Estimating operating speed for county road segments – Evidence from Italy

Martinelli, Valentina; Ventura, Roberto; Bonera, Michela; Barabino, Benedetto; Maternini, Giulio

doi:10.1016/j.ijtst.2022.05.007

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Conversely, speed parameter showed a monomodal shape with a single peak around 66 km/h. This is an expected result, as it is well known that vehicular speed tends to be normally distributed (e.g., Martinelli et al, 2022a;Martinelli et al, 2022b). Similarly, width parameter presented a monomodal form and was densely distributed around 2.4 m value, indicating a likely low variability of this vehicular characteristic among the different subsets.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

Bridge’s vehicular loads characterization through Weight-In-Motion (WIM) systems. The case study of Brescia

Ventura¹

2023

European Transport/Trasporti Europei

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The growing traffic flow and the increase in transported masses negatively affect infrastructural safety. Several authors have characterized traffic loads on bridges in the American and Chinese context using Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) systems. Conversely, very few studies have been carried out in Europe and, as far as the authors know, none in Italy. This study covers this gap by providing a statistical analysis of raw WIM data collected on a main bridge near the city of Brescia (Italy). First, the traffic flow and the characteristics of vehicles were gathered by a WIM device. Second, some descriptive statistics were performed by computing the probabilistic distributions of numerous vehicular attributes. Third, as a novelty element, a K-means based Clustering technique was adopted on a wide set of vehicular features to detect heavy vehicle clusters. The results showed the existence of three main clusters: two predominately composed by lightly overloaded ordinary vehicles and construction machinery, respectively, and one by mass exceptional vehicles. This study considers a broader set of vehicular parameters than previous ones and then, provides a deeper understanding. Moreover, it shows that axle mass limits violations are noteworthy among mass exceptional vehicles in Italy highlighting the need of improving weight enforcement. These knowledges will be crucial for a rational organisation of the existing assets.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

Bridge’s vehicular loads characterization through Weight-In-Motion (WIM) systems. The case study of Brescia

Ventura¹

2023

European Transport/Trasporti Europei

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“…Thus, free- moving vehicles in sub-sample 3 in Figure 6 can be filtered from the overall data using the headway threshold and further analyzed to determine speed percentiles in free-flow traffic conditions. For example, as introduced in the Introduction section, this can be useful in the analysis of operational speed (i.e., the 85th percentile of operating speed distributions or V 85 ), that is a critical factor for road safety, since it significantly influences the frequency and severity of accidents [ 72 , 73 ], and it is widely acknowledged as a benchmark value for evaluating consistency in homogeneous road sections [ 74 , 75 , 76 ]. Figure 7 illustrates the experimental and best-fitting distributions (Gumbel Max for CU 218 and Chi-Squared for CU 1333) and the corresponding V 85 values in the two monitored sections from the speed data in sub-sample 3.…”

Section: Results: Free-moving and Constrained Vehicles Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Traffic Stream Analysis by Radar Sensors on Two-Lane Roads for Free-Moving and Constrained Vehicles Identification

Cantisani

Serrone

Mauro

et al. 2023

Sensors

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This paper focuses on the analysis of traffic streams on two-lane highways, which are crucial components of transportation networks. Traffic flow measurement technologies, such as detection stations, radar guns, or video cameras, have been used over the years to detect the level of traffic and the operating conditions. This type of sensor can record a large amount of data which is useful to evaluate and monitor road traffic conditions, and it is possible to identify free-moving and constrained vehicles by processing the collected data. This study introduces an exponential headway model to identify the headway threshold above which vehicles can be considered as unconditioned. However, this value could identify vehicles which still retain some autonomy in their speed and maneuvering. Therefore, an additional criterion to distinguish between apparently and actually conditioned vehicles has been introduced, analyzing the speed differences between a vehicle and the preceding one. Three-month sequences of traffic monitored through radar devices placed on some Italian two-lane roads have been analyzed and an exponential headway model has been introduced, as an illustrative example. The results show that introducing the criterion of maneuvering freedom can significantly improve traffic flow analysis, modifying the starting critical values of 4 and 8 s per each studied section, to 2.5 and 3 s, approaching the values suggested by international manuals for traffic flow quality analysis.

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“…The framework includes four data sources and follows three stages and seven steps. It integrates the methodologies previously introduced in Bonera et al [6,22,23] regarding RNS (Steps 1 and 2), and Martinelli et al [37,38] regarding the computation of operating speed (Steps 4 and 5). These are further integrated with a novel approach to RISMS (Steps 6 and 7) and road crash georeferencing (Step 3) to map criticalities and propose potential countermeasures.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mega-Events: Assessing Road Safety through an Operating Framework. An Application for the Milano–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games

Cigognetti,

Carra,

Ghirardi

et al. 2024

Infrastructures

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To meet the United Nations and European Union goals of reducing road crash fatalities and injuries, it is also relevant to address the negative externalities due to mega-events on the road network and the local communities, to assess the safety of the road network involved, and to implement appropriate measures for different road environments. Despite their relevance, the literature often overlooks social costs and risks associated with mega-events. This study presents an operating framework for rapidly assessing the safety of the Milano–Cortina 2026—“Via Olimpica” road—which will host a significant proportion of the traffic during the Winter Olympic Games in 2026. The framework proposes a simplified Road Infrastructure Safety Management (RISM) to address the unique challenges posed by the limited time available for screening and implementation by local authorities. The framework integrates four data sources and follows a seven-step procedure. It provides recommendations for improving road safety by identifying critical road sections and blackspots. Road authorities, practitioners, and public administrations may all benefit from the framework, as it makes it easier to prioritise safety improvements within time constraints.

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Estimating operating speed for county road segments – Evidence from Italy

Cited by 16 publications

References 21 publications

Bridge’s vehicular loads characterization through Weight-In-Motion (WIM) systems. The case study of Brescia

Bridge’s vehicular loads characterization through Weight-In-Motion (WIM) systems. The case study of Brescia

Traffic Stream Analysis by Radar Sensors on Two-Lane Roads for Free-Moving and Constrained Vehicles Identification

Mega-Events: Assessing Road Safety through an Operating Framework. An Application for the Milano–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games

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