen, Qun; Zhao, Yunan; Pan, Shuangli; Wang, Yan

2016-01-01

Branch roads, which are densely distributed in cities, allow for the flow of local traffic and provide connections between the city and outlying areas. Branch roads are typically narrow, and two-way traffic flows on branch roads are thus affected when vehicles traveling in opposite directions meet. This study investigates the changes in the velocities of vehicles when they meet on two-way branch roads. Various widths of branch roads were selected, and their influence on traffic flows was investigated via a video survey. The results show that, depending on the average vehicle velocity, branch roads require different widths to prevent a large decrease in velocity when vehicles meet. When the velocity on a branch road is not high (e.g., the average velocity without meeting is approximately 6 m/s), appropriately increasing the road width will notably increase the meeting velocity. However, when the velocity is high (e.g., the average velocity without meeting is greater than 10 m/s), there is a large decrease in velocity when meeting even if the road surface is wide (6.5 m). This study provides a basis for selecting the width of urban branch roads and the simulation of bidirectional traffic on such roads. PMID:26881427

Methods to improve traffic flow and noise exposure estimation on minor roads.

PubMed

Morley, David W; Gulliver, John

2016-09-01

Address-level estimates of exposure to road traffic noise for epidemiological studies are dependent on obtaining data on annual average daily traffic (AADT) flows that is both accurate and with good geographical coverage. National agencies often have reliable traffic count data for major roads, but for residential areas served by minor roads, especially at national scale, such information is often not available or incomplete. Here we present a method to predict AADT at the national scale for minor roads, using a routing algorithm within a geographical information system (GIS) to rank roads by importance based on simulated journeys through the road network. From a training set of known minor road AADT, routing importance is used to predict AADT on all UK minor roads in a regression model along with the road class, urban or rural location and AADT on the nearest major road. Validation with both independent traffic counts and noise measurements show that this method gives a considerable improvement in noise prediction capability when compared to models that do not give adequate consideration to minor road variability (Spearman's rho. increases from 0.46 to 0.72). This has significance for epidemiological cohort studies attempting to link noise exposure to adverse health outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Survey of the Influence of the Width of Urban Branch Roads on the Meeting of Two-Way Vehicle Flows.

PubMed

Chen, Qun; Zhao, Yunan; Pan, Shuangli; Wang, Yan

2016-01-01

Branch roads, which are densely distributed in cities, allow for the flow of local traffic and provide connections between the city and outlying areas. Branch roads are typically narrow, and two-way traffic flows on branch roads are thus affected when vehicles traveling in opposite directions meet. This study investigates the changes in the velocities of vehicles when they meet on two-way branch roads. Various widths of branch roads were selected, and their influence on traffic flows was investigated via a video survey. The results show that, depending on the average vehicle velocity, branch roads require different widths to prevent a large decrease in velocity when vehicles meet. When the velocity on a branch road is not high (e.g., the average velocity without meeting is approximately 6 m/s), appropriately increasing the road width will notably increase the meeting velocity. However, when the velocity is high (e.g., the average velocity without meeting is greater than 10 m/s), there is a large decrease in velocity when meeting even if the road surface is wide (6.5 m). This study provides a basis for selecting the width of urban branch roads and the simulation of bidirectional traffic on such roads.

Deadly rural road traffic injury: a rising public health concern in I.R. Iran.

PubMed

Ardalan, Ali; Sepehrvand, Nariman; Pourmalek, Farshad; Masoumi, Gholamreza; Sarvar, Mohamad; Mahmoudabadi, Abbas; Rezaie, Anita

2014-02-01

The 5(th) Iran National Development Plan, 2011-2015, has emphasized on expansion of rural asphalt roads. This article aims to illustrate the trend of deaths caused by rural road traffic crashes (RTCs) and its association with length of the rural roads in Iran. We carried out a retrospective analysis on secondary data for the period from 2005 to 2010. The Iranian Forensic Medicine Organization, High Commission for Road Safety and Iran's Statistical Center were the sources for the number of RTC death, length of the road and population data, respectively. Number of RTC deaths in rural roads increased from 1,672 in 2005 to 2,206 in 2010. This was associated with expansion of the rural asphalt roads (P = 0.04). The construction of urban asphalt roads was also on an increasing trend, but the number of traffic deaths in these roads decreased from 26,083 in 2005 to 21,043 in 2010. Adjusted for 100,000 populations, the number of traffic deaths in urban roads showed a decrease from 37.0 to 28.0, while this number increased from 2.4 to 2.9 in rural roads during the study period. Although expansion of rural roads would contribute to economic development in rural areas, it exposes people to risk of severe RTCs if effective preventive actions are not taken. To prevent this threat, the Iranian policy makers need to take the followings into consideration: Public awareness, improving the safety of roads and vehicles, law enforcement, increasing coverage of police and Emergency Medical Services.

Deadly Rural Road Traffic Injury: A Rising Public Health Concern in I.R. Iran

PubMed Central

Ardalan, Ali; Sepehrvand, Nariman; Pourmalek, Farshad; Masoumi, Gholamreza; Sarvar, Mohamad; Mahmoudabadi, Abbas; Rezaie, Anita

2014-01-01

Background: The 5th Iran National Development Plan, 2011-2015, has emphasized on expansion of rural asphalt roads. This article aims to illustrate the trend of deaths caused by rural road traffic crashes (RTCs) and its association with length of the rural roads in Iran. Methods: We carried out a retrospective analysis on secondary data for the period from 2005 to 2010. The Iranian Forensic Medicine Organization, High Commission for Road Safety and Iran's Statistical Center were the sources for the number of RTC death, length of the road and population data, respectively. Results: Number of RTC deaths in rural roads increased from 1,672 in 2005 to 2,206 in 2010. This was associated with expansion of the rural asphalt roads (P = 0.04). The construction of urban asphalt roads was also on an increasing trend, but the number of traffic deaths in these roads decreased from 26,083 in 2005 to 21,043 in 2010. Adjusted for 100,000 populations, the number of traffic deaths in urban roads showed a decrease from 37.0 to 28.0, while this number increased from 2.4 to 2.9 in rural roads during the study period. Conclusions: Although expansion of rural roads would contribute to economic development in rural areas, it exposes people to risk of severe RTCs if effective preventive actions are not taken. To prevent this threat, the Iranian policy makers need to take the followings into consideration: Public awareness, improving the safety of roads and vehicles, law enforcement, increasing coverage of police and Emergency Medical Services. PMID:24627755

Soil carbon storage following road removal and timber harvesting in redwood forests

USGS Publications Warehouse

Seney, Joseph; Madej, Mary Ann

2015-01-01

Soil carbon storage plays a key role in the global carbon cycle and is important for sustaining forest productivity. Removal of unpaved forest roads has the potential for increasing carbon storage in soils on forested terrain as treated sites revegetate and soil properties improve on the previously compacted road surfaces. We compared soil organic carbon (SOC) content at several depths on treated roads to SOC in adjacent second-growth forests and old-growth redwood forests in California, determined whether SOC in the upper 50 cm of soil varies with the type of road treatment, and assessed the relative importance of site-scale and landscape-scale variables in predicting SOC accumulation in treated road prisms and second-growth redwood forests. Soils were sampled at 5, 20, and 50 cm depths on roads treated by two methods (decommissioning and full recontouring), and in adjacent second-growth and old-growth forests in north coastal California. Road treatments spanned a period of 32 years, and covered a range of geomorphic and vegetative conditions. SOC decreased with depth at all sites. Treated roads on convex sites exhibited higher SOC than on concave sites, and north aspect sites had higher SOC than south aspect sites. SOC at 5, 20, and 50 cm depths did not differ significantly between decommissioned roads (treated 18–32 years previous) and fully recontoured roads (treated 2–12 years previous). Nevertheless, stepwise multiple regression models project higher SOC developing on fully recontoured roads in the next few decades. The best predictors for SOC on treated roads and in second-growth forest incorporated aspect, vegetation type, soil depth, lithology, distance from the ocean, years since road treatment (for the road model) and years since harvest (for the forest model). The road model explained 48% of the variation in SOC in the upper 50 cm of mineral soils and the forest model, 54%

Assessing impacts of roads: application of a standard assessment protocol

USGS Publications Warehouse

Duniway, Michael C.; Herrick, Jeffrey E.

2013-01-01

Adaptive management of road networks depends on timely data that accurately reflect the impacts those systems are having on ecosystem processes and associated services. In the absence of reliable data, land managers are left with little more than observations and perceptions to support management decisions of road-associated disturbances. Roads can negatively impact the soil, hydrologic, plant, and animal processes on which virtually all ecosystem services depend. The Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health (IIRH) protocol is a qualitative method that has been demonstrated to be effective in characterizing impacts of roads. The goal of this study were to develop, describe, and test an approach for using IIRH to systematically evaluate road impacts across large, diverse arid and semiarid landscapes. We developed a stratified random sampling approach to plot selection based on ecological potential, road inventory data, and image interpretation of road impacts. The test application on a semiarid landscape in southern New Mexico, United States, demonstrates that the approach developed is sensitive to road impacts across a broad range of ecological sites but that not all the types of stratification were useful. Ecological site and road inventory strata accounted for significant variability in the functioning of ecological processes but stratification based on apparent impact did not. Analysis of the repeatability of IIRH applied to road plots indicates that the method is repeatable but consensus evaluations based on multiple observers should be used to minimize risk of bias. Landscape-scale analysis of impacts by roads of contrasting designs (maintained dirt or gravel roads vs. non- or infrequently maintained roads) suggests that future travel management plans for the study area should consider concentrating traffic on fewer roads that are well designed and maintained. Application of the approach by land managers will likely provide important insights into minimizing impacts of road networks on key ecosystem services.

Speed limit-related issues on gravel roads.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-03-01

In the United States, there are nearly 1.6 million miles of unpaved roads. Total length of unpaved roads in Kansas is : about 98,000 miles, of which about 78,000 miles are gravel roads. Most of the gravel roads are not typically posted : with speed l...

25 CFR 170.803 - What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.803 What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program? (a) The following public transportation facilities are eligible for maintenance under the BIA Road Maintenance Program: (1) BIA transportation facilities listed in...

36 CFR 212.56 - Identification of designated roads, trails, and areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... roads, trails, and areas. 212.56 Section 212.56 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TRAVEL MANAGEMENT Designation of Roads, Trails, and Areas for Motor Vehicle Use § 212.56 Identification of designated roads, trails, and areas. Designated roads, trails, and areas...

23 CFR 660.517 - Maneuver area roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

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...

6. OLD AND NEW TIOGA ROAD. NOTE REMNANTS OF OLD ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

6. OLD AND NEW TIOGA ROAD. NOTE REMNANTS OF OLD ROAD ON LEFT. NOTE ROAD CUT ON CANYON WALL IN CENTER REAR. LOOKING NNE. GIS: N-37 56 19.5 / W-119 13 53.3 - Tioga Road, Between Crane Flat & Tioga Pass, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA

10. VIEW OF ALIGNMENT FOR COULTERVILLE ROAD AND MERCED RIVER ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

10. VIEW OF ALIGNMENT FOR COULTERVILLE ROAD AND MERCED RIVER CANYON. NOTE ROAD CUT FOR NEW BIG OAK FLAT ROAD AT CENTER DISTANCE. LOOKING N. GIS: N-37 42 45.5 / W-119 43 24.7 - Coulterville Road, Between Foresta & All-Weather Highway, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA

77 FR 49373 - Final Flood Elevation Determinations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-16

.... Macon Bayou Just upstream of Private +108 City of Eudora. Road. Just upstream of Verser +108 Road... Areas of Road. Logan County. Just downstream of Newton +563 Road. Just upstream of West 9th +621 Street... Road. * National Geodetic Vertical Datum. + North American Vertical Datum. Depth in feet above ground...

76 FR 22076 - Bussel 484, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, Idaho, Shoshone County

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-20

... miles of system road construction on National Forest System lands, 0.2 miles of road construction across... construction, 5.4 miles of road reconstruction, installing effective motorized vehicle restriction devices...,137 acres; approximately 5.1 miles of system road construction, 0.5 miles of temporary road...

36 CFR 212.9 - Principles for sharing use of roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... minor amounts, will be conditioned upon improvement or supplemental construction of the road to safety... roads. 212.9 Section 212.9 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... of roads. The use of roads under arrangements for sharing costs or performance shall be in accordance...

30 CFR 816.151 - Primary roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... accordance with the approved plan. (b) Safety Factor. Each primary road embankment shall have a minimum... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 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...

30 CFR 817.151 - Primary roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... with the approved plan. (b) Safety factor. Each primary road embankment shall have a minimum static... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 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...

Costs of performance based maintenance for local roads: Case study Albania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jokanović, Igor; Grujić, Bojana; Zeljić, Dragana; Grujić, Žarko; Svilar, Mila

2017-12-01

The provision and maintenance of road infrastructure is a major global business, consequently it is essential that road maintenance services are provided in the most cost effective manner. Without regular maintenance, roads can rapidly fall into disrepair, preventing realization of the longer term impacts of road improvements on development, such as increased agricultural production and growth in school enrollment, which is of particular importance for a network of local (access) roads. Inadequate local roads maintenance in Albania is proposed to be solved by implementing performance based maintenance approach for which the costing exercise is presented within the paper.

Unofficial Road Building in the Brazilian Amazon: Dilemmas and Models for Road Governance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perz, Stephen G.; Overdevest, Christine; Caldas, Marcellus M.; Walker, Robert T.; Arima, Eugenio Y.

2007-01-01

Unofficial roads form dense networks in landscapes, generating a litany of negative ecological outcomes, but unofficial roads in frontier areas are also instrumental in local livelihoods and community development. This trade-off poses dilemmas for the governance of unofficial roads. Unofficial road building in frontier areas of the Brazilian Amazon illustrates the challenges of 'road governance.' Both state-based and community based governance models exhibit important liabilities for governing unofficial roads. Whereas state-based governance has experienced difficulties in adapting to specific local contexts and interacting effectively with local interest groups, community-based governance has a mixed record owing to social inequalities and conflicts among local interest groups. A state-community hybrid model may offer more effective governance of unofficial road building by combining the oversight capacity of the state with locally grounded community management via participatory decision-making.

Investigating the road surface effect to the fatigue life of an automotive coil spring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putra, T. E.; Husaini

2018-05-01

This work aims to estimate the life of a coil spring considering road surface profiles. Strain signals were measured by installing a strain gage at the highest stress location of the coil spring and then driving the vehicle on country and village roads. The village road gave high amplitudes containing spikes when the tire touched a curb, bump or pothole. These conditions contributed to a higher loading rate to the car component, contributing to shorter useful fatigue life, which was only 140 reversals of blocks. Driving on the village road resulted in a 6-times decrease in the useful fatigue life of the component in comparison to the country road. In conclusion, the village road caused stronger vibrations to the component because it has a rough surface; meanwhile, the country road provided lower vibrations because the road was smooth.

The trend of road traffic crashes at urban signalised intersection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farhana Nasarrudin, Nurul; Razelan, Intan Suhana Mohd

2018-04-01

Road traffic crash is one of the main contributing factors for deaths in the world. Intersection is listed as the second road type which road crashes occurred frequently. Hence, the traffic light was installed to minimise the road crashes at intersection. However, the crashes are still occurring and arising. The objective of this study was to exhibit the trend of road crashes at the signalised intersections. The data of road crashes for the past 6 years were analysed using descriptive analysis. The results showed that the road traffic crashes at three- and four-legged signalised intersection recorded the increasing trend. In conclusion, this finding shows that the road traffic crashes for these types of signalised intersection in Malaysia is rising. It is also one the contributors to the increasing number of crashes in Malaysia. This finding will encourage the local authority to conduct awareness programs on the safety at the signalised intersection.

Source diagnostics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban road runoff, dust, rain and canopy throughfall.

PubMed

Zhang, Wei; Zhang, Shucai; Wan, Chao; Yue, Dapan; Ye, Youbin; Wang, Xuejun

2008-06-01

Diagnostic ratios and multivariate analysis were utilized to apportion polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) sources for road runoff, road dust, rain and canopy throughfall based on samples collected in an urban area of Beijing, China. Three sampling sites representing vehicle lane, bicycle lane and branch road were selected. For road runoff and road dust, vehicular emission and coal combustion were identified as major sources, and the source contributions varied among the sampling sites. For rain, three principal components were apportioned representing coal/oil combustion (54%), vehicular emission (34%) and coking (12%). For canopy throughfall, vehicular emission (56%), coal combustion (30%) and oil combustion (14%) were identified as major sources. Overall, the PAH's source for road runoff mainly reflected that for road dust. Despite site-specific sources, the findings at the study area provided a general picture of PAHs sources for the road runoff system in urban area of Beijing.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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.

Car manufacturers and global road safety: a word frequency analysis of road safety documents.

PubMed

Roberts, I; Wentz, R; Edwards, P

2006-10-01

The World Bank believes that the car manufacturers can make a valuable contribution to road safety in poor countries and has established the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) for this purpose. However, some commentators are sceptical. The authors examined road safety policy documents to assess the extent of any bias. Word frequency analyses of road safety policy documents from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the GRSP. The relative occurrence of key road safety terms was quantified by calculating a word prevalence ratio with 95% confidence intervals. Terms for which there was a fourfold difference in prevalence between the documents were tabulated. Compared to WHO's World report on road traffic injury prevention, the GRSP road safety documents were substantially less likely to use the words speed, speed limits, child restraint, pedestrian, public transport, walking, and cycling, but substantially more likely to use the words school, campaign, driver training, and billboard. There are important differences in emphasis in road safety policy documents prepared by WHO and the GRSP. Vigilance is needed to ensure that the road safety interventions that the car industry supports are based on sound evidence of effectiveness.

Seismic risk assessment for road in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

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

PubMed

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.

Main Road Extraction from ZY-3 Grayscale Imagery Based on Directional Mathematical Morphology and VGI Prior Knowledge in Urban Areas

PubMed Central

Liu, Bo; Wu, Huayi; Wang, Yandong; Liu, Wenming

2015-01-01

Main road features extracted from remotely sensed imagery play an important role in many civilian and military applications, such as updating Geographic Information System (GIS) databases, urban structure analysis, spatial data matching and road navigation. Current methods for road feature extraction from high-resolution imagery are typically based on threshold value segmentation. It is difficult however, to completely separate road features from the background. We present a new method for extracting main roads from high-resolution grayscale imagery based on directional mathematical morphology and prior knowledge obtained from the Volunteered Geographic Information found in the OpenStreetMap. The two salient steps in this strategy are: (1) using directional mathematical morphology to enhance the contrast between roads and non-roads; (2) using OpenStreetMap roads as prior knowledge to segment the remotely sensed imagery. Experiments were conducted on two ZiYuan-3 images and one QuickBird high-resolution grayscale image to compare our proposed method to other commonly used techniques for road feature extraction. The results demonstrated the validity and better performance of the proposed method for urban main road feature extraction. PMID:26397832

Statistical classification of road pavements using near field vehicle rolling noise measurements.

PubMed

Paulo, Joel Preto; Coelho, J L Bento; Figueiredo, Mário A T

2010-10-01

Low noise surfaces have been increasingly considered as a viable and cost-effective alternative to acoustical barriers. However, road planners and administrators frequently lack information on the correlation between the type of road surface and the resulting noise emission profile. To address this problem, a method to identify and classify different types of road pavements was developed, whereby near field road noise is analyzed using statistical learning methods. The vehicle rolling sound signal near the tires and close to the road surface was acquired by two microphones in a special arrangement which implements the Close-Proximity method. A set of features, characterizing the properties of the road pavement, was extracted from the corresponding sound profiles. A feature selection method was used to automatically select those that are most relevant in predicting the type of pavement, while reducing the computational cost. A set of different types of road pavement segments were tested and the performance of the classifier was evaluated. Results of pavement classification performed during a road journey are presented on a map, together with geographical data. This procedure leads to a considerable improvement in the quality of road pavement noise data, thereby increasing the accuracy of road traffic noise prediction models.

Roads are associated with a blunted stress response in a North American pit viper.

PubMed

Owen, Dustin A S; Carter, Evin T; Holding, Matthew L; Islam, Kamal; Moore, Ignacio T

2014-06-01

Whereas numerous studies have examined roads as anthropogenic stressors in birds and mammals, comparatively few studies have been undertaken on reptiles. We investigated plasma corticosterone (CORT) levels at baseline and following 30min of restraint stress in free-ranging copperhead snakes (Agkistrodon contortrix) captured within the forest interior or while in contact with public roads. There was no difference in baseline CORT levels between snakes in the forest and on roads. Copperheads responded to restraint stress by increasing plasma levels of CORT; however snakes on roads exhibited a lower CORT stress response compared to forest snakes. Additionally, among snakes captured on roads there was a negative association between road traffic and baseline CORT, stressed CORT, and the magnitude of the CORT response. Our results suggest that roads are associated with a blunted stress response in copperheads. Reduced stress responses may be indicative of acclimation, the inhibited ability to mount a stress response in the face of prolonged chronic stress, or that road environments select for individuals with lower CORT responsiveness. Either scenario could result in increased road mortality if snakes do not perceive roads as a potential threat. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Vertebrate Ticks Distribution and Their Role as Vectors in Relation to Road Edges and Underpasses.

PubMed

Delgado, Juan D; Abreu-Yanes, Estefanía; Abreu-Acosta, Néstor; Flor, Manuel D; Foronda, Pilar

2017-06-01

Roads fragment vertebrate populations and affect the dynamics and dispersal patterns of vertebrate parasites. We evaluated how vertebrate ticks distribute near roads and road underpasses in human-caused road-fragmented landscapes in Seville, SW Spain. We sampled 49 stations with 93 individualized sampling points and assessed tick abundance. We explored the relationship between tick presence and abundance and distance to the nearest road and underpass (drainage culverts and other passages used by vertebrates), and landscape features through categorical regression and nonparametric statistics. The presence of the tick-borne pathogens Borrelia sp. and Bartonella sp. was also analyzed by PCR. We found preliminary evidence of high relative tick abundance next to roads and in the vicinity of road underpasses. Plant cover type was related to tick presence in this road context. Implications of road permeability and edge effect in patterns of vertebrate-tick relationships in road fragmentation contexts are discussed. Both Borrelia sp. and Bartonella sp. were detected in the ticks analyzed. This is the first report of these bacteria in ticks from Seville. The results confirm the potential risk of acquiring Lyme disease and bartonellosis in this area.

An observational study of road safety around selected primary schools in Ibadan municipality, Oyo State, Southwestern Nigeria.

PubMed

Sangowawa, Adesola O; Adebiyi, Akindele O; Faseru, Babalola; Popoola, Olusola J

2012-01-01

Child pedestrians have been identified as vulnerable road users. Although walking as a means of transport has health and other benefits, it exposes children to the risk of road traffic injuries. This study was conducted to assess the availability of road safety features around government-owned primary schools in Ibadan municipality. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 46 of the 74 schools in the study area. Some (11) of the selected schools were sited within the same premises and shared a common entrance; thus a total of 35 school premises were eventually observed. Trained research assistants observed the school environment around the selected schools for road safety features such as location of schools, presence of "school", "child crossing" and "speed limit" road signs, and presence of traffic calming devices (road bumps or zebra crossing). Five (14%) of the schools were located on major roads and eight (23%) had road signs indicating that a school was nearby. Seven (20%) had road bumps close to the school, 15 (43%) had a warden who assisted children to cross, and none had a zebra crossing. Five (14%) schools had pedestrian sidewalks. The study revealed that the environment around a number of the observed schools in the municipality compromised the pupils' road safety. The local government, school authorities, parents, and road safety professionals need to institute definite measures to enhance the road safety environment around schools in the municipality.

Real-time 3D reconstruction of road curvature in far look-ahead distance from analysis of image sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behringer, Reinhold

1995-12-01

A system for visual road recognition in far look-ahead distance, implemented in the autonomous road vehicle VaMP (a passenger car), is described. Visual cues of a road in a video image are the bright lane markings and the edges formed at the road borders. In a distance of more than 100 m, the most relevant road cue is the homogeneous road area, limited by the two border edges. These cues can be detected by the image processing module KRONOS applying edge detection techniques and areal 2D segmentation based on resolution triangles (analogous to a resolution pyramid). An estimation process performs an update of a state vector, which describes spatial road shape and vehicle orientation relative to the road. This state vector is estimated every 40 ms by exploiting knowledge about the vehicle movement (spatio-temporal model of vehicle dynamics) and the road design rules (clothoidal segments). Kalman filter techniques are applied to obtain an optimal estimate of the state vector by evaluating the measurements of the road border positions in the image sequence taken by a set of CCD cameras. The road consists of segments with piecewise constant curvature parameters. The borders between these segments can be detected by applying methods which have been developed for detection of discontinuities during time-discrete measurements. The road recognition system has been tested in autonomous rides with VaMP on public Autobahnen in real traffic at speeds up to 130 km/h.

Driving on urban roads: How we come to expect the 'correct' speed.

PubMed

Charlton, Samuel G; Starkey, Nicola J

2017-11-01

The subjective categories that drivers use to distinguish between different road types have been shown to influence the speeds they choose to drive but as yet we do not understand the road features that drivers use to make their discriminations. To better understand how drivers describe and categorise the roads they drive, 55 participants were recruited to drive a video of familiar urban roads in a driving simulator at the speed they would drive these roads in their own cars (using the accelerator and brake pedal in the driving simulator to adjust their speed). The participants were then asked to sort photos of the roads they had just driven into piles so that their driving would be the same on all roads in one pile but different to the other piles. Finally, they answered a series of questions about each road to indicate what speed they would drive, the safe speed for the road, their speed limit belief as well as providing ratings of comfort, difficulty and familiarity. Overall, drivers' categorisation of roads was informed by a number of factors including speed limit belief, road features and markings (including medians), road width, and presence of houses, driveways and footpaths. The participants' categories were congruent with what they thought the speed limits were, but not necessarily the actual speed limits. Mismatches between actual speed limits and speed limit beliefs appeared to result from category-level expectations about speed limits that took precedence over recent experience in the simulator. Roads that historically had a 50km/h speed limit but had been reduced to 40km/h were still regarded as 50km/h roads by the participants, underscoring the point that simply posting a sign with a lower speed limit is not enough to overcome drivers' expectations and habits associated with the visual appearance of a road. The findings provided insights into how drivers view and categorise roads, and identify specific areas that could be used to improve speed limit credibility. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Geo-Hazards and Mountain Road Development in Nepal: Understanding the Science-Policy-Governance Interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dugar, Sumit; Dahal, Vaskar

2015-04-01

The foothills of Nepalese Himalayas located in the neotectonic mountain environment are among some of the most unstable and geomorphologically dynamic landscapes in the world. Young fold mountains in this region are characterized by complex tectonics that influence the occurrence of earthquakes, while climatic processes such as intense orographic rainfall often dictate the occurrence of floods and landslides. Development of linear infrastructures, such as roads, in mountainous terrain characterized by high relief and orogeny is considerably challenging where the complexity of landscape in steep and irregular topography, difficult ground conditions and weak geology, presents engineers and planners with numerous difficulties to construct and maintain mountain roads. Whilst application of engineering geology, geomorphic interpretation of terrain in terms of physiography and hydrology, and identification of geo-hazards along the road corridor is critical for long term operation of mountain roads, low-cost arterial roads in the Himalayan foothills generally fail to incorporate standard road slope engineering structures. This research provides unique insights on policy and governance issues in developing mountainous countries such as Nepal, where achieving a sound balance between sustainability and affordability is a major challenge for road construction. Road development in Nepal is a complex issue where socio-economic and political factors influence the budget allocation for road construction in rural hilly areas. Moreover, most mountain roads are constructed without any geological or geo-technical site investigations due to rampant corruption and lack of adequate engineering supervision. Despite having good examples of rural road construction practices such as the Dharan-Dhankuta Road in Eastern Nepal where comprehensive terrain-evaluation methods and geo-technical surveys led to an improved understanding of road construction, learnings from this project have not informed other road development schemes in Nepal. Geomorphological surveys and robust geo-hazard assessments that factor the spatial and temporal dimensions of the seismic, fluvial and sediment hazards along the road corridor are critical for sustainable development of mountain roads. However, scientific and technical research studies seldom inform mountain road development primarily due to lack of co-ordination between the respective government agencies, access to journal papers in developing countries and unwillingness to adopt novel interventions in rural road construction practices. These challenges are further exacerbated by weak governance and lack of proper policy enforcement that often leads to construction of poorly engineered roads, thereby increasing the risk of rural infrastructural damage from geo-hazards. Though there exists a disconnect between the science-policy-governance interface where information on geo-hazards is neglected in mountain road development due to lack of scientific research and government apathy, there is an opportunity to spur dialogue and sensitize these issues via trans-disciplinary approaches on disaster risk management.

Is vertebrate mortality correlated to potential permeability by underpasses along low-traffic roads?

PubMed

Delgado, Juan D; Morelli, Federico; Arroyo, Natalia L; Durán, Jorge; Rodríguez, Alexandra; Rosal, Antonio; Palenzuela, María Del Valle; Rodríguez, Jesús D G P

2018-09-01

Road permeability to animal movements depends among several factors on structures which, integrated in the road design, operate as safe conducts to mitigate vehicle collision and barrier effects. There is abundant evidence that wildlife makes use of such structures as safe passages to cross roads. We analyzed the spatial relationship between road drainage elements (N = 253; mostly culverts) as potential faunal underpasses, and mortality due to vehicle collisions in two seasons and on four relatively low-traffic roads (<5000 cars/day) traversing oak rangelands of western Andalusia (S Spain). Focusing on amphibians, reptiles and mammals, we recorded and located casualties (N = 238 individuals, 35 species) along these roads, identifying and characterizing all potential underpasses. Overall frequencies of casualties and spatial distribution were highly variable both within and among these roads. We obtained an estimation of potential permeability for the different roads. We detected, located and described a wide supply and a very variable pattern of drainage culverts and other underpasses, with differences among roads in passage attributes potentially affecting permeability for wildlife, such as spatial arrangement, number, density (frequency or concentration of passages) and dimensions. We used Mantel tests to assess spatial congruence of passages and road-killed animals. We applied generalized linear mixed models fitted by maximum likelihood through Akaike Information Criterion to explain the variation in the distance of the 238 casualties to the nearest underpasses, with road transect and season as random factors, and traffic intensity, speed and vertebrate class as fixed effects. Both road-killed animals and underpass distribution followed aggregated patterns, and casualties were not significantly related to underpasses along any of the 4 roads. There were no differences in distance of casualties to the nearest underpass for the three vertebrate classes. Although existing underpasses were abundant, we could not correlate potential permeability with reduced mortality along these roads, and other factors potentially affecting roadkill aggregations should be evaluated along with permeability assessment. Mitigation of road-caused mortality can still be greatly improved for these roads, through measures of reconditioning and proper management of existing underpasses, aiming to maximize road permeability and reducing major impacts upon animal populations of Andalusian rangelands. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiuse trail intersection safety analysis: A crowdsourced data perspective.

PubMed

Jestico, Ben; Nelson, Trisalyn A; Potter, Jason; Winters, Meghan

2017-06-01

Real and perceived concerns about cycling safety are a barrier to increased ridership in many cities. Many people prefer to bike on facilities separated from motor vehicles, such as multiuse trails. However, due to underreporting, cities lack data on bike collisions, especially along greenways and multiuse paths. We used a crowdsourced cycling incident dataset (2005-2016) from BikeMaps.org for the Capital Regional District (CRD), BC, Canada. Our goal was to identify design characteristics associated with unsafe intersections between multiuse trails and roads. 92.8% of mapped incidents occurred between 2014 and 2016. We extracted both collision and near miss incidents at intersections from BikeMaps.org. We conducted site observations at 32 intersections where a major multiuse trail intersected with roads. We compared attributes of reported incidents at multiuse trail-road intersections to those at road-road intersections. We then used negative binomial regression to model the relationship between the number of incidents and the infrastructure characteristics at multiuse trail-road intersections. We found a higher proportion of collisions (38%, or 17/45 total reports) at multiuse trail-road intersections compared to road-road intersections (23%, or 62/268 total reports). A higher proportion of incidents resulted in an injury at multiuse trail-road intersections compared to road-road intersections (33% versus 15%). Cycling volumes, vehicle volumes, and trail sight distance were all associated with incident frequency at multiuse trail-road intersections. Supplementing traditional crash records with crowdsourced cycling incident data provides valuable evidence on cycling safety at intersections between multiuse trails and roads, and more generally, when conflicts occur between diverse transportation modes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The burden of road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Thompson, Jacqueline Y; Akanbi, Moses A; Azuh, Dominic; Samuel, Victoria; Omoregbe, Nicholas; Ayo, Charles K

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective To estimate the burden of road traffic injuries and deaths for all road users and among different road user groups in Africa. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Google Scholar, websites of African road safety agencies and organizations for registry- and population-based studies and reports on road traffic injury and death estimates in Africa, published between 1980 and 2015. Available data for all road users and by road user group were extracted and analysed. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis and estimated pooled rates of road traffic injuries and deaths. Findings We identified 39 studies from 15 African countries. The estimated pooled rate for road traffic injury was 65.2 per 100 000 population (95% confidence interval, CI: 60.8–69.5) and the death rate was 16.6 per 100 000 population (95% CI: 15.2–18.0). Road traffic injury rates increased from 40.7 per 100 000 population in the 1990s to 92.9 per 100 000 population between 2010 and 2015, while death rates decreased from 19.9 per 100 000 population in the 1990s to 9.3 per 100 000 population between 2010 and 2015. The highest road traffic death rate was among motorized four-wheeler occupants at 5.9 per 100 000 population (95% CI: 4.4–7.4), closely followed by pedestrians at 3.4 per 100 000 population (95% CI: 2.5–4.2). Conclusion The burden of road traffic injury and death is high in Africa. Since registry-based reports underestimate the burden, a systematic collation of road traffic injury and death data is needed to determine the true burden. PMID:27429490

To what extent can theory account for the findings of road safety evaluation studies?

PubMed

Elvik, Rune

2004-09-01

This paper proposes a conceptual framework that can be used to assess to what extent the findings of road safety evaluation research make sense from a theoretical point of view. The effects of road safety measures are modelled as passing through two causal chains. One of these, termed the engineering effect, refers to the intended effects of a road safety measure on a set of risk factors related to accident occurrence or injury severity. The engineering effect of road safety measures is modelled in terms of nine basic risk factors, one or more of which any road safety measure needs to influence in order to have the intended effect on accidents or injuries. The other causal chain producing the effects of road safety measures is termed the behavioural effect, and refers to road user behavioural adaptations to road safety measures. The behavioural effect is related to the engineering effect, in the sense that certain properties of the engineering effect of a road safety measure influence the likelihood that behavioural adaptation will occur. The behavioural effect of a road safety measure is modelled in terms of six factors that influence the likelihood that behavioural adaptation will occur. The nine basic risk factors representing the engineering effect of a road safety measure, and the six factors influencing the likelihood of behavioural adaptation can be used as checklists in assessing whether or not the findings of road safety evaluation studies make sense from a theoretical point of view. At the current state of knowledge, a more stringent evaluation of the extent to which theory can explain the findings of road safety evaluation studies is, in most cases, not possible. Copyright 2003 Elsevier Ltd.

Speciation distribution and mass balance of copper and zinc in urban rain, sediments, and road runoff.

PubMed

Zuo, Xiaojun; Fu, Dafang; Li, He

2012-11-01

Heavy metal pollution in road runoff had caused widespread concern since the last century. However, there are little references on metal speciation in multiple environmental media (e.g., rain, road sediments, and road runoff). Our research targeted the investigation of metal speciation in rain, road sediments, and runoff; the analysis of speciation variation and mass balance of metals among rain, road sediments, and runoff; the selection of main factors by principal component analysis (PCA); and the establishment of equation to evaluate the impact of rain and road sediments to metals in road runoff. Sequential extraction procedure contains five steps for the chemical fractionation of metals. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry (Shimadzu, AA-6800) was used to determine metal speciation concentration, as well as the total and dissolved fractions. The dissolved fractions for both Cu and Zn were dominant in rain. The speciation distribution of Zn was different from that of Cu in road sediments, while speciation distribution of Zn is similar to that of Cu in runoff. The bound to carbonates for both Cu and Zn in road sediments were prone to be dissolved by rain. The levels of Cu and Zn in runoff were not obviously influenced by rain, but significantly influenced by road sediments. The masses for both Cu and Zn among rain, road sediments, and road runoff approximately meet the mass balance equation for all rainfall patterns. Five principal factors were selected for metal regression equation based on PCA, including rainfall, average rainfall intensity, antecedent dry periods, total suspended particles, and temperature. The established regression equations could be used to predict the effect of road runoff on receiving environments.

Comparative analysis of the performance of One-Way and Two-Way urban road networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gheorghe, Carmen

2017-10-01

The fact that the number of vehicles is increasing year after year represents a challenge in road traffic management because it is necessary to adjust the road traffic, in order to prevent any incidents, using mostly the same road infrastructure. At this moment one-way road network provides efficient traffic flow for vehicles but it is not ideal for pedestrians. Therefore, a proper solution must be found and applied when and where it is necessary. Replacing one-way road network with two-way road network may be a viable solution especially if in the area is high pedestrian traffic. The paper aims to highlight the influence of both, one-way and two-way urban road networks through an experimental research which was performed by using traffic data collected in the field. Each of the two scenarios analyzed were based on the same traffic data, the same geometrical conditions of the road (lane width, total road segment width, road slopes, total length of the road network) and also the same signaling conditions (signalised intersection or roundabout). The analysis which involves two-way scenario reveals changes in the performance parameters like delay average, stops average, delay stop average and vehicle speed average. Based on the values obtained, it was possible to perform a comparative analysis between the real, one-way, scenario and the theoretical, two-way, scenario.

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

PubMed

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.

Linkages between unpaved forest roads and streambed sediment: why context matters in directing road restoration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Al-Chokhachy, Robert K.; Black, Tom A.; Thomas, Cameron; Luce, Charlie H.; Rieman, Bruce; Cissel, Richard; Carlson, Anne; Hendrickson, Shane; Archer, Eric K.; Kershner, Jeffrey L.

2016-01-01

Unpaved forest roads remain a pervasive disturbance on public lands and mitigating sediment from road networks remains a priority for management agencies. Restoring roaded landscapes is becoming increasingly important for many native coldwater fishes that disproportionately rely on public lands for persistence. However, effectively targeting restoration opportunities requires a comprehensive understanding of the effects of roads across different ecosystems. Here, we combine a review and a field study to evaluate the status of knowledge supporting the conceptual framework linking unpaved forest roads with streambed sediment. Through our review, we specifically focused on those studies linking measures of the density of forest roads or sediment delivery with empirical streambed sediment measures. Our field study provides an example of a targeted effort of linking spatially explicit estimates of sediment production with measures of streambed sediment. Surprisingly, our review uncovered few studies (n = 8) that empirically tested the conceptual framework linking unpaved forest roads and streambed sediment, and the results varied considerably. Field results generally supported the conceptual model that unpaved forest roads can control streambed sediment quality, but demonstrated high-spatial variability in the effects of forest roads on streambed sediment and the need to address hotspots of sediment sources. The importance of context in the effects of forest roads is apparent in both our review and field data, suggesting the need for in situ studies to avoid misdirected restoration actions.

77 FR 38569 - Information Collection; Application for Permit for Use of Roads, Trails, or Areas Restricted by...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-28

... investments in NFS roads; and require commercial users to perform road maintenance commensurate with their use... commercial users to perform maintenance commensurate with their road use. Section 261.10 contains a national... appropriate investment sharing arrangements, require commercial users of NFS roads to perform maintenance...

14 CFR Appendix G to Part 151 - Appendix G to Part 151

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... itemization of typical eligible and ineligible items of road construction covered by § 151.89 of this chapter: Typical Eligible Items 1. Entrance roads. 2. Service roads for access to public areas. 3. Service roads for airport maintenance (including perimeter airport service road within airport boundary and not for...

2010/11 McMurdo Station Snow Road Strength and Maintenance

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-02-01

McMurdo Station. Part of this study in- cluded tracking the road maintenance and temperature and testing the road strength at predetermined mile...data provides insight as to the direct effects of various maintenance and environmental factors on the strength of the roads . Un- derstanding the...13 4.2 Maintenance vs. road strength

77 FR 36251 - Intermountain Region, Boise National Forest; Emmett Ranger District, Idaho; Scriver Creek...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-18

... relocated segment of NFS Road 696D would be decommissioned); and (4) road maintenance activities would occur... maintenance activities may include but are not limited to road prism blading, spot aggregate placement...) Permanent national forest system (NFS) roads can increase long term resource impacts and road maintenance...

36 CFR 7.32 - Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... waters of Lake Superior, Grand Sable Lake, on the major lakeshore visitor use roads that are unplowed, or on road shoulders of plowed park roads in conformance with State law. The designated snowmobile routes are: (i) The Sand Point Road from the park boundary to Lake Superior. (ii) The woodlands road from...

36 CFR 212.51 - Designation of roads, trails, and areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Designation of roads, trails... AGRICULTURE TRAVEL MANAGEMENT Designation of Roads, Trails, and Areas for Motor Vehicle Use § 212.51 Designation of roads, trails, and areas. (a) General. Motor vehicle use on National Forest System roads, on...

27 CFR 9.183 - Yamhill-Carlton District.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... the 200-foot elevation line's intersection with Spring Hill Road, section 58, T2S, R3W (Laurelwood Quadrangle); then (2) Proceed south 1.1 miles on Spring Hill Road, which becomes North Valley Road at... elevation line's intersection with Stag Hollow Road, north of Hendricks Road and 190-foot elevation point...

Wildland road removal: research needs

Treesearch

T. Adam Switalski; John A. Bissonette; Tom H. Deluca; Charles H. Luce; Mary Ann Madej

2003-01-01

Wildland road removal is a common practice across the U.S. and in some parts of Canada. The main types of road removal include ripping, stream crossing restoration, and full recontour. Road removal creates a short-term disturbance that may temporarily increase sediment loss. However, research and long-term monitoring have shown that road removal both reduces erosion...

25 CFR 170.121 - What is a cultural access road?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What is a cultural access road? 170.121 Section 170.121 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Use of Irr and Cultural Access Roads § 170...

25 CFR 170.127 - What terms apply to access roads?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What terms apply to access roads? 170.127 Section 170.127 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Irr Housing Access Roads § 170.127 What...

49 CFR 1242.16 - Road property damaged-other (account XX-19-48).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Road property damaged-other (account XX-19-48... Structures § 1242.16 Road property damaged—other (account XX-19-48). Separate common expenses in proportion... accounts: Road Property Damaged—Running (XX-17-48) Road Property Damaged—Switching (XX-18-48) ...

5 CFR 930.107 - Waiver of road test.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

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...

Cost, performance, and esthetic impacts of an experimental forest road in Montana

Treesearch

Rulon B. Gardner

1978-01-01

An experimental logging road designed to minimize environmental and esthetic impact was constructed in northwest Montana. The road was single-lane (14-foot finished surface, 3-foot ditch), constructed along the contour. Esthetically, the single-lane experimental road was judged far superior to existing roads on the forest.

Configuration of Appalachian logging roads

Treesearch

John E. Baumgras; John E. Baumgras

1971-01-01

The configuration - the curvature and grade - of logging roads in southern Appalachia is seldom severe, according to a recent Forest Service study. To improve the efficiency of logging roads, we must first define the characteristics of these roads; and in this report we provide a quantitative description of the configuration of over 200 miles of logging roads.

On the road: workable solutions to the problems of roads and highways

Treesearch

Mary M. Rowland

2004-01-01

Fourteen authors, ranging from transportation specialists to ecologists, have collaborated to write this very useful compendium describing the newly minted discipline of "road ecology." The authors state that road ecology "uses the science of ecology and landscape ecology to explore, understand, and address the interactions of roads and vehicles with...

25 CFR 170.803 - What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road... AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.803 What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program? (a) The following public transportation facilities are eligible...

25 CFR 170.803 - What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road... AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.803 What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program? (a) The following public transportation facilities are eligible...

25 CFR 170.803 - What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road... AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.803 What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program? (a) The following public transportation facilities are eligible...

25 CFR 170.803 - What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road... AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.803 What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program? (a) The following public transportation facilities are eligible...

View of New Big Oak Flat Road seen from Old ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

View of New Big Oak Flat Road seen from Old Wawona Road near location of photograph HAER CA-148-17. Note road cuts, alignment, and tunnels. Devils Dance Floor at left distance. Looking northwest - Big Oak Flat Road, Between Big Oak Flat Entrance & Merced River, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA

27 CFR 9.152 - Malibu-Newton Canyon.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

....” (2) Then south along Kanan Dume Road to the point where an unnamed, unimproved dirt road referred to... Canyon Road to an unnamed, unimproved dirt road referred to by the petitioner as Newton Mountain Way at... southeastern ridgeline of Newton Canyon, to an unnamed, unimproved dirt road referred to by the petitioner as...

76 FR 22361 - Lakeview-Reeder Fuels Reduction, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, Idaho, Bonner County

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-21

... miles of road maintenance, 2.4 miles of system road construction and 0.7 miles of temporary road... construction, and 0.7 miles of temporary road construction. Responsible Official The Forest Supervisor of the... timber harvest and fuel treatments, as well as miles and locations of road maintenance, construction...

78 FR 49722 - Tongass National Forest Wrangell Ranger District; Alaska; Wrangell Island Project Environmental...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-15

... official will decide whether to authorize timber harvest, associated road construction, and road management... manage roads in the project area to support resource management activities. Proposed Action The Proposed... (NFS) and temporary roads would be constructed and about 7 miles of existing NFS roads would be...

77 FR 26733 - Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest; Evanston-Mountain View Ranger District; Utah; Smiths Fork...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-07

... mapped, is anticipated to involve approximately 3.1 miles of new specified road construction, approximately 10.7 miles of temporary road construction, approximately 6.7 miles of additional temporary road use on the existing road prism, and approximately 2.6 miles of road reconstruction. Approximately 3.8...

36 CFR 294.24 - Timber cutting, sale, or removal in Idaho Roadless Areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... construction of a forest road and subsequent timber cutting. Both the road construction and subsequent timber... the roadless characteristics over the long-term; (ii) Use existing roads or aerial harvest systems... any forest roads or temporary roads, including those authorized under § 294.23(b)(2 and 3) until...

36 CFR 7.32 - Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... waters of Lake Superior, Grand Sable Lake, on the major lakeshore visitor use roads that are unplowed, or on road shoulders of plowed park roads in conformance with State law. The designated snowmobile routes are: (i) The Sand Point Road from the park boundary to Lake Superior. (ii) The woodlands road from...

Distinguishing the road conditions of dry, aquaplane, and frozen by using a three-color infrared camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabuchi, Toru; Yamagata, Shigeki; Tamura, Tetsuo

2003-04-01

There are increasing demands for information to avoid accident in automobile traffic increase. We will discuss that an infrared camera can identify three conditions (dry, aquaplane, frozen) of the road surface. Principles of this method are; 1.We have found 3-color infrared camera can distinguish those conditions using proper data processing 2.The emissivity of the materials on the road surface (conclete, water, ice) differs in three wavelength regions. 3.The sky's temperature is lower than the road's. The emissivity of the road depends on the road surface conditions. Therefore, 3-color infrared camera measure the energy reflected from the sky on the road surface and self radiation of road surface. The road condition can be distinguished by processing the energy pattern measured in three wavelength regions. We were able to collect the experimental results that the emissivity of conclete is differ from water. The infrared camera whose NETD (Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference) at each 3-wavelength is 1.0C or less can distinguish the road conditions by using emissivity difference.

The changes of densities and patterns of roads and rural buildings: a case study on Dongzhi Yuan of the Loess Plateau, China.

PubMed

Bi, Xiaoli; Wang, Hui; Ge, Jianping

2010-05-01

Roads and buildings are considered as primary causes of rural landscape changes. In this study, linear regression models were used to analyze the dynamic influences of environmental factors and variables on roads and rural buildings from 1979 to 2005 in Dongzhi Yuan (tableland) of the Loess Plateau, China. The relationship between roads and rural buildings and their effects on Dongzhi Yuan are discussed also. The results showed that three environmental factors (topography, land cover, and development level) explained roads better than rural buildings referring densities and patterns. The environmental variables significantly related to roads have decreased, whereas those related to rural buildings have increased over time. Among these significant variables, percent of farmland mostly determined the densities and patterns of both roads and rural buildings. There was significant correlation between roads and rural buildings in terms of density and pattern. In addition, roads and rural buildings have increased greatly in gully areas of this region. Therefore, more attention should be paid to planning of roads and rural buildings in Dongzhi Yuan.

Safety effects of low-cost engineering measures. An observational study in a Portuguese multilane road.

PubMed

Vieira Gomes, Sandra; Cardoso, João Lourenço

2012-09-01

Single carriageway multilane roads are not, in general, a very safe type of road, mainly because of the high number of seriously injured victims in head-on collisions, when compared with dual carriageway multilane roads, with a median barrier. In this paper the results of a study on the effect of the application of several low cost engineering measures, aimed at road infrastructure correction and road safety improvement on a multilane road (EN6), are presented. The study was developed by the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) for the Portuguese Road Administration and involved a comparison of selected aspects of motorized traffic behaviour (traffic volumes and speeds) measured in several sections of EN6, as well as monitoring of road safety developments in the same road. The applied low cost engineering measures allowed a reduction of 10% in the expected annual number of personal injury accidents and a 70% decrease in the expected annual number of head-on collisions; the expected annual frequency of accidents involving killed and seriously injured persons was reduced by 26%. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed

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. Although differences were observed between paved and unpaved roads, our results show that riding on either represented significantly greater dangers than riding off the road. Many vehicle warnings specifically mention the risks of paved but not unpaved roads, yet we found 23 states with half or more of their roadway deaths on unpaved surfaces. Safety warnings should explicitly state the dangers of roadway riding regardless of surface type. These data further support laws/ordinances greatly restricting ATV riding on all types of public roadways.

Autonomous navigation of structured city roads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aubert, Didier; Kluge, Karl C.; Thorpe, Chuck E.

1991-03-01

Autonomous road following is a domain which spans a range of complexity from poorly defined unmarked dirt roads to well defined well marked highly struc-. tured highways. The YARF system (for Yet Another Road Follower) is designed to operate in the middle of this range of complexity driving on urban streets. Our research program has focused on the use of feature- and situation-specific segmentation techniques driven by an explicit model of the appearance and geometry of the road features in the environment. We report results in robust detection of white and yellow painted stripes fitting a road model to detected feature locations to determine vehicle position and local road geometry and automatic location of road features in an initial image. We also describe our planned extensions to include intersection navigation.

Inroads into Equestrian Safety: Rider-Reported Factors Contributing to Horse-Related Accidents and Near Misses on Australian Roads

PubMed Central

Thompson, Kirrilly; Matthews, Chelsea

2015-01-01

Simple Summary Riding horses on roads can be dangerous, but little is known about accidents and near misses. To explore road safety issues amongst Australian equestrians, we conducted an online survey. More than half of all riders (52%) reported having experienced at least one accident or near miss in the 12 months prior to the survey, mostly attributed to speed. Whilst our findings confirmed factors identified overseas, we also identified issues around road rules, hand signals and road rage. This paper suggests strategies for improving the safety of horses, riders and other road users. Abstract Horse riding and horse-related interactions are inherently dangerous. When they occur on public roads, the risk profile of equestrian activities is complicated by interactions with other road users. Research has identified speed, proximity, visibility, conspicuity and mutual misunderstanding as factors contributing to accidents and near misses. However, little is known about their significance or incidence in Australia. To explore road safety issues amongst Australian equestrians, we conducted an online survey. More than half of all riders (52%) reported having experienced at least one accident or near miss in the 12 months prior to the survey. Whilst our findings confirm the factors identified overseas, we also identified issues around rider misunderstanding of road rules and driver misunderstanding of rider hand signals. Of particular concern, we also found reports of potentially dangerous rider-directed road rage. We identify several areas for potential safety intervention including (1) identifying equestrians as vulnerable road users and horses as sentient decision-making vehicles; (2) harmonising laws regarding passing horses; (3) mandating personal protective equipment; (4) improving road signage; (5) comprehensive data collection; (6) developing mutual understanding amongst road-users; (7) safer road design and alternative riding spaces; and (8) increasing investment in horse-related safety initiatives. PMID:26479376

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

PubMed Central

Frizzelle, Brian G; Evenson, Kelly R; Rodriguez, Daniel A; Laraia, Barbara A

2009-01-01

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 the feasibility of readily available commercial or public road datasets, and outlines the steps by which an improved custom dataset for a study area can be developed. PMID:19409088

Multilane Traffic Flow Modeling Using Cellular Automata Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chechina, Antonina; Churbanova, Natalia; Trapeznikova, Marina

2018-02-01

The paper deals with the mathematical modeling of traffic flows on urban road networks using microscopic approach. The model is based on the cellular automata theory and presents a generalization of the Nagel-Schreckenberg model to a multilane case. The created program package allows to simulate traffic on various types of road fragments (T or X type intersection, strait road elements, etc.) and on road networks that consist of these elements. Besides that, it allows to predict the consequences of various decisions regarding road infrastructure changes, such as: number of lanes increasing/decreasing, putting new traffic lights into operation, building new roads, entrances/exits, road junctions.

1. AERIAL VIEW OF WEST/FRONT AND NORTH/SIDE FACADES, LOOKING SOUTHEAST ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. AERIAL VIEW OF WEST/FRONT AND NORTH/SIDE FACADES, LOOKING SOUTHEAST (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT): VA-1272 Ball Building, 1437 N. Court House Road. VA-1273 Jesse Building, 1423-27 N. Court House Road. VA-1276 Jesse-Hosmer Building, 1419 N. Court House Road. VA-1275 Moncure (Adams, Porter, Radigan) Building, N. 1415 Court House Road. VA-1274 Rucker Building, N. 1403 Court House Road. - Lawyers' Row Block, North Court House Road between Fourteenth & Fifteenth Streets, Arlington, Arlington County, VA

Road impacts on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, with emphasis on effects to surface- and shallow ground-water hydrology - A literature review

USGS Publications Warehouse

Andersen, Douglas C.

2007-01-01

A review of published research on unpaved road effects on surface-water and shallow ground-water hydrology was undertaken to assist the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, in understanding factors potentially influencing refuge ecology. Few studies were found that addressed hydrological effects of roads on a comparable area of shallow slope in a semiarid region. No study dealt with road effects on surface- and ground-water supplies to ephemeral wetlands, which on the refuge are sustained by seasonal snowmelt in neighboring mountains. Road surfaces increase runoff, reduce infiltration, and serve as a sediment source. Roadbeds can interfere with normal surface- and ground-water flows and thereby influence the quantity, timing, and duration of water movement both across landscapes and through the soil. Hydrologic effects can be localized near the road as well as widespread and distant. The number, arrangement, and effectiveness of road-drainage structures (culverts and other devices) largely determine the level of hydrologic alteration produced by a road. Undesirable changes to natural hydrologic patterns can be minimized by considering potential impacts during road design, construction, and maintenance. Road removal as a means to restore desirable hydrologic conditions to landscapes adversely affected by roads has yet to be rigorously evaluated.

The scaling structure of the global road network

PubMed Central

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

2017-01-01

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. PMID:29134071

The scaling structure of the global road network.

PubMed

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.

Geomorphological aspects of road construction in a cold environment, Finland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seppälä, Matti

1999-12-01

Traditionally, road alignments followed easy landscapes and suitable landforms. When traffic and the size and weight of vehicles increased and higher speeds were used, straighter roads were required; the easygoing relief could not always be used, and problems arose. Road contractors could save money in building and maintenance costs by considering the geomorphic facts. The examples from Finland document why road construction is very expensive in the conditions generated by severe winters. In Finland, more paved roads cross the Arctic Circle than in the whole of North America. This paper gives examples of geomorphic elements affecting road construction in a cold environment: eskers, drumlins, plains of late and postglacial glaciolacustrine and marine sediments, mires, steep rock cliffs, river channels and ice-dams, fluvial erosion, and palsas. Solutions to these problems include removal of frost sensible materials and replacement by more favorable sediments. Road surfaces, kept snow-free in the wintertime, are subjected to deep freezing. The maintenance of roads can be supported with some solutions that affect snowdrift and icing problems, avoidance of geomorphic factors that cause problems, and by using natural processes to help people. Some examples of how road construction affects geomorphic processes and vice versa are provided. For example, bridges block moving river ice, and on special occasions, road banks cause icing.

Using the event analysis of systemic teamwork (EAST) to explore conflicts between different road user groups when making right hand turns at urban intersections.

PubMed

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

2014-01-01

Collisions between different types of road users at intersections form a substantial component of the road toll. This paper presents an analysis of driver, cyclist, motorcyclist and pedestrian behaviour at intersections that involved the application of an integrated suite of ergonomics methods, the Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork (EAST) framework, to on-road study data. EAST was used to analyse behaviour at three intersections using data derived from an on-road study of driver, cyclist, motorcyclist and pedestrian behaviour. The analysis shows the differences in behaviour and cognition across the different road user groups and pinpoints instances where this may be creating conflicts between different road users. The role of intersection design in creating these differences in behaviour and resulting conflicts is discussed. It is concluded that currently intersections are not designed in a way that supports behaviour across the four forms of road user studied. Interventions designed to improve intersection safety are discussed. Practitioner Summary: Intersection safety currently represents a key road safety issue worldwide. This paper presents a novel application of a framework of ergonomics methods for studying differences in road user behaviour at intersections. The findings support development of interventions that consider all road users as opposed to one group in isolation.

Performance and physiological effects of different descending strategies for cross-country mountain biking.

PubMed

Miller, Matthew C; Macdermid, Paul W; Fink, Phil W; Stannard, Stephen R

2017-04-01

This study investigated the performance-related feasibility and physiological benefits of purposefully eliminating propulsive work while descending in mountain biking and compared values to those measured during road descending. Participants cycled uphill on a road at race pace before descending over three conditions (off-road pedalling; off-road coasting; road coasting). Relatively low power output during off-road pedalling was associated with a greater oxygen uptake (p < .01) when compared with off-road coasting despite no difference in vibration exposure (p > .05). Importantly, pedalling did not invoke a performance benefit (p > .05) on the descent used in this study. Significantly greater heart rate and oxygen uptake (both p < .01) were observed between road and off-road descending, likely caused by the increase in terrain-induced vibrations (p < .01) experienced between the bicycle and rider. Results indicate that reducing propulsive work during descending can improve recovery without being disadvantageous to performance. Similarly, the vibrations experienced during road descending are relatively low, and further reduce oxygen cost. In an effort to increase efficiency, it is recommended that mountain bike athletes focus on skills to increase descending speed without the addition of pedalling, and that equipment be used to decrease vibrations nearer to those seen on the road.

1. Deep Creek Road, picnic pavilion Great Smoky Mountains ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. Deep Creek Road, picnic pavilion - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Deep Creek Road, Between Park Boundary near Bryson City & Deep Creek Campground, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN

Epic Erosion Along Newly Constructed Roads in Yunnan, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidle, R. C.; Kono, Y.; Yamaguchi, T.

2007-05-01

The recent expansion and construction of new mountain roads in northwestern Yunnan Province, China, poses problems related to landslides and surface erosion that are impacting the headwaters of three great river systems: the Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze. Many of these newer roads are simply blasted into unstable hillsides with virtually no attention paid to optimal road location, construction practices, and erosion control measures. During summer 2006, seven people traveling in a minivan along a newly constructed road to Weixi were killed by a landslide. A survey conducted along a this 23.5 km road section (4 yr old) in the headwaters of the Mekong River revealed epic levels of landslides and surface erosion. Based on a preliminary survey, the road erosion was categorized as moderately severe, severe, or very severe, and a representative 0.75 to 0.90 km stretch of road was then surveyed for both landslide (based on dimensional analysis) and surface erosion (based on soil pedestal height). Average mass wasting rates (9608 t ha-1yr-1) along the road were more than 13 times higher than surface erosion (720 t ha-1yr-1), even though surface erosion rates are among the highest reported for disturbed lands. Dry ravel constituted a minor proportion of the mass wasting: 4% in the severe erosion section of the road and 0.5-0.6% in the moderately severe and very severe sections. For the very severe erosion road section (6 km long), estimated landslide erosion alone was > 33,000 t ha- 1yr-1, 620 times the average landslide erosion from forest roads built in unstable terrain in western North America. These levels of landslide erosion along the Weixi road are the highest ever documented and are somewhat representative of erosion along new mountain roads in this region of Yunnan. Sediment produced from roads is highly connected to fluvial systems; we estimate that 80-95% of the direct sediment contributions into the headwaters of these rivers are attributable to road erosion and landslides. These epic sediment loads represent cumulative effects that may persist in these important transnational rivers for decades.

25 CFR 170.802 - How is road maintenance funded?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How is road maintenance funded? 170.802 Section 170.802 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.802 How is road maintenance funded? (a) The U.S. Congress funds a BIA...

The Public Debate about Roads on the National Forest: An Analysis of the News Media

Treesearch

David N. Bengston; David P. Fan

1999-01-01

Roads and road building on the US national forests have become the focus of intense public debate in recent years. Timber companies and others argued that forest roads are an essential transportation system for the production of commodities that society needs. Environmentalists and others reply that national forest roads constitute ecologically destructive "...

A suite of tools for monitoring and assessing impacts of road networks and off-road vehicle activity on rangelands

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Despite increasing amounts of transportation related activities on rangelands globally, few tools exist for assessing and monitoring impacts of roads, road networks and off-road vehicle traffic. This is in part due to an historical emphasis on grazing issues in rangelands and the complexity of monit...

36 CFR 254.33 - Road rights-of-way.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Road rights-of-way. 254.33... ADJUSTMENTS Conveyance of Small Tracts § 254.33 Road rights-of-way. (a) Reserved or acquired road right-of-way... by lands not owned by the United States. (b) Forest Service officials shall consider public road...

30 CFR 780.33 - Relocation or use of public roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Relocation or use of public roads. 780.33... PLAN § 780.33 Relocation or use of public roads. Each application shall describe, with appropriate maps... line of any public road, except where mine access or haul roads join that right-of-way; or (b...

30 CFR 784.18 - Relocation or use of public roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Relocation or use of public roads. 784.18... PLAN § 784.18 Relocation or use of public roads. Each application shall describe, with appropriate maps...-of-way line of any public road, except where mine access or haul roads join that right-of-way; or (b...

Infiltration, erosion, and vegetation recovery following road obliteration

Treesearch

R. B. Foltz; H. Rhee; K. A. Yanosek

2007-01-01

Forest roads are obliterated to lower the risks of surface erosion and mass failures. One purpose of the road obliteration is to return the compacted forest roads to productive pre-road conditions, i.e., a forest floor with high infiltration capacity, low interrill erodibility, and high vegetation ground cover. It is important to know how these characteristics recover...

A synthesis of postfire road treatments for BAER teams: methods, treatment effectiveness, and decisionmaking tools for rehabilitation

Treesearch

Randy B. Foltz; Peter R. Robichaud; Hakjun Rhee

2008-01-01

We synthesized post-fire road treatment information to assist BAER specialists in making road rehabilitation decisions. We developed a questionnaire; conducted 30 interviews of BAER team engineers and hydrologists; acquired and analyzed gray literature and other relevant publications; and reviewed road rehabilitation procedures and analysis tools. Post-fire road...

25 CFR 170.120 - What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian Reservation Road?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... Reservation Road? 170.120 Section 170.120 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Use of Irr and Cultural Access Roads § 170.120 What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian...

25 CFR 170.120 - What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian Reservation Road?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Reservation Road? 170.120 Section 170.120 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Use of Irr and Cultural Access Roads § 170.120 What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian...

25 CFR 170.120 - What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian Reservation Road?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Reservation Road? 170.120 Section 170.120 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Use of Irr and Cultural Access Roads § 170.120 What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian...

25 CFR 170.120 - What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian Reservation Road?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... Reservation Road? 170.120 Section 170.120 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Use of Irr and Cultural Access Roads § 170.120 What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian...

25 CFR 170.120 - What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian Reservation Road?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... Reservation Road? 170.120 Section 170.120 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Use of Irr and Cultural Access Roads § 170.120 What restrictions apply to the use of an Indian...

76 FR 5398 - Notice of Temporary Closure of Selected Public Lands in La Paz County, AZ

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-31

...-maintained roads and highways located on public lands that are located within 2 miles of the designated... east along Shea Road, then east into Osborne Wash on the Parker-Swansea Road to the Central Arizona...-maintained road, running northeast into Mineral Wash Canyon, then southeast on the county-maintained road...

78 FR 63279 - Public Notice for Waiver of Aeronautical Land-Use Assurance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-23

... Commissioners of Orange County for the construction of County Road CR 300 South/Airport Road to facilitate... property for a nominal sum of One Dollar and zero cents ($1.00) for the construction of County Road CR 300 South/Airport Road. Construction of the road will facilitate access to the airport. The aforementioned...

76 FR 23286 - New Pneumatic Off-the-Road Tires From the People's Republic of China: Final Results of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-26

... sites. They can also be used to perform ``rough grading'' in road construction. \\10\\ A straddle carrier... commonly used in maintenance of unpaved roads and road construction to prepare the base course onto which... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration [C-570-913] New Pneumatic Off-the-Road...

75 FR 34098 - Certain New Pneumatic Off-the-Road Tires from the People's Republic of China: Initiation of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-16

..., etc., typically around construction sites. They can also be used to perform ``rough grading'' in road... grading.'' Graders are commonly used in maintenance of unpaved roads and road construction to prepare the...-the-Road Tires from the People's Republic of China: Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review AGENCY...

43 CFR 420.22 - Criteria for off-road vehicle areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Criteria for off-road vehicle areas. 420..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFF-ROAD VEHICLE USE Designated Areas and Permitted Events § 420.22 Criteria for off-road vehicle areas. (a) Areas and trails to be opened to off-road vehicle use shall be located: (1...

43 CFR 420.22 - Criteria for off-road vehicle areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Criteria for off-road vehicle areas. 420..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFF-ROAD VEHICLE USE Designated Areas and Permitted Events § 420.22 Criteria for off-road vehicle areas. (a) Areas and trails to be opened to off-road vehicle use shall be located: (1...

Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christian, David

2000-01-01

Explores the prehistory of the Silk Roads, reexamines their structure and history in the classical era, and explores shifts in their geography in the last one thousand years. Explains that a revised understanding of the Silk Roads demonstrates how the Afro-Eurasian land mass has been linked by networks of exchange since the Bronze Age. (CMK)

Recent findings related to measuring and modeling forest road erosion

Treesearch

W. J. Elliot; R. B. Foltz; P. R. Robichaud

2009-01-01

Sediment is the greatest pollutant of forest streams. In the absence of wildfire, forest road networks are usually the main source of sediment in forest watersheds. An understanding of forest road erosion processes is important to aid in predicting sediment delivery from roads to streams. The flowpath followed by runoff is the key to understanding road erosion...

What is vision Hampton Roads?

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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,...

27 CFR 9.59 - Arroyo Seco.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... intersection with Paraiso Road. (12) Then south following Paraiso Road to the intersection with Clark Road. (13) Then east-northeasterly along Clark Road for approximately 1,000 feet to its intersection with an...

27 CFR 9.59 - Arroyo Seco.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... intersection with Paraiso Road. (12) Then south following Paraiso Road to the intersection with Clark Road. (13) Then east-northeasterly along Clark Road for approximately 1,000 feet to its intersection with an...

Analysis of loss of time value during road maintenance project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudarsana, Dewa Ketut; Sanjaya, Putu Ari

2017-06-01

Lane closure is frequently performed in the execution of the road maintenance project. It has a negative impact on road users such as the loss of vehicle operating costs and the loss of time value. Nevertheless, analysis on loss of time value in Indonesia has not been carried out. The parameter of time value for the road users was the minimum wage city/region approach. Vehicle speed of pre-construction was obtained by observation, while the speed during the road maintenance project was predicted by the speed of the pre-construction by multiplying it with the speed adjustment factor. In the case of execution of the National road maintenance project in the two-lane two-way urban and interurban road types in the fiscal year of 2015 in Bali province, the loss of time value was at the average of IDR 12,789,000/day/link road. The relationship of traffic volume and loss of time value of the road users was obtained by a logarithm model.

[Effects of road construction on regional vegetation types].

PubMed

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.

Evaluation of Traffic Density Parameters as an Indicator of Vehicle Emission-Related Near-Road Air Pollution: A Case Study with NEXUS Measurement Data on Black Carbon.

PubMed

Liu, Shi V; Chen, Fu-Lin; Xue, Jianping

2017-12-15

An important factor in evaluating health risk of near-road air pollution is to accurately estimate the traffic-related vehicle emission of air pollutants. Inclusion of traffic parameters such as road length/area, distance to roads, and traffic volume/intensity into models such as land use regression (LUR) models has improved exposure estimation. To better understand the relationship between vehicle emissions and near-road air pollution, we evaluated three traffic density-based indices: Major-Road Density (MRD), All-Traffic Density (ATD) and Heavy-Traffic Density (HTD) which represent the proportions of major roads, major road with annual average daily traffic (AADT), and major road with commercial annual average daily traffic (CAADT) in a buffered area, respectively. We evaluated the potential of these indices as vehicle emission-specific near-road air pollutant indicators by analyzing their correlation with black carbon (BC), a marker for mobile source air pollutants, using measurement data obtained from the Near-road Exposures and Effects of Urban Air Pollutants Study (NEXUS). The average BC concentrations during a day showed variations consistent with changes in traffic volume which were classified into high, medium, and low for the morning rush hours, the evening rush hours, and the rest of the day, respectively. The average correlation coefficients between BC concentrations and MRD, ATD, and HTD, were 0.26, 0.18, and 0.48, respectively, as compared with -0.31 and 0.25 for two commonly used traffic indicators: nearest distance to a major road and total length of the major road. HTD, which includes only heavy-duty diesel vehicles in its traffic count, gives statistically significant correlation coefficients for all near-road distances (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 m) that were analyzed. Generalized linear model (GLM) analyses show that season, traffic volume, HTD, and distance from major roads are highly related to BC measurements. Our analyses indicate that traffic density parameters may be more specific indicators of near-road BC concentrations for health risk studies. HTD is the best index for reflecting near-road BC concentrations which are influenced mainly by the emissions of heavy-duty diesel engines.

Evaluation of Traffic Density Parameters as an Indicator of Vehicle Emission-Related Near-Road Air Pollution: A Case Study with NEXUS Measurement Data on Black Carbon

PubMed Central

Chen, Fu-Lin; Xue, Jianping

2017-01-01

An important factor in evaluating health risk of near-road air pollution is to accurately estimate the traffic-related vehicle emission of air pollutants. Inclusion of traffic parameters such as road length/area, distance to roads, and traffic volume/intensity into models such as land use regression (LUR) models has improved exposure estimation. To better understand the relationship between vehicle emissions and near-road air pollution, we evaluated three traffic density-based indices: Major-Road Density (MRD), All-Traffic Density (ATD) and Heavy-Traffic Density (HTD) which represent the proportions of major roads, major road with annual average daily traffic (AADT), and major road with commercial annual average daily traffic (CAADT) in a buffered area, respectively. We evaluated the potential of these indices as vehicle emission-specific near-road air pollutant indicators by analyzing their correlation with black carbon (BC), a marker for mobile source air pollutants, using measurement data obtained from the Near-road Exposures and Effects of Urban Air Pollutants Study (NEXUS). The average BC concentrations during a day showed variations consistent with changes in traffic volume which were classified into high, medium, and low for the morning rush hours, the evening rush hours, and the rest of the day, respectively. The average correlation coefficients between BC concentrations and MRD, ATD, and HTD, were 0.26, 0.18, and 0.48, respectively, as compared with −0.31 and 0.25 for two commonly used traffic indicators: nearest distance to a major road and total length of the major road. HTD, which includes only heavy-duty diesel vehicles in its traffic count, gives statistically significant correlation coefficients for all near-road distances (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 m) that were analyzed. Generalized linear model (GLM) analyses show that season, traffic volume, HTD, and distance from major roads are highly related to BC measurements. Our analyses indicate that traffic density parameters may be more specific indicators of near-road BC concentrations for health risk studies. HTD is the best index for reflecting near-road BC concentrations which are influenced mainly by the emissions of heavy-duty diesel engines. PMID:29244754

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

PubMed

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 linked to fatal outcome. In the presented study, fatal outcomes were mostly related to an interaction between the three components: the road, the vehicle, and the road user. Of the three components, the road was the one that was most often linked to a fatal outcome.

16. Bridge at Old Road S looking ESE. Great ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

16. Bridge at Old Road S looking ESE. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Between Cherokee Orchard Road & U.S. Route 321, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN

14 CFR 93.53 - Description of area.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Parkway; thence northerly along Lake Otis Parkway to its intersection with Abbott Road; thence east along Abbott Road to its intersection with Abbott Loop Road; thence north to its intersection with Tudor Road...

2. Deep Creek Road, old bridge at campground entrance. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

2. Deep Creek Road, old bridge at campground entrance. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Deep Creek Road, Between Park Boundary near Bryson City & Deep Creek Campground, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN

Road accident facts Ireland, 2002

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-11-01

This report covers all road traffic accidents reported to : the Garda Sochna, where details were forwarded to the : National Roads Authority, involving fatalities, personal : injury or material damage which occurred on public : roads in Ireland (...

Road collision facts Ireland, 2004

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-11-01

This report covers all road traffic collisions reported to : the Garda Sochna, where details were recorded and : forwarded to the National Roads Authority, involving : fatalities, personal injury or material damage which : occurred on public road...

Road collision facts Ireland, 2003

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-02-01

This report covers all road traffic collisions reported to : the Garda Sochna, where details were recorded and : forwarded to the National Roads Authority, involving : fatalities, personal injury or material damage which : occurred on public road...

1. VIEW EAST, LOOKING TOWARDS BRIDGE FROM WILSON SHUTE ROAD ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. VIEW EAST, LOOKING TOWARDS BRIDGE FROM WILSON SHUTE ROAD (STATE ROAD 2008) - Wilson Shute Bridge, Spanning French Creek at State Road 2008 (formerly Legislative Route 20027), Meadville, Crawford County, PA

Pixel color feature enhancement for road signs detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qieshi; Kamata, Sei-ichiro

2010-02-01

Road signs play an important role in our daily life which used to guide drivers to notice variety of road conditions and cautions. They provide important visual information that can help drivers operating their vehicles in a manner for enhancing traffic safety. The occurrence of some accidents can be reduced by using automatic road signs recognition system which can alert the drivers. This research attempts to develop a warning system to alert the drivers to notice the important road signs early enough to refrain road accidents from happening. For solving this, a non-linear weighted color enhancement method by pixels is presented. Due to the advantage of proposed method, different road signs can be detected from videos effectively. With suitably coefficients and operations, the experimental results have proved that the proposed method is robust, accurate and powerful in road signs detection.

Vision Zero--a road safety policy innovation.

PubMed

Belin, Matts-Åke; Tillgren, Per; Vedung, Evert

2012-01-01

The aim of this paper is to examine Sweden's Vision Zero road safety policy. In particular, the paper focuses on how safety issues were framed, which decisions were made, and what are the distinctive features of Vision Zero. The analysis reveals that the decision by the Swedish Parliament to adopt Vision Zero as Sweden's road safety policy was a radical innovation. The policy is different in kind from traditional traffic safety policy with regard to problem formulation, its view on responsibility, its requirements for the safety of road users, and the ultimate objective of road safety work. The paper briefly examines the implications of these findings for national and global road safety efforts that aspire to achieving innovative road safety policies in line with the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in March 2010.

An index for estimating the potential metal pollution contribution to atmospheric particulate matter from road dust in Beijing.

PubMed

Zhao, Hongtao; Shao, Yaping; Yin, Chengqing; Jiang, Yan; Li, Xuyong

2016-04-15

The resuspension of road dust from street surfaces could be a big contributor to atmospheric particulate pollution in the rapid urbanization context in the world. However, to date what its potential contribution to the spatial pattern is little known. Here we developed an innovative index model called the road dust index (RI<105μm) and it combines source and transport factors for road dust particles <105μm in diameter. It could quantify and differentiate the impact of the spatial distribution of the potential risks posed by metals associated with road dust on atmospheric suspended particles. The factors were ranked and weighted based on road dust characteristics (the amounts, grain sizes, and mobilities of the road dust, and the concentrations and toxicities of metals in the road dust). We then applied the RI<105μm in the Beijing region to assess the spatial distribution of the potential risks posed by metals associated with road dust on atmospheric suspended particles. The results demonstrated that the road dust in urban areas has higher potential risk of metal to atmospheric particles than that in rural areas. The RI<105μm method offers a new and useful tool for assessing the potential risks posed by metals associated with road dust on atmospheric suspended particles and for controlling atmospheric particulate pollution caused by road dust emissions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Tool for Modelling the Probability of Landslides Impacting Road Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Faith E.; Santangelo, Michele; Marchesini, Ivan; Malamud, Bruce D.; Guzzetti, Fausto

2014-05-01

Triggers such as earthquakes or heavy rainfall can result in hundreds to thousands of landslides occurring across a region within a short space of time. These landslides can in turn result in blockages across the road network, impacting how people move about a region. Here, we show the development and application of a semi-stochastic model to simulate how landslides intersect with road networks during a triggered landslide event. This was performed by creating 'synthetic' triggered landslide inventory maps and overlaying these with a road network map to identify where road blockages occur. Our landslide-road model has been applied to two regions: (i) the Collazzone basin (79 km2) in Central Italy where 422 landslides were triggered by rapid snowmelt in January 1997, (ii) the Oat Mountain quadrangle (155 km2) in California, USA, where 1,350 landslides were triggered by the Northridge Earthquake (M = 6.7) in January 1994. For both regions, detailed landslide inventory maps for the triggered events were available, in addition to maps of landslide susceptibility and road networks of primary, secondary and tertiary roads. To create 'synthetic' landslide inventory maps, landslide areas (AL) were randomly selected from a three-parameter inverse gamma probability density function, consisting of a power law decay of about -2.4 for medium and large values of AL and an exponential rollover for small values of AL. The number of landslide areas selected was based on the observed density of landslides (number of landslides km-2) in the triggered event inventories. Landslide shapes were approximated as ellipses, where the ratio of the major and minor axes varies with AL. Landslides were then dropped over the region semi-stochastically, conditioned by a landslide susceptibility map, resulting in a synthetic landslide inventory map. The originally available landslide susceptibility maps did not take into account susceptibility changes in the immediate vicinity of roads, therefore our landslide susceptibility map was adjusted to further reduce the susceptibility near each road based on the road level (primary, secondary, tertiary). For each model run, we superimposed the spatial location of landslide drops with the road network, and recorded the number, size and location of road blockages recorded, along with landslides within 50 and 100 m of the different road levels. Network analysis tools available in GRASS GIS were also applied to measure the impact upon the road network in terms of connectivity. The model was performed 100 times in a Monte-Carlo simulation for each region. Initial results show reasonable agreement between model output and the observed landslide inventories in terms of the number of road blockages. In Collazzone (length of road network = 153 km, landslide density = 5.2 landslides km-2), the median number of modelled road blockages over 100 model runs was 5 (±2.5 standard deviation) compared to the mapped inventory observed number of 5 road blockages. In Northridge (length of road network = 780 km, landslide density = 8.7 landslides km-2), the median number of modelled road blockages over 100 model runs was 108 (±17.2 standard deviation) compared to the mapped inventory observed number of 48 road blockages. As we progress with model development, we believe this semi-stochastic modelling approach will potentially aid civil protection agencies to explore different scenarios of road network potential damage as the result of different magnitude landslide triggering event scenarios.

Driver fatigue and road safety on Poland's national roads.

PubMed

Jamroz, Kazimierz; Smolarek, Leszek

2013-01-01

This paper presents an overview of factors causing driver fatigue as described in the literature. Next, a traffic crash database for 2003-2007 is used to identify the causes, circumstances and consequences of accidents caused by driver fatigue on Poland's national roads. The results of the study were used to build a model showing the relationship between the concentration of road accidents and casualties, and the time of day. Finally, the level of relative accident risk at night-time versus daytime is defined. A map shows the risk of death and severe injury on the network of Poland's national roads. The paper suggests to road authorities steps to reduce fatigue-related road accidents in Poland.

76 FR 6328 - Official Release of the January 2011 AP-42 Method for Estimating Re-Entrained Road Dust From...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-04

... Nonattainment and Maintenance Areas'' (EPA-420-B-10-040, December 2010). \\2\\ For estimating road dust from... maintenance areas and any PM 2.5 nonattainment and maintenance areas where re-entrained road dust is a... January 2011 AP-42 Method for Estimating Re-Entrained Road Dust From Paved Roads AGENCY: Environmental...

25 CFR 170.809 - Can a tribe perform road maintenance under a self-determination contract or self-governance...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Can a tribe perform road maintenance under a self..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.809 Can a tribe perform road maintenance under a self-determination contract or self-governance agreement...

Traffic-induced changes and processes in forest road aggregate particle-size distributions

Treesearch

Hakjun Rhee; James Fridley; Deborah Page-Dumroese

2018-01-01

Traffic can alter forest road aggregate material in various ways, such as by crushing, mixing it with subgrade material, and sweeping large-size, loose particles (gravel) toward the outside of the road. Understanding the changes and physical processes of the aggregate is essential to mitigate sediment production from forest roads and reduce road maintenance efforts. We...

Monitoring sediment production from forest road approaches to stream crossing in the Virginia Piedmont

Treesearch

Kristopher R. Brown; W. Michael Aust; Kevin J. McGuire

2015-01-01

Reopening of abandoned legacy roads is common in forest operations and represents a reduced cost in comparison to new road construction. However, legacy roads may have lower road standards and require additional best management practice (BMP) implementation upon reopening to protect water quality. Silt fences and elevation measurements of trapped sediment were used to...

The public debate about roads on the National Forests : an analysis of the new media : 1994-98

Treesearch

David N. Bengston; David P. Fan

1999-01-01

Roads and road building on the US national forests have become the focus of intense public debate in recent years. Timber companies and others argue that forest roads are an essential transportation system for the production of commodities that society needs. Environmentalists and others reply that national forest roads constitute ecologically destructive "...

Erosion Control Techniques on Forest Road Cutslopes and Fillslopes in North Alabama

Treesearch

Johnny M. Grace

1999-01-01

Road cutslopes and fillslopes account for approximately 50 percent of the total road disturbance area on steep terrain and contribute as much as 60 percent of sediment from forest roads. The significance of erosion control techniques on these vulnerable components of the road prism has become evident in recent years. A study to gain a better understanding of erosion...

X-DRAIN and XDS: a simplified road erosion prediction method

Treesearch

William J. Elliot; David E. Hall; S. R. Graves

1998-01-01

To develop a simple road sediment delivery tool, the WEPP program modeled sedimentation from forest roads for more than 50,000 combinations of distance between cross drains, road gradient, soil texture, distance from stream, steepness of the buffer between the road and the stream, and climate. The sediment yield prediction from each of these runs was stored in a data...

Attitudes toward roads on the National Forests: An analysis of the News Media.

Treesearch

David Bengston; David Fan

1997-01-01

Key Findings: *Recreational uses of roads were expressed most often: Recreational uses and benefits of roads on the national forests were discussed most often in the news media overall. This discussion included both expressions of opinion about the value of roads for recreational purposes and, more commonly, descriptions of roads being useful for recreational access....

75 FR 46914 - Certain New Pneumatic Off-the-Road Tires From the People's Republic of China: Final Results of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-04

... sites. They can also be used to perform ``rough grading'' in road construction. \\17\\ A straddle carrier... commonly used in maintenance of unpaved roads and road construction to prepare the base course on to which...-the-Road Tires From the People's Republic of China: Final Results of Changed Circumstances Review...

On the use of space photography for identifying transportation routes: A summary of problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simonett, D. S.; Henderson, F. M.; Egbert, D. D.

1970-01-01

It has been widely suggested that space photography may be used for updating maps of transportation networks. Proponents of the argument have suggested that color space photographs of the resolution obtained with Hasselblad 80 mm lenses (about 300 feet) contain enough useful information to update the extensions of major U. S. highways. The present study systematically documents for the Dallas-Fort Worth area the potential of such space photography in detecting, and to a lesser degree identifying, the existing road networks. Color separation plates and an enlargement of the color photograph were produced and all visible roads traced onto transparencies for study. Major roads and roads under construction were the most visible while lower class roads and roads in urban areas had the poorest return. Road width and classification were found to be the major determinant in visibility, varying from 100 per cent visible for divided highways to 15 per cent visible of bladed earth roads. In summary, space photographs of this resolution proved to be difficult to use for accurate road delineation. Only super highways in rural areas with the greatest road-width were completely identifiable, the width being about 1/3 that of the resolution cell.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

Evaluating the Influence of Road Lighting on Traffic Safety at Accesses Using An Artificial Neural Network.

PubMed

Xu, Yueru; Ye, Zhirui; Wang, Yuan; Wang, Chao; Sun, Cuicui

2018-05-18

This paper focuses on the effect of road lighting on road safety at accesses and tries to quantitatively analyze the relationship between road lighting and road safety. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was applied in this study. This method is one of the most popular machine-learning methods in recent years and does not require any pre-defined assumptions. This method was applied using field data collected from ten road segments in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. The results show that the impact of road lighting on road safety at accesses is significant. In addition, road lighting has greater influence when vehicle speeds are higher or the number of lanes is larger. A threshold illuminance was also found in this paper, and the results show that the safety level at accesses will become stable when reaching this value. The improvement of illuminance can decrease the speed variation among vehicles and improve the safety level. In addition, high-grade roads need better illuminance at accesses. A threshold value can also be obtained based on related variables and used to develop scientific guidelines for traffic management organizations.

Recognition of Damaged Arrow-Road Markings by Visible Light Camera Sensor Based on Convolutional Neural Network.

PubMed

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

2016-12-16

Automobile driver information as displayed on marked road signs indicates the state of the road, traffic conditions, proximity to schools, etc. These signs are important to insure the safety of the driver and pedestrians. They are also important input to the automated advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), installed in many automobiles. Over time, the arrow-road markings may be eroded or otherwise damaged by automobile contact, making it difficult for the driver to correctly identify the marking. Failure to properly identify an arrow-road marker creates a dangerous situation that may result in traffic accidents or pedestrian injury. Very little research exists that studies the problem of automated identification of damaged arrow-road marking painted on the road. In this study, we propose a method that uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) to recognize six types of arrow-road markings, possibly damaged, by visible light camera sensor. Experimental results with six databases of Road marking dataset, KITTI dataset, Málaga dataset 2009, Málaga urban dataset, Naver street view dataset, and Road/Lane detection evaluation 2013 dataset, show that our method outperforms conventional methods.

Recognition of Damaged Arrow-Road Markings by Visible Light Camera Sensor Based on Convolutional Neural Network

PubMed Central

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

2016-01-01

Automobile driver information as displayed on marked road signs indicates the state of the road, traffic conditions, proximity to schools, etc. These signs are important to insure the safety of the driver and pedestrians. They are also important input to the automated advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), installed in many automobiles. Over time, the arrow-road markings may be eroded or otherwise damaged by automobile contact, making it difficult for the driver to correctly identify the marking. Failure to properly identify an arrow-road marker creates a dangerous situation that may result in traffic accidents or pedestrian injury. Very little research exists that studies the problem of automated identification of damaged arrow-road marking painted on the road. In this study, we propose a method that uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) to recognize six types of arrow-road markings, possibly damaged, by visible light camera sensor. Experimental results with six databases of Road marking dataset, KITTI dataset, Málaga dataset 2009, Málaga urban dataset, Naver street view dataset, and Road/Lane detection evaluation 2013 dataset, show that our method outperforms conventional methods. PMID:27999301

The likelihood of achieving quantified road safety targets: a binary logistic regression model for possible factors.

PubMed

Sze, N N; Wong, S C; Lee, C Y

2014-12-01

In past several decades, many countries have set quantified road safety targets to motivate transport authorities to develop systematic road safety strategies and measures and facilitate the achievement of continuous road safety improvement. Studies have been conducted to evaluate the association between the setting of quantified road safety targets and road fatality reduction, in both the short and long run, by comparing road fatalities before and after the implementation of a quantified road safety target. However, not much work has been done to evaluate whether the quantified road safety targets are actually achieved. In this study, we used a binary logistic regression model to examine the factors - including vehicle ownership, fatality rate, and national income, in addition to level of ambition and duration of target - that contribute to a target's success. We analyzed 55 quantified road safety targets set by 29 countries from 1981 to 2009, and the results indicate that targets that are in progress and with lower level of ambitions had a higher likelihood of eventually being achieved. Moreover, possible interaction effects on the association between level of ambition and the likelihood of success are also revealed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pavement Condition Assessment Using IRI from Roadroid and Surface Distress Index Method on National Road in Sumenep Regency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arianto, T.; Suprapto, M.; Syafi’i

2018-03-01

The pavement condition will decrease due to the influence of traffic and environment, so that the maintenance effort is needed to maintain the road condition during the service period. In order to carry out road maintenance activities right on target, there needs to be a plan based on accurate pavement condition data. Road roughness is the most commonly used condition parameter in evaluating pavement conditions objectively because road roughness data is relatively easy to obtain, well correlated with vehicle operating costs and the most relevant parameter in road functional performance measurement. The Roadroid is an Android-based application that measures road roughness by using vibration sensors on a smartphone so it is possible to get an International Roughness Index (IRI) value as an indicator of pavement conditions more easily and efficiently. Besides based on road roughness, pavement condition evaluation can also be done visually by using Surface Distress Index (SDI) method that uses the total crack area parameters, average crack width, total number of potholes and the average depth of rutting. This study attempts to assess the condition of Jenderal Sudirman-Kalianget road by combining IRI Roadroid value and SDI value which will be used as the basis to determine the required road maintenance. This road segment is one of the national strategic road connecting the center of Sumenep regency with the Kalianget harbor. Based on IRI measurement and SDI calculation, the pavement condition of Jenderal Sudirman-Kalianget road can be described 4.2 kilometers (37.17%) were good and 2.3 kilometers (20.35%) were fair that need routine maintenance. While 2.1 kilometers (18.58%) were bad and 2.7 kilometers (23.89%) were poor that need periodical maintenance and reconstruction.

Seatbelt use and speeding on three major roads in Egypt: a brief report.

PubMed

Hoe, Connie; Puvanachandra, Prasanthi; Rahman, M Hafizur; El Sayed, Hesham; Eldawy, Soad; El-Dabaa, Ayman; Albert, Mourid; Hyder, Adnan A

2013-12-01

Road traffic injuries pose a significant threat to the Egyptian population. Recent estimates revealed that Egypt experiences 42 road traffic deaths per 100,000 population (1.8% of all deaths in the country), which is the highest death rate in the region. More than half of the road traffic crashes that resulted in injuries occurred on the country's highways. Despite the significance of this public health problem, very little risk factor information currently exists. The overall goal of this paper is to understand the burden of speeding and the level of seatbelt and child restraint use on a highway (Cairo Ring Road) and two urban roads crossing Alexandria city (Kornish and Gamal Abd-Elnaser roads). Two rounds of seatbelt and child restraint observational studies and one round of speed observational study were carried out between 2011 and 2012. Findings revealed that seatbelt use among drivers and front seat passengers were low for all three sites (range: 11.1% to 19.8% for drivers; 2.9% to 4.0% for front seat passengers). Similarly, child restraint use in cars with children was very low ranging from 1.1% to 3.9% on all three roads. All three roads experienced a high percentage of vehicles driving above the speed limit (39.4% on Kornish Road, 22.6% on Cairo Ring Road, 11.8% on Gamal Abd-Elnaser Road), with the majority of these vehicles driving 1 to 10 kilometer above the speed limit. Future interventions need to focus on enhancing enforcement of speed and seatbelt wearing, closing gaps in legislation, and standardizing existing data systems to help inform good road safety policies. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of forest roads on understory plant diversity in temperate hornbeam-beech forests of Northern Iran.

PubMed

Deljouei, Azade; Abdi, Ehsan; Marcantonio, Matteo; Majnounian, Baris; Amici, Valerio; Sohrabi, Hormoz

2017-08-01

Forest roads alter the biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems, modifying temperature, humidity, wind speed, and light availability that, in turn, cause changes in plant community composition and diversity. We aim at investigating and comparing the diversity of herbaceous species along main and secondary forest roads in a temperate-managed hornbeam-beech forest, north of Iran. Sixteen transects along main and secondary forest roads were established (eight transects along main roads and eight along secondary roads). To eliminate the effect of forest type, all transects were located in Carpinetum-Fagetum forests, the dominant forest type in the study area. The total length of each transect was 200 m (100 m toward up slope and 100 m toward down slope), and plots were established along it at different distances from road edge. The diversity of herbaceous plant species was calculated in each plot using Shannon-Wiener index, species richness, and Pielou's index. The results showed that diversity index decreased when distance from road edge increases. This decreasing trend continued up to 60 m from forest road margin, and after this threshold, the index slightly increased. Depending on the type of road (main or secondary) as well as cut or fill slopes, the area showing a statistical different plant composition and diversity measured through Shannon-Wiener, species richness, and Pielou's index is up to 10 m. The length depth of the road edge effect found in main and secondary forest roads was small, but it could have cumulative effects on forest microclimate and forest-associated biota at the island scale. Forest managers should account for the effect of road buildings on plant communities.

Get In and Get Out: Assessing Stream Sediment Loading from Short Duration Forest Harvest Operations and Rapid Haul Road Decommissioning.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corrigan, A.; Silins, U.; Stone, M.

2016-12-01

Best management practices (BMPs) and associated erosion control measures for mitigating sediment impacts from forestry roads and road-stream crossings are well documented. While rapid road decommissioning after forestry operations may serve to limit broader impacts on sediment production in high value headwater streams, few studies have evaluated the combined effects of accelerated harvest operations and rapid retirement of logging roads and road-stream crossings on stream sediment. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the initial impacts of these strategies on fine sediment loading and fate during a short duration harvesting operation in 3 headwater sub-catchments in the southwestern Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada. A multi-pronged sampling approach (ISCOs, event focused grab sampling, continuous wash load sampling, and stream bed sediment intrusion measurements) was used to measure sediment loading and deposition in streambeds upstream and downstream of road-stream bridge crossings during harvest operations (2015) and after road and bridge crossing retirement (2016). Sediment production from forestry roads was generally much lower than has been reported from other studies in similar settings. Average total suspended solids (TSS) downstream of the bridge crossings were actually lower (-3.28 g/L; -0.704 g/L) than upstream of two bridge crossings while in-stream sediment sources contributed to elevated sediment downstream of a third road-stream crossing. Minimal in stream sediment impacts from forest harvest and road-stream crossings was likely a reflection of combined factors including a) employment of erosion control BMPs to roads and bridge crossings, b) rapid decommissioning of roads and crossings to limit exposure of linear land disturbance features, and c) drier El Niño climatic conditions during the study.

Driving behaviors and on-duty road accidents: a French case-control study.

PubMed

Fort, Emmanuel; Chiron, Mireille; Davezies, Philippe; Bergeret, Alain; Charbotel, Barbara

2013-01-01

A case-control study was carried out to identify driving behaviors associated with the risk of on-duty road accident and to compare driving behaviors according to the type of journey (on duty, commuting, and private) for on-duty road accident victims. Cases were recruited from the Rhône Road Trauma Registry between January 2004 and October 2005 and were on duty at the time of the accident. Control subjects were recruited from the electoral rolls of the case subjects' constituencies of residence. Cases' and controls' driving behavior data were collected by self-administered questionnaire. A logistic regression was performed to identify behavioral risk factors for on-duty road accidents, taking into account age, sex, place of residence, road accident risk exposure, socio-occupational category, and type of road user. A second analysis focused specifically on the case subjects, comparing their self-assessed usual behaviors according to the type of journey. Significant factors for multivariate analysis of on-duty road accidents were female gender, history of on-duty road accidents during the previous 10 years, severe time pressure at work, and driving a vehicle not belonging to the driver. On-duty road accident victims reported behavioral risk factors more frequently in relation to driving for work than driving for private reasons or commuting: nonsystematic seat belt use, cell phone use at least once daily while driving, and history of accidents with injury during the previous 10 years. This study provides knowledge on behavioral risk factors for on-duty road accidents and differences in behavior according to the type of journey for subjects who have been on-duty road accident victims. These results will be useful for the design of on-duty road risk prevention.

Using data mining techniques to predict the severity of bicycle crashes.

PubMed

Prati, Gabriele; Pietrantoni, Luca; Fraboni, Federico

2017-04-01

To investigate the factors predicting severity of bicycle crashes in Italy, we used an observational study of official statistics. We applied two of the most widely used data mining techniques, CHAID decision tree technique and Bayesian network analysis. We used data provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics on road crashes that occurred on the Italian road network during the period ranging from 2011 to 2013. In the present study, the dataset contains information about road crashes occurred on the Italian road network during the period ranging from 2011 to 2013. We extracted 49,621 road accidents where at least one cyclist was injured or killed from the original database that comprised a total of 575,093 road accidents. CHAID decision tree technique was employed to establish the relationship between severity of bicycle crashes and factors related to crash characteristics (type of collision and opponent vehicle), infrastructure characteristics (type of carriageway, road type, road signage, pavement type, and type of road segment), cyclists (gender and age), and environmental factors (time of the day, day of the week, month, pavement condition, and weather). CHAID analysis revealed that the most important predictors were, in decreasing order of importance, road type (0.30), crash type (0.24), age of cyclist (0.19), road signage (0.08), gender of cyclist (0.07), type of opponent vehicle (0.05), month (0.04), and type of road segment (0.02). These eight most important predictors of the severity of bicycle crashes were included as predictors of the target (i.e., severity of bicycle crashes) in Bayesian network analysis. Bayesian network analysis identified crash type (0.31), road type (0.19), and type of opponent vehicle (0.18) as the most important predictors of severity of bicycle crashes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhanced road weather content for travel advisories : Clarus regional demonstrations.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-01-01

Statewide transportation information systems need road weather and road condition forecasts to improve safety and mobility for transportation users. Under the Clarus Initiatives regional demonstrations enhanced road weather content was developed f...

77 FR 10717 - Black Hills National Forest, Custer, South Dakota-Mountain Pine Beetle Response Project

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-23

... trees to prevent infestation. Some temporary road construction is proposed, although generally road access would use existing road templates where available. Roads would be closed after use. Possible...

Analysis of Contraction Joint Width Influence on Load Stress of Pavement Panels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Wei; Cui, Wei; Sun, Wei

2018-05-01

The width of transverse contraction joint of the cement road varies with temperatures, which leads to changes in load transmission among plates of the road surface and affects load stress of the road plates. Three-dimensional element analysis software EverFE is used to address the relation between the contraction joint width and road surface load stress, revealing the impact of reducing contraction joint width. The results could be of critical value in maintaining road functions and extending the service life of cement road surfaces.

Effects of winter road grooming on bison in YNP

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bjornlie, Daniel D.; Garrott, R.A.

2001-01-01

The effects of winter recreation—specifically snowmobiling—on wildlife in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) have become high-profile management issues. The road grooming needed to support oversnow travel in YNP is also being examined for its effects on bison (Bison bison) ecology. Data were collected from November 1997 through May 1998 and from December 1998 through May 1999 on the effects of road grooming on bison in Madison–Gibbon–Firehole (MGF) area of YNP Peak bison numbers occurred during late March—early April and were strongly correlated with the snow water equivalent measurements in the Hayden Valley area (1997–1998: r* = 0.62, p:0.001: 1998–1999: r2 = 0.64, P-0.001). Data from an infrared trail monitor on the Mary Mountain trail between the Hayden and Firehole valleys suggest that this trail is the sole corridor for major bison distributional shifts between these locations. Of the 28,293 observations of individual bison made during the study, 8% were traveling and 69% were foraging. These percentages were nearly identical during the period of winter road grooming (7% and 68%, respectively). During this period, 77% of bison foraging activity and 12% of bison traveling activity involved displacing snow. Most travel took place off roads (P<0.001), Bison utilized geothermal features, a network of trails they established, and river and stream banks for travel. Bison road use was negatively correlated with road grooming, with peak use in April and lowest use during the road-grooming period. Bison in the MGF area of YNF neither seek out nor avoid groomed roads. The minimal use of roads compared to off-road areas, the short distances traveled on the roads, the decreased use of roads during the over snow vehicle (OSV) season, and the increased costs of negative interactions with OSVs suggest that grooming roads during winter does not have a major influence on bison ecology.

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

PubMed

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.

Comparison of the physical and chemical characteristics of fine road dust at different urban sites.

PubMed

Lee, Kwang Yul; Batmunkh, Tsatsral; Joo, Hung Soo; Park, Kihong

2018-04-18

The size distribution and chemical components of a fine fraction (<2.5 μm) of road dust collected at urban sites in Korea (Gwangju) and Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar) where distinct urban characteristics exist were measured. A clear bimodal size distribution was observed for the resuspended fine road dust at the urban sites in Korea. The first mode peaked at 100-110 nm, and the second peak was observed at 435-570 nm. Ultrafine mode (~30 nm) was found for the fine road dust at the Mongolia site, which was significantly affected by residential coal/biomass burning. The contribution of the water-soluble ions to the fine road dust was higher at the sites in Mongolia (15.8-16.8%) than at those in Korea (1.2-4.8%). Sulfate and chloride were the most dominant ionic species for the fine road dust in Mongolia. As (arsenic) was also much higher for the Mongolian road dust than the others. The sulfate, chloride, and As mainly come from coal burning activity, suggesting that coal and biomass combustion in Mongolia during the heating season should affect the size and chemical components of the fine road dust. Cu (copper) and Zn (zinc), carbonaceous particles (organic carbon [OC] and elemental carbon [EC]) increased at sites in Korea, suggesting that the fine road dust at these sites was significantly affected by the high volume of traffic (engine emission and brake/tire wear). Our results suggest that chemical profiles for road dust specific to certain sites should be applied to more accurately apportion road dust source contributing to the ambient particulate matter. Size and chemical characteristics of fine road dust at sites having distinct urban characteristics were examined. Residential coal and biomass burning and traffic affected physiochemical properties of the fine road dust. Different road dust profiles at different sites should be needed to determine the ambient PM2.5 sources more accurately.

Understanding fatal older road user crash circumstances and risk factors.

PubMed

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 < 0.001). The proportion of deceased drivers decreased with age, whereas the proportion of deceased pedestrians increased with age. The majority of fatal ORU crashes involved a counterpart (another vehicle: 59.4%; fixed/stationary object: 25.4%), and occurred "on 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.

Examining Road Traffic Mortality Status in China: A Simulation Study

PubMed Central

Schwebel, David C.; Li, Li; Hu, Guoqing

2016-01-01

Background Data from the Chinese police service suggest substantial reductions in road traffic injuries since 2002, but critics have questioned the accuracy of those data, especially considering conflicting data reported by the health department. Methods To address the gap between police and health department data and to determine which may be more accurate, we conducted a simulation study based on the modified Smeed equation, which delineates a non-linear relation between road traffic mortality and the level of motorization in a country or region. Our goal was to simulate trends in road traffic mortality in China and compare performances in road traffic safety management between China and 13 other countries. Results Chinese police data indicate a peak in road traffic mortalities in 2002 and a significant and a gradual decrease in population-based road traffic mortality since 2002. Health department data show the road traffic mortality peaked in 2012. In addition, police data suggest China’s road traffic mortality peaked at a much lower motorization level (0.061 motor vehicles per person) in 2002, followed by a reduction in mortality to a level comparable to that of developed countries. Simulation results based on health department data suggest high road traffic mortality, with a mortality peak in 2012 at a moderate motorization level (0.174 motor vehicles per person). Comparisons to the other 13 countries suggest the health data from China may be more valid than the police data. Conclusion Our simulation data indicate China is still at a stage of high road traffic mortality, as suggested by health data, rather than a stage of low road traffic mortality, as suggested by police data. More efforts are needed to integrate safety into road design, improve road traffic management, improve data quality, and alter unsafe behaviors of pedestrians, drivers and passengers in China. PMID:27071008

Geospatial Estimates of Road Salt Usage Across a Gradient of Urbanizing Watersheds in Southern Ontario:Thesis for Masters in Spatial Analysis (MSA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giberson, G. K.; Oswald, C.

2015-12-01

In areas affected by snow, chloride (Cl) salts are widely used as a de-icing agent to improve road conditions. While the improvement in road safety is indisputable, there are environmental consequences to local aquatic ecosystems. In many waterways, Cl concentrations have been increasing since the early 1990s, often exceeding national water quality guidelines. To determine the quantity of Cl that is accumulating in urban and urbanizing watersheds, accurate estimates of road salt usage at the watershed-scale are needed. The complex jurisdictional control over road salt application in southern Ontario lends itself to a geospatial approach for calculating Cl inputs to improve the accuracy of watershed-scale Cl mass balance estimates. This study will develop a geospatial protocol for combining information on road salt applications and road network areas to refine watershed-scale Cl inputs, as well as assess spatiotemporal patterns in road salt application across the southern Ontario study region. The overall objective of this project is to use geospatial methods (predominantly ArcGIS) to develop high-accuracy estimates of road salt usage in urbanizing watersheds in southern Ontario. Specifically, the aims will be to map and summarize the types and areas ("lane-lengths") of roadways in each watershed that have road salt applied to them, to determine the most appropriate source(s) of road salt usage data for each watershed, taking into consideration multiple levels of jurisdiction (e.g. municipal, regional, provincial), to calculate and summarize sub-watershed and watershed-scale road salt usage estimates for multiple years, and to analyze intra-watershed spatiotemporal patterns of road salt usage, especially focusing on impervious surfaces. These analyses will recommend areas of concern exacerbated by high-levels of road salt distribution; recommendations around modifying on-the-ground operations will be the next step in helping to correct these issues.

The road maintenance funding models in Indonesia use earmarked tax

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gultom, Tiopan Henry M.; Tamin, Ofyar Z.; Sjafruddin, Ade; Pradono

2017-11-01

One of the solutions to get a sustainable road maintenance fund is to separate road sector revenue from other accounts, afterward, form a specific account for road maintenance. In 2001, Antameng and the Ministry of Public Works proposed a road fund model in Indonesia. Sources of the road funds proposal was a tariff formed on the nominal total tax. The policy of road funds was proposed to finance the road network maintenance of districts and provincials. This research aims to create a policy model of road maintenance funds in Indonesia using an earmarked tax mechanism. The research method is qualitative research, with data collection techniques are triangulation. Interview methods conducted were semi-structured. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat from every part of the models were showen on the survey format. Respondents were representative of executives who involved directly against the financing of road maintenance. Validation model conducted by a discussion panel, it was called the Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The FGD involved all selected respondents. Road maintenance financing model that most appropriately applied in Indonesia was a model of revenue source use an earmarked PBBKB, PKB and PPnBM. Revenue collection mechanism was added tariff of registered vehicle tax (PKB), Vehicle Fuel Tax (PBBKB) and the luxury vehicle sales tax (PPnBM). The funds are managed at the provincial level by a public service agency.

The impact of driver age on lost life years for other road users in France: A population based study of crash-involved road users.

PubMed

Lafont, Sylviane; Amoros, Emmanuelle; Gadegbeku, Blandine; Chiron, Mireille; Laumon, Bernard

2008-01-01

One of the concerns in road safety is the threat older drivers may pose to other road users. Using the rate of lost life years, the present study provides a public health approach to quantify this potential threat. A total of 1570686 motorised vehicle drivers or motorcycle riders and 652246 non-drivers, i.e. vehicle passengers, pedestrians and cyclists involved in injury crashes in France between 1996 and 2004, were included in a population based cross-sectional study. Fatality rates and rate of lost life years for each crash-involved driver age class were calculated for the drivers themselves and for other road users. The study has shown a significant reduction in the rate of lost life years for crash-involved other road users (whether passengers, pedestrians, cyclists or opposing drivers) as driver age increases. Other road users lost half as many years of life when involved in crashes with drivers aged over 85 than with drivers under 65 (1.26 and 2.32 per 100 expected remaining life years, respectively). Our findings suggest that among road users involved in injury crashes, older drivers are less dangerous for the other road users. By attributing other road users' lost life years to each driver age, this study represents a new contribution to the debate about ageing and road safety.

Road Extraction from AVIRIS Using Spectral Mixture and Q-Tree Filter Techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gardner, Margaret E.; Roberts, Dar A.; Funk, Chris; Noronha, Val

2001-01-01

Accurate road location and condition information are of primary importance in road infrastructure management. Additionally, spatially accurate and up-to-date road networks are essential in ambulance and rescue dispatch in emergency situations. However, accurate road infrastructure databases do not exist for vast areas, particularly in areas with rapid expansion. Currently, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) extends great effort in field Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping and condition assessment to meet these informational needs. This methodology, though effective, is both time-consuming and costly, because every road within a DOT's jurisdiction must be field-visited to obtain accurate information. Therefore, the USDOT is interested in identifying new technologies that could help meet road infrastructure informational needs more effectively. Remote sensing provides one means by which large areas may be mapped with a high standard of accuracy and is a technology with great potential in infrastructure mapping. The goal of our research is to develop accurate road extraction techniques using high spatial resolution, fine spectral resolution imagery. Additionally, our research will explore the use of hyperspectral data in assessing road quality. Finally, this research aims to define the spatial and spectral requirements for remote sensing data to be used successfully for road feature extraction and road quality mapping. Our findings will facilitate the USDOT in assessing remote sensing as a new resource in infrastructure studies.

An experimental evaluation of potential scavenger effects on snake road mortality detections

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hubbard, Kaylan A.; Chalfoun, Anna D.

2012-01-01

As road networks expand and collisions between vehicles and wildlife become more common, accurately quantifying mortality rates for the taxa that are most impacted will be critical. Snakes are especially vulnerable to collisions with vehicles because of their physiology and behavior. Reptile road mortality is typically quantified using driving or walking surveys; however, scavengers can rapidly remove carcasses from the road and cause underestimation of mortality. Our objective was to determine the effect that scavengers might have had on our ability to accurately detect reptile road mortality during over 150 h and 4,000 km of driving surveys through arid shrublands in southwest Wyoming, which resulted in only two observations of mortality. We developed unique simulated snake carcasses out of Burbot (Lota lota), a locally invasive fish species, and examined removal rates across three different road types at three study sites. Carcass size was not a significant predictor of time of removal, and carcass removal was comparable during the daytime and nighttime hours. However, removal of simulated carcasses was higher on paved roads than unpaved or two-track roads at all study sites, with an average of 75% of the carcasses missing within 60 h compared to 34% and 31%, respectively. Scavengers may therefore negatively impact the ability of researchers to accurately detect herpetofaunal road mortality, especially for paved roads where road mortality is likely the most prevalent.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

The influence of landscape features on road development in a loess region, China.

PubMed

Bi, Xiaoli; Wang, Hui; Zhou, Rui

2011-10-01

Many ecologists focus on the effects of roads on landscapes, yet few consider how landscapes affect road systems. In this study, therefore, we quantitatively evaluated how land cover, topography, and building density affected the length density, node density, spatial pattern, and location of roads in Dongzhi Yuan, a typical loess region in China. Landscape factors and roads were mapped using images from SPOT satellite (Système Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre), initiated by the French space agency and a digital elevation model (DEM). Detrended canonical correspondence analysis (DCCA), a useful ordination technique to explain species-environment relations in community ecology, was applied to evaluate the ways in which landscapes may influence roads. The results showed that both farmland area and building density were positively correlated with road variables, whereas gully density and the coefficient of variation (CV of DEM) showed negative correlations. The CV of DEM, farmland area, grassland area, and building density explained variation in node density, length density, and the spatial pattern of roads, whereas gully density and building density explained variation in variables representing road location. In addition, node density, rather than length density, was the primary road variable affected by landscape variables. The results showed that the DCCA was effective in explaining road-landscape relations. Understanding these relations can provide information for landscape managers and transportation planners.

5. Abandoned mule trail tunnel. 1 mile from intersection with ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

5. Abandoned mule trail tunnel. 1 mile from intersection with Newfound Gap Road looking SSE. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Clingmans Dome Road, Between Newfound Gap Road & Clingmans Dome, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN

2. DETAIL OF KLINGLE ROAD BRIDGE AND PATHWAY BRIDGE CROSSINGS. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

2. DETAIL OF KLINGLE ROAD BRIDGE AND PATHWAY BRIDGE CROSSINGS. AERIAL VIEW OF BEACH DRIVE AT INTERSECTION OF KLINGLE ROAD AND PORTER STREET. VIEW NE. - Rock Creek Park Road System, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

4. View of Building 802 from the access road, facing ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

4. View of Building 802 from the access road, facing northwest. - Naval Air Station Fallon, 100-man Fallout Shelter, 800 Complex, off Carson Road near intersection of Pasture & Berney Roads, Fallon, Churchill County, NV

2. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, road view before first ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

2. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, road view before first stop. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Between Cherokee Orchard Road & U.S. Route 321, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN

6. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, road view after stop ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

6. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, road view after stop four. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Between Cherokee Orchard Road & U.S. Route 321, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN

27 CFR 9.195 - Alta Mesa.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... northeast 2.6 miles on Dillard Road to its intersection with Lee Shorthorn Road, T7N, R7E (Sloughhouse Quadrangle); then (6) Proceed southeast 0.9 mile on Lee Shorthorn Road to its intersection with Tavernor Road...

27 CFR 9.195 - Alta Mesa.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... northeast 2.6 miles on Dillard Road to its intersection with Lee Shorthorn Road, T7N, R7E (Sloughhouse Quadrangle); then (6) Proceed southeast 0.9 mile on Lee Shorthorn Road to its intersection with Tavernor Road...

27 CFR 9.201 - Sloughhouse.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... Tavernor Road to its intersection with Lee Shorthorn Road, T7N, R7E (Sloughhouse Quadrangle); then (7) Proceed northwest 0.9 mile on Lee Shorthorn Road to its intersection with Dillard Road, T7N, R7E...

27 CFR 9.201 - Sloughhouse.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Tavernor Road to its intersection with Lee Shorthorn Road, T7N, R7E (Sloughhouse Quadrangle); then (7) Proceed northwest 0.9 mile on Lee Shorthorn Road to its intersection with Dillard Road, T7N, R7E...

Progressive transmission of road network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ai, Bo; Ai, Tinghua; Tang, Xinming; Li, Zhen

2009-10-01

The progressive transmission of vector map data requires efficient multi-scale data model to process the data into hierarchical structure. This paper presents such a data structure of road network without redundancy of geometry for progressive transmission. For a given scale, the road network display has to settle two questions. One is which road objects to be represented and the other is what geometric details to be visualized for the selected roads. This paper combines the Töpfer law and the BLG-tree structure into a multi-scale representation matrix to answer simultaneously the above two questions. In the matrix, rows from top to bottom represent the roads in the sequence of descending classification of traffic and length, which can support the Töpfer law to retrieve the more important roads. In a row, columns record one road by a linear BLG-tree to provide good line graphics.

Direction based Hazard Routing Protocol (DHRP) for disseminating road hazard information using road side infrastructures in VANETs.

PubMed

Berlin, M A; Anand, Sheila

2014-01-01

This paper presents Direction based Hazard Routing Protocol (DHRP) for disseminating information about fixed road hazards such as road blocks, tree fall, boulders on road, snow pile up, landslide, road maintenance work and other obstacles to the vehicles approaching the hazardous location. The proposed work focuses on dissemination of hazard messages on highways with sparse traffic. The vehicle coming across the hazard would report the presence of the hazard. It is proposed to use Road Side fixed infrastructure Units for reliable and timely delivery of hazard messages to vehicles. The vehicles can then take appropriate safety action to avoid the hazardous location. The proposed protocol has been implemented and tested using SUMO simulator to generate road traffic and NS 2.33 network simulator to analyze the performance of DHRP. The performance of the proposed protocol was also compared with simple flooding protocol and the results are presented.

Heterogeneity of road traffic accident rate in the Russian cities and the need of usage various methods of transport safety management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrov, A. I.; Petrova, D. A.

2017-10-01

The article considers one of the topical problems of road safety management at the federal level - the problem of the heterogeneity of road traffic accident rate in Russian cities. The article analyzes actual statistical data on road traffic accident rate in the administrative centers of Russia. The histograms of the distribution of the values of two most important road accidents characteristics - Social Risk HR and Severity Rate of Road Accidents - formed in 2016 in administrative centers of Russia are presented. On the basis of the regression model of the statistical connection between Severity Rate of Road Accidents and Social Risk HR, a classification of the Russian cities based on the level of actual road traffic accident rate was developed. On the basis of this classification a differentiated system of priority methods for organizing the safe functioning of transport systems in the cities of Russia is proposed.

Understanding Road Usage Patterns in Urban Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Pu; Hunter, Timothy; Bayen, Alexandre M.; Schechtner, Katja; González, Marta C.

2012-12-01

In this paper, we combine the most complete record of daily mobility, based on large-scale mobile phone data, with detailed Geographic Information System (GIS) data, uncovering previously hidden patterns in urban road usage. We find that the major usage of each road segment can be traced to its own - surprisingly few - driver sources. Based on this finding we propose a network of road usage by defining a bipartite network framework, demonstrating that in contrast to traditional approaches, which define road importance solely by topological measures, the role of a road segment depends on both: its betweeness and its degree in the road usage network. Moreover, our ability to pinpoint the few driver sources contributing to the major traffic flow allows us to create a strategy that achieves a significant reduction of the travel time across the entire road system, compared to a benchmark approach.

77 FR 6536 - Certain New Pneumatic Off-the-Road Tires From the People's Republic of China: Notice of Extension...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-08

...-the-Road Tires From the People's Republic of China: Notice of Extension of Time Limit for the Final... pneumatic off-the-road tires (``off-the-road tires'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') for the... preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping order on off- the-road tires from the PRC...

Mobile assessment of on-road air pollution and its sources along the East-West Highway in Bhutan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wangchuk, Tenzin; Knibbs, Luke D.; He, Congrong; Morawska, Lidia

2015-10-01

Human exposures in transportation microenvironments are poorly represented by ambient stationary monitoring. A number of on-road studies using vehicle-based mobile monitoring have been conducted to address this. Most previous studies were conducted on urban roads in developed countries where the primary emission source was vehicles. Few studies have examined on-road pollution in developing countries in urban settings. Currently, no study has been conducted for roadways in rural environments where a substantial proportion of the population live. This study aimed to characterize on-road air quality on the East-West Highway (EWH) in Bhutan and identify its principal sources. We conducted six mobile measurements of PM10, particle number (PN) count and CO along the entire 570 km length of the EWH. We divided the EWH into five segments, R1-R5, taking the road length between two district towns as a single road segment. The pollutant concentrations varied widely along the different road segments, with the highest concentrations for R5 compared with other road segments (PM10 = 149 μg/m3, PN = 5.74 × 104 particles/cm-3, CO = 0.19 ppm), which is the final segment of the road to the capital. Apart from vehicle emissions, the dominant sources were road works, unpaved roads and roadside combustion activities. Overall, the highest contributions above the background levels were made by unpaved roads for PM10 (6 times background), and vehicle emissions for PN and CO (5 and 15 times background, respectively). Notwithstanding the differences in instrumentation used and particle size range measured, the current study showed lower PN concentrations compared with similar on-road studies. However, concentrations were still high enough that commuters, road maintenance workers and residents living along the EWH, were potentially exposed to elevated pollutant concentrations from combustion and non-combustion sources. Future studies should focus on assessing the dispersion patterns of roadway pollutants and defining the short- and long-term health impacts of exposure in Bhutan, as well as in other developing countries with similar characteristics.

Self-adaptive road tracking in hyperspectral data for C-IED

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schilling, Hendrik; Gross, Wolfgang; Middelmann, Wolfgang

2012-09-01

For Counter Improvised Explosive Devices purposes, main routes including their vicinity are surveyed. In future military operations, small hyperspectral sensors will be used for ground covering reconnaissance, complementing images from infrared and high resolution sensors. They will be mounted on unmanned airborne vehicles and are used for on-line monitoring of convoy routes. Depending of the proximity to the road, different regions can be defined for threat assessment. Automatic road tracking can help choosing the correct areas of interest. Often, the exact discrimination between road and surroundings fails in conventional methods due to low contrast in pan-chromatic images at the road boundaries or occlusions. In this contribution, a novel real-time lock-on road tracking algorithm is introduced. It uses hyperspectral data and is specifically designed to address the afore- mentioned deficiencies of conventional methods. Local features are calculated from the high-resolution spectral signatures. They describe the similarity to the actual road cover and to either roadside. Classification is per- formed to discriminate the signatures. To improve robustness against variations in road cover, the classification results are used to progressively adapt the road and roadside classes. Occlusions are treated by predicting the course of the road and comparing the signatures in the target area to previously determined road cover signa- tures. The algorithm can be easily extended to show regions of varying threat, depending on the distance to the road. Thus, complex anomaly detectors and classification algorithms can be applied to a reduced data set. First experiments were performed for AISA Eagle II (400nm - 970nm) and AISA Hawk (970nm - 2450nm) data

A Procedure for Determining Tire-Road Friction Characteristics Using a Modification of the Magic Formula Based on Experimental Results

PubMed Central

Pérez, Javier; Velasco, Juan M.; Guerra, Antonio J.; Hernández, Pedro

2018-01-01

Knowledge of tire-road friction characteristics is essential for the proper performance of most relevant vehicle active safety systems. Therefore, its determination is necessary to improve the effectiveness of these systems and to avoid or reduce the consequences of traffic accidents. For this reason, there is a great deal of literature concerning methods and devices for measuring and modeling tire-road friction. Most of these methods have focused on determining the road friction resistance, taking only road composition and making measurements in wet conditions into account. However, friction forces are also dependent on the tire type, since the contact is established between the tire and the road in real driving conditions. Thus, the type and characteristics of the tire have to be considered in the study of the interaction between the vehicle and the road. The aim of this work is to unify the study of the friction coefficient, taking into consideration the two existing bodies involved in the contact, i.e., the tire and road and the main factors that influence the forces in the contact. To this end, a modification of the Pacejka Magic Formula is proposed to include the effects of the main parameters that influence the contact, such as road composition and its state, tire type, vehicle speed, and slip between the tire and the road. To do so, real tests have been conducted on several roads and with different operating conditions. As a result, a more accurate tire-road friction model has been obtained. PMID:29562623

Single and multiple stressor effect of road deicers and Cu on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) alevins from hatching till swim-up.

PubMed

Mahrosh, Urma; Rosseland, Bjørn Olav; Salbu, Brit; Teien, Hans-Christian

2018-04-01

Road salts are frequently used for deicing of roads in the Nordic countries. During snow-melt, the road run-off containing high concentrations of road salt and various metals such as Cu remobilized from sand, silt and dust may negatively influence organisms in downstream receiving water bodies. The present work focuses on the impact of road salt (NaCl) and Cu, separately and in mixtures on Atlantic salmon alevins from hatching till swim-up. The results showed that high road salt concentrations could induce a series of negative effects in alevins such as reduced growth, deformities, delayed swim-up and mortality. For alevins exposed to all tested road salt concentrations (100-1000mg/L), mortality was significantly higher compared to control. In exposure to Cu solutions (5-20μgCu/L), no effects on growth, morphology, swim-up or mortality of alevins compared to control were observed. In mixture solutions (road salt and Cu), ultrafiltration of the exposure water demonstrated that only 20%-40% of Cu was present as positively charged low molecular mass (LMM) Cu species assumed to be bioavailable. When exposed to road salt and Cu mixtures, negative effects in alevins such as reduced growth, deformities, delayed swim-up and mortality were observed. The overall results indicated that the road salt application could seriously affect sensitive life stages of Atlantic salmon, and application of road salt should be avoided during the late winter-early spring period. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A Procedure for Determining Tire-Road Friction Characteristics Using a Modification of the Magic Formula Based on Experimental Results.

PubMed

Cabrera, Juan A; Castillo, Juan J; Pérez, Javier; Velasco, Juan M; Guerra, Antonio J; Hernández, Pedro

2018-03-17

Knowledge of tire-road friction characteristics is essential for the proper performance of most relevant vehicle active safety systems. Therefore, its determination is necessary to improve the effectiveness of these systems and to avoid or reduce the consequences of traffic accidents. For this reason, there is a great deal of literature concerning methods and devices for measuring and modeling tire-road friction. Most of these methods have focused on determining the road friction resistance, taking only road composition and making measurements in wet conditions into account. However, friction forces are also dependent on the tire type, since the contact is established between the tire and the road in real driving conditions. Thus, the type and characteristics of the tire have to be considered in the study of the interaction between the vehicle and the road. The aim of this work is to unify the study of the friction coefficient, taking into consideration the two existing bodies involved in the contact, i.e., the tire and road and the main factors that influence the forces in the contact. To this end, a modification of the Pacejka Magic Formula is proposed to include the effects of the main parameters that influence the contact, such as road composition and its state, tire type, vehicle speed, and slip between the tire and the road. To do so, real tests have been conducted on several roads and with different operating conditions. As a result, a more accurate tire-road friction model has been obtained.

Epidemiology of pedestrian–MVCs by road type in Cluj, Romania

PubMed Central

Hamann, Cara; Peek-Asa, Corinne; Rus, Diana

2017-01-01

Objective Pedestrian–motor vehicle (PMV) crash rates in Romania are among the highest in all of Europe. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of pedestrian–MVCs in Cluj County, Romania, on the two major types of roadways: national or local. Methods Cluj County police crash report data from 2010 were used to identify pedestrian, driver and crash characteristics of pedestrian–MVCs. Crashes with available location data were geocoded and road type (national or local) for each crash was determined. Distributions of crash characteristics were examined by road type and multivariable logistic regression models were built to determine predictors of crash road type. Results Crashes occurring on national roads involved more teenagers and adults, while those on local roads involved more young children (0–12) and older adults (65+) (p<0.01). Crashes on national roads were more likely to have marked pedestrian crossings and shoulders compared with local crashes. Pedestrian–MVCs that involved a moving violation by the motorist were more likely to occur on national roadways (adjusted OR=1.93, 95% CI 1.07 to 3.49). Conclusions Pedestrian–MVCs pose a considerable health burden in Romania. Results from this study suggest that factors leading to PMV crashes on national roads are more likely to involve driver-related causes compared with local roads. Intervention priorities to reduce pedestrian crashes on national roads should be directed towards driver behaviour on national roads. Further examination of driver and pedestrian behaviours related to crash risk on both national and local roads, such as distraction and speeding, is warranted. PMID:25178278

Wyoming Low-Volume Roads Traffic Volume Estimation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-10-01

Low-volume roads are excluded from regular traffic counts except on a need to know basis. But needs for traffic volume data on low-volume roads in road infrastructure management, safety, and air quality analysis have necessitated regular traffic volu...

Gravel roads management : volume 1, gravel roads management.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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...

Developing inexpensive crash countermeasures for Louisiana local roads.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-03-01

Although 40% of all crashes in Louisiana are on local roads, local road safety improvement programs have not received : the attention needed to reduce crashes. Local road crash countermeasures are an important part of the overall efforts to : reduce ...

Road funds and road maintenance : an Asian perspective

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-07-01

It is widely accepted that roads play an important role in development, and help reduce poverty. To realize their potential contribution, however, roads need to be properly maintained. In many of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB's) developing member...

Guidelines for disseminating road weather messages : improved road weather information for travelers.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-01-01

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Road Weather Management Program (RWMP) recently published a document titled Guidelines for Disseminating Road Weather Advisory and Control Information (FHWA-JPO-12- 046). The guidelines are intended for use b...

23 CFR 655.603 - Standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... includes toll roads and roads within shopping centers, airports, sports arenas, and other similar business... without access restrictions. Except for gated toll roads, roads within private gated properties where... period. (c) Color specifications. Color determinations and specifications of sign and pavement marking...

23 CFR 655.603 - Standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... includes toll roads and roads within shopping centers, airports, sports arenas, and other similar business... without access restrictions. Except for gated toll roads, roads within private gated properties where... period. (c) Color specifications. Color determinations and specifications of sign and pavement marking...

23 CFR 655.603 - Standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... includes toll roads and roads within shopping centers, airports, sports arenas, and other similar business... without access restrictions. Except for gated toll roads, roads within private gated properties where... period. (c) Color specifications. Color determinations and specifications of sign and pavement marking...

23 CFR 655.603 - Standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... includes toll roads and roads within shopping centers, airports, sports arenas, and other similar business... without access restrictions. Except for gated toll roads, roads within private gated properties where... period. (c) Color specifications. Color determinations and specifications of sign and pavement marking...

11. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, boulders along road after ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

11. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, boulders along road after stop 13. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Between Cherokee Orchard Road & U.S. Route 321, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN

Executive report : toll roads, toll rates, and driver behavior.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-12-01

State and federal research has examined toll roads and attempted to identify methods to make toll roads a more attractive option for drivers. Researchers examined various views of toll road transactions and concluded: : Truckers and trucking comp...

Traffic mortality and the role of minor roads.

PubMed

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.

Drawing Road Networks with Mental Maps.

PubMed

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.

The effects of roadway characteristics on farm equipment crashes: A GIS approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greenan, Mitchell Joseph

Tractors and other self-propelled farm equipment, such as combines, sprayers, and towed grain carts, are often used on public roadways as the primary means for traveling from homestead to homestead or from homestead to a distributer. Increased roadway exposure has led to a growing concern for crashes involving farm equipment on the public roadway. A handful of studies exist examining public roadway crashes involving farm equipment using crash data, but none thus far have evaluated road segment data to identify road-specific risk factors. The objective of this study is to identify if roadway characteristics (traffic density, speed limit, road type, surface type, road width, and shoulder width) affect the risk of a crash involving farm equipment on Iowa public roadways. A retrospective cohort study of Iowa roads was conducted to identify the types of roads that are at an increased risk of having a farm-equipment crash on them. Crash data from the Iowa Department of Transportation (to identify crashes) were spatial linked to Iowa roadway data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Logistic regression was used to calculate ORs and 95% CL. Out of 319,705 road segments in Iowa, 0.4% segments (n=1,337) had a farm equipment crash from 2005-2011. The odds of having a farm equipment crash were significantly higher for road segments with increased traffic density and speed limit. Roads with an average daily traffic volume of at least 1,251 vehicles were at a 5.53 times greater odds of having a crash than roads with a daily traffic volume between 0-30 vehicles. (CI: 3.90-7.83). Roads with a posted speed limit between 50mph and 60mph were at a 4.88 times greater odds of having a crash than roads with a posted speed limit of 30mph or less. (CI: 3.85-6.20). Specific roadway characteristics such as roadway and shoulder width were also associated with the risk of a crash. For every 5 foot increase in road width, the odds for a crash decreased by 6 percent (CI: 0.89-0.99) and for every 5 foot increase in shoulder width, the odds of a crash decreased by 8 percent. (CI: 0.86-0.98). Although not statically significant, unpaved roads increased the odds of a crash by 17 percent. (CI: 0.91-1.50) Lastly, it was found that Farm to Market routes increased the odds of a crash by two fold compared to local roads (which make up roughly 67 percent of Iowa public roads). (CI: 1.72-2.43) When the same model was stratified by rurality (urban/rural), it was found that high traffic density leads to a higher risk of a crash in rural areas. Iowa routes and Farm to Market routes had a greater odds of a crash in urban than rural areas, and road and shoulder width were more protective in rural than urban areas. When only using roads with a crash involving an injury versus all other roads as the outcome, Iowa routes and roads with increased speed limits had higher odds for an injury-involved crash, while increased road width were more protective against crashes involving injuries. Findings from the study suggest that several roadway characteristics were associated with farm-equipment crashes. Through administrative and engineering controls, the six static explanatory variables used in this study may be modified to decrease the risk of a farm equipment crash. Speed limit can be modified through administrative controls while traffic density, road and shoulder width, road type, and surface type can be modified through engineering controls. Results from this study provide information that will aid policy-makers in developing safer roads for farm equipment.

36 CFR 212.5 - Road system management.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

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...

MDOT's successful road delineation program will become even better : research spotlight.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-03-01

When the Wayne County Road Commission painted a centerline on River Road near Trenton, Michigan, in 1911, it was this countrys first painted centerline. MDOT maintains its leadership in road delineation practices with annual restriping and delinea...

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

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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...

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

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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...

17. RETAINING WALL CRIBBING AND ROAD VIEW, LOOKING IN SOUTHWARD ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

17. RETAINING WALL CRIBBING AND ROAD VIEW, LOOKING IN SOUTHWARD DIRECTION OF TRAVEL BELOW DIAMOND PEAK. ROAD SIGN NOTES SWITCHBACK SEEN IN CA-270-14 TO CA-270-16. LOOKING ESE. - Lassen Park Road, Mineral, Tehama County, CA

HOW FAR TO THE NEAREST ROAD?

EPA Science Inventory

Increases in impervious surface area lead to declines in chemical and biological indicators of water quality .Roads are an important aspect of impervious surface, and distance to roads is an indicator of the potential threat to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Although roads a...

A Comparison of Bird Detection Rates Derived from On-Road vs. Off-Road Point Counts in Northern Montana

Treesearch

Richard L. Hutto; Sallie J. Hejl; Jeffrey F. Kelly; Sandra M. Pletschet

1995-01-01

We conducted a series of 275 paired (on- and off-road) point counts within 4 distinct vegetation cover types in northwestern Montana. Roadside counts generated a bird list that was essentially the same as the list generated from off-road counts within the same vegetation cover type. Species that were restricted to either on- or off-road counts were rare, suggesting...

Roads Investments, Spatial Intensification and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pfaff, Alexander; Robalino, Juan; Walker, Robert; Aldrich, Steven; Caldas, Marcellus; Reis, Eustaquio; Perz, Stephen; Bohrer, Claudio; Arima, Eugenio; Laurance, William;

Using CART to segment road images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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.

On the road performance tests of electric test vehicle for correlation with road load simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dustin, M. O.; Slavik, R. J.

1982-01-01

A dynamometer (road load simulator) is used to test and evaluate electric vehicle propulsion systems. To improve correlation between system tests on the road load simulator and on the road, similar performance tests are conducted using the same vehicle. The results of track tests on the electric propulsion system test vehicle are described. The tests include range at constant speeds and over SAE J227a driving cycles, maximum accelerations, maximum gradability, and tire rolling resistance determination. Road power requirements and energy consumption were also determined from coast down tests.

Fatalism and its implications for risky road use and receptiveness to safety messages: a qualitative investigation in Pakistan.

PubMed

Kayani, A; King, M J; Fleiter, J J

2012-12-01

Given the increasing vehicle numbers and expanding road construction in developing countries, the importance of safe road user behaviour is critical. Road traffic crashes (RTCs) are a significant problem in Pakistan; however, the factors that contribute to RTCs in Pakistan are not well researched. Fatalistic beliefs are a potential barrier to the enhancement of road safety, especially participation in health-promoting and injury prevention behaviours, and also contribute to risk taking. Fatalistic beliefs relating to road safety have been found in some developing countries, although research is scarce and indicates that the nature and extent of fatalism differs in each country. Qualitative research was undertaken with a range of drivers, religious orators, police and policy makers to explore associations between fatalism, risky road use and associated issues. Findings indicate that fatalistic beliefs are pervasive in Pakistan, are strongly linked with religion, present a likely barrier to road safety messages and contribute to risky road use. Fatalism appears to be a default attribution of RTC and the intensity of belief in fate surpasses the kinds of fatalism noted in the limited existing literature. These findings have importance to developing road safety countermeasures in countries where fatalistic beliefs are strong.

An Efficient Method for Automatic Road Extraction Based on Multiple Features from LiDAR Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Y.; Hu, X.; Guan, H.; Liu, P.

2016-06-01

The road extraction in urban areas is difficult task due to the complicated patterns and many contextual objects. LiDAR data directly provides three dimensional (3D) points with less occlusions and smaller shadows. The elevation information and surface roughness are distinguishing features to separate roads. However, LiDAR data has some disadvantages are not beneficial to object extraction, such as the irregular distribution of point clouds and lack of clear edges of roads. For these problems, this paper proposes an automatic road centerlines extraction method which has three major steps: (1) road center point detection based on multiple feature spatial clustering for separating road points from ground points, (2) local principal component analysis with least squares fitting for extracting the primitives of road centerlines, and (3) hierarchical grouping for connecting primitives into complete roads network. Compared with MTH (consist of Mean shift algorithm, Tensor voting, and Hough transform) proposed in our previous article, this method greatly reduced the computational cost. To evaluate the proposed method, the Vaihingen data set, a benchmark testing data provided by ISPRS for "Urban Classification and 3D Building Reconstruction" project, was selected. The experimental results show that our method achieve the same performance by less time in road extraction using LiDAR data.

Large roads reduce bat activity across multiple species.

PubMed

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.

Inroads into Equestrian Safety: Rider-Reported Factors Contributing to Horse-Related Accidents and Near Misses on Australian Roads.

PubMed

Thompson, Kirrilly; Matthews, Chelsea

2015-07-22

Horse riding and horse-related interactions are inherently dangerous. When they occur on public roads, the risk profile of equestrian activities is complicated by interactions with other road users. Research has identified speed, proximity, visibility, conspicuity and mutual misunderstanding as factors contributing to accidents and near misses. However, little is known about their significance or incidence in Australia. To explore road safety issues amongst Australian equestrians, we conducted an online survey. More than half of all riders (52%) reported having experienced at least one accident or near miss in the 12 months prior to the survey. Whilst our findings confirm the factors identified overseas, we also identified issues around rider misunderstanding of road rules and driver misunderstanding of rider hand signals. Of particular concern, we also found reports of potentially dangerous rider-directed road rage. We identify several areas for potential safety intervention including (1) identifying equestrians as vulnerable road users and horses as sentient decision-making vehicles (2) harmonising laws regarding passing horses, (3) mandating personal protective equipment, (4) improving road signage, (5) comprehensive data collection, (6) developing mutual understanding amongst road-users, (7) safer road design and alternative riding spaces; and (8) increasing investment in horse-related safety initiatives.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brenda R. Pace; Cameron Brizzee; Hollie Gilbert

The U. S. Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office is considering options for construction of a multipurpose haul road to transport materials and wastes between the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) and other Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site facilities. The proposed road will be closed to the public and designed for limited year-round use. Two primary options are under consideration: a new route south of the existing T-25 power line road and an upgrade to road T-24. In the Spring of 2010, archaeological field surveys and initial coordination and field reconnaissance with representatives from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes were completed tomore » identify any resources that may be adversely affected by the proposed road construction and to develop recommendations to protect any listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The investigations showed that 24 archaeological resources and one historic marker are located in the area of potential effects for road construction and operation south of the T-25 powerline road and 27archaeological resources are located in the area of potential effects for road construction and operation along road T-24. Generalized tribal concerns regarding protection of natural resources were also documented in both road corridors. This report outlines recommendations for additional investigations and protective measures that can be implemented to minimize adverse impacts to the identified resources.« less

A numerical forecast model for road meteorology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Chunlei

2017-05-01

A fine-scale numerical model for road surface parameters prediction (BJ-ROME) is developed based on the Common Land Model. The model is validated using in situ observation data measured by the ROSA road weather stations of Vaisala Company, Finland. BJ-ROME not only takes into account road surface factors, such as imperviousness, relatively low albedo, high heat capacity, and high heat conductivity, but also considers the influence of urban anthropogenic heat, impervious surface evaporation, and urban land-use/land-cover changes. The forecast time span and the update interval of BJ-ROME in vocational operation are 24 and 3 h, respectively. The validation results indicate that BJ-ROME can successfully simulate the diurnal variation of road surface temperature both under clear-sky and rainfall conditions. BJ-ROME can simulate road water and snow depth well if the artificial removing was considered. Road surface energy balance in rainy days is quite different from that in clear-sky conditions. Road evaporation could not be neglected in road surface water cycle research. The results of sensitivity analysis show solar radiation correction coefficient, asphalt depth, and asphalt heat conductivity are important parameters in road interface temperatures simulation. The prediction results could be used as a reference of maintenance decision support system to mitigate the traffic jam and urban water logging especially in large cities.

Road traffic injuries in Colombia.

PubMed

Rodríguez, Deysi Yasmin; Fernández, Francisco José; Acero Velásquez, Hugo

2003-01-01

Road traffic injuries are a leading public health problem in Colombia. Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users, especially in the main urban centers of Bogotá, Medellin and Cali. Data analyzed in this report include official statistics from the National Police and the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences for 1996-2000, and results of a study conducted at the National University of Colombia in 2000. Methods from the Highway Capacity Manual were used for determining physical and technical variables, and a Geographical Information System tool was used for the location and spatial analysis of the road traffic crashes. Pedestrians accounted for close to 32% of injuries and 40% of the deaths from road traffic crashes. The problem of road traffic crashes existed predominately in urban areas. In the main urban centers, pedestrians constituted nearly 68% of road traffic crash victims. The high level of risky road use behaviors demonstrated by pedestrians and drivers, and inadequate infrastructure for safe mobility of pedestrians in some sections of the road network were the main contributing factors. Major improvements were achieved in Bogotá following enhancements to the municipal transport system and other policies introduced since 1995. In conclusion, policies and programs for improving road safety, in particular pedestrian safety, and strengthening urban planning are top priority.

A model for investigating the influence of road surface texture and tyre tread pattern on rolling resistance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoever, Carsten; Kropp, Wolfgang

2015-09-01

The reduction of rolling resistance is essential for a more environmentally friendly road transportation sector. Both tyre and road design can be utilised to reduce rolling resistance. In both cases a reliable simulation tool is needed which is able to quantify the influence of design parameters on the rolling resistance of a tyre rolling on a specific road surface. In this work a previously developed tyre/road interaction model is extended to account for different tread patterns and for losses due to small-scale tread deformation. Calculated contact forces and tyre vibrations for tyre/road interaction under steady-state rolling are used to predict rolling losses in the tyre. Rolling resistance is calculated for a series of different tyre/road combinations. Results are compared with rolling resistance measurements. The agreement between simulations and measurements is generally very good. It is found that both the tyre structure and small-scale tread deformations contribute to the rolling losses. The small-scale contribution depends mainly on the road roughness profile. The mean profile depth of the road surface is identified to correlate very well with the rolling resistance. Additional calculations are performed for non-traditional rubberised road surfaces, however, with mixed results. This possibly indicates the existence of additional loss mechanisms for these surfaces.

Soil geohazard mapping for improved asset management of UK local roads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pritchard, O. G.; Hallett, S. H.; Farewell, T. S.

2015-09-01

Unclassified roads comprise 60 % of the road network in the United Kingdom (UK). The resilience of this locally important network is declining. It is considered by the Institution of Civil Engineers to be "at risk" and is ranked 26th in the world. Many factors contribute to the degradation and ultimate failure of particular road sections. However, several UK local authorities have identified that in drought conditions, road sections founded upon shrink-swell susceptible clay soils undergo significant deterioration compared with sections on non-susceptible soils. This arises from the local road network having little, if any, structural foundations. Consequently, droughts in East Anglia have resulted in millions of pounds of damage, leading authorities to seek emergency governmental funding. This paper assesses the use of soil-related geohazard assessments in providing soil-informed maintenance strategies for the asset management of the locally important road network of the UK. A case study draws upon the UK administrative county of Lincolnshire, where road assessment data have been analysed against mapped clay-subsidence risk. This reveals a statistically significant relationship between road condition and susceptible clay soils. Furthermore, incorporation of UKCP09 future climate projections within the geohazard models has highlighted roads likely to be at future risk of clay-related subsidence.

Soil geohazard mapping for improved asset management of UK local roads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pritchard, O. G.; Hallett, S. H.; Farewell, T. S.

2015-05-01

Unclassified roads comprise 60% of the road network in the United Kingdom (UK). The resilience of this locally important network is declining. It is considered by the Institution of Civil Engineers to be "at risk" and is ranked 26th in the world. Many factors contribute to the degradation and ultimate failure of particular road sections. However, several UK local authorities have identified that in drought conditions, road sections founded upon shrink/swell susceptible clay soils undergo significant deterioration compared with sections on non-susceptible soils. This arises from the local road network having little, if any structural foundations. Consequently, droughts in East Anglia have resulted in millions of pounds of damage, leading authorities to seek emergency governmental funding. This paper assesses the use of soil-related geohazard assessments in providing soil-informed maintenance strategies for the asset management of the locally important road network of the UK. A case study draws upon the UK administrative county of Lincolnshire, where road assessment data have been analysed against mapped clay-subsidence risk. This reveals a statistically significant relationship between road condition and susceptible clay soils. Furthermore, incorporation of UKCP09 future climate projections within the geohazard models has highlighted roads likely to be at future risk of clay-related subsidence.

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) on the road: a serious traffic safety and public health concern.

PubMed

Denning, Gerene; Jennissen, Charles; Harland, Karisa; Ellis, David; Buresh, Christopher

2013-01-01

On-road all-terrain vehicle (ATV) crashes are frequent occurrences that disproportionately impact rural communities. These crashes occur despite most states having laws restricting on-road ATV use. A number of overall risk factors for ATV-related injuries have been identified (e.g., lack of helmet, carrying passengers). However, few studies have determined the relative contribution of these and other factors to on-road crashes and injuries. The objective of our study was to determine whether there were differences between on- and off-road ATV crashes in their demographics and/or mechanisms and outcomes of injuries. Data were derived from our statewide ATV injury surveillance database (2002-2009). Crash location and crash and injury mechanisms were coded using a modification of the Department of Transportation (DOT) coding system. Descriptive analyses and statistical comparisons (chi-square test) of variables were performed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine relative risk. 976 records were included in the final analysis, with 38 percent of the injured individuals from on-road crashes. Demographics were similar for crashes at each location, with approximately 80 percent males, 30 percent under the age of 16, and 15 percent passengers. However, females and youths under 16 were over 4 times more likely to be passengers (P ≤ 0.0001), regardless of crash location. Compared to those off-road, on-road crash victims were approximately 10 times more likely to be involved in a vehicle-vehicle collision (P < 0.001), 3 times more likely to have a severe brain injury (P < 0.001), and twice as likely to have suffered major trauma (P < 0.001). Adult operators in on-road crashes were also twice as likely to test positive for alcohol as those off-road (P < 0.05). Helmet use significantly reduced the odds of sustaining a brain injury and on-road victims were only half as likely to be helmeted (P < 0.01). More than 1 in 3 on-road crashes involved a collision with another vehicle, suggesting that ATVs on the road represent a potential traffic safety concern. Of note, helmets were associated with reduced risk for the number and severity of brain injuries, providing further support for the importance of helmet use. Finally, even controlling for helmet use, on-road crash victims suffered more major trauma and severe brain injuries than those off-road. Overall, our data reinforce the importance of laws restricting ATV road use and the need for effective enforcement, as well as the need to increase user education about ATV road-use laws and the dangers of riding on the roads.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 on sodium chloride, which releases Na+ and Cl-, the estimation of the contribution of road salting to PM10 concentration can be carried out considering only measured concentrations of Na+ and Cl-. However, the presence of these elements might not be due exclusively to salting activities. For this reason data collected during first winter campaign were analysed using the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) Model developed by United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify the presence of Na+ and Cl- in emission profiles of other PM10 sources (e.g., biomass burning, traffic) [3]. Through this study new guidelines have been defined for the optimization of current road management operations, and their applicability to other area in the Province of Trento has been assessed for future purposes. [1] Pretto I. et al., SIRWEC 2014 conference proceedings, ID:0019 (2014) [2] Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe (CAFE) Directive (2008/50/EC) [3] http://www.epa.gov/air-research/positive-matrix-factorization-model-environmental-data-analyses

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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 meteorological forecasts from ECMWF numerical prediction model. Overnight RST minima have then been estimated automatically in nowcast mode. In this presentation we show and discuss results and performances for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 winter seasons. Using evaluation indexes we demonstrate that combining METRo and Reuter's models into one single forecast system improves bias and accuracy by about 0.5°C. This study is supported by the LIFE11 ENV/IT/000002 CLEAN-ROADS project. The project aims to assess the environmental impact of salt de-icers in Trentino mountain region by supporting winter road management operations with meteorological information. [1] Thornes J.E. and Stephenson D.B., Meteorological Applications, 8:307 (2001) [2] Reuter H., Tellus, 3:141 (1951) [3] Crevier L.P. and Delage Y., Journal of applied meteorology, 40:2026 (2001) [4] Pretto I. et al., SIRWEC 2014 conference proceedings, ID:0019 (2014)

Where and How Are Roads Endangering Mammals in Southeast Asia's Forests?

PubMed Central

Clements, Gopalasamy Reuben; Lynam, Antony J.; Gaveau, David; Yap, Wei Lim; Lhota, Stanislav; Goosem, Miriam; Laurance, Susan; Laurance, William F.

2014-01-01

Habitat destruction and overhunting are two major drivers of mammal population declines and extinctions in tropical forests. The construction of roads can be a catalyst for these two threats. In Southeast Asia, the impacts of roads on mammals have not been well-documented at a regional scale. Before evidence-based conservation strategies can be developed to minimize the threat of roads to endangered mammals within this region, we first need to locate where and how roads are contributing to the conversion of their habitats and illegal hunting in each country. We interviewed 36 experts involved in mammal research from seven Southeast Asian countries to identify roads that are contributing the most, in their opinion, to habitat conversion and illegal hunting. Our experts highlighted 16 existing and eight planned roads - these potentially threaten 21% of the 117 endangered terrestrial mammals in those countries. Apart from gathering qualitative evidence from the literature to assess their claims, we demonstrate how species-distribution models, satellite imagery and animal-sign surveys can be used to provide quantitative evidence of roads causing impacts by (1) cutting through habitats where endangered mammals are likely to occur, (2) intensifying forest conversion, and (3) contributing to illegal hunting and wildlife trade. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to identify specific roads threatening endangered mammals in Southeast Asia. Further through highlighting the impacts of roads, we propose 10 measures to limit road impacts in the region. PMID:25521297

Cost of Crashes Related to Road Conditions, United States, 2006

PubMed Central

Zaloshnja, Eduard; Miller, Ted R.

2009-01-01

This is the first study to estimate the cost of crashes related to road conditions in the U.S. To model the probability that road conditions contributed to the involvement of a vehicle in the crash, we used 2000–03 Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) data, the only dataset that provides detailed information whether road conditions contributed to crash occurrence. We applied the logistic regression results to a costed national crash dataset in order to calculate the probability that road conditions contributed to the involvement of a vehicle in each crash. In crashes where someone was moderately to seriously injured (AIS-2-6) in a vehicle that harmfully impacted a large tree or medium or large non-breakaway pole, or if the first harmful event was collision with a bridge, we changed the calculated probability of being road-related to 1. We used the state distribution of costs of fatal crashes where road conditions contributed to crash occurrence or severity to estimate the respective state distribution of non-fatal crash costs. The estimated comprehensive cost of traffic crashes where road conditions contributed to crash occurrence or severity was $217.5 billion in 2006. This represented 43.6% of the total comprehensive crash cost. The large share of crash costs related to road design and conditions underlines the importance of these factors in highway safety. Road conditions are largely controllable. Road maintenance and upgrading can prevent crashes and reduce injury severity. PMID:20184840

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

PubMed

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.

Bobcats ( Lynx rufus) as a Model Organism to Investigate the Effects of Roads on Wide-Ranging Carnivores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Litvaitis, John A.; Reed, Gregory C.; Carroll, Rory P.; Litvaitis, Marian K.; Tash, Jeffrey; Mahard, Tyler; Broman, Derek J. A.; Callahan, Catherine; Ellingwood, Mark

2015-06-01

We are using bobcats ( Lynx rufus) as a model organism to examine how roads affect the abundance, distribution, and genetic structure of a wide-ranging carnivore. First, we compared the distribution of bobcat-vehicle collisions to road density and then estimated collision probabilities for specific landscapes using a moving window with road-specific traffic volume. Next, we obtained incidental observations of bobcats from the public, camera-trap detections, and locations of bobcats equipped with GPS collars to examine habitat selection. These data were used to generate a cost-surface map to investigate potential barrier effects of roads. Finally, we have begun an examination of genetic structure of bobcat populations in relation to major road networks. Distribution of vehicle-killed bobcats was correlated with road density, especially state and interstate highways. Collision models suggested that some regions may function as demographic sinks. Simulated movements in the context of the cost-surface map indicated that some major roads may be barriers. These patterns were supported by the genetic structure of bobcats. The sharpest divisions among genetically distinct demes occurred along natural barriers (mountains and large lakes) and in road-dense regions. In conclusion, our study has demonstrated the utility of using bobcats as a model organism to understand the variety of threats that roads pose to a wide-ranging species. Bobcats may also be useful as one of a group of focal species while developing approaches to maintain existing connectivity or mitigate the negative effects of roads.

The credibility of speed limits on 80 km/h rural roads: The effects of road and person(ality) characteristics.

PubMed

Goldenbeld, Charles; van Schagen, Ingrid

2007-11-01

The present study aimed to operationalise the concept of credible speed limits and to make a first step to elaborate it in such a way that road authorities can put the concept into practice. The study focused on the credibility of an 80 km/h limit for different rural roads and assessed the effects of characteristics of the road and its environment as well as the effects of person and personality characteristics. Almost 600 Dutch car drivers were asked to judge 27 photographs of (different) rural roads with a posted speed limit of 80 km/h. To determine the degree of credibility, for each road scene the subjects filled in the preferred speed and the speed limit they considered to be safe. The results show large differences in both preferred speed and the safe speed limit between the road scenes, both below and above the limit of 80 km/h. These differences were related to a number of characteristics of the road and the road environment, such as the presence or absence of a curve and characteristics concerning the field of view (sight distance, clarity of situation). There were also large differences between subjects and these were related to age, the degree of sensation seeking, the number of speeding tickets in the last 3 years and the part of the country they lived in. Subjects were influenced by more or less the same road features.

Bobcats (Lynx rufus) as a Model Organism to Investigate the Effects of Roads on Wide-Ranging Carnivores.

PubMed

Litvaitis, John A; Reed, Gregory C; Carroll, Rory P; Litvaitis, Marian K; Tash, Jeffrey; Mahard, Tyler; Broman, Derek J A; Callahan, Catherine; Ellingwood, Mark

2015-06-01

We are using bobcats (Lynx rufus) as a model organism to examine how roads affect the abundance, distribution, and genetic structure of a wide-ranging carnivore. First, we compared the distribution of bobcat-vehicle collisions to road density and then estimated collision probabilities for specific landscapes using a moving window with road-specific traffic volume. Next, we obtained incidental observations of bobcats from the public, camera-trap detections, and locations of bobcats equipped with GPS collars to examine habitat selection. These data were used to generate a cost-surface map to investigate potential barrier effects of roads. Finally, we have begun an examination of genetic structure of bobcat populations in relation to major road networks. Distribution of vehicle-killed bobcats was correlated with road density, especially state and interstate highways. Collision models suggested that some regions may function as demographic sinks. Simulated movements in the context of the cost-surface map indicated that some major roads may be barriers. These patterns were supported by the genetic structure of bobcats. The sharpest divisions among genetically distinct demes occurred along natural barriers (mountains and large lakes) and in road-dense regions. In conclusion, our study has demonstrated the utility of using bobcats as a model organism to understand the variety of threats that roads pose to a wide-ranging species. Bobcats may also be useful as one of a group of focal species while developing approaches to maintain existing connectivity or mitigate the negative effects of roads.

Where and how are roads endangering mammals in Southeast Asia's forests?

PubMed

Clements, Gopalasamy Reuben; Lynam, Antony J; Gaveau, David; Yap, Wei Lim; Lhota, Stanislav; Goosem, Miriam; Laurance, Susan; Laurance, William F

2014-01-01

Habitat destruction and overhunting are two major drivers of mammal population declines and extinctions in tropical forests. The construction of roads can be a catalyst for these two threats. In Southeast Asia, the impacts of roads on mammals have not been well-documented at a regional scale. Before evidence-based conservation strategies can be developed to minimize the threat of roads to endangered mammals within this region, we first need to locate where and how roads are contributing to the conversion of their habitats and illegal hunting in each country. We interviewed 36 experts involved in mammal research from seven Southeast Asian countries to identify roads that are contributing the most, in their opinion, to habitat conversion and illegal hunting. Our experts highlighted 16 existing and eight planned roads - these potentially threaten 21% of the 117 endangered terrestrial mammals in those countries. Apart from gathering qualitative evidence from the literature to assess their claims, we demonstrate how species-distribution models, satellite imagery and animal-sign surveys can be used to provide quantitative evidence of roads causing impacts by (1) cutting through habitats where endangered mammals are likely to occur, (2) intensifying forest conversion, and (3) contributing to illegal hunting and wildlife trade. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to identify specific roads threatening endangered mammals in Southeast Asia. Further through highlighting the impacts of roads, we propose 10 measures to limit road impacts in the region.

The measurement of dry deposition and surface runoff to quantify urban road pollution in Taipei, Taiwan.

PubMed

Wang, Yunn-Jinn; Chen, Chi-Feng; Lin, Jen-Yang

2013-10-16

Pollutants deposited on road surfaces and distributed in the environment are a source of nonpoint pollution. Field data are traditionally hard to collect from roads because of constant traffic. In this study, in cooperation with the traffic administration, the dry deposition on and road runoff from urban roads was measured in Taipei City and New Taipei City, Taiwan. The results showed that the dry deposition is 2.01-5.14 g/m(2) · day and 78-87% of these solids are in the 75-300 µm size range. The heavy metals in the dry deposited particles are mainly Fe, Zn, and Na, with average concentrations of 34,978, 1,519 and 1,502 ppm, respectively. Elevated express roads show the highest heavy metal concentrations. Not only the number of vehicles, but also the speed of the traffic should be considered as factors that influence road pollution, as high speeds may accelerate vehicle wear and deposit more heavy metals on road surfaces. In addition to dry deposition, the runoff and water quality was analyzed every five minutes during the first two hours of storm events to capture the properties of the first flush road runoff. The sample mean concentration (SMC) from three roads demonstrated that the first flush runoff had a high pollution content, notably for suspended solid (SS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), oil and grease, Pb, and Zn. Regular sweeping and onsite water treatment facilities are suggested to minimize the pollution from urban roads.

Complex Road Intersection Modelling Based on Low-Frequency GPS Track Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, J.; Deng, M.; Zhang, Y.; Liu, H.

2017-09-01

It is widely accepted that digital map becomes an indispensable guide for human daily traveling. Traditional road network maps are produced in the time-consuming and labour-intensive ways, such as digitizing printed maps and extraction from remote sensing images. At present, a large number of GPS trajectory data collected by floating vehicles makes it a reality to extract high-detailed and up-to-date road network information. Road intersections are often accident-prone areas and very critical to route planning and the connectivity of road networks is mainly determined by the topological geometry of road intersections. A few studies paid attention on detecting complex road intersections and mining the attached traffic information (e.g., connectivity, topology and turning restriction) from massive GPS traces. To the authors' knowledge, recent studies mainly used high frequency (1 s sampling rate) trajectory data to detect the crossroads regions or extract rough intersection models. It is still difficult to make use of low frequency (20-100 s) and easily available trajectory data to modelling complex road intersections geometrically and semantically. The paper thus attempts to construct precise models for complex road intersection by using low frequency GPS traces. We propose to firstly extract the complex road intersections by a LCSS-based (Longest Common Subsequence) trajectory clustering method, then delineate the geometry shapes of complex road intersections by a K-segment principle curve algorithm, and finally infer the traffic constraint rules inside the complex intersections.

Disentangle the Causes of the Road Barrier Effect in Small Mammals through Genetic Patterns.

PubMed

Ascensão, Fernando; Mata, Cristina; Malo, Juan E; Ruiz-Capillas, Pablo; Silva, Catarina; Silva, André P; Santos-Reis, Margarida; Fernandes, Carlos

2016-01-01

Road barrier effect is among the foremost negative impacts of roads on wildlife. Knowledge of the factors responsible for the road barrier effect is crucial to understand and predict species' responses to roads, and to improve mitigation measures in the context of management and conservation. We built a set of hypothesis aiming to infer the most probable cause of road barrier effect (traffic effect or road surface avoidance), while controlling for the potentially confounding effects road width, traffic volume and road age. The wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus was used as a model species of small and forest-dwelling mammals, which are more likely to be affected by gaps in cover such as those resulting from road construction. We confront genetic patterns from opposite and same roadsides from samples of three highways and used computer simulations to infer migration rates between opposite roadsides. Genetic patterns from 302 samples (ca. 100 per highway) suggest that the highway barrier effect for wood mouse is due to road surface avoidance. However, from the simulations we estimated a migration rate of about 5% between opposite roadsides, indicating that some limited gene flow across highways does occur. To reduce highway impact on population genetic diversity and structure, possible mitigation measures could include retrofitting of culverts and underpasses to increase their attractiveness and facilitate their use by wood mice and other species, and setting aside roadside strips without vegetation removal to facilitate establishment and dispersal of small mammals.

Disentangle the Causes of the Road Barrier Effect in Small Mammals through Genetic Patterns

PubMed Central

Ascensão, Fernando; Mata, Cristina; Malo, Juan E.; Ruiz-Capillas, Pablo; Silva, Catarina; Silva, André P.; Santos-Reis, Margarida; Fernandes, Carlos

2016-01-01

Road barrier effect is among the foremost negative impacts of roads on wildlife. Knowledge of the factors responsible for the road barrier effect is crucial to understand and predict species’ responses to roads, and to improve mitigation measures in the context of management and conservation. We built a set of hypothesis aiming to infer the most probable cause of road barrier effect (traffic effect or road surface avoidance), while controlling for the potentially confounding effects road width, traffic volume and road age. The wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus was used as a model species of small and forest-dwelling mammals, which are more likely to be affected by gaps in cover such as those resulting from road construction. We confront genetic patterns from opposite and same roadsides from samples of three highways and used computer simulations to infer migration rates between opposite roadsides. Genetic patterns from 302 samples (ca. 100 per highway) suggest that the highway barrier effect for wood mouse is due to road surface avoidance. However, from the simulations we estimated a migration rate of about 5% between opposite roadsides, indicating that some limited gene flow across highways does occur. To reduce highway impact on population genetic diversity and structure, possible mitigation measures could include retrofitting of culverts and underpasses to increase their attractiveness and facilitate their use by wood mice and other species, and setting aside roadside strips without vegetation removal to facilitate establishment and dispersal of small mammals. PMID:26978779

USER'S GUIDE: EMISSION CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES AND EMISSION FACTORS FOR UNPAVED ROAD FUGITIVE EMISSIONS

EPA Science Inventory

This document assists control agency personnel in evaluating unpaved road fugitive emissions control plans and helps industry personnel develop effective control strategies for unpaved roads. he brochure describes control techniques for reducing unpaved road emissions and methods...

Safety impacts of rural road construction

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

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...

5. VIEW OF THE LOCATION FOR A PROPOSED SPUR ROAD ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

5. VIEW OF THE LOCATION FOR A PROPOSED SPUR ROAD FROM KINGS CANYON ROAD TO THE PROPOSED HELICOPTER LANDING SITE #11. LOCATED AT MILEPOST 0.55, FACING NORTH 53ø EAST (53 ). - Kings Canyon Road, Carson City, Carson City, NV

14. VIEW FROM TUNDRA CURVES (ON TRAIL RIDGE ROAD) SHOWING ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

14. VIEW FROM TUNDRA CURVES (ON TRAIL RIDGE ROAD) SHOWING FALL RIVER ROAD RISING FROM BENEATH CHAPIN PASS (AT EXTREME RIGHT) TO FALL RIVER PASS (FAR LEFT). - Fall River Road, Between Estes Park & Fall River Pass, Estes Park, Larimer County, CO

30 CFR 817.151 - Primary roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... section. (a) Certification. The construction or reconstruction of primary roads shall be certified in a... authorizes land surveyors to certify the construction or reconstruction of primary roads, a qualified registered professional land surveyor, with experience in the design and construction of roads. The report...

30 CFR 816.151 - Primary roads.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... this section. (a) Certification. The construction or reconstruction of primary roads shall be certified... State which authorizes land surveyors to certify the construction or reconstruction of primary roads, a qualified registered professional land surveyor with experience in the design and construction of roads. The...

36 CFR 294.25 - Mineral activities in Idaho Roadless Areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... recommend, authorize, or consent to road construction, road reconstruction, or surface occupancy associated... construction or road reconstruction associated with mineral leases in Idaho Roadless Areas designated as Backcountry/Restoration. Surface use or occupancy without road construction or reconstruction is permissible...

Prototype road weather performance management (RW-PM) tool and Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) field evaluation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-01-01

FHWAs Road Weather Management Program developed a Prototype Road Weather Management (RW-PM) Tool to help DOTs maximize the effectiveness of their maintenance resources and efficiently adjust deployments dynamically, as road conditions and traffic ...

Analysis of Child-related Road Traffic Accidents in Vietnam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vu, Anh Tuan; Nguyen, Dinh Vinh Man

2018-04-01

In recent years, the number of road traffic accidents, fatalities and injuries have been decreasing, but the figures of children road traffic accidents have been increasing in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. This fact strongly calls for implementing effective solutions to improve traffic safety for children by the local government. This paper presents the trends, patterns and causes of road traffic accidents involving children based on the analysis of road traffic accident data over the period 2010-2015 and the video-based observations of road traffic law violations at 15 typical school gates and 10 typical roads. The results could be useful for the city government to formulate solutions to effectively improve traffic safety for children in Ho Chi Minh City and other cities in Vietnam.

Effects of roads and well pads on erosion in the Largo Canyon watershed, New Mexico, 2001-02

USGS Publications Warehouse

Matherne, Anne Marie

2006-01-01

Largo Canyon, located in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico, is one of the longest dry washes in the world. Oil and gas production in the San Juan Basin, which began in the 1940's, required the development of an extensive network of dirt roads to service the oil and gas wells in the Navajo Reservoir area. Presently, there are about eight wells per square mile, and the density of oil and gas wells is expected to increase. Potential environmental effects on landscape stability that may result from the additional roads and well pads have not been documented. In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey began a study in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management to evaluate the effects of roads and well pads associated with oil and gas operations on the erosion potential of Bureau of Land Management lands in the Largo Canyon watershed. The effects of roads and well pads on erosion were quantified by installing sediment dams (dams) and by surveying transects across roads and well pads. Data from 26 dams were used in the analysis. Dams were installed at 43 sites: 21 on hillsides upslope from roads or pads to measure erosion from hillslopes, 11 at the downslope edges of roads to measure erosion from roads, and 11 at the downslope edges of well pads to measure erosion from well pads. Pairs of survey transects were established at nine well pads and two road locations. Sediment-accumulation data for 26 dams, recorded at 17 measurement intervals, indicate that average erosion rates at the dams significantly correlate to size of the contributing area. The average erosion rate normalized by drainage area was 0.001 foot per year below roads, 0.003 foot per year on hillslopes, and 0.011 foot per year below well pads. Results of a two-sample t-test indicate that there was no significant difference in average erosion rates for dams located on hillslopes and below roads, whereas average erosion rates were significantly greater for dams below well pads than for dams on hillslopes and dams below roads. The average erosion rates estimated from the data collected during this study most likely represent minimum erosion rates. Sediment-accumulation data for measurement intervals and for dams that were breached during 2002, resulting from the large volume of runoff generated by high-intensity storms, were not used to compute erosion rates. For this reason, the higher range of erosion rates is underrepresented and the results of this study are biased toward the lower end of the range of erosion rates. Measurements along road transects generally indicate that sediment is eroded from the top of road berms and redeposited at the base of the berms and may be transported downslope along the road. Measurements along well-pad transects generally indicate that sediment eroded from hillslopes is transported over the surface of the well pad and down the well-pad edges. Based on field observations, roads aligned parallel to topographic contours facilitate erosional processes in two ways: (1) roads cut across and collect runoff from previously established drainages and (2) roads, where they are cut into hillsides or into the land surface, provide focal points for the initiation of erosion. Roads aligned across topographic contours can serve as conduits to channel runoff but do not constitute a large percentage of the road network.

Predicting on-road assessment pass and fail outcomes in older drivers with cognitive impairment using a battery of computerized sensory-motor and cognitive tests.

PubMed

Hoggarth, Petra A; Innes, Carrie R H; Dalrymple-Alford, John C; Jones, Richard D

2013-12-01

To generate a robust model of computerized sensory-motor and cognitive test performance to predict on-road driving assessment outcomes in older persons with diagnosed or suspected cognitive impairment. A logistic regression model classified pass–fail outcomes of a blinded on-road driving assessment. Generalizability of the model was tested using leave-one-out cross-validation. Three specialist clinics in New Zealand. Drivers (n=279; mean age 78.4, 65% male) with diagnosed or suspected dementia, mild cognitive impairment, unspecified cognitive impairment, or memory problems referred for a medical driving assessment. A computerized battery of sensory-motor and cognitive tests and an on-road medical driving assessment. One hundred fifty-five participants (55.5%) received an on-road fail score. Binary logistic regression correctly classified 75.6% of the sample into on-road pass and fail groups. The cross-validation indicated accuracy of the model of 72.0% with sensitivity for detecting on-road fails of 73.5%, specificity of 70.2%, positive predictive value of 75.5%, and negative predictive value of 68%. The off-road assessment prediction model resulted in a substantial number of people who were assessed as likely to fail despite passing an on-road assessment and vice versa. Thus, despite a large multicenter sample, the use of off-road tests previously found to be useful in other older populations, and a carefully constructed and tested prediction model, off-road measures have yet to be found that are sufficiently accurate to allow acceptable determination of on-road driving safety of cognitively impaired older drivers. © 2013, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2013, The American Geriatrics Society.

Priority of road maintenance management based on halda reading range on NAASRA method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Surbakti, M.; Doan, A.

2018-02-01

The road pavement, constantly experiencing stress-strain due to traffic load through it, can cause damage to the pavement. Therefore, early detection and repair of the damage will be able to prevent more severe damage that can develop into pavement failure. A road condition survey is one of the earliest attempts to detect the initial damage of a pavement. In this case the driving comfort is the most important part for the driver in assessing road conditions that are affected by the level of road surface roughness. To determine the level of roughness of the road, one of the methods developed is the measurement using the NAASRA method. In this method the roughness of the road is an accumulation of the average unevenness of the road, with the general setting on halda of 100 m. However, with this 100-meter setting, in some places the final value of the roughness value is too large or too small so that it will result in the priority of the road maintenance. This is what underlies roughness research by comparing halda settings at 50 m and 200 m different from the general settings above.This study uses the International Roughness Index (IRI) method in determining the level of road stability concerning driving discomfort. IRI score obtained from direct survey in field by using Roughometer-NAASRA.The final result shows that there is a significant difference between the reading of halda which is set at 100 m reading with halda set with 50 and 200 meter readings. This may lead to differences in handling priorities, which may impact on the sustainability of road network maintenance management (Sustainaible Road Management)

Individual Spatial Responses towards Roads: Implications for Mortality Risk

PubMed Central

Grilo, Clara; Sousa, Joana; Ascensão, Fernando; Matos, Hugo; Leitão, Inês; Pinheiro, Paula; Costa, Monica; Bernardo, João; Reto, Dyana; Lourenço, Rui; Santos-Reis, Margarida; Revilla, Eloy

2012-01-01

Background Understanding the ecological consequences of roads and developing ways to mitigate their negative effects has become an important goal for many conservation biologists. Most mitigation measures are based on road mortality and barrier effects data. However, studying fine-scale individual spatial responses in roaded landscapes may help develop more cohesive road planning strategies for wildlife conservation. Methodology/Principal Findings We investigated how individuals respond in their spatial behavior toward a highway and its traffic intensity by radio-tracking two common species particularly vulnerable to road mortality (barn owl Tyto alba and stone marten Martes foina). We addressed the following questions: 1) how highways affected home-range location and size in the immediate vicinity of these structures, 2) which road-related features influenced habitat selection, 3) what was the role of different road-related features on movement properties, and 4) which characteristics were associated with crossing events and road-kills. The main findings were: 1) if there was available habitat, barn owls and stone martens may not avoid highways and may even include highways within their home-ranges; 2) both species avoided using areas near the highway when traffic was high, but tended to move toward the highway when streams were in close proximity and where verges offered suitable habitat; and 3) barn owls tended to cross above-grade highway sections while stone martens tended to avoid crossing at leveled highway sections. Conclusions Mortality may be the main road-mediated mechanism that affects barn owl and stone marten populations. Fine-scale movements strongly indicated that a decrease in road mortality risk can be realized by reducing sources of attraction, and by increasing road permeability through measures that promote safe crossings. PMID:22970143

Estimating under-reporting of road crash injuries to police using multiple linked data collections.

PubMed

Watson, Angela; Watson, Barry; Vallmuur, Kirsten

2015-10-01

The reliance on police data for the counting of road crash injuries can be problematic, as it is well known that not all road crash injuries are reported to police which under-estimates the overall burden of road crash injuries. The aim of this study was to use multiple linked data sources to estimate the extent of under-reporting of road crash injuries to police in the Australian state of Queensland. Data from the Queensland Road Crash Database (QRCD), the Queensland Hospital Admitted Patients Data Collection (QHAPDC), Emergency Department Information System (EDIS), and the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit (QISU) for the year 2009 were linked. The completeness of road crash cases reported to police was examined via discordance rates between the police data (QRCD) and the hospital data collections. In addition, the potential bias of this discordance (under-reporting) was assessed based on gender, age, road user group, and regional location. Results showed that the level of under-reporting varied depending on the data set with which the police data was compared. When all hospital data collections are examined together the estimated population of road crash injuries was approximately 28,000, with around two-thirds not linking to any record in the police data. The results also showed that the under-reporting was more likely for motorcyclists, cyclists, males, young people, and injuries occurring in Remote and Inner Regional areas. These results have important implications for road safety research and policy in terms of: prioritising funding and resources; targeting road safety interventions into areas of higher risk; and estimating the burden of road crash injuries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

GBD-2010 overestimates deaths from road injuries in OECD countries: new methods perform poorly.

PubMed

Bhalla, Kavi; Harrison, James E

2015-10-01

We assessed the quality of Global Burden of Disease-2010 (GBD-2010) estimates of road injury deaths by comparing with government statistics for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries that report to the International Road Traffic Accident Database (IRTAD). We obtained tabulated data for 25 OECD countries that report to IRTAD and also report vital registration (VR) data to WHO. We collated VR deaths corresponding to the GBD-2010 road injury definition and estimated 'traffic', 'non-traffic' and 'unspecified whether traffic or non-traffic' components. We estimated national road injury deaths by redistributing partially specified causes of death, as was done by GBD until this was replaced by more complex methods in GBD-2010. GBD-2010 estimates of road injury deaths exceeded IRTAD by 45% overall. IRTAD values fell below the GBD-2010 95% uncertainty interval in all but three countries. Mismatch of conceptual scope accounted for about 8% of this discrepancy, 5% was because GBD-2010 included cases other than road traffic and 3% because GBD-2010 (unlike IRTAD) includes deaths >30 days after injury. Pro rata distribution of partially specified causes in VR data gave estimates that were 18% higher than IRTAD but closer than GBD-2010 estimates for all but two countries. Cases in VR data specified as road injury gave estimates closer to IRTAD. GBD-2010 road injury mortality estimates are substantially higher than the road death toll in OECD countries. The discrepancy is not explained by wider scope of the GBD road injury construct nor by undercounting by IRTAD. GBD-2010 likely attributed substantially more deaths with partially specified causes to road injuries than is appropriate. © The Author 2015; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

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

PubMed

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 < .001) when data were analyzed based on 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).

Epidemiology of pedestrian-MVCs by road type in Cluj, Romania.

PubMed

Hamann, Cara; Peek-Asa, Corinne; Rus, Diana

2015-04-01

Pedestrian-motor vehicle (PMV) crash rates in Romania are among the highest in all of Europe. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of pedestrian-MVCs in Cluj County, Romania, on the two major types of roadways: national or local. Cluj County police crash report data from 2010 were used to identify pedestrian, driver and crash characteristics of pedestrian-MVCs. Crashes with available location data were geocoded and road type (national or local) for each crash was determined. Distributions of crash characteristics were examined by road type and multivariable logistic regression models were built to determine predictors of crash road type. Crashes occurring on national roads involved more teenagers and adults, while those on local roads involved more young children (0-12) and older adults (65+) (p<0.01). Crashes on national roads were more likely to have marked pedestrian crossings and shoulders compared with local crashes. Pedestrian-MVCs that involved a moving violation by the motorist were more likely to occur on national roadways (adjusted OR=1.93, 95% CI 1.07 to 3.49). Pedestrian-MVCs pose a considerable health burden in Romania. Results from this study suggest that factors leading to PMV crashes on national roads are more likely to involve driver-related causes compared with local roads. Intervention priorities to reduce pedestrian crashes on national roads should be directed towards driver behaviour on national roads. Further examination of driver and pedestrian behaviours related to crash risk on both national and local roads, such as distraction and speeding, is warranted. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Scaling roads and wildlife: The Cinderella principle

USGS Publications Warehouse

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.

Predicting fitness-to-drive following stroke using the Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery.

PubMed

Unsworth, Carolyn A; Baker, Anne; Lannin, Natasha; Harries, Priscilla; Strahan, Janene; Browne, Matthew

2018-02-28

It is difficult to determine if, or when, individuals with stroke are ready to undergo on-road fitness-to-drive assessment. The Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery was developed to determine client suitability to resume driving. The predictive validity of the Battery needs to be verified for people with stroke. Examine the predictive validity of the Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery for on-road performance among people with stroke. Off-road data were collected from 148 people post stroke on the Battery and the outcome of their on-road assessment was recorded as: fit-to-drive or not fit-to-drive. The majority of participants (76%) were able to resume driving. A classification and regression tree (CART) analysis using four subtests (three cognitive and one physical) from the Battery demonstrated an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.8311. Using a threshold of 0.5, the model correctly predicted 98/112 fit-to-drive (87.5%) and 26/36 people not fit-to-drive (72.2%). The three cognitive subtests from the Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery and potentially one of the physical tests have good predictive validity for client fitness-to-drive. These tests can be used to screen client suitability for proceeding to an on-road test following stroke. Implications for Rehabilitation: Following stroke, drivers should be counseled (including consideration of local legislation) concerning return to driving. The Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery can be used in the clinic to screen people for suitability to undertake on road assessment. Scores on four of the Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery subtests are predictive of resumption of driving following stroke.

EPA GHG Certification of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles: Development of Road Grade Profiles Representative of US Controlled Access Highways

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wood, Eric; Duran, Adam; Burton, Evan

This report includes a detailed comparison of the TomTom national road grade database relative to a local road grade dataset generated by Southwest Research Institute and a national elevation dataset publically available from the U.S. Geological Survey. This analysis concluded that the TomTom national road grade database was a suitable source of road grade data for purposes of this study.

Traveling the Silk Road: A Measurement of a Large Anonymous Online Marketplace

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-28

Silk Road, an anonymous, international online marketplace that operates as a Tor hidden service and uses Bitcoin as its exchange currency. We gather...analysis of Silk Road, an anonymous, international on- line marketplace that operates as a Tor hidden service and uses Bitcoin as its exchange currency. We...anonymity, Silk Road needs to also preserve payment anonymity. To that effect, Silk Road only supports Bitcoin (BTC, [30]) as a trading currency

Evaluating drug trafficking on the Tor Network: Silk Road 2, the sequel.

PubMed

Dolliver, Diana S

2015-11-01

Housing an illicit, online drug retail market generating sales in the millions of USD, the Silk Road was a profitable marketplace with a growing and loyal consumer base. Following its FBI-forced shut down in October 2013, the Silk Road enjoyed newfound fame that contributed to an increase in new users downloading and accessing the Tor Network; however, with this particular marketplace out of order, Silk Road 2 was launched to fill the void. The goals of this study were to (1) compare the metrics of Silk Road 2 to the original site, and to (2) determine if there were any indications of the presence of more sophisticated drug trafficking operations. Data were collected from Silk Road 2 during the months of August and September 2014 using webcrawling software. Silk Road 2 was a much smaller marketplace than the original Silk Road. Of the 1834 unique items for sale, 348 were drug items sold by 145 distinct vendors shipping from 19 countries. Of the drug items advertised, most were stimulants and hallucinogens. The United States is both the number one country of origin for drug sales on Silk Road 2 and the number one destination country. Interestingly, 73% of all vendor accounts on Silk Road 2 advertised drug items, even though drugs only constituted 19% of all items advertised. This study was the first to research Silk Road 2, the replacement illicit marketplace to the original virtual Silk Road. This study was also the first to examine indications of the presence of more coordinated drug trafficking efforts in an online setting. The findings indicated that while Silk Road 2 was not primarily a drug market, there were indications that some vendor accounts may have connections reaching beyond a base retail market. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nilsson's Power Model connecting speed and road trauma: applicability by road type and alternative models for urban roads.

PubMed

Cameron, M H; Elvik, R

2010-11-01

Nilsson (1981) proposed power relationships connecting changes in traffic speeds with changes in road crashes at various levels of injury severity. Increases in fatal crashes are related to the 4(th) power of the increase in mean speed, increases in serious casualty crashes (those involving death or serious injury) according to the 3(rd) power, and increases in casualty crashes (those involving death or any injury) according to the 2(nd) power. Increases in numbers of crash victims at cumulative levels of injury severity are related to the crash increases plus higher powers predicting the number of victims per crash. These relationships are frequently applied in OECD countries to estimate road trauma reductions resulting from expected speed reductions. The relationships were empirically derived based on speed changes resulting from a large number of rural speed limit changes in Sweden during 1967-1972. Nilsson (2004) noted that there had been very few urban speed limit changes studied to test his power model. This paper aims to test the assumption that the model is equally applicable in all road environments. It was found that the road environment is an important moderator of Nilsson's power model. While Nilsson's model appears satisfactory for rural highways and freeways, the model does not appear to be directly applicable to traffic speed changes on urban arterial roads. The evidence of monotonically increasing powers applicable to changes in road trauma at increasing injury severity levels with changes in mean speed is weak. The estimated power applicable to serious casualties on urban arterial roads was significantly less than that on rural highways, which was also significantly less than that on freeways. Alternative models linking the parameters of speed distributions with road trauma are reviewed and some conclusions reached for their use on urban roads instead of Nilsson's model. Further research is needed on the relationships between serious road trauma and urban speeds. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analyzing road design risk factors for run-off-road crashes in The Netherlands with crash prediction models.

PubMed

van Petegem, J W H Jan Hendrik; Wegman, Fred

2014-06-01

About 50% of all road traffic fatalities and 30% of all traffic injuries in the Netherlands take place on rural roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h. About 50% of these crashes are run-off-road (ROR) crashes. To reduce the number of crashes on this road type, attention should be put on improving the safety of the infrastructure of this road type. With the development of a crash prediction model for ROR crashes on rural roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h, this study aims at making a start in providing the necessary new tools for a proactive road safety policy to road administrators in the Netherlands. The paper presents a basic framework of the model development, comprising a problem description, the data used, and the method for developing the model. The model is developed with the utilization of generalized linear modeling in SAS, using the Negative Binomial probability distribution. A stepwise approach is used by adding one variable at a time, which forms the basis for striving for a parsimonious model and the evaluation of the model. The likelihood ratio test and the Akaike information criterion are used to assess the model fit, and parameter estimations are compared with literature findings to check for consistency. The results comprise two important outcomes. One is a crash prediction model (CPM) to estimate the relative safety of rural roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h in a network. The other is a small set of estimated effects of traffic volume and road characteristics on ROR crash frequencies. The results may lead to adjustments of the road design guidelines in the Netherlands and to further research on the quantification of risk factors with crash prediction models. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thermal mapping as a valuable tool for road weather forecast and winter road maintenance: an example from the Italian Alps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Todeschini, Ilaria; Di Napoli, Claudia; Pretto, Ilaria; Merler, Giacomo; Cavaliere, Roberto; Apolloni, Roberto; Antonacci, Gianluca; Piazza, Andrea; Benedetti, Guido

2016-08-01

During the winter period ice is likely to form on roads, making pavement surfaces slippery and increasing accident risk. Road surface temperature (RST) is one of the most important parameters in ice formation. The LIFE+ "CLEANROADS" project aims to forecast RSTs in advance in order to support road maintenance services in the timely and effective preparation of preventive anti-icing measures. This support is provided through a novel MDSS (Maintenance Decision Support System). The final goal of the project is to quantitatively demonstrate that the implemented MDSS is capable to minimize the consumption of chemical anti-icing reagents (e.g. sodium chloride) and the associated environmental (water and air) impact while maintaining the current high levels of road safety. In the CLEAN-ROADS system RSTs have been forecast by applying the numerical model METRo (Model of the Environment and Temperature of Roads) to a network of RWIS (Road Weather Information System) stations installed on a test route in the Adige Valley (Italy). This forecast is however local and does not take into account typical peculiarities along road network, such as the presence of road sections that are particularly prone to ice formation. Thermal mapping, i.e. the acquisition of mobile RST measurements through infrared thermometry, permits to (i) identify and map those sections, and (ii) extend the forecast from a RWIS station to adjacent areas. The processing of thermal mapping signals is however challenging because of random variations in the road surface emissivity. To overcome this we have acquired several thermal mapping traces along the test route during winter seasons 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. We have then defined a "characteristic" thermal fingerprint as a function of all its historical thermal mapping signals, and used it to spatialize local METRo forecasts. Preliminary results suggest the high potential of such a technique for winter road applications.

Road traffic fatalities in selected governorates of Iraq from 2010 to 2013: prospective surveillance.

PubMed

Leidman, Eva; Maliniak, Maret; Sultan, Abdul-Salam Saleh; Hassan, Ahmed; Hussain, Syed Jaffar; Bilukha, Oleg O

2016-01-01

The insurgency tactics that characterize modern warfare, such as suicide car bombs and roadside bombs, have the potential to significantly impact road traffic injuries in conflict affected-countries. As road traffic incidents are one of the top ten causes of death in Iraq, changes in incidence have important implications for the health system. We aimed to describe patterns of road traffic fatalities for all demographic groups and types of road users in Iraq during a period characterized by a resurgence in insurgency activity. Iraqi Ministry of Health routine prospective injury surveillance collects information on all fatal injuries in eight governorates of Iraq: Baghdad, Al-Anbar, Basrah, Erbil, Kerbala, Maysan, Ninevah, and Al-Sulaimaniya. From all injury fatalities documented at the coroner office, we analyzed only those attributed to road traffic that occurred between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2013. Coroners ascertain information from physical examinations, police reports and family members. Analysis included 7,976 road traffic fatalities. Overall, 6,238 (78.2 %) fatalities were male and 2,272 (28.5 %) were children under 18 years of age. The highest numbers of road traffic fatalities were among males 15 to 34 years of age and children of both sexes under 5 years of age. 49.2 % of fatalities occurred among pedestrians. Among children and females, the majority of road traffic fatalities were pedestrians, 69.0 % and 56.6 %, respectively. Fatalities among motorcyclists (3.7 %) and bicyclists (0.4 %) were least common. Rates of road traffic fatalities ranged from 8.6 to 10.7 per 100,000 population. The injury surveillance system provides the first data from a conflict-affected country on road traffic fatalities disaggregated by type of road user. The highest numbers of fatalities were among children and young men. Nearly half of fatalities were pedestrians, a proportion nearly double that of any neighboring country. As insurgency activity increased in 2013, the number of road traffic fatalities declined.

Preliminary study on alterations of altitude road traffic in China from 2006 to 2013

PubMed Central

Zhao, Hui; Yin, Zhiyong; Xiang, Hongyi; Liao, Zhikang; Wang, Zhengguo

2017-01-01

Introduction Road traffic can play an important role in strengthening regional economic activities, especially at high altitude, and it is necessary to know important traffic-related information. Although previous studies reported on road traffic in China, there has been little research on high-altitude road traffic to date. Method The annual official census of road traffic safety from 2006 to 2013 was used to obtain data on the general population, registered drivers, registered vehicles, newly built roads, road traffic accidents (RTAs), mortality rate per 100 000 populations and per 10 000 vehicles in high-altitude provinces, including Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Chongqing. These provincial data were reviewed retrospectively, with the national data as the reference. Statistical analysis (i.e., t test) was used to compare the estimated average annual change rate of population, number of registered drivers, registered vehicles, and newly built roads in high-altitude provinces with the national rates. Results Compared with the national data, there are significantly higher annual rates of population growth in Tibet and Xinjiang, registered drivers in Gansu, registered vehicles in Gansu, Sichuan, and Chongqing, and newly built roads in Tibet and Qinghai. Among the investigated provinces, Tibet, Qinghai, and Yunnan had a higher proportion of the roads with the high class. RTAs and RTA-induced casualties in the high-altitude provinces indicated a decreasing trend. The mortality rate per 10 000 vehicles and per 100 000 populations showed a decreasing trend, while the RTA-related mortality rate in Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Gansu remained high. Conclusions Major changes for road traffic in high-altitude provinces have occurred over the past decade; however, the RTA-related mortality rate in high-altitude provinces has remained high. This study furthers understanding about road traffic safety in China; further studies on road traffic safety at high altitude should be performed. PMID:28187203

The journey from traffic offender to severe road trauma victim: destiny or preventive opportunity?

PubMed

Ho, Kwok M; Rao, Sudhakar; Burrell, Maxine; Weeramanthri, Tarun S

2015-01-01

Road trauma is a leading cause of death and injury in young people. Traffic offences are common, but their importance as a risk indicator for subsequent road trauma is unknown. This cohort study assessed whether severe road trauma could be predicted by a history of prior traffic offences. Clinical data of all adult road trauma patients admitted to the Western Australia (WA) State Trauma Centre between 1998 and 2013 were linked to traffic offences records at the WA Department of Transport. The primary outcomes were alcohol exposure prior to road trauma, severe trauma (defined by Injury Severity Score >15), and intensive care admission (ICU) or death, analyzed by logistic regression. Traffic offences directly leading to the road trauma admissions were excluded. Of the 10,330 patients included (median age 34 years-old, 78% male), 1955 (18.9%) had alcohol-exposure before road trauma, 2415 (23.4%) had severe trauma, 1360 (13.2%) required ICU admission, and 267 (2.6%) died. Prior traffic offences were recorded in 6269 (60.7%) patients. The number of prior traffic offences was significantly associated with alcohol-related road trauma (odds ratio [OR] per offence 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-1.05), severe trauma (OR 1.13, 95%CI 1.14-1.15), and ICU admission or death (OR 1.10, 95%CI 1.08-1.11). Drink-drinking, seat-belt, and use of handheld electronic device offences were specific offences strongly associated with road trauma leading to ICU admission or death--all in a 'dose-related' fashion. For those who recovered from road trauma after an ICU admission, there was a significant reduction in subsequent traffic offences (mean difference 1.8, 95%CI 1.5 to 2.0) and demerit points (mean difference 7.0, 95%CI 6.5 to 7.6) compared to before the trauma event. Previous traffic offences were a significant risk factor for alcohol-related road trauma and severe road trauma leading to ICU admission or death.

Controlling road rage : a literature review and pilot study

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-06-01

This report discusses results of a literature review and pilot study on how to prevent aggressive driving and road rage. The study "Controlling Road Rage: A Literature Review and Pilot Study" defines road rage as "an incident in which an angry or imp...

Travel Information, Transportation & Public Facilities, State of Alaska

Science.gov Websites

outside site Report Potholes Road Conditions (511) Road Maintenance Central Region Maintenance & ; Operations Northern Region Maintenance & Operations Southcoast Region Maintenance & Operations Road Weather Information System Street Sweeping - Anchorage & Eagle River Winter Road Maintenance Priority

23 CFR 460.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... toll roads are not considered restrictive gates. (d) Maintenance means the preservation of the entire... HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH PUBLIC ROAD MILEAGE FOR APPORTIONMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY FUNDS § 460.2 Definitions. As used in this part: (a) Public road means any road...

6. VIEW OF WEST GATE ROAD CULVERT OF LOWER DIAGONAL ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

6. VIEW OF WEST GATE ROAD CULVERT OF LOWER DIAGONAL NO. 1 DRAIN, LOOKING 2502 EAST OF NORTH. - Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, Lower Diagonal No. 1 Drain, Bounded by West Gate Road & Weapons Delivery Road, Naval Air Station Fallon, Fallon, Churchill County, NV

7. VIEW OF WEAPONS DELIVERY ROAD CULVERT OF LOWER DIAGONAL ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

7. VIEW OF WEAPONS DELIVERY ROAD CULVERT OF LOWER DIAGONAL NO. 1 DRAIN, LOOKING 522 EAST OF NORTH. - Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, Lower Diagonal No. 1 Drain, Bounded by West Gate Road & Weapons Delivery Road, Naval Air Station Fallon, Fallon, Churchill County, NV

5. VIEW OF WEST GATE ROAD CULVERT OF LOWER DIAGONAL ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

5. VIEW OF WEST GATE ROAD CULVERT OF LOWER DIAGONAL NO. 1 DRAIN, LOOKING 323' EAST OF NORTH. - Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, Lower Diagonal No. 1 Drain, Bounded by West Gate Road & Weapons Delivery Road, Naval Air Station Fallon, Fallon, Churchill County, NV

76 FR 64102 - Big Cypress National Preserve Off-Road Vehicle Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-17

... Cypress National Preserve Off-Road Vehicle Advisory Committee AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior... Cypress National Preserve Off-Road Vehicle Advisory Committee to offer recommendations, alternatives and possible solutions to management of off-road vehicles at Big Cypress National Preserve. FOR FURTHER...

75 FR 20034 - Over-the-Road Bus Accessibility Program Grants: Corrections

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-16

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Transit Administration Over-the-Road Bus Accessibility... ``Over-the-Road Bus Accessibility Program Grants,'' extends the application deadline, and allows... comply with the terms and conditions of the Special Warranty for the Over-the-Road Bus Accessibility...

Evaluation of Innovative Approaches to Curve Delineation for Two-Lane Rural Roads

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-06-01

Run-off-road crashes are a major problem for rural roads. These roads tend to be unlit, and drivers may have difficulty seeing or correctly predicting the curvature of horizontal curves. This leads to vehicles entering horizontal curves at speeds tha...

2002 road traffic crashes in Queensland : a report on the road toll

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-12-01

This report presents an overview of reported road traffic crashes in Queensland for the year : ended 31 December 2002 in the context of the previous five years, based on data contained in : the Queensland Road Crash Information System maintained by Q...

6. VIEW OF COULTERVILLE ROAD AT BIG MEADOW IN FORESTA. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

6. VIEW OF COULTERVILLE ROAD AT BIG MEADOW IN FORESTA. INTERSECTION WITH DAVIS CUT-OFF ROAD AT LEFT. LOOKING W. GIS: N-37 42 09.3 / W-119 44 59.8 - Coulterville Road, Between Foresta & All-Weather Highway, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA

23 CFR 460.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH PUBLIC ROAD MILEAGE FOR APPORTIONMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY FUNDS § 460.2 Definitions. As used in this part: (a) Public road means any road...-free highway facilities. (c) Open to public travel means that the road section is available, except...

23 CFR 460.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH PUBLIC ROAD MILEAGE FOR APPORTIONMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY FUNDS § 460.2 Definitions. As used in this part: (a) Public road means any road...-free highway facilities. (c) Open to public travel means that the road section is available, except...

23 CFR 460.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH PUBLIC ROAD MILEAGE FOR APPORTIONMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY FUNDS § 460.2 Definitions. As used in this part: (a) Public road means any road...-free highway facilities. (c) Open to public travel means that the road section is available, except...

23 CFR 460.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH PUBLIC ROAD MILEAGE FOR APPORTIONMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY FUNDS § 460.2 Definitions. As used in this part: (a) Public road means any road...-free highway facilities. (c) Open to public travel means that the road section is available, except...

48 CFR 436.579 - Opted timber sale road requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Sale Road Requirements, in road construction contracts resulting from a timber sale turnback. ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Opted timber sale road... CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Contract Clauses 436.579 Opted timber...

Global status report on road safety : time for action

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-01-01

The Global status report on road safety reaffirms our understanding of road traffic injuries as a global health and development problem. More than 1.2 million people die on the world's road every year, and as many as 50 million others are injured. Ov...

Grip Analysis of Road Surface and Tire Footprint Using FEM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabri, M.; Abda, S.

2018-02-01

Road grip involve a touch between road pavement and the tire tread pattern. The load bearing surface, which depends on pavement roughness and local pressures in the contact patch. This research conducted to develop a Finite element model for simulating the experimentally testing of asphalt in Jl. AH Nasution Medan, North Sumatera Indonesia base on the value of grip coefficient from various tire loads and the various speed of the vehicle during contact to the road. A tire model and road pavement are developed for the analyses the geometry of tire footprint. The results showed that the greater the mass of car will increase grip coefficient. The coefficient of grip on the road surface contact trough the tire footprint strongly influence the kinetic coefficient of friction at certain speeds. Experimentally show that Concrete road grip coefficient of more than 34% compared to the asphalt road at the same IRI parameters (6-8). Kinetic friction coefficient more than 0.33 was obtained in a asphalt path at a speed of 30-40 Km/hour.

The priming function of in-car audio instruction.

PubMed

Keyes, Helen; Whitmore, Antony; Naneva, Stanislava; McDermott, Daragh

2018-05-01

Studies to date have focused on the priming power of visual road signs, but not the priming potential of audio road scene instruction. Here, the relative priming power of visual, audio, and multisensory road scene instructions was assessed. In a lab-based study, participants responded to target road scene turns following visual, audio, or multisensory road turn primes which were congruent or incongruent to the primes in direction, or control primes. All types of instruction (visual, audio, and multisensory) were successful in priming responses to a road scene. Responses to multisensory-primed targets (both audio and visual) were faster than responses to either audio or visual primes alone. Incongruent audio primes did not affect performance negatively in the manner of incongruent visual or multisensory primes. Results suggest that audio instructions have the potential to prime drivers to respond quickly and safely to their road environment. Peak performance will be observed if audio and visual road instruction primes can be timed to co-occur.

Measuring Road Network Vulnerability with Sensitivity Analysis

PubMed Central

Jun-qiang, Leng; Long-hai, Yang; Liu, Wei-yi; Zhao, Lin

2017-01-01

This paper focuses on the development of a method for road network vulnerability analysis, from the perspective of capacity degradation, which seeks to identify the critical infrastructures in the road network and the operational performance of the whole traffic system. This research involves defining the traffic utility index and modeling vulnerability of road segment, route, OD (Origin Destination) pair and road network. Meanwhile, sensitivity analysis method is utilized to calculate the change of traffic utility index due to capacity degradation. This method, compared to traditional traffic assignment, can improve calculation efficiency and make the application of vulnerability analysis to large actual road network possible. Finally, all the above models and calculation method is applied to actual road network evaluation to verify its efficiency and utility. This approach can be used as a decision-supporting tool for evaluating the performance of road network and identifying critical infrastructures in transportation planning and management, especially in the resource allocation for mitigation and recovery. PMID:28125706

Road Lane Detection Robust to Shadows Based on a Fuzzy System Using a Visible Light Camera Sensor.

PubMed

Hoang, Toan Minh; Baek, Na Rae; Cho, Se Woon; Kim, Ki Wan; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-10-28

Recently, autonomous vehicles, particularly self-driving cars, have received significant attention owing to rapid advancements in sensor and computation technologies. In addition to traffic sign recognition, road lane detection is one of the most important factors used in lane departure warning systems and autonomous vehicles for maintaining the safety of semi-autonomous and fully autonomous systems. Unlike traffic signs, road lanes are easily damaged by both internal and external factors such as road quality, occlusion (traffic on the road), weather conditions, and illumination (shadows from objects such as cars, trees, and buildings). Obtaining clear road lane markings for recognition processing is a difficult challenge. Therefore, we propose a method to overcome various illumination problems, particularly severe shadows, by using fuzzy system and line segment detector algorithms to obtain better results for detecting road lanes by a visible light camera sensor. Experimental results from three open databases, Caltech dataset, Santiago Lanes dataset (SLD), and Road Marking dataset, showed that our method outperformed conventional lane detection methods.

Segmentation and classification of road markings using MLS data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soilán, Mario; Riveiro, Belén; Martínez-Sánchez, Joaquín; Arias, Pedro

2017-01-01

Traffic signs are one of the most important safety elements in a road network. Particularly, road markings provide information about the limits and direction of each road lane, or warn the drivers about potential danger. The optimal condition of road markings contributes to a better road safety. Mobile Laser Scanning technology can be used for infrastructure inspection and specifically for traffic sign detection and inventory. This paper presents a methodology for the detection and semantic characterization of the most common road markings, namely pedestrian crossings and arrows. The 3D point cloud data acquired by a LYNX Mobile Mapper system is filtered in order to isolate reflective points in the road, and each single element is hierarchically classified using Neural Networks. State of the art results are obtained for the extraction and classification of the markings, with F-scores of 94% and 96% respectively. Finally, data from classified markings are exported to a GIS layer and maintenance criteria based on the aforementioned data are proposed.

Neighbourhood walkability, road density and socio-economic status in Sydney, Australia.

PubMed

Cowie, Christine T; Ding, Ding; Rolfe, Margaret I; Mayne, Darren J; Jalaludin, Bin; Bauman, Adrian; Morgan, Geoffrey G

2016-04-27

Planning and transport agencies play a vital role in influencing the design of townscapes, travel modes and travel behaviors, which in turn impact on the walkability of neighbourhoods and residents' physical activity opportunities. Optimising neighbourhood walkability is desirable in built environments, however, the population health benefits of walkability may be offset by increased exposure to traffic related air pollution. This paper describes the spatial distribution of neighbourhood walkability and weighted road density, a marker for traffic related air pollution, in Sydney, Australia. As exposure to air pollution is related to socio-economic status in some cities, this paper also examines the spatial distribution of weighted road density and walkability by socio-economic status (SES). We calculated walkability, weighted road density (as a measure of traffic related air pollution) and SES, using predefined and validated measures, for 5858 Sydney neighbourhoods, representing 3.6 million population. We overlaid tertiles of walkability and weighted road density to define "sweet-spots" (high walkability-low weighted road density), and "sour- spots" (low walkability-high weighted road density) neighbourhoods. We also examined the distribution of walkability and weighted road density by SES quintiles. Walkability and weighted road density showed a clear east-west gradient across the region. Our study found that only 4 % of Sydney's population lived in sweet-spot" neighbourhoods with high walkability and low weighted road density (desirable), and these tended to be located closer to the city centre. A greater proportion of neighbourhoods had health limiting attributes of high weighted road density or low walkability (about 20 % each), and over 5 % of the population lived in "sour-spot" neighbourhoods with low walkability and high weighted road density (least desirable). These neighbourhoods were more distant from the city centre and scattered more widely. There were no linear trends between walkability/weighted road density and neighbourhood SES. Our walkability and weighted road density maps and associated analyses by SES can help identify neighbourhoods with inequalities in health-promoting or health-limiting environments. Planning agencies should seek out opportunities for increased neighbourhood walkability through improved urban development and transport planning, which simultaneously minimizes exposure to traffic related air pollution.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hansen, Leslie A.; Biggs, James; Bennett, Kathryn D.

In 2009, approximately 260,000 animal-vehicle collisions were reported in the United States, resulting in 12,000 human injuries and 173 human fatalities. Research has focused on identifying factors associated with high densities of animal-vehicle collisions, including variables such as traffic speed and volume, road design, topographic features, vegetative cover, and local deer or elk (Cervus elaphus) abundance. The purposes of this study were to document how often and where mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) crossed roads in a western United States wildland-urban interface area, and to relate deer road-crossing behavior to deer-vehicle collision locations. Seven adult mule deer (four males [M] andmore » three females [F]) were captured and collared with GPS-enabled collars during December 2001 and January 2002. Five of the seven deployed collars were recovered. None of the roads in the study area appeared to act as a substantial barrier to deer passage. Deer home ranges straddled highways and primary, secondary, and tertiary arterial roads. Deer crossed all types of roads. The average number of times deer crossed road during 24 hours of monitoring ranged from 2.1 to 7.0. Deer in the Los Alamos townsite avoided crossing roads during day and before sunset. Deer-vehicle accidents occurred at 350 percent of the level expected after sunset. All other time periods had fewer accidents than expected. The distribution of accidents across time periods was not similar to the distribution of road crossings across time periods for any deer. Within Los Alamos County there was a clear trend for deer-vehicle collisions to occur on roads with speed limits > 35 mph. Deer in the townsite frequently crossed roads with lower speed limits; therefore, the reason for the paucity of accidents along these roads was evidently the ability of drivers to detect deer (or the ability of deer to detect vehicles) and respond before an accident occurred. There was a significant but not strong correlation between the density of accidents and the density of road crossings. This was probably related to the high number of deer crossings of tertiary arterial roads, where accidents were not likely to occur.« less

Road structural elements temperature trends diagnostics using sensory system of own design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dudak, Juraj; Gaspar, Gabriel; Sedivy, Stefan; Pepucha, Lubomir; Florkova, Zuzana

2017-09-01

A considerable funds is spent for the roads maintenance in large areas during the winter. The road maintenance is significantly affected by the temperature change of the road structure. In remote locations may occur a situation, when it is not clear whether the sanding is actually needed because the lack of information on road conditions. In these cases, the actual road conditions are investigated by a personal inspection or by sending out a gritting vehicle. Here, however, is a risk of unnecessary trip the sanding vehicle. This situation is economically and environmentally unfavorable. The proposed system solves the problem of measuring the temperature profile of the road and the utilization of the predictive model to determine the future development trend of temperature. The system was technically designed as a set of sensors to monitor environmental values such as the temperature of the road, ambient temperature, relative air humidity, solar radiation and atmospheric pressure at the measuring point. An important part of the proposal is prediction model which based on the inputs from sensors and historical measurements can, with some probability, predict temperature trends at the measuring point. The proposed system addresses the economic and environmental aspects of winter road maintenance.

Modeling the heterogeneous traffic correlations in urban road systems using traffic-enhanced community detection approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Feng; Liu, Kang; Duan, Yingying; Cheng, Shifen; Du, Fei

2018-07-01

A better characterization of the traffic influence among urban roads is crucial for traffic control and traffic forecasting. The existence of spatial heterogeneity imposes great influence on modeling the extent and degree of road traffic correlation, which is usually neglected by the traditional distance based method. In this paper, we propose a traffic-enhanced community detection approach to spatially reveal the traffic correlation in city road networks. First, the road network is modeled as a traffic-enhanced dual graph with the closeness between two road segments determined not only by their topological connection, but also by the traffic correlation between them. Then a flow-based community detection algorithm called Infomap is utilized to identify the road segment clusters. Evaluated by Moran's I, Calinski-Harabaz Index and the traffic interpolation application, we find that compared to the distance based method and the community based method, our proposed traffic-enhanced community based method behaves better in capturing the extent of traffic relevance as both the topological structure of the road network and the traffic correlations among urban roads are considered. It can be used in more traffic-related applications, such as traffic forecasting, traffic control and guidance.

Road detection and buried object detection in elevated EO/IR imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kennedy, Levi; Kolba, Mark P.; Walters, Joshua R.

2012-06-01

To assist the warfighter in visually identifying potentially dangerous roadside objects, the U.S. Army RDECOM CERDEC Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) has developed an elevated video sensor system testbed for data collection. This system provides color and mid-wave infrared (MWIR) imagery. Signal Innovations Group (SIG) has developed an automated processing capability that detects the road within the sensor field of view and identifies potentially threatening buried objects within the detected road. The road detection algorithm leverages system metadata to project the collected imagery onto a flat ground plane, allowing for more accurate detection of the road as well as the direct specification of realistic physical constraints in the shape of the detected road. Once the road has been detected in an image frame, a buried object detection algorithm is applied to search for threatening objects within the detected road space. The buried object detection algorithm leverages textural and pixel intensity-based features to detect potential anomalies and then classifies them as threatening or non-threatening objects. Both the road detection and the buried object detection algorithms have been developed to facilitate their implementation in real-time in the NVESD system.

Landslide Susceptibility Analysis along Li-Shing Mountain Road in Nantou County, Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeh, J. H.; Chan, H. C.; Chen, B. A.

2016-12-01

Slopeland hazards are frequently occurred during typhoon periods in the mountain areas of Taiwan. The Li-Shing Mountain Road was suffered from the landslide and erosion of road foundation due to its fragile geological structure, overuse of land, and heavy rainfall. Transportation of agricultural produce in Li-Shing areas was seriously affected while the Li-Shing Mountain Road was blocked by the landslides. To evaluate the landslide susceptibilities along the Li-Shing Mountain Road, this study collected the landslide inventories from Typhoon Mindulle in July, 2004 and Typhoon Kalmaegi in July, 2008. By combining the landslide inventories with hydrological and geological factors, such as rainfall, distance to river, geology, and land slope and aspect, the Instability Index Method was used to specify the landslide susceptibilities of the slopes along the Li-Shing Mountain Road. The accuracy of the present model was evaluated by comparison of the predicted and the typhoon triggered landslides. Finally, the high landslide potential slopes along the Li-Shing Mountain Road were identified. It is expected to provide the information for landslide warning system and engineering countermeasures planning along the Li-Shing Mountain Road. Keywords: Landslide, Instability Index Method, Li-Shing Mountain Road

Hierarchical graph-based segmentation for extracting road networks from high-resolution satellite images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alshehhi, Rasha; Marpu, Prashanth Reddy

2017-04-01

Extraction of road networks in urban areas from remotely sensed imagery plays an important role in many urban applications (e.g. road navigation, geometric correction of urban remote sensing images, updating geographic information systems, etc.). It is normally difficult to accurately differentiate road from its background due to the complex geometry of the buildings and the acquisition geometry of the sensor. In this paper, we present a new method for extracting roads from high-resolution imagery based on hierarchical graph-based image segmentation. The proposed method consists of: 1. Extracting features (e.g., using Gabor and morphological filtering) to enhance the contrast between road and non-road pixels, 2. Graph-based segmentation consisting of (i) Constructing a graph representation of the image based on initial segmentation and (ii) Hierarchical merging and splitting of image segments based on color and shape features, and 3. Post-processing to remove irregularities in the extracted road segments. Experiments are conducted on three challenging datasets of high-resolution images to demonstrate the proposed method and compare with other similar approaches. The results demonstrate the validity and superior performance of the proposed method for road extraction in urban areas.

Literature review of levels and determinants of exposure to potential carcinogens and other agents in the road construction industry.

PubMed

Burstyn, I; Kromhout, H; Boffetta, P

2000-01-01

Workers in the road construction industry include asphalt plant, ground construction, and road paving workers. These individuals can be exposed to a wide range of potentially hazardous substances. A summary of levels of exposure to different substances measured during road construction is presented. In modern road paving, workers typically are exposed to 0.1 to 2 mg/m3 of bitumen fume, which includes 10 to 200 ng/m3 of benzo(a)pyrene. Sampling strategies and analytical methods employed in each reviewed survey are described briefly. The published reports provide some insight into the identity of factors that influence exposure to bitumen among road construction workers: type of work performed, meteorological conditions, temperature of paved asphalt. However, there is a lack of (a) comprehensive and well-designed studies that evaluate determinants of exposure to bitumen in road construction, and (b) standard methods for bitumen sampling and analysis. Information on determinants of other exposures in road construction is either absent or limited. It is concluded that data available through published reports have limited value in assessing historical exposure levels in the road construction industry.

Geochemical anomalies from bottom ash in a road construction--comparison of the leaching potential between an ash road and the surroundings.

PubMed

Lind, Bo B; Norrman, Jenny; Larsson, Lennart B; Ohlsson, Sten-Ake; Bristav, Henrik

2008-01-01

A study was performed between June 2001 and December 2004 with the primary objective of assessing long-term leaching from municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash in a test road construction in relation to a reference road made up of conventional materials and the natural geochemical conditions in the surroundings. The metal leaching from the test road and the reference road was compared with the natural weathering in the regional surroundings for three time scales: 16, 80 and 1000 years. The results show that Cu and Zn cause a geochemical anomaly from the test road compared with the surroundings. The leaching of Cu from the test road is initially high but will decline with time and will in the long term be exceeded by natural weathering. Zn on the other hand has low initial leaching, which will increase with time and will in the long term exceed that of the test road and the surroundings by a factor of 100-300. For the other metals studied, Al, Na, K and Mg, there is only very limited leaching over time and the potential accumulation will not exceed the background values in a 1000 years.

Characterizing heavy metal build-up on urban road surfaces: implication for stormwater reuse.

PubMed

Liu, An; Liu, Liang; Li, Dunzhu; Guan, Yuntao

2015-05-15

Stormwater reuse is increasingly popular in the worldwide. In terms of urban road stormwater, it commonly contains toxic pollutants such as heavy metals, which could undermine the reuse safety. The research study investigated heavy metal build-up characteristics on urban roads in a typical megacity of South China. The research outcomes show the high variability in heavy metal build-up loads among different urban road sites. The degree of traffic congestion and road surface roughness was found to exert a more significant influence on heavy metal build-up rather than traffic volume. Due to relatively higher heavy metal loads, stormwater from roads with more congested traffic conditions or rougher surfaces might be suitable for low-water-quality required activities while the stormwater from by-pass road sections could be appropriate for relatively high-water-quality required purposes since the stormwater could be relatively less polluted. Based on the research outcomes, a decision-making process for heavy metals based urban road stormwater reuse was proposed. The new finding highlights the importance to undertaking a "fit-for-purpose" road stormwater reuse strategy. Additionally, the research results can also contribute to enhancing stormwater reuse safety. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.