URSA MAJOR Evaluation Report
Project reference: I.208.S.258.O1
Version: 1.0
www.its-platform.eu
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Document Information
Authors
NAME ORGANISATION Luca Studer Politecnico di Milano – Mobility and Transport Laboratory Giovanna Marchionni Politecnico di Milano – Mobility and Transport Laboratory Marco Ponti Politecnico di Milano – Mobility and Transport Laboratory Valeria Paglino Politecnico di Milano – Mobility and Transport Laboratory Reiner Dölger Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Verkehr, Landwirtschaft und Weinbau Rheinland-Pfalz
Revision
NAME ORGANISATION Paola Mainardi Sina S.p.A. Stephanie Kleine Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Verkehr, Landwirtschaft und Weinbau Rheinland-Pfalz Henk Taale Rijkswaterstaat Water, Traffic and Environment
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Table of Contents
Document Information ...... 2
Table of Contents ...... 3
List of Abbreviations/Acronyms ...... 5
1 Executive Summary ...... 7 1.1 Impact on Traffic Efficiency ...... 7 1.2 Impact on Safety ...... 7 1.3 Impact on Environment ...... 7 1.4 Other results ...... 7 1.5 Overall impact ...... 7
2 Overview on Ursa Major ...... 9 2.1 Issues Addressed ...... 9 2.2 Site description ...... 9 2.3 ITS Selection and Objectives ...... 10 2.4 Status of the Projects ...... 10 2.5 Systems and Technologies Applied ...... 10 2.6 ITS Deployment Status (Deployment KPIs) ...... 10 2.7 Selected Benefit KPIs ...... 11 2.8 Evaluation ...... 11 2.8.1 Definition of the Evaluation Taskforce ...... 12 2.8.2 Selection of projects to be evaluated ...... 12 2.8.3 Results management and transferability ...... 13 2.8.4 Integration of Floating Car Data ...... 13
3 Evaluated Projects within Ursa Major ...... 14 3.1 Ursa Major Evaluated Projects List ...... 14 3.2 Description of Evaluated Projects ...... 15
4 Impacts grouped by ITS service ...... 26 4.1 Traveller information services ...... 26 4.1.1 Impact on traffic efficiency ...... 27 4.1.2 Impact on safety ...... 28 4.1.3 Impact on environment ...... 29 4.1.4 Other results ...... 30 4.1.5 Outcomes ...... 31 4.2 Dynamic rerouting ...... 32 4.2.1 Impact on traffic efficiency ...... 33 4.2.2 Impact on safety ...... 35 4.2.3 Impact on environment ...... 35 4.2.4 Other results ...... 36 4.2.5 Outcomes ...... 36
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4.3 Dynamic lane management ...... 37 4.3.1 Impact on traffic efficiency ...... 39 4.3.2 Impact on safety ...... 41 4.3.3 Impact on environment ...... 42 4.3.4 Other results ...... 43 4.3.5 Outcomes ...... 44 4.4 Traffic monitoring and management ...... 45 4.4.1 Impact on traffic efficiency ...... 47 4.4.2 Impact on safety ...... 49 4.4.3 Impact on environment ...... 50 4.4.4 Other results ...... 51 4.4.5 Outcomes ...... 51 4.5 Variable speed limits ...... 52 4.5.1 Impact on traffic efficiency ...... 53 4.5.2 Impact on safety ...... 55 4.5.3 Impact on environment ...... 56 4.5.4 Other results ...... 56 4.5.5 Outcomes ...... 57 4.6 Other ITS services ...... 58 4.6.1 Avoiding rush hour ...... 58 4.6.2 Extension of motorway exits and entrances ...... 60 4.7 Integration of floating car data analysis ...... 62 4.7.1 Evaluation of FC data for the assessment of benefits from Traffic Management – Establishing and using a cross-border statistical database ...... 62 4.7.2 Usage of FCD to improve the traffic situation in Bavaria, Germany ...... 65 4.8 Summary of impacts ...... 66
5 Conclusions ...... 72 5.1 Final evaluation of each ITS service’s impact...... 72 5.1.1 Impact on Traffic Efficiency ...... 73 5.1.2 Impact on Safety ...... 73 5.1.3 Impact on Environment ...... 74 5.1.4 Other results ...... 74 5.2 Expansion of results to the overall Ursa Major project ...... 75 5.3 Overall impact ...... 78
6 References ...... 79
Annex 1 Ursa Major projects ...... 81
Annex 2 Deployment KPIs description summary table ...... 85
Annex 3 Benefit KPIs description summary table ...... 90
Annex 4 Evaluation of Floating Car Data ...... 93
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List of Abbreviations/Acronyms
◼ ADT (Average Daily Traffic)
◼ BAU (Bande d'Arrêt d'Urgence)
◼ BKPI (Benefit Key Performance Indicator)
◼ CCTV (Closed Circuit Television)
◼ CH (Switzerland)
◼ DE (Germany)
◼ DKPI (Deployment Key Performance Indicator)
◼ DLM (Dynamic Lane Management)
◼ DR (Dynamic Rerouting)
◼ EU (European Union)
◼ EIP (EU Intelligent Transport System Platform)
◼ FCD (Floating Car Data)
◼ GPS (Global Positioning System)
◼ HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle)
◼ HSR (Hard Shoulder Running)
◼ HW (Hardware)
◼ ICT (Information and Communication Technology)
◼ IMC (Incident Management Camera)
◼ IT (Italy)
◼ ITS (Intelligent Transport System)
◼ KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
◼ LOS (Level Of Service)
◼ NL (The Netherlands)
◼ PIA (Personal Injury Accident)
◼ SW (Software)
◼ TCC (Traffic Control Centre)
◼ TCP (Telematics Controlled Parking)
◼ TEN-T (The Trans-European Transport Networks in Europe)
◼ TIS (Traveler Information Services)
◼ TMC (Traffic Message Channel)
◼ TMM (Traffic Monitoring and Management)
◼ TMP (Traffic Management Plan)
◼ TMS (Traffic Management Service)
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◼ UK (United Kingdom)
◼ UM (Ursa Major)
◼ VHL (Vehicle Hour Lost)
◼ VMS (Variable Message Signs)
◼ VMSL (Variable Mandatory Speed Limit)
◼ VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds)
◼ VOT (Value Over Time)
◼ VSL (Variable Speed Limits)
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1 Executive Summary
The evaluation of the Ursa Major (UM) project derives basically form the results obtained in the evaluated projects, enriched by data from similar literature studies. For each ITS type defined in UM, an expert impacts judgment was made on the basis of these total results. Analysis results were scaled to all evaluated and non-evaluated Ursa Major projects in order to obtain the overall general impact.
1.1 Impact on Traffic Efficiency
With regard to evaluated Ursa Major projects, the more remarkable impacts are the increase of traffic flow, intended as throughput, with dynamic lane management (DLM) (+17%/+23%), the reduction of travel time with dynamic rerouting (DR) and DLM (-770.000 hours per year and -8%/-50%), a good percentage of rerouted users with DR (10%/43%), the reduction of vehicle hours lost (VHL) thanks to traffic monitoring and management (TMM) (-48%/-86%) and a good result in congestion cost savings with DR and TMM (-26 M€ per year and -6.000 €/-55.000 € for 4 events).
1.2 Impact on Safety
The analysis on safety reported in evaluated UM projects shows few results related to this area, where the most relevant indicator is the change in ratio between the number of accidents and the change in traffic flow, which resulted in -7% for a TMM implementation. Moreover, a safety campaign on variable message signs (VMS) obtained 91% user satisfaction.
1.3 Impact on Environment
The ITS service that presents more results within evaluated UM projects is the DLM, with a reduction in fuel consumption of -28%/-55% and a change in fine particle emissions equal to -75%. In a DR application, a reduction of -3.650 tons of CO2 per year was calculated.
1.4 Other results
Other results presented in the analysed projects are different for each type of ITS; this makes it complex to compare data and to provide a final judgment on overall results. There is one result that must be mentioned, and is the improvement of the event detection time, which is reduced by -93%/- 97% in one Ursa Major implementation.
1.5 Overall impact
Table 1 shows the overall impact of the Ursa Major project in each area. This is the result of the impact’s weighted average on traffic efficiency, safety and the environment derived from both the results of evaluated UM projects and from a literature review .
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Table 1: Expert judgment on Ursa Major’s overall impact
No. of Traffic ITS service Safety Environment projects Efficiency TIS 26 + ++ + DR 8 ++ ++ + DLM 15 +++ ++ ++ TMM 31 ++ + NA* VSL 3 + + = Impact on UM ++ ++ + * Results Not Available
Final results derived from the expert judgments are: • The overall impact on traffic efficiency on the UM corridor is assessed as “positive” (++); • The impact on safety derives from more homogeneous previous results and turns out to be “positive” (++); • Finally, the impact on environment is evaluated as being equal to “quite positive” (+) for the UM project.
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2 Overview on Ursa Major
2.1 Issues Addressed
The main issue of the Ursa Major corridor is the high volume of international freight traffic. The objective with which the road operators and road authorities (Member States) have been concerned is the improvement of traffic management, safety and impact on the environment through the following activities: • Enhancement of truck parking services • Support for truck navigation services • Remove bottlenecks and congestion • Safety improvements for freight transport on the TEN-T
2.2 Site description
The Ursa Major 2 corridor connects the North Sea with the Mediterranean Sea, passing through the Netherlands, Germany and arriving in Italy through Austria and Switzerland. The network under analysis is 8.700 km long and has an average daily traffic value of 56.000 vehicles, of which 22% are Heavy Good Vehicles (HGV) (considering an ordinary working day). The traffic on this axis, particularly that of HGVs, is expected to grow in the future, considering that Ursa Major is part of the European TEN-T corridors Rhine - Alpine, Rhine – Danube, Mediterranean and Scandinavian - Mediterranean, which connects important cities such as Rotterdam, Cologne, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Milan, Trieste, Venice, Bologna and Rome.
Figure 1: Ursa Major corridor
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2.3 ITS Selection and Objectives
The objectives of the projects are the reduction of congestion, the increase of safety, the reduction of pollution and the spread of accurate information to users. To achieve these objectives, on the Ursa Major corridor various ITS systems such as VMS, TCC software, detectors and video cameras have been installed or upgraded. Thanks to these systems, it has been possible to meet the needs of users and road operators and to respond to the different research questions.
2.4 Status of the Projects
All the projects evaluated were completed, so the evaluation studies are all ex-post, except for the Line control A3 Limburg project which could not be evaluated ex-post because of the presence of extensive motorway renovations with impacts on the involved area. In this case the analysis was made with macroscopic traffic simulations and a statistical evaluation of accident data from previous years.
2.5 Systems and Technologies Applied
The Ursa Major project includes the development of the following ITS services: • Traveller information services (via VMS, internet or application) • Dynamic rerouting • Dynamic lane management • Traffic monitoring and management • Variable speed limits • Others The technical performance of fully operational systems is good. It must be taken into account that some systems are yet to be completely implemented. In the ITS installed on the Ursa Major corridor, high technical performance is guaranteed.
2.6 ITS Deployment Status (Deployment KPIs)
The Deployment KPI’s can be linked to services, integrated services and level of quality. The relevant DKPIs that characterise the evaluated UM projects are: • Incident detection and incident management (EUEIP-DKPI-R1) • Automated speed detection (EUEIP-DKPI-R2) • Traffic condition and travel time information service (EUEIP-DKPI-O2) • Intelligent services in accordance to delegated regulations under the ITS directive (EUEIP- DKPI-L2) • Speed limit information (EUEIP-DKPI-R3) • Variable speed limits (EUEIP-DKPI-R4) • Forecast and real time event information (EUEIP-DKPI-O3) • Dynamic lane management (EUEIP-DKPI-O4)
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• Hard shoulder running (EUEIP-DKPI-O5) • HGV overtaking ban (EUEIP-DKPI-R6) • Traffic Management Plan Service for Corridors and Networks (EUEIP-DKPI-O6) • Dynamic information on intelligent truck parking (EUEIP-DKPI-R7) • Ramp metering (EUEIP-DKPI-O7) • DATEX II Data Exchange Services (EUEIP-DKPI-C2) Annex 2 contains a table with the complete list of DKPIs.
2.7 Selected Benefit KPIs
The relevant Benefit KPIs investigated in the evaluated UM projects are: • Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1) • Change in road traffic journey time variability (EUEIP-BKPI-N2) • Change in bottleneck congestion (EUEIP-BKPI-N3) • Change in journey time (EUEIP-BKPI-N4) • Change in accident numbers and severity (EUEIP-BKPI-S1)
• Change in CO2 emissions (EUEIP-BKPI-E1) Annex 3 contains a table with the complete list of BKPIs.
2.8 Evaluation
Evaluation is a process that includes different phases of activities, described in detail in the Evaluation Plan. In summary, the objectives of the evaluations of projects implemented on the Ursa Major corridor are described, the Evaluation Taskforce with its components and tasks are defined, the projects to be analysed are chosen and the results that are obtained, along with their potential transferability, are specified. The steps of the Ursa Major evaluation activities can be summarised by the Figure 2.
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Definition of the Evaluation Taskforce
Selection of projects to be evaluated
Ex-post evaluation of the selected projects with an assessment of all the defined KPIs
Drafting of the final report
Figure 2: Description of the UM evaluation activities
2.8.1 Definition of the Evaluation Taskforce
The Evaluation Taskforce, created for this evaluation activity, is a group containing Experts from different countries, belonging particularly to partner countries of the Ursa Major project. The assignment of the Evaluation Taskforce is to participate and help in the selection of projects to be evaluated and to provide support to the Partners. The final evaluation report is based on the results obtained from the evaluated projects. 2.8.2 Selection of projects to be evaluated Among the numerous projects developed on the Ursa Major corridor, only some of them were chosen and evaluated by the taskforce. The followed criteria are: • Service: all categories of ITS should have at least one project that represents them • Region coverage: homogeneous distribution of projects between countries and regions • Results value: particularly those projects that have been rarely or never studied before were considered • Timing and projects: since the evaluation must be ex-post, the analysis activity should be carried out from mid-2016 to the end of 2017, as the first results had to be presented by 2018. The evaluation of Ursa Major is performed with ex-post results, since the time schedule allowed to collect enough real data for this kind of assessment. The ex-post evaluation is based on the comparison of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) before the implementation of ITS and after the system is in operation or by the measurement of KPIs with the system switched on and the system switched off.
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2.8.3 Results management and transferability
The results obtained from the evaluations of selected projects are collected and analysed with the aim to understand if they are reliable and how to make them comparable and transferable to similar ITS systems developed on the Ursa Major corridor. The transferability is allowed if the evaluated project shows impacts that can be extended to an area that presents the same traffic or territorial characteristics or the same problems highlighted by the analysis of the area. 2.8.4 Integration of Floating Car Data
In this phase of the Ursa Major project, the processing of traffic data is supported by Floating Car Data on the examined corridor, coming from the commercial data providers, used as a database for the assessment of the impacts of the ITS implementations. A contribution regarding the method and the expected results of the integration of this kind of data is provided in paragraph 4.7, with a summarised description of the evaluation of the Usage of FCD to improve the traffic situation in Bavaria, Germany project.
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3 Evaluated Projects within Ursa Major
3.1 Ursa Major Evaluated Projects List
Table 2 contains a list of all projects developed on the Ursa Major corridor and evaluated ex-post (or ex-ante in only one case). Within the table there are four fields: the Activity area within Ursa Major, intended as the purpose for which it was implemented, the name of the Project, the Country in which it is located and the ITS service, which represents the defined typology of the implemented system. This last field is defined on the basis of the description and impacts of each project analysed.
Table 2: Ursa Major Evaluated Projects
Activity Project Country ITS service Activity 2 Enhancement of Traveler information ParkR – app Netherlands truck parking services services Avoiding rush hour Netherlands Other Network Control Rhein-Main-Ost/Mittelhessen Germany Dynamic rerouting Dynamic Rerouting A5/A6/A61/A67/A656/A659 Germany Dynamic rerouting Traveler information Online Traffic Information Service Hessen Germany Activity 3 services Support for truck Traffic monitoring and Road/traffic monitoring on A4/A31-BS-PD Italy navigation services management Traffic monitoring and TCC and data exchange (DATEXII) upgrading Italy management Traffic monitoring and control in A24/A25 – Strada Traffic monitoring and Italy dei Parchi S.p.A. management National Traffic Management Plans (TMP) Switzerland Dynamic rerouting Regiodesk: Improve accessibility with traffic Traffic monitoring and Netherlands management scenarios management Dynamic lane Line control A3 Limburg Germany management Activity 4 TMS with HSR on the A9 between Holledau and Dynamic lane Remove bottleneck Germany Neufahrn management and congestion Dynamic lane Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens Switzerland management Variable speed limit and danger warning system A1 Switzerland Variable speed limit VBS Lenzburg – Birrfeld Usage of FCD to improve the traffic situation in Activity 5 Germany Floating Car Data Safety Bavaria Traffic Information and Safety Campaign on VMS in Traveler information improvements for Switzerland freight transport on Switzerland services the TEN-T road Extension of motorway exits and entrances Switzerland Other
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3.2 Description of Evaluated Projects
The description of each evaluated Ursa Major project is provided with the following tables, that summarise the contents of the evaluation reports. In these tables the topics included are: the project reference number (code of the activity and of the sub-activity), the description of the site where the project is implemented, a short description of the project, the Benefit KPI evaluated, the impacts on traffic efficiency, safety and the environment, along with other results, the costs of the project, any calculation of the benefits provided by the application of the system, the benefit-cost ratio if assessed and finally the transferability of the results to other locations.
Project ParkR Project reference 2.1 (sub-activity) Site The Netherlands, corridor Moerdijk – Eindhoven (A16-A58) and the A67 between the Belgian border and Venlo (with 17 public parking areas and 3 truck stops) Short description The ParkR app informs truck drivers about parking areas with free spaces, the distance of the different areas and information connected to them (such as the diesel prices and the facilities available) BKPI Change in accident numbers and severity (EUEIP-BKPI-S1) Impact on traffic efficiency Not investigated Impact on safety The impact could not be evaluated due to the low number of users of the app Impact on environment Not investigated Other results Users acceptance: 94% of drivers are positive about the measure Costs Approx. 1,25 M€ Transferability of the results With more users and areas involved, the application could improve its usefulness, as it requires information and feedback from drivers for the occupation of the areas
Project Avoiding rush hour Project reference 3.2 (sub-activity) Site The Netherlands, on specific parts of the A15, A20 and A4 around Rotterdam Short description This project wanted to encourage drivers to avoid crossing a certain road with work in progress during peak afternoon hours by rewarding them with payment
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BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1) Change in bottleneck congestion (EUEIP-BKPI-N3) Change in (total) vehicle emissions (EUEIP-BKPI-E1) Impact on traffic efficiency Vehicle kilometres driven: - 51.456 per day (-35/36 per trip) Vehicle hours lost (VHL): - 749 per day (-0,5/0,6 per trip) Impact on safety Not investigated
Impact on environment -367 tons of CO2
-624 kg of NOX -35 kg of PM10 Other results 5.049 participants in total, 1.493 per day in average -51% trips than before the project Costs 4,2 M€ Benefit-cost ratio During the project = 0,7 / 0,8 Long-term = 1,3 after three years, 1,6 after ten years Transferability of the results Some recommendations for success: fee decrease, knowing the conditions of the participants, gathering information during the project, follow-up
Project Network control Rhein-Main-Ost/Mittelhessen Project reference 3.5 (sub-activity) Site Germany, on motorways A3, A5, and A45 and within the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Metropolitan Area Short description The system consists of VMS installed for traffic control in case of traffic blocks (due to accidents or congestion) and for future conservation measures (further expansion of cross-border network control) BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1) Change in bottleneck congestion (EUEIP-BKPI-N3) Change in journey time (EUEIP-BKPI-N4) Impact on traffic efficiency Gained travel time: between 1,5 min and 8 min Vehicle hours lost (VHL): -2,5% in one junction Number of rerouted users: +10% than before Number of rerouted users in 6 critical events: 13.120, equal to 43% Impact on safety Indirect impacts, reduction of rear-end collisions Impact on environment Indirect impacts, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption Other results No other results Costs 5,64 M€ Transferability of the results The results are transferable to similar ITS, some basic traffic information is needed to expand the method to other countries
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Project Dynamic rerouting A5/A6/A61/A67/A656/A659 Project reference 3.6 (sub-activity) Site Germany, on motorway A5/A6/A61/A67/A656/A659 in the Rhein- Neckar Area around Mannheim Short description The system is composed of displays that show a possible alternative route in case of accidents and magnetic loops giving information about the lanes occupation BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1) Change in journey time variability (EUEIP-BKPI-N2) Change in bottleneck congestion (EUEIP-BKPI-N3) Change in accident numbers and severity (EUEIP-BKPI-S1)
Change in CO2 emissions (EUEIP-BKPI-E1) Impact on traffic efficiency Max. 10% - 15% of rerouted users is expected Impact on safety Not investigated Impact on environment Not investigated Other results No other results Benefit-cost ratio Expected benefit-cost ratio = 6,13 Transferability of the results Not investigated
Project Online traffic information service Hessen Project reference 3.8 (sub-activity) Site - Short description Hessen Mobile is a traffic information service available to the public at www.verkehrsservice.hessen.de BKPI - Impact on traffic efficiency Not investigated Impact on safety Not investigated Impact on environment Not investigated Other results N. of page views: 218.799 in 6 months (36.467 per month) Choice of device: Desktop-PCs = 63,8%, Mobile devices = 35,7%, Smartphones = 29,4%, Tablets = 6,3% Access time: the peak is 15.00 - 17.00 Inquiries from users: 50 inquiries in 7 months were received Transferability of the results Not investigated
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Project Road/traffic monitoring on A4/A31 - BS - PD Project reference 3.11 (sub-activity) Site Italy, A4-A31 motorway in the north-east area of Italy (Vicenza- Rovigo, ca. 52 Km, Vicenza-Piovene Rocchette ca. 36 Km, Brescia-Padova ca. 146 Km) Short description Road/traffic monitoring equipment connected to the TCC that provides real-time information on traffic and weather BKPI Change in accident numbers and severity (EUEIP-BKPI-S1) Impact on traffic efficiency Better management of flow Impact on safety Number of accident/traffic (veh*km) ratio: -7% from 2015 to 2016 (before and after the implementation of the system) Impact on environment Indirect benefits, the monitoring gives the possibility to reroute the traffic in case of accidents or queues in order to reduce congestion and emissions Other results No other results Costs 2,53 M€ Transferability of the results The method and the results can be used in other European countries since the BKPI concerns an important topic which is safety, the data used is easily available and standard technology is used
Project TCC and data exchange (DATEXII) upgrading Project reference 3.14 (sub-activity) Site Italy, A24-A25 motorway in central Italy. The evaluated tunnels are the St. Domenico Tunnel and the St. Rocco Tunnel Short description The monitoring and tools in the control centers reduce intervention time in case of an emergency and help solve the problem in less time BKPI Change in accident numbers and severity (EUEIP-BKPI-S1) Impact on traffic efficiency Indirect effect due to reduced critical event management time Impact on safety The reduction of emergency management time increases safety Impact on environment Indirect benefits thanks to reduction in queues and traffic jams Other results Average response time of video alarm system: reduced from 5 minutes to 10/20s (-94%/-97%) Costs 148.000 € Transferability of the results The evaluation criteria are transferable to other European projects but are relevant only for tunnels
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Project Traffic monitoring and control in A24/A25 - Strada dei Parchi S.p.A. Project reference 3.15 (sub-activity) Site Italy, A24-A25 motorway in central Italy, from Rome to the Adriatic coast and Pescara Short description The system is composed of video monitoring systems positioned along the motorway at the intersections with other roads and near tunnels. This allows for better traffic management and a reduction in intervention time BKPI Change in journey time (EUEIP-BKPI-N4) Impact on traffic efficiency Change in travel time: between -2,7% and -4,2% Change in traffic volume: between +1,5% and +4,6% for light vehicles, between +2,3% and +6,8% for HGVs Impact on safety The reduction of traffic and emergency management time increases safety Impact on environment Indirect benefits coming from traffic monitoring and the possibility to reroute users Other results No other results Costs For 3 years of activation = 745.921,62 € Transferability of the results The method and the results can be used in other European countries since the BKPI concerns an important topic which is safety, the data used is easily available and standard technology is used
Project National Traffic Management Plans (TMP) Project reference - (sub-activity) Site Switzerland, on the international E35 motorway Short description The TMP uses VMS and is implemented with these systems: Traveller Information Services, Traffic Management Services, Freight and Logistic Services, ICT Infrastructure. Other types of ITS used for TMP are dynamic speed, lane management, ramp metering, hard shoulder running. All these systems allow for an optimised management of traffic and emergencies BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1) Change in bottleneck congestion (EUEIP-BKPI-N3) Change in CO2 emissions (EUEIP-BKPI-E1) Impact on traffic efficiency N. of rerouted users in a year: 390.000 Reduction of traffic time in a year: 770.000 hours Cost savings from traffic jams in a year: 30 million CHF
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Impact on safety TMP with traffic information and rerouting allows for a reduction in traffic jams and secondary accidents and helps emergency services to better manage accidents
Impact on environment Reduction of 3.650 tons of CO2 in a year Other results No other results Transferability of the results The results are transferable to other European countries
Project Regiodesk: Improve accessibility with traffic management scenarios Project reference 4.1 (sub-activity) Site The Netherlands, in the South-Holland area around Rotterdam and The Hague Short description The system is composed of elements such as VMS, ramp metering and traffic signal control that are already operating on the road network. By using them in a better way, these ITS allow for the optimised management of traffic and emergencies thanks to the combination of regional and municipal coordination centres BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1) Change in bottleneck congestion (EUEIP-BKPI-N3) Impact on traffic efficiency Considering 4 incidents investigated: Vehicle Hours Lost (VHL): between -468 and 4.207 (reduction between 42% and 86%), in average -838 VHL During a rush hour estimated reduction of 6 - 11 VHL Cost savings: between 6.000 € and 55.000 € Impact on safety The reduction of traffic and emergency management time increases safety Impact on environment Limiting delays and congestion leads to emissions that are more similar to those of regular traffic Other results No other results Costs 1,5 M€ per year for the 2012-2015 period Benefits 43,82 M€ in 4 years Benefit-cost ratio 7,3 Transferability of the results The procedures and techniques used for optimisation are very useful and easily transferable to regions of other countries
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Project Line Control A3 Limburg Project reference 4.5 (sub-activity) Site Germany, on the motorway A3 which connects the Frankfurt/Rhein-Main and the Rhein-Ruhr metropolitan areas Short description The system is composed of: dynamic lane management, speed management, HGV overtaking regulation, HSR and incident management to increase capacity and limit congestion BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1) Change in bottleneck congestion (EUEIP-BKPI-N3) Change in journey time (EUEIP-BKPI-N4) Change in accident numbers and severity (EUEIP-BKPI-S1)
Change in CO2 emissions (EUEIP-BKPI-E1) Impact on traffic efficiency Estimated critical mileage: -5.168.000 veh-km (-74,7%) Estimated change in congestion costs: -5.050.745 € (-92,6%) Estimated change in journey time: -5 minutes per trip for HGVs Estimated exceeding occupancy rate: 80% Impact on safety Indirect benefits given by the dynamic HGV overtaking ban, leading to a reduction in rear-end collisions, early detection of accidents, targeted information and dynamic speed limits. The estimate shows an increase in the number of accidents, probably connected to the increase in traffic demand Impact on environment The improvement of traffic management and increase in safety leads to indirect benefits for the environment estimated to be
equal to a NOx reduction of 8% and a PM10 reduction of 6%, as well as benefits for the subordinated road networks Other results No other results Costs 6,52 M€ Transferability of the results The evaluation and the approach used are more easily transferable to similar systems and projects of other European countries
Project TMS with HSR on the A9 between Holledau and Neufahrn Project reference 4.6 (sub-activity) Site Germany, on the motorway A9, one of the most important motorways in Bavaria connecting cities such as Nuremberg and Ingolstadt with the metropolitan area Munich Short description The project is characterised by the implementation of a TMS with a temporary HSR to increase traffic safety and reduce congestion
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BKPI Change in bottleneck congestion (EUEIP-BKPI-N3) Change in accident numbers and severity (EUEIP-BKPI-S1)
Change in CO2 emissions (EUEIP-BKPI-E1) Impact on traffic efficiency Number of congestions: -24% in average Impact on safety The short evaluation period did not allow for an assessment of the impacts on number of accidents and severity, so impacts of another similar project were considered: around -38% for the number of accidents and an average percentage of -47% for the accident rate variation Impact on environment Indirect benefits are to be expected. The time frame for the evaluation did not allow for the prediction of impacts on the environment Other results The reduction in the number of congestions suggests that the 1,5 km gap between VMSs is better than the 3 km one Transferability of the results The effects of the project are easily transferable to similar systems, but the results of the evaluation cannot be used, as they represent a short and not significant time period
Project Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges - Ecublens Project reference - (sub-activity) Site Switzerland, on the A1 motorway in the Lausanne-Morges area between the junction of Morges-Est and Ecublens Short description Temporary conversion of the emergency lane into a third lane in case of high traffic density to improve traffic flow and safety BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1)
Impact on traffic efficiency Capacity: from 4.000 veh/h before BAU to 5.050/5.350 veh/h (+26,2%/+33,8%) Change in traffic flow: from 2008 to 2013: +810veh/h (+23%) and +620 veh/h (+17%) Travel time: between -8% and -50% (globally = -30%) Impact on safety Reduction in the number of accidents after the development of the project on the BAU zone, Increase on an adjacent section. Improvement of safety distances between vehicles Impact on environment Fuel consumption: between -28% and -55%
Reduction of CO2 and NOX: -40% Fine particles: -75% Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC): -13% Other results Satisfied users: 78% Transferability of the results The results obtained are positive and show that the HSR is a good solution in cases of saturated infrastructures in which it would be difficult to change the geometry of the road
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Project Variable speed limit and danger warning system A1 VBS Lenzburg - Birrfeld (LeBi) Project reference (sub- - activity) Site Switzerland, between the motorway junctions of Lenzburg and Birrfeld on the main motorway axis between Bern and Zürich The system covers a section of 13,5 km Short description The system is composed of TMS, variable speed limits, automatic incident detection and the use of CCTV; in addition, to automatically generate speed limits and danger warnings, the system also has automated traffic volume and speed detection BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1)
Impact on traffic efficiency Improvement of traffic flow: between +5% and +7,5% veh/h during peak hours; The travel speeds are reduced more without the VSL Impact on safety No difference between n. of accidents with system on and off Impact on environment No direct impact registered; only indirect benefits such as a reduction in air pollution Other results No other results Costs 7 million CHF Transferability of the results The results show that the Swiss (and other European countries’) guidelines about this ITS should be renewed
Project Usage of FCD to improve the traffic situation in Bavaria Project reference 5.1 (sub-activity) Site Germany, on Bavaria’s motorway network Short description To avoid using a detection system, it is possible to buy floating car data from private companies. Before using this data, they must be evaluated and verified. The data analysed is from the company INRIX BKPI -
Impact on traffic efficiency Not investigated Impact on safety Not investigated Impact on environment Not investigated
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Other results 1. Completeness of data, only 0,03% not complete 2. 69,7% of FCD transmitted as real-time values 3. Plausibility is 95,8% of all INRIX FCD 4. Similar speed distribution between real-time data and mixed data, bigger variation for historical INRIX FC data 5. Detection of LOS-1 have 90% matching, LOS-2 have 55-71% and LOS-3 have 58-62% 6. The comparative matching could refer to 97,3% of XD segments to the strategic L+D network segments validity. The match can reach 98,3% Costs 270,000 € Transferability of the results This evaluation shows that FCD are generally reliable but, in any case, their evaluation is necessary
Project Traffic information and safety campaign on variable message signs (VMS) Project reference - (sub-activity) Site Switzerland Short description The system is composed of VMS that inform users about traffic conditions and safer practices. The messages are written in 3 different languages and distributed throughout the country BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1) Impact on traffic efficiency Education provided through the safety campaign ensures the user's incorrect behaviour does not lead to negative impacts on the traffic flow Impact on safety The systems reduce secondary accidents and help emergency services. The safety campaign informs road users about dangerous behaviour like driving too close to each other or drinking alcohol Impact on environment Positive impacts on traffic flow can reduce air pollution and traffic noise Other results Use of pre-trip information: from 25% in 2002 to 57% in 2017 Satisfaction with pre-trip info: from 82% in 2004 to 95% in 2017 Use of on-trip information: from 50% in 2002 to 77% in 2017 Satisfaction with VMS: from 50% in 2002 to 90% in 2017 Safety campaign: 91% of users deem the messages to be appropriate, good or very good Transferability of the results A survey distributed in England showed the same positive results obtained in Switzerland, demonstrating that traffic information with new technology is appreciated by users
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Project Extension of motorway exits and entrances Project reference - (sub-activity) Site Switzerland, on the A1 motorway between the junctions Aarau- Ost and Birrfeld Short description All junction entrances and exits have been extended from 1 to 1,5 km. In order to evaluate changes in travel speed, traffic flow, weaving behaviour, car distances and traffic volume, a traffic detection system has been installed BKPI Change in traffic flow (EUEIP-BKPI-N1) Impact on traffic efficiency Traffic volume: +2%/+3% in right lanes, -1% in overtaking lane Time gaps: ex-ante = 3,19 s and 3,15 s in peak hours, ex-post = 5,59 s and 5,55 s Traffic speed: slightly lower (from 120 to 110 km/h in overtaking lane) Drivers’ behaviour: less abrupt breaking manoeuvres near entrances, shorter gaps available for HGVs Impact on safety No reduction in accidents during evaluation (period too short for evaluation) Impact on environment Indirect benefits deriving from a reduction in queues and traffic jams Other results No other results Costs 3,3 million CHF Transferability of the results The results show that the Swiss (and other European countries’) guidelines about exits and entrances design should be renewed
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4 Impacts grouped by ITS service
In this chapter the impacts grouped by ITS service of the evaluated projects are presented. First, a brief description of the ITS services is presented with a particular focus on the system objectives along with those of the evaluation of the impact from said services. Subsequently, the results of each evaluated ITS service are summarised, sub-divided by area of impact (traffic efficiency, safety and the environment). Finally, a literature review of other similar projects is given with special reference to the measured impacts.
4.1 Traveller information services
Public information services for road users aim to provide information and forecasts on traffic and weather conditions in order to improve trip planning. Thanks to these tools, it is possible to help users to choose the best itinerary or the best alternative route primarily in view of the duration of the trip. An integration of this basic information calculated only on the basis of the origin and destination, is the information related to the available parking spots, for trucks both on highways and motorways in urban areas. Considering this last environment, users can also know how to move with public transport thanks to these mobility info systems (information like itineraries, departure/arrival times, waiting time at bus stops are available more often). This type of ITS can be divided into two main branches: Pre-Trip information and On-Trip information. In the first case, the information enables users to plan their trip before departure. Users can receive this data in real-time by consulting specific web sites with all available devices with internet access or in a programmed and static way (as is the case of public transport timetables). The On-Trip information, on the other hand, is available both in the vehicle itself, by means of radio devices or instruments provided with GPS, and outside the vehicle, usually through Variable Message Signs (VMS). The key aspect of information services, of VMS in particular, is that messages for users are as readable and understandable as possible. The importance of this factor is linked to the objective of traffic information and to ensure that VMS does not become a source of distraction for drivers and does not lead to a reduction in road safety. The expected positive impacts from these ITS are connected to the reduction of congestion, which leads to more fluid traffic, the reduction in the number of accidents, with a consequent increase in the level of road safety, the reduction of emissions and fuel consumption. The objectives of the evaluations of projects that implement technologies related to information services can be summarised in the following points: • Lead users to a behavioural change, to avoid congested paths and dangerous behaviour; • Understand the level of user acceptance regarding these ITS; • If they exist, evaluate the actual impacts on traffic, safety and the environment. The evaluation studies belonging to the Ursa Major 2 European project, which developed various information services for road users, are: • ParkR: a widespread application for mobile devices along the Moerdijk-Eindhoven (A16-A58) corridor and the one on the A67 between the Belgian border and Venlo in The Netherlands, paths on which truck traffic is above 8.000 trucks per working day;
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• Online Traffic Information Service Hessen: website accessible at www.verkehrsservice.hessen.de, providing information on the Land Hessen, in Germany; • Traffic Information and Safety Campaign on Variable Message Signs (VMS) in Switzerland: panels that spread traffic information and correct driving behaviour throughout Switzerland’s entire main road network. The aim of these projects is to provide pre-trip (ParkR, Hessen Mobil) and on-trip (ParkR, Hessen Mobil, VMS) information in specific areas with a high number of Heavy Goods Vehicles, congestion and road safety problems. The technologies used are: • Application: main tool in the Dutch ParkR project, it is useful above all for the distribution of on-trip information; in the examined case it is used to provide information to truck drivers regarding the parking occupation rate, the price of fuel and facilities at the parking lot in the rest areas on specific motorway corridors; • Website: an example is the project on Hessen Mobil, that is mainly accessible by PC, so for pre-trip information, it shows the traffic situation in real-time for a specific area; • VMS: as demonstrated in the Traffic Information and Safety Campaign on VMS project, the variable message signs are the main components for on-trip information outside the vehicle; they can be used to provide road users with information about traffic and weather conditions, correct driving behaviour and rerouting advice about the same corridor or for adjacent ones. The impacts evaluation of the cited projects was done ex-post by surveys and, in the case of Hessen Mobil, with an estimated visitor number, which device a visitor uses and the access times. 4.1.1 Impact on traffic efficiency
Results of UM evaluation studies Through the use of various information services developed, such as applications for mobile devices, websites and VMS, it is possible to achieve a reduction in congestion along the network and in parking areas with more efficient management on road sections that are involved in the projects. In the case of rest areas, the positive impact on traffic efficiency should derive from the elimination of trucks parked along hard shoulders or outside the dedicated areas. Both aspects lead to better conditions of traffic flow for both light and heavy vehicles. It was not possible to evaluate the direct impacts on traffic and therefore to obtain numerical values that could be compared and extended to the entire Ursa Major corridor. Results from other projects and literature review From the literature, particularly from the European project EasyWay, it was possible to obtain information regarding the direct impacts on traffic coming from this type of ITS. With regards to the management and improvement of rest areas for HGVs in particular, it was specified that a result can be the reduction of fatigue accidents. It is important to note that this aspect can be considered a positive impact both on safety and on traffic efficiency. Direct and indirect impacts on traffic efficiency coming from the traffic information websites are linked to the change in route choice, with consequent reduction of congestion and to the shift of users from private vehicles to public transport. For example, in the project Evaluation of Bilrejseplanen.dk [55], the result is that 1 in 3 users have changed their journey time by using the website and that 5% of users have shifted from car to public transport once or several times.
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Considering on-trip information services, like variable message signs, the evaluations of some EasyWay projects highlighted that the use of these panels leads to a lot of advantages. In several sections of the motorways in Southern Spain (project Information via VMS Segment Malaga-Nerja [44], A-92 Granada-Almeria [43], A-7 Malaga-Benalmadena [42]) what was obtained was a reduction in congestion of 5%, a reduction in queue length of 11%, a reduction of between 45% and 70% in traffic jams and an increase in the Level of Service. In the project Gutemberg traffic management system-Real time information on VMS on urban fast lane [40] a decrease in congestion due to events of between 2% and 4% was observed. Together with indications on traffic conditions, variable message signs can also provide information on weather conditions. This last aspect was analysed in the evaluation of the Plan Neige project, a specific Traffic Management Plan that is part of the Management of transit traffic on Walloon motorways [11] project applied on the Arc Atlantique European corridor. The aim of the plan is to inform truck drivers about the problems caused by weather conditions, possible alternative routes and the possibility of being banned from certain sections. Considering a total ban for HGVs, the result is a decrease of 72% for VHL (Vehicle Hour Lost). In the project Evaluation of Renewal of Road Weather Information System and Finnish Road ITS Action Plan [54] it was estimated that, by using these services, the congestion costs will decrease by more than 9 M€ annually (20% of total congestion cost). 4.1.2 Impact on safety
Results of UM evaluation studies The increase in users’ safety, particularly of truck drivers, is one of the main objectives of Information Services. Activity 2 of Ursa Major focuses on improving the quality of rest areas for heavy vehicles by facilitating the correct parking of trucks and avoiding that they park outside the designated spaces, thus increasing the safety conditions of all road users, which is the purpose of applications like ParkR. With on-trip information, whether coming from websites or VMS, secondary accidents reduction can be achieved, like rear-end collisions caused by traffic jams resulting from accidents or congested traffic. On variable message panels, in addition to indications on traffic conditions and alternative routes, it is also possible to promote messages on the correct behaviour that users should follow for safe driving. The Traffic Information and Safety Campaign on Variable Message Signs (VMS) in Switzerland project was developed on the Swiss road network and allows for the circulation of messages regarding wrong or dangerous behaviour such as driving too close to each other or drunken driving, in three different languages. Through a survey distributed to users, the campaign was deemed appropriate, good or very good by 91% of those involved in the survey, a very positive result. Results from other projects and literature review From a literature overview of evaluation studies of Projects similar to Ursa Major, interesting results emerged regarding the impacts on safety of this type of ITS category. For example, in the field of truck parking it was shown that improving the rest areas along the corridor helps to reduce fatigue accidents, which tend to be very frequent for truck drivers. An indirect effect, obtained through the use of websites with traffic information, is the increase in road safety due to the transition from private to public transport by some users who visit the website described in Evaluation of Bilrejseplanen.dk [55]. Less use of private vehicles means less chance of getting involved in road accidents, moreover congestion is reduced and consequently the number of secondary accidents and rear-end collisions can decrease.
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Some direct effects on safety were assessed by projects focusing on traveller information on VMS. For example, in the Evaluation of VMS deployment on Slovenian part of corridor V [33] it was measured that, despite an increase in traffic flow of between 26% and 36%, the number of traffic accidents decreased by almost 18% and the number of injured people by 11%. The reduction in the number of traffic accidents led to the reduction of costs linked with these accidents. In Spain, through Information via VMS Segment Malaga-Nerja [44], A-92 Granada-Almeria [43], A- 7 Malaga-Benalmadena [42], a reduction in the number of accidents between 14% and 34% was observed during the evaluation period, with a significant decrease in injured people and fatalities (the reduction in fatalities was between 71% and 100%). This is due, also, to the traffic management system installed on the section taken into consideration, which allows for information to be provided to users in order to reduce congestion and therefore increase awareness and safety. In the already mentioned project Gutemberg traffic management system – Real time information on VMS on urban fast lane [40], the results were that the number of accidents involving HGVs increased as did the number of the HGVs themselves, while the number of accidents involving only light vehicles was reduced thanks to the ITS installed. 4.1.3 Impact on environment
Results of UM evaluation studies The projects developed in Ursa Major, dealing with ITS technologies that provide information to users on the road network conditions, do not lead to direct impacts on the environment. As in the case of traffic efficiency and safety, achieving congestion reduction and improving traffic management activities, by providing advice on recommended routes or on correct driving behaviour, can lead to a reduction in emissions and fuel consumption. Results from other projects and literature review Within the EasyWay project some impacts on the environment regarding Traveller Information Services were found. The project Telematics-Controlled Truck Parking at the Motorway A3 Service and Rest Area “Montabaur” [20] dealing with the improvement of parking areas for trucks using ITS services, showed that it is possible to increase capacity of the rest area through Telematic Control Parking without any additional land consumption. The evaluation of Traffic Scotland Web Information Services [50] and the Danish website assessed in Evaluation of Bilrejseplanen.dk [55] have shown that it is possible to obtain indirect positive effects on the environment thanks to users that shift from private to public transport. In particular, from a survey distributed to users by trafficscotland.org, it emerged that 6% of respondents were persuaded to use public transport more often. Within the same website, a carbon emission calculator was implemented. Considering on-trip information via VMS, the estimate of emission reduction and other connected indicators is complex; only in the assessment carried out in the Evaluation of Renewal of Road
Weather Information System and Finnish Road ITS Action Plan [54], the estimated reduction of CO2 emissions was calculated, which is more than 500.000 tonnes annually, that is 4% of the annual total emissions related to road transport.
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4.1.4 Other results
Results of UM evaluation studies A widely analysed aspect for traffic information services is user acceptance. Generally, a survey is distributed to the users, in which it asks how information is perceived, the level of satisfaction and other elements strictly connected to this type of ITS. By dividing up the different technologies used, i.e. application, website and VMS, the results point to various aspects. Thanks to the distribution of surveys to users, it emerged that 94% of surveyed truck drivers were positive about the ParkR application. The pre-trip information described in Traffic Information and Safety Campaign on Variable Message Signs (VMS) in Switzerland is checked by 57% of interviewed users, with 95% of them stating they are satisfied with the service. Another important piece of data is provided by the website www.verkehrsservice.hessen.de, described in the project Online Traffic Information Service Hessen, and that is the number of page views; in the examined case there were 218.799 page-views in 6 months (36.467 per month). Regarding the devices used to obtain traffic information, it shows that desktop-PCs are used by 63,8% of users, mobile devices by 35,7%, smartphones by 29,4% and tablets by 6,3% By assessing the users’ opinion about on-trip information written on VMS, for the project Traffic Information and Safety Campaign on Variable Message Signs (VMS) in Switzerland, it can be stated that 77% of surveyed users uses the VMS information, with 90% of those interviewed satisfied about the provided information. In particular, questions were also asked about the peculiar characteristics of the panels and the feedback was that 70% of those interviewed are satisfied with the density of the VMS while 95% consider the quality of the information provided as good. The use of smartphones for traffic information has grown from 3% in 2010 to 90% in 2017. The results of the surveys in these projects show that, in general, traveller information services are accepted technologies, used and appreciated by users, and must therefore have a positive overall impact. Results from other projects and literature review In projects belonging to EasyWay, similar results were obtained concerning users’ satisfaction for these ITS services. The survey distributed to truck drivers, related to the rest area “Montabaur” for the project Telematics-Controlled Truck Parking at the Motorway A3 Service and Rest Area “Montabaur” [20], demonstrates that 87% of respondents would appreciate the implementation of TCP (Telematic Control Parking) on other service areas. Also, within the Evaluation de l'expérimentation d’un panneau d’information sur la disponibilité en places de parking PL des aires d’autoroute [57] project, for which an information panel on available parking lots for HGV was installed near motorway service areas, a survey was distributed to the users. Various insights were obtained: 7% of truck drivers spontaneously report having noticed a new sign on the A13, 41% seeing the panel declared to have recognised it. Of the percentage of users that noticed the panel, 10% followed the recommendations reported on the panel for the choice of the rest area at which to stop. Other opinions are that for 94% of the surveyed users the messages are easy to understand, 88% of the same users think that the panels are useful; 85% of surveyed users think that the panels allow for the occupation of the area to be managed, for 82% of truck drivers interviewed the information on the panels allow them to save time, for 77% the panels help them to choose the area, for 76% they improve driving comfort.
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With regards to traffic information websites, the results related to user behaviour are mainly linked to the number of views of the web page, the use made of the tool and the adopted behaviour as a consequence of the information received. The number of page views for www.bayerninfo.de goes (project Development of Mobile Services [34]) from 933.660 in 2009 to 1.050.820 in 2011 (87.568 per month), from 1.000 to 5.000 daily average visits for services described in Mobility Portal Rheinland-Pfalz [23] (from 30.000 to 150.000 per month), 17.000 users per month for Rejseplanen.dk and 45.000 users per month of Bilrejseplanen.dk (project Evaluation of Bilrejseplanen.dk [55]). 4.1.5 Outcomes
The results described in the previous paragraphs, show how complex it is to assess the impact on traffic efficiency given by the traveller information services, especially in the case of pre-trip information and of information about truck parking areas. In some studies taken from the literature [55], [50], it was seen that 1/3 of the users managed to change their travel time and 5% - 6% of the same users were persuaded to shift from car to public transport one or several times consulting these websites. In other studies [40], [42], [43], [44], it was also demonstrated that VMS contributed to an improvement of between 2% and 5% with regards to congestion, to a reduction of 11% in queue length and between 45% and 70% in traffic jams. As for weather information, in bad weather conditions the system described in Evaluation of Renewal of Road Weather Information System and Finnish Road ITS Action Plan [54] can lead to a decrease in congestion costs by more than 9 M€ annually, that represents 20% of total congestion costs and, considering a total ban of HGVs in case of snow or ice in the Plan Neige [11] project, it causes a reduction of 72% of VHL. Regarding the impact on safety, it was demonstrated that the better management of truck parking can lead to prevention of unsafe parking and security problems. In various studies taken from the literature [33], [40], [42], [43], [44] it was possible to determine that VMS contributed to a reduction in the number of accidents of between 14% and 34% (despite the increase of flow in some cases) and in the number of injured people (-11%) and fatalities (-71%/-100%). As for the effectiveness of the safety campaign described in the Ursa Major project Traffic Information and Safety Campaign on Variable Message Signs (VMS) in Switzerland, a survey showed that 91% of interviewed users considered the campaign to be appropriate, good or very good. The results related to the impact on environment derived from studies taken from the literature, can be summarised as follows. The management system for truck parking [20] can increase the capacity of the already existing rest areas, without additional land consumption. With regard to the websites with traveller information [50], [54], if 5% - 6% of users of websites are persuaded to use public transport more often, there will be fewer private cars in circulation and therefore less emissions and less fuel consumption. Inside these websites, a carbon emission calculator is often implemented. Considering the informative panels [55], results emerged concerning the impacts of weather information contributing to the reduction of CO2, estimated at more than 500.000 tons annually. Other results are related to user acceptance of these services. Specifically, with regards to truck parking, it emerges from the Ursa Major project ParkR that 94% of surveyed truck drivers were positive about the application. Considering information about truck parking on VMS described in Evaluation de l'expérimentation d’un panneau d’information sur la disponibilité en places de parking PL des aires d’autoroute [57], it is stated that 87% of truck drivers would appreciate the implementation of telematics control parking and 10% followed the recommendations for the choice of the rest area. The number of website page views showed that in the Ursa Major project Online Traffic Information Service Hessen is approximately 36.500 per month, with 63,8% of users consulting the website with desktop-PCs, 35,7% with mobile devices, 29,4% with smartphones and 6,3% with tablets. This value is included in the page views range calculated from the data provided
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by the literature [23], [34], [55], that is between 17.000 and 90.000 users per month. A survey of the UM project Traffic Information and Safety Campaign on Variable Message Signs (VMS) in Switzerland about user acceptance of VMS showed that pre-trip information is checked by 57% of surveyed users, with a satisfaction of 95% of them, while on-trip information is used by 77% of drivers interviewed, with 90% of them stating their satisfaction about the information. In the same project it was highlighted that 70% of surveyed users were satisfied with the density of VMS, 95% consider the quality of information as good. The overall impact of this ITS service can be considered positive, although in most cases it was difficult to obtain quantitative direct results. Furthermore, the results obtained and related mostly to traffic efficiency and safety, could also be due to other contributing factors that are not limited to those regarding the use of this service. Most of the information, in fact, is provided by surveys distributed to users, that results reliable only in some cases, according to the sample size of respondents and the survey design.
4.2 Dynamic rerouting
The dynamic rerouting system is a type of ITS that can be considered as part of the broader set of Dynamic Traffic and Network Management systems. The aim of this system is to divert road users from the original route in case of extraordinary events such as accidents, special events, road works, road closures, bad weather or in the case of congestion or traffic jams. The device generally used to divert the traffic is the VMS, on which the cause and the recommended route are reported. As also described in the case of other types of ITS, the information spread through VMS must be readable and understandable, particularly those about the recommended alternative route. This is because it is fundamental for the effectiveness of the rerouting, to induce users to follow the recommendations, however, above all, every possible element of confusion must be avoided because it can lead to abrupt manoeuvres and therefore accidents. The purpose of dynamic rerouting is to bring positive impacts to roads featuring by high levels of traffic, with a high percentage of commuters and HGVs, on corridors subject to special events and on vulnerable road sections, such as tunnels or bridges. By transferring part of the traffic from the affected corridor to other less congested motorway sections, it is possible to reduce congestion and traffic jams on the involved road and to avoid the increase of traffic on secondary roads, towards which vehicles move when they don’t receive indications and which, typically, are not suitable for carrying high traffic loads. As a consequence of the improvement of traffic efficiency, impacts are also expected on safety and the environment. In the first case a reduction in secondary accidents is expected, as well as the reduction of the rescue teams’ intervention time in case of emergencies. Regarding the environment, the same considerations can be applied: indirect benefits derive from the reduction of congestion, which leads to lower emissions and fuel consumption. Basically, it is a preventive action, aimed at avoiding the worsening of already critical situations and the optimisation of the use of the road network. The objectives of the ex-post evaluations of projects in which a system of dynamic rerouting was developed are primarily the following: • Calculate the percentage of rerouted users, i.e. how many drivers follow the recommendations written on VMS; • Understand and evaluate the impacts on congestion, if they exist, and if there is a reduction in VHL (Vehicle Hour Lost), in travel time or, more generally, in costs due to traffic jams;
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• Assess, if possible, the indirect benefits for safety and the environment, that consist of studying the variations in the number of accidents and their severity and the reduction of emissions and fuel consumption. The evaluated projects developed on the Ursa Major corridor that mainly evaluate the effectiveness of dynamic rerouting are: • Network Control Rhein-Main-Ost/Mittelhessen: a project focused on dynamic traffic management with route guidance, developed on very busy German motorways with a high presence of freight transport, i.e. A3, A5 and A45, and with traffic regulation within the Frankfurt Rhein Main Metropolitan Area; • Dynamic Rerouting A5/A6/A61/A67/A656/A659: a service installed on an interconnected road network, where road users can choose between multiple options. The analysed area is the Rhein-Neckar area around Mannheim, where there is a high degree of commuter traffic and, in general, a number of around 100.000 vehicles per day is reached at cross-sections, with an HGV share of over 20% on the A61; • National traffic management plans (TMP): a service that is operational along the E35 Gotthard and E43 San Bernardino on the north-south motorways through Switzerland. The implementations of the TMP include, in addition to dynamic rerouting, also dynamic speed and lane management, ramp metering and hard shoulder running. The aim of these projects is to optimise the use of motorways in territories typically subject to congestion through the distribution of traffic to other roads that have available capacity, avoiding the uncontrolled outflow of vehicles on secondary roads in extraordinary situations. The technologies implemented are: • VMS: they show the rerouting recommendations, they can be managed manually or set automatically with measurements and calculations; • Traffic detectors: for the monitoring of traffic flow and travel times. The data that can be detected is various, including the number of vehicles per lane, vehicles categories, average speed, standard deviation of vehicle speeds, average net time-gaps; • Connection with a Traffic Control Centre (TCC): a centre where recommendations are manually created and sent to VMS or are automatically generated from information coming from the automatic detection systems, which are subsequently validated. 4.2.1 Impact on traffic efficiency
Results of UM evaluation studies The main purpose of dynamic rerouting is to optimise traffic flow by reducing congestion. To reach this final objective, a high percentage of users that follow the recommendation is necessary and this is why the number of rerouted users is one of the main indicators that influence the impacts on traffic. In the case of Dynamic Rerouting A5/A6/A61/A67/A656/A659, in the Rhein-Neckar area around Mannheim, it is estimated that between 10% and 15% of drivers follow the recommendations. Another assessment shows that, after the implementation of the rerouting system Network Control Rhein-Main-Ost/Mittelhessen in Germany, there was a 10% increase in rerouted users. This percentage is even higher if we consider extraordinary events, such as road closures, holidays period or congestion during peak hours. In fact, it was found that, thanks to the network control in the Rhein-Main area in a monitored junction during 6 analysed events, the number of users that followed the recommendations was around 43% compared to the total number of potentially involved
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users. This means that users are more inclined to follow the indications in extraordinary situations, such as road closures, accidents, bad weather or special events. In addition, from the assessment of the Network Control Rhein-Main-Ost/Mittelhessen project connected to this ITS type, what emerges is that the dynamic rerouting led to an average reduction of 2,5% in VHL compared to before the implementation on the Gambacher Kreuz junction. Another indicator that gives information on the impact on traffic efficiency is the variation of the travel time between before and after the implementation of the system. For example, in the case of the Swiss project National traffic management plans (TMP), it was observed that rerouting system can lead to an annual reduction of 770.000 lost hours. By calculating the costs of traffic jams derived from this decrease, savings equal to 30 Million CHF were achieved in 2016 (approximately 26 M€). The overall results related to the dynamic rerouting system are an improvement in traffic efficiency that can be considered positive and transferable to those sections of the Ursa Major corridor that present redundancy or alternative motorways free of congestion, to which the flow can be diverted without problems. Results from other projects and literature review There are numerous projects that dealt with the development and evaluation of dynamic rerouting. For the Serti project, which was part of the EasyWay European project, a system described in the Network Control Leonberg-Walldorf [39] study was installed; the analysis of this technology showed how to achieve a significant reduction in travel time and a benefit-cost ratio of 1,95. In this case the number of trucks that followed the recommendations reached 40% and it was possible to note that in case of accidents or road closures there were more rerouted users. Furthermore, in the context of EasyWay, the impacts of Cross Border Management Evaluation [15] with dynamic rerouting for non-regular events were assessed. In particular, a reduction of travel time was assessed, ranging between -5,3 min and -22,5 min, and 200 - 250 saved hours of congestion per event, with a maximum of 500 hours. The percentage value of total rerouted users is between 0,8% and 4,5% (40% - 70% considering only the long-distance traffic on the corridor). Cost savings in terms of delay reduction were evaluated in this case as well and in 2007 this factor shows a minimum of 49.000 € and a maximum of 671.000 €. Only in one case, the Aachen-Brussels section, the results obtained were considered negligible. Also in the Long-distance corridor demonstration project [58] of EasyWay, the monetary benefits derived from the rerouting strategy were valued at 1.000 – 3.000 € (where 85% - 95% of these benefits derive from travel time savings); in particular, the benefits rise to 10.000 € for a very long lasting incident. A comparison of the impact on traffic efficiency thanks to the described ITS service is provided by the results of the Traffic Management Scenarios on the A15 Motorway (Rotterdam) [29] project, from which it was obtained that the dynamic rerouting leads to a 3% reduction of the vehicle-hours of delay. A demonstration of the fact that dynamic rerouting is more effective in extraordinary events, is given by the results of the project Temporary ITS applications during major road works on motorway E22/A1 in Northern Germany [51] which is part of the Viking project in EasyWay. In fact, this temporary application scored a benefit-cost ratio of 6, that is a good result, with a high percentage of truck drivers following the recommendations, i.e. 44%. Another comparison can be made with two evaluations developed within the Arc Atlantique European project. The first is on Traffic Management Plans [6], where some interesting results were
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obtained, such as a reduction of 40.128 VHL in a year and traffic cost savings of 1.495.570 € annually. In the second example, the project Praktijkproef Amsterdam (Practice Trial Amsterdam - PTA) [7], the VHL was reduced by 15%, while it grew by 30% on the secondary road network. In addition to this, a variation of delay that goes between -11% and -13% was verified. 4.2.2 Impact on safety
Results of UM evaluation studies The examined type of ITS does not present direct impacts on safety, as it does not reduce the number nor severity of road accidents. In the projects evaluated and analysed in this section, therefore, no results are reported in this field, however, the indirect benefits of dynamic rerouting and the impact that this technology has on traffic efficiency are described. In fact, it is by reducing congestion and traffic jams that it is possible to obtain a decrease in secondary accidents, typically rear-end collisions, which are usually caused by the formation of a queue. Another very important aspect is the reduction of the time of intervention of rescue teams which, in case of accidents, can reach the vehicles involved and clear the road (or restore the road) in less time thanks to the diversion of traffic onto other roads. These positive indirect impacts are confirmed by some examples taken from the literature, in which the indices typically connected to safety are evaluated numerically. Results from other projects and literature review From the EasyWay project some interesting examples can be extrapolated. Both from the Network Control Leonberg-Walldorf [39] study and from the Temporary ITS applications during major road works on motorway E22/A1 in Northern Germany [51] project it emerged that applying the routing recommendations led to a reduction of around 60% in the number of accidents. Although, this value cannot be considered as statistically relevant, because the observation period for the evaluation was too short. Overall, the results demonstrate how the impact of dynamic rerouting on safety is positive on the corridors examined; there are no safety statistics on roads interested by the diverted traffic. 4.2.3 Impact on environment
Results of UM evaluation studies As in the case of safety, the results related to impacts on the environment derive from the change in traffic flow generated by rerouting. In fact, it is established that the reduction in congestion leads to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption. An estimate of the indirect impacts was made in the Swiss project National Traffic Management
Plans (TMP), where a reduction of 3.650 tons of CO2 per year was calculated starting from the savings of travel time due to dynamic rerouting (an emission of 4,75 kg CO2 per vehicle per hour in traffic jams was considered). This estimate can be considered as a very positive result, which describes the potential of this type of ITS even in a field on which there can be only indirect impacts. Results from other projects and literature review From the studies in literature belonging to both EasyWay and Arc Atlantique corridor, positive results emerge in relation to the impact of dynamic rerouting on the environment.
In the already mentioned Cross Border Management Evaluation [15] project the saved costs of CO2 emission of re-routed vehicles were estimated: 10.000 € in the year 2007 on the Eindhoven-Cologne
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corridor, 5.000 € in the same year for the Rotterdam-Antwerp corridor, 1.000 € for the Arnhem- Oberhausen corridor. The assessment of the Long-distance corridor demonstration [58] shows that environmental benefits accounted for around 4% of total benefits derived from the rerouting strategy. In this case the savings in fuel consumption contributes for between 2% and 14% of total benefits. An indication on fuel savings is also given by the project Traffic Management Plans [6] where fuel savings are estimated at more than 2.000 litres in a year, considering 10 occurrences. In addition to this calculation, the reduction of CO2 emissions is assessed, showing a reduction of 6,35 tons per year, highlighting once again how the dynamic rerouting has overall positive impacts. 4.2.4 Other results
Results of UM evaluation studies No other results emerged from the evaluation of this ITS technology developed on the Ursa Major corridor. Results from other projects and literature review The acceptance of dynamic rerouting by users was also evaluated in the literature, in particular in the project New Travel Time VMS in Gothenburg, Sweden [53], once again, under EasyWay. The analysis made by telephone interviews shows that the VMS signs are noticed by 60% - 90% of the users, that 16% - 28% of them change their route following what is written on the panels. These results also indicate a positive impact on the users’ perception and behaviour regarding advices on alternative routes. 4.2.5 Outcomes
The main outcome for the ITS service of dynamic rerouting is related to the impact on traffic efficiency and the indicator considered in Ursa Major projects Network Control Rhein-Main- Ost/Mittelhessen and Dynamic Rerouting A5/A6/A61/A67/A656/A659 is the change in the number of rerouted users. From several estimations, it can be observed that a range of between 10% and 15% of users follow the recommendations, which increases to 43% if extraordinary events are considered. The latter value is very similar to others obtained in other studies taken from the literature [15], [39], [51]. Regarding travel time, in Network Control Rhein-Main-Ost/Mittelhessen a reduction of 2,5% of VHL was obtained, a percentage similar to the ones in the literature [29], while in National traffic management plans (TMP) the reduction of lost travel time was equal to 770.000 hours annually (26 M€ of economic savings). These benefits are much higher than the ones found in other studies [6], [15], [58], which mostly stand between 49.000 € and 671.000 € with a maximum of around 1,5 M€ and even lower values; in Network Control Leonberg-Walldorf [39], a benefit-cost ratio of 1,95 was estimated for the dynamic rerouting. In Praktijkproef Amsterdam (Practice Trial Amsterdam - PTA) [7] a monitoring study on secondary roads was carried out, showing that the VHL grew by 30% on the network to which the flow is redirected, which is a negative result. Even if the focus is on traffic efficiency, some information is provided about impact on safety, mainly from evaluation of other European projects. With regards to the number of accidents, in literature studies [39], [51] it was found that the application of rerouting recommendations led to a reduction of around 60% of the number of accidents, a percentage calculated in a short period on a sample of events not very statistically significant. Overall, therefore, the impact on safety appears to be positive, yet there is no data related to the secondary network. Examining the impact on environment, although no direct monitoring was made on air quality, consumption or other indicators, for the Ursa Major project National Traffic Management Plans
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(TMP) a CO2 saving of 3.650 tons per year was estimated, considering the principal Swiss network. This value is high compared to that calculated in literature for Traffic Management Plans [6], which considers a saving of 6,35 tons per year (taking into account only a certain number of events). In
Cross Border Management Evaluation [15] cost savings connected to CO2 emission between 1.000 € and 10.000 € per year per corridor were estimated. From the Long-distance corridor demonstration [58], it emerges that the environmental benefits accounted for around 4% of total benefits deriving from the application of dynamic rerouting. The results described demonstrate that the overall impact estimate on the environment is positive. Not a lot of information about other results given by dynamic rerouting is provided. From a survey taken from the literature [53], it was possible to observe that 60% - 90% of users noticed the VMS and between 16% and 28% state that they change their route, following the recommendations. The overall impacts of dynamic rerouting systems on the involved motorway section are positive and mainly concern traffic efficiency, with the related consequences on safety and the environment. Less information is provided in relation to secondary networks, meaning those stretches towards which the rerouted flow is addressed. Only one evaluation case shows a not so positive result, demonstrating that the dynamic rerouting is effective only if the traffic is well redistributed and if the congestion problem is not simply shifted to another road.
4.3 Dynamic lane management
The dynamic lane management technology is based on VMS that display information managed by the Traffic Control Centre and give the chance to open or close the lanes to traffic in an automatic way according to flow conditions or on the basis of an operator’s decision. The used VMS are gantries with matrix signs placed over each lane that show both symbols that denote if it is permitted or forbidden to drive on the lane below (usually a green arrow is used in case of the availability of the lane and a red cross otherwise) and speed limits. About this last aspect, it is important to know that the ITS system under analysis is often associated with variable speed limits in real applications, which is a way to slow down the traffic flow upstream of the stretch with problems, in order to avoid worsening the congestion situation, optimising the use of the road. This system is developed with the main purpose of adding extra lanes to the normal ones in order to increase the capacity of the road section. In most cases the lane subject to temporary opening is the emergency lane, and in this case the implemented system is called “Hard Shoulder Running (HSR)” The cases for which the opening of the hard shoulder running or other additional lanes may be necessary are different, generally it happens during peak hours on working days, which tend to be moments of great congestion, or for special events such as sport events, fairs, festivals or even for special periods of the year, such as the Summer or Winter days when people drive away for holidays. The opening of an extra lane in this case allows for a more rapid disposal of traffic jams thanks to the increase in section capacity. Another application of dynamic lane management is to dedicate one of the lanes to particular categories of vehicles, such as bus or taxis or for car-pooling, to prohibit it to trucks or to make the lane reversible, which means that the running direction changes according to the flow and/or the hour of the day. The impacts that should derive from the development of this ITS are linked to the better management of traffic flow, which should lead to a reduction in congestion and therefore in travel time, delays, accidents related to traffic jams and also in polluting emissions.
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Some of the evaluated projects developed on the Ursa Major corridor are integrated with the variable speed limits system and have as their primary purpose to prohibit or allow the flow of traffic on the hard shoulder, using it as a temporary additional lane. The assessments will therefore focus on the following points: • Evaluate the benefits related to the better management of traffic flow, in particular how the problem of congestion can change thanks to it, the variations of travel time and critical mileage changes. In some cases, these issues can be assessed and compared in terms of costs; • Understand if there are direct or indirect benefits to safety and/or the environment and subsequently calculate them; • Give an overall result regarding user satisfaction based on surveys usually carried out before and after the system’s installation. On the Ursa Major corridor several Hard Shoulder Running systems were installed, in particular the ex-post evaluation was made for the following projects (except for the first one listed which is an ex- ante evaluation): • Line Control A3 Limburg: dynamic lane management system with integrated hard shoulder running that also includes speed management, HGV overtaking regulation and incident management. The section considered is in Germany on the A3 motorway between the junctions Limburg-North and Diez, which is frequently congested, and it is characterised by a long and steep uphill/downhill slope of an average of 5%. The problems highlighted are truck rear-end collisions caused by speed differences and the risk of accidents caused by fixed speed limits, which leads to high differences in speeds during lane changes; • TMS with HSR on the A9 between Holledau and Neufahrn: application developed on the German motorway A9 between the junctions Holledau and Neufahrn, which uses an active TMS including a temporary HSR for automatic dynamic lane management. The aim of the project is to improve the strong and continuous problems of congestion and reduce the risk of accident, due to the large presence of commuters, HGV and seasonal holiday traffic; • Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens: project developed to meet the constant growth in demand without the need to expand the infrastructure. This application of dynamic lane management with HSR together with a data collection system and video surveillance was installed on the Swiss A1 motorway Lausanne-Geneva between Morges and Ecublens. As suggested in the Swiss project Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens, this ITS application of dynamic lane management is particularly indicated in cases where it is not possible to “physically” extend the infrastructure both for economic, natural and anthropic constraints (high density of housing or construction such as tunnels and bridges). The widening of the road capacity takes place with the technologies described below: • VMS: panels mounted on gates; usually a panel for each lane is installed and can show different symbols, including permission or prohibition symbols or limits; • Video monitoring: necessary to activate the HSR automatically and to display the records to operators who can give permission for the activation and, at the same time, allow to identify broken down vehicles, accidents and other problems; • Traffic detectors: usually installed on gates (or at the measuring cross sections), which are used for monitoring and collecting traffic data;
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• Devices for the collection of environmental data: the devices can be of different types and they measure the environmental components that affect the driving and platform conditions, such as scattered light measurement, wetness detection devices, radar for the determination of the amount of water and rainfall on the road, soil probes for the measure of the water film thickness, freezing temperature, road surface temperature; • Connection with the Traffic Control Centre (TCC): centre of collection of all information coming from the automatic detection system. The connection with cameras and detectors was made with new fibre optic cables. 4.3.1 Impact on traffic efficiency
Results of UM evaluation studies The increase in the capacity of a motorway section has several positive effects on the indices linked to traffic efficiency. The increase in vehicles/h passing through a section causes important impacts such as more fluidity of the traffic, less chance of traffic jams formation and therefore an overall reduction in congestion. To give a numerical example, in the project Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens a variation in capacity is estimated to be from 4.000 vehicles/h with 2 lanes to between 5.050 and 5.350 vehicles/h after 4 years from the opening of the system with an additional lane, i.e. an increase of capacity equal to between 26,2% and 33,8%. Analysing the same motorway section from 2008 (before the BAU) to 2013 (after the BAU) the actual change in traffic flow was evaluated, which is equal to +17%/+19%, calculated for the first two years from the opening; these values decreased after these years and range between +0% to +3% between 2012 and 2013. The total change in traffic flow between 2008 and 2013 is of +17%/+23%. The reduction in travel time was estimated within a range of 8% and 50%. With the application of the system, the speeds are more stable. As mentioned earlier, the goal of dynamic lane management is to reduce congestion and the evaluated projects show encouraging results in this regard. The Line Control A3 Limburg analysis, carried out on a German motorway section, proposes ex-ante estimates based on a projection of the increase in demand up to 2020. According to these studies, the opening of a temporary HSR leads to a reduction in the critical mileage (intended as the distance driven in congestion) of 5.168.000 vehicle-km (which in percentage is a reduction of -74,7%), with a decrease of travel time of HGV by 5 minutes per trip. Translating this improvement of traffic flow into congestion cost savings, again estimated on the basis of the projection of demand, a variation of - 5.050.745 € of congestion costs (which in percentage is a reduction of -92,6%) was obtained. The project TMS with HSR on the A9 between Holledau and Neufahrn, developed in Germany, shows as a result linked to traffic efficiency a reduction in the number of congestion events (both directions) from 87 before the activation of HSR to 66 after the activation (-24%). Considering all the results obtained from the evaluated projects, the impacts on traffic efficiency are generally positive, highlighting an increase in road capacity and therefore of traffic flow (i.e. of demand) and a reduction in traffic jams and congestion, with a consequent decrease in travel time, critical mileage and congestion costs. Results from other projects and literature review The dynamic lane management, especially with HSR, is a frequently discussed topic since there are numerous implementations on the main European roads, so it is important to evaluate the impacts of this technology on traffic and congestion.
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In the European project Arc Atlantique some results of various developments were assessed, including: • Hard shoulder running E40 and weaving segments E314 [4]: decrease in the I/C ratio (demand over capacity) during peak hours, most prevalent in the hard shoulder area, in a range of 14% and 34%. The total investment costs of the project were estimated at about 4 M€, while the benefits came to 3,4 M€ per year, numbers that indicate the return of the investment in less than 1,2 years; • Hard shoulder running E19 Kleine Bareel – St-Job-in-‘t-Goor [5]: 25% reduction in I/C ratio and 5,3 minutes reduction of travel time after the implementation. Decrease in VHL (Vehicle Hour Lost) value of 68.800 in 6 months (between -87% and -95%). The calculated investment costs are 4 M€ while the benefits given by VHL saved are of 1,65 M€ per year; the time of return of the investment is therefore 2,5 years; • Analysis and evaluation of different traffic management strategies in order to reduce the congestions in Bilbao per-urban area [3]: reduction in VHL of 24.021 in 15 days; the saving costs calculated are thanks to this reduction in VHL but also thanks to environmental impacts which are equal to 455.000 €; • M25 J 5 – 7 Variable Speed Limit, All lane Running/Hard Shoulder Running [9]: +10% of traffic flow during peak hours (calculated for 15-minutes intervals); reduction of VHL between -24% and -36,5% (corresponding to daily savings of between 962 and 1.357 hours; journey time improved only in one direction and not throughout the day; • M25 J 23 – 27 Variable Speed Limit, All lane Running/Hard Shoulder Running [10]: increase in flow between 9% and 19%; VHL daily savings between 2.986 and 4.400 corresponding to a percentage reduction of 44,3%/53,2%; improvement of journey time in both directions. As part of the EasyWay project, other applications of the examined ITS were assessed. Very positive results were achieved in an urban area with Dynamic signage and management of traffic access to Cadiz [13], which allowed for a maximum reduction of queue length of 64,7% on one route, comparing the before and after situation. For the Centrico project, 5 projects of dynamic lane management with HSR developed in The Netherlands were analysed and described in Additional Lanes Programme – 10 Projects in The Netherlands [21]. The results obtained, referring to traffic efficiency, are various and include the achievable reduction of VHL, estimated at 60%, a percentage calculated considering a total annual reduction of VHL equal to 2.017.900. On Serti project an evaluation named ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory [47], led to an increase in capacity between 7% and 9%, along with an increase in the journey time of 9% (probably due to the increase in demand and to speed limits). In particular an interesting result is given by the measurement of the variability of journey times over all weekdays, which decreased by 22%/23%. Also in the Centrico project different analyses of this ITS service were developed, such as Hard Shoulder Running and other Extra Lanes [26] where several HSR projects were assessed, which led to an average reduction of 68% of delay in vehicle hour lost on the considered road sections, with a consequent improvement of travel time, which decreased by more than 10%. In Dynamic Lane and Speed Control on motorway A5 [27] similar aspects were evaluated, together with the calculation of the reduction of standard deviation from arithmetic average speed between 34% and 44%. From the project Hard shoulder running – A63 [28] it emerged that the average travel time in one driving direction during peak hour was reduced by 26% thanks to the dynamic lane management. Finally in Hard shoulder running – E313 [31] the change in VHL was measured, which was reduced by 14%
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after its implementation; from this improvement an amount of social benefit was calculated equal to 2,44 M€ per year (considering the investment costs of 6,7 M€, the return on investment is less than 3 years) and the increase of section capacity. Another project with interesting results must be mentioned, i.e. The Third Lane project (T3) [37] which shows how this technology led to an average increase of vehicle/hour in a range of 7,5%/8% with the opening of the third lane, with a maximum of +12,6% of traffic flow, together with a speed increase of 23,6% and a decrease in vehicle linear density ranging between -31% and -41%, with the maximum benefit obtained during the Summer season. Dynamic lane management not always gave positive results; the project Line control system A6 Kaiserslautern [22] demonstrated how, with this ITS, a change in performance of traffic flow was not found in this case. 4.3.2 Impact on safety
Results of UM evaluation studies The impacts on safety given by dynamic lane management are mainly indirect impacts, deriving from the improved management of traffic flow which therefore lead to a reduction in the probability of secondary accidents and to a greater rapidity in the intervention of emergency services. The presence of this ITS leads also to a greater control of traffic and events, allows for early accidents detection and provides useful information and limits based on traffic conditions (or during non-regular events). For the evaluated studies it was difficult to provide numerical results because the observation and assessment period of projects is too short to provide a statistically relevant estimate of the changes in accidents, as well as to make an evaluation of the number of injured and on the severity of accidents. What is usually done is an estimate of the number of accidents that occurred after the installation, but this is not very relevant if compared with data collected in previous years, or results from previous studies and from literature which are reported for information purposes. The Swiss study Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens, for example, states that after the implementation of the system, a reduction in accidents was observed in the section with the active BAU, although there are still several points of conflict (they correspond mainly with areas where lane changes occur). It was also possible to observe that the headway slightly increases on the left lane, but the recorded values were assessed below the safe distance, especially for light vehicles. In the evaluation of the project TMS with HSR on the A9 between Holledau and Neufahrn the impacts on safety generated by the same application installed in a different section in the south of Neufahrn are reported. This analysis shows that the number of accidents decreased by 28% and 46% in the two directions and the accident rate decreased by 43% and 51%. Results from other projects and literature review Even in the mentioned project taken from studies and assessments carried out previously, what often arose was the same problem about the evaluation of the impacts on safety assessed in overly short time intervals. In some cases, however, it was possible to obtain results about some indices linked to safety, such as the variation in number and severity of accidents following the activation of dynamic lane management. A great number of results come from EasyWay, such as the reduction in the number of accidents calculated in Dynamic signage and management of traffic access to Cadiz [13] from 2004 (before HSR) to 2008 (after HSR) which gives results between 36% and 75%, but with a road section that did not present variations in this number.
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Many developments belonging to this European project showed positive impacts on safety, provided by this ITS type. The evaluation Investigation on the effects of the line control system on motorway A61 Meckenheim-Mendig [18] shows a reduction of about 14% in the number of accidents, of 20% in the number of accidents with personal injury and of 67% in the number of accidents with fatalities. Considering the assessment of accident rate, this index shows a decrease of 4%, that becomes of 19% if the accident rate is calculated only for accidents with personal injuries. Not always is it possible to obtain relevant results related to safety, for example Line control system A6 Kaiserslautern [22] shows a limited reduction in the number of accidents by 2,7%, but a decrease in injury to people of 36,7%. The Dynamic Lane and Speed Control in motorway A5 [27] project provides 20% less accidents than before the development of the system, with a lessened amount of serious accidents. The percentage reduction in the number of accidents is between 34% and 41% thanks to the development of Hard shoulder running – A63 [28], while with Hard shoulder running – E313 [31]; it was possible to evaluate a not statistically relevant impact of 3 accidents in a year, compared to 10, 6, 9 in the previous three, that is equal to a reduction between 50% and 70%. Also on the Streetwise projects, interesting studies were implemented from the point of view of safety, such as ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory [47] where the change in the number of PIA (Personal Injury Accident) was calculated on values per month, which is equal to -64% (always considering the limited number of data available). Dynamic Hard Shoulder Running M1 J10 – 13 [48] shows a 43% reduction in the number of PIA, mentioning a result taken from literature. In the Arc Atlantique project there is the study M25 J 5 – 7 Variable Speed Limit, All lane Running/Hard Shoulder Running [9], which presents a 15% reduction in accidental rate considering annual data. The project The Third Lane project (T3) [37] allowed to evaluate various indicators, including the reduction in the number of accidents before and after the installation of the system, ranging between 49% and 57,7%; particularly the reduction in the number of rear-end collisions is included in a range between 66,7% and 71%. In addition to this, other indicators were taken into account, such as the distance between consecutive vehicles; with 4 months of observation before and after the installation, a reduction in average linear density of vehicles between 31% and 41% was assessed. Also, in the already mentioned ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory [47], a headway greater than 5 seconds after the implementation of the system was calculated. It is possible to give indications about the impacts connected to safety also in economic terms, where the benefits generated by the accident reduction are calculated. In particular this calculation was made for the project Investigation on the effects of the line control system on motorway A61 Meckenheim-Mendig [18], where benefits were estimated at 2,9 M€, that corresponds to 1,45 M€ per year. In Line control system A6 Kaiserslautern [22] the accident cost rate was reduced from 20,48 €/1000 vehicle-km year to 14,05 €/1000 vehicle-km year after the development of the system (-51%). 4.3.3 Impact on environment
Results of UM evaluation studies The use of a system as the dynamic lane management leads to an increase in traffic flow in the evaluated section but, at the same time, aims to reduce congestion and the number of traffic jams. These expected impacts, often obtained with projects already developed, lead to indirect benefits for the environment, with a reduction in emissions and fuel consumption.
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Estimated results from direct impacts on congestion were reported only from the analysis performed for Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens. In particular, a reduction in fuel consumption between 28% and 55% was estimated for the case of 2 lanes for each direction and with the active BAU. The emissions variation, instead, was calculated for a group of polluting elements, obtaining a difference of -40% of CO2 and NOX emissions, -75% of fine particles, -13% of VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). Values from literature were reported in the evaluation of the German project Line Control A3 Limburg; the examined previous indications denote a potential reduction of 8% of NOX and 6% of PM10 thanks to the development of hard shoulder running. Results from other projects and literature review Within the examined ITS type there are few evaluation studies that numerically estimate results linked to the environment and deriving from the development of one or more temporary additional lanes. The project ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory [47], belonging to EasyWay, presents some interesting estimates derived from the improvement of traffic efficiency: • 4% reduction of Carbon – monoxide (CO) • 10% reduction of Particulate Matter (PM) • 3% increase in Hydrocarbons (HC)
• 4% reduction of Carbon – dioxide (CO2)
• 5% reduction of Oxides of Nitrogen (NOX) • 4% reduction of fuel consumption • Noise levels reduction between 1,8 and 2,4 dB(A). As in the case of safety and traffic efficiency, it is possible to calculate an estimate of economic savings coming from the positive impacts on the environment. An example is given by the already mentioned evaluation of Analysis and evaluation of different traffic management strategies in order to reduce the congestions in Bilbao peri-urban area [3], where savings of 455.000 € were calculated deriving from fuel savings, VHL savings and CO2 saved in 15 days. 4.3.4 Other results
Results of UM evaluation studies In relation to this type of ITS, several pieces of information were provided by the results described in the previous paragraphs. From the project TMS with HSR on the A9 between Holledau and Neufahrn it emerged that the reduction in congestion can be due not only to the aspects already mentioned, but also to the positioning of the VMS panels. In particular, in the system installed in Germany it was seen how the effects of HSR were also generated from a shorter gap between gates of 1,5 km, which instead of the 3-km gap used in other applications in the area, led to more fluid traffic and a reduction in accelerations. As in the other ITS technologies, user acceptance was evaluated. The dynamic lane management developed in Switzerland for the project Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens received positive feedback from users: a percentage of satisfied users equal to 78% was collected. Regarding user behaviour, in this case no information or results are provided. Results from other projects and literature review Some results regarding the relation of users with dynamic lane management are described in the study ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory [47], which shows an analysis
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focused on compliance, demonstrating that compliance has improved under free flow conditions after the implementation of the system. In addition to this, 30% of the long-distance users thought the M42 was better or much better than other UK motorways (before the HSR implementation this percentage was equal to 16%) and 46% of users perceived a lower level of congestion on the involved section, instead of the 39% without dynamic lanes (which corresponds to a +7% of users). 4.3.5 Outcomes
The ITS service of dynamic lane management produces a high number of impacts on traffic efficiency, such as an increase of the capacity of the motorway section between 26% and 34% estimated in the Ursa Major project Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens. This improvement of the capacity can lead to a real increase in traffic flow equal between +17% and +23% during the 5 years of application. In the literature the study Hard shoulder running E40 and weaving segments E314 [4] calculated the I/C ratio between flow and capacity, which was reduced between 14% and 34%. Also, the speed variation was monitored in The Third Lane project (T3) [37]: from the literature a 23,6% increase in speeds was measured, probably due to the reduction of congestion. Another interesting index, always taken from literature, is the vehicle linear density, reduced by 31% - 41%, which confirms the positivity of this implementation considering traffic smoothness [37]. About congestion, the variation in the number of congestions was evaluated in the Ursa Major project TMS with HSR on the A9 between Holledau and Neufahrn and resulted in an average reduction of 24%. In Line Control A3 Limburg a reduction of 74,7% in the critical mileage was estimated after the implementation of dynamic lane. In Dynamic signage and management of traffic access to Cadiz [13], developed in an urban area and taken from literature, it was obtained a reduction of queue length of 64,7%. Thanks to this ITS service, the implementations reached reductions between 14% and 95% of VHL in other studies [3], [5], [9], [10], [21], [26], [31]. On the Ursa Major corridor a reduction of about 5 minutes in travel time was obtained in Line Control A3 Limburg, while in Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens was -8% in one direction and - 50% in the opposite direction; these values and percentages are very similar to those found in the literature [5], [26], [28]. Only in ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory [47], an increase of about 9% in the travel time was detected. Connected to travel time, the variability of journey times was assessed in ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory [47] with a reduction of 22%/23%. Some of the positive impacts already described were evaluated in economic terms as well; in Line Control A3 Limburg, which belongs to Ursa Major, the congestion costs calculated before and after the installation of the system were compared and the reduction resulted equal to 92,6%, with savings of about 5 M€. Another indicator estimated in literature studies [4], [5], [31] is the time of return of the investment, that was calculated between 1,2 and 3 years. The results that emerged from the evaluation of the impact on safety were often estimated in overly short monitoring intervals and so they cannot be considered to be completely reliable. The Ursa Major evaluations do not provide numerical results, while in the literature [13], [18], [27], [28], [31], [37] the change in the number of accidents was estimated to be between 14% and 75%. The accident rate reduction, on the other hand, is between 4% and 51% [9], [18]. Moreover, the reduction in the number of accidents with personal injuries was also evaluated and lands between 20% and 64% [18], [47], [48]; variation in accidents with lethal fatalities equal -67% in one case [18]. In particular a reduction in rear-end collisions reaching -66,7%/-71% was registered thanks to dynamic lane management in The Third Lane project (T3) [37]. In some cases [13], [22], in fact, the reduction of the number of accidents was equal to zero or very small, making the installed service less effective in these area of evaluation. An improvement of safe distances between vehicles was observed, confirmed by literature projects [37], [47] where a headway greater than 5 seconds was calculated and a reduction in average linear density of vehicles between 31% and 41% was assessed. In one case, Investigation on the effects of the line control system on motorway A61 Meckenheim-Mendig
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[18], the economic benefits that derive from the safety improvement were evaluated on congested motorways, which is equal to about 1,45 M€ per year, while in Line control system A6 Kaiserslautern [22] the variation of accident cost rate was valued at -51%. The assessment of the impact on environment once again derives from the calculation carried out on the basis of the variation of traffic flow generated with the application of dynamic lane management. Starting from the impacts on the Ursa Major corridor described in Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens, it emerges that the fuel consumption can be reduced by between 28% and 55%, while considering emissions the reduction obtained in the same evaluation are equal to -40% of CO2 and NOX, -75% of fine particles and -13% of VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). These percentages are over the average calculated by the literature in Line Control A3 Limburg and ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory [47], which describe the percentage variation as equal to about -4% with regards to the reduction in fuel consumption, -
4% in CO2, -5%/-8% in NOX and a -10% reduction of Particulate Matter. The reduction in noise level was also estimated to be between 1,8 and 2,4 dB(A) [47]. In Analysis and evaluation of different traffic management strategies in order to reduce the congestions in Bilbao peri-urban area [3], the economic benefits deriving from fuel savings, VHL reductions and CO2 saved were estimated to equal 455.000 € over 15 days of monitoring. The other results are on user’s opinion about dynamic lane management. From Hard shoulder running (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens on the Ursa Major corridor, positive feedback was achieved, with 78% of users satisfied with the service. In ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory [47], +14% of users think that the motorway with the evaluated ITS system is better or much better than the other motorways of the country and +7% of users perceive a lower level of congestion in the section with dynamic lanes. In the Ursa Major project TMS with HSR on the A9 between Holledau and Neufahrn it was demonstrated that a gap between gates with VMS of 1,5 km is better than the usually implemented one of 3 km. The overall results related to dynamic speed limits are positive, mainly in the field of traffic efficiency. Also, the safety and the environment perceived positive impacts, although in the first case it emerged from several evaluations that benefits are not always obtained regarding the variation in the number of accidents with this ITS service, while in the second case the results show an interesting percentage of reduction in impacts that are slightly different from the ones found in literature.
4.4 Traffic monitoring and management
The traffic monitoring and management system is an ITS technology that is composed of monitoring tools, typically cameras for video monitoring and detectors for the characterisation of the flow, which allow for the transmission of data with the purpose of being able to better manage traffic with related issues. The objective is to provide the control centre operators with the real-time information on the traffic situation and on the weather conditions, which must be collected and processed in order to act in case of congestion or an emergency. Thanks to the monitoring operation, which is usually carried out with the mentioned tools integrated into new or existing systems, it is possible to manage in an optimal way any situation that occurs on the monitored road section. A particular case is given by video monitoring in tunnels, which allows a more rapid transmission of information regarding critical events to the control centre and therefore immediate intervention and diffusion of this information to users via VMS. Some useful tools for the optimal management of critical events such as accidents are the traffic management scenarios, which allow for the implementation of correct intervention measures to
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inform users and manage traffic. The measures taken for intervention management must be as coordinated and region-wide as possible, as to achieve a greater effectiveness, especially in cases of large extraordinary events. The expected impacts from this ITS service are certainly the optimisation of interventions and problem management, thanks to the coordination and the timeliness of the detection of irregularities; these measures lead to a better management of traffic flow and of users, with the help of information diffusion and the application of the most appropriate intervention scenarios. Typically, one of the expected results is the reduction of journey times, but also a decrease in traffic jams as well as a reduction in the number of accidents and polluting emissions. Regarding safety, it must be considered that the secondary accidents not only have to be reduced but, thanks to the real-time identification of events via video monitoring, an expected impact is also the reduction of intervention times, above all in cases of serious and dangerous accidents, such as those in tunnels. The assessment of traffic monitoring and management have different objectives according to the context in which the system is applied and to the final objective that should be achieved; the main ones are: • Estimate the positive effects of monitoring and management on travel time on the motorway; • Calculate the difference between detection times of traffic issues and response times with and without traffic control; • Verify the efficiency of a better coordinated measurement system, especially in the case of events that have a significant impact on extensive areas of the network; • Evaluate the effects of monitoring and intervention measures on safety and, in particular, on the number of accidents; • Estimate the indirect effects of optimised traffic management on the environment. In this context several projects were developed on the Ursa Major corridor, among which in particular there are three projects more focused on the traffic monitoring phase and one project linked to traffic management and the coordination of intervention. The analysed studies are the following: • Road/traffic monitoring on A4/A31 – BS – PD: consists of upgrading the existing systems and of the installation of new elements along the A4 and A31 motorways in the north-east of Italy. The implementation of the system is aimed at improving the level of service and the safety level for freight services and the reduction of traffic slowdowns due to HGVs; • TCC and data exchange (DATEXII) upgrading: the elements analysed are two twin-tube tunnels, namely San Domenico and San Rocco where this system is installed to detect problems (such as fire, smoke, stationary vehicles in the tunnel) and improve the emergency management time; • Traffic monitoring and control in A24/A25 – Strada dei Parchi S.p.A.: evaluation of the implementation of the monitoring system and of the information service on the A24/A25 motorways in the central part of Italy from Rome to the Adriatic coast. The two motorways have a lot of bridges/overpasses and tunnels that are vulnerable points from a transport point of view; • Regiodesk: Improve accessibility with traffic management scenarios: coordination-centre called Regiodesk (Regional desk South-Holland) which centralises the development of coordinated measures following events occurring on the road network, taking full advantage of ITS for monitoring and management already installed in the region (such as VMS, traffic signal control, ramp metering). As mentioned, the considered area is the South-Holland
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region around Rotterdam and the Hague, with a strong presence of truck traffic due to the Rotterdam harbour and commuters who make the analysed network vulnerable to disruptions in traffic. To achieve the objectives of these applications, the following technologies were installed: • Video monitoring: for traffic control and automatic incident detection, in particular they detect congestions, slow traffic, stationary vehicle, counter vehicle, fire, smoke, traffic volume and speed; • Traffic detectors: instruments that detect the number of vehicles on the different lanes, their speeds, the vehicle classification, abnormal situations; all this information provides the definition of traffic status; • Weather detectors: weather stations that monitor different indicators such as the temperature, pressure and atmospheric humidity, brightness, meteoric precipitation, presence of ice, snow etc.; • SOS warning posts: allow users who need help to contact the service centre through a cabled network by pressing one button in the column; • User signalling systems: composed of VMS, cross arrow, etc., are used to transmit information to users in order to manage the traffic flow for certain events; • New tools and HW/SW upgrading for TCC: the systems inside the TCC are upgraded to manage these new systems, during the installation of new tools. Data transmission to the centre occurs with new fibre optic cables. The evaluations that are described in this paragraph were made all ex-post and provide interesting results especially relating to impacts on traffic efficiency and safety. 4.4.1 Impact on traffic efficiency
Results of UM evaluation studies The impacts on traffic outlined in the Italian project Road/traffic monitoring on A4/A31 – BS – PD are linked to a better management of traffic flows. Thanks to the continuous monitoring of the motorways involved in the project, the information relating to various problems and extraordinary flow situations converge to the traffic control centre, which implements the procedures to inform users about the situation and allows them to avoid congestion and secondary accidents or to change route. Or again, it allows for the efficient intervention of rescue teams, an impact highlighted by the TCC and data exchange (DATEXII) upgrading project. In this case the reduction of critical event management time allows for action to be taken more rapidly in order to better manage the event and therefore limit as much as possible the delays and potential secondary incidents. These operations generally lead to a reduction in congestion problems with regards to results in traffic efficiency. On the same motorway in Italy, another study to be developed and assessed was Traffic monitoring and control in A24/A25 – Strada dei Parchi S.p.A., which introduces results connected to monitoring and the consequent management of traffic flow. An analysis of travel time, compared with the variation in traffic flow over the years, was carried out: the travel time saw an improvement of between 2,7% and 4,2% which, even though it may seem a small percentage, becomes interesting when compared with the increase in traffic flow during the same period, that is between 1,5% and 4,6% of light vehicles and between 2,3% and 6,8% of HGV.
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The last Ursa Major project evaluated is related to the coordination of different ITS services between the traffic management centre of Rijkswaterstaat, the South Holland province and some municipalities for the improvement of traffic management, entitled Regiodesk: Improve accessibility with traffic management scenarios. The ITS services managed by Regiodesk are: VMS, ramp metering systems and traffic signal control systems, which lead to impacts mainly related to traffic efficiency. The assessment was made considering 4 events, during which it was calculated that, thanks to the application of the system, a reduction in VHL was obtained of between 468 (-42%) and 4.207 (-86%), on average 838 VHL less. From this index it was possible to obtain cost savings between 6.000 € and 55.000 € for the 4 events considered. It was estimated, based on other case studies, that, for a regular rush hour, VHL saved is expected to be between 6 and 11. As for the case of the monitoring of Italian projects, the coordination of systems are also for all ITS services that lead to an optimised traffic management and therefore to a smoother traffic, less traffic jams, less danger for users and, in general, less congestion. Results from other projects and literature review Regarding traffic monitoring and management, several results from the literature are described, even if some are in contrast with the positive impacts obtained on the Ursa Major corridor. Considering the problem of the performance of monitoring and alarm systems, the evaluation of the project Emergency call and monitoring system [36] is worthy of consideration. The impacts on traffic efficiency given by the development of this system are similar to those already highlighted, i.e. a more rapid intervention of emergency services, a reduction in the number of interventions and, moreover, a percentage of avoided congestion of 0,4% per year was calculated. The monitoring systems were installed in different European corridors and evaluated in projects such as EasyWay, which includes Deployment of road monitoring in accesses CV-30, CV-31, CV-365, V- 11 in Valencia TCC [14], which shows how there are fewer road stretches with low mean speed and that the number of traffic jams has decreased by 16,1% over three years. Also in Valencia, another project was developed, named All types of equipment for road monitoring. Management and Operation TCC/TICs. Valencia [46]. In this case the impacts on traffic efficiency are not positive, because the system overall resulted in increased congestion from 2010 to 2011 and an increased number of total traffic jams. Thus, on roads that traditionally had severe problems, the system helped to reduce congestion (a reduction of 45,12% in one congested road). In literature there are many projects related to traffic management and they often include the control and coordination of a variety of ITS technologies installed. This is the case of the project ITS on the Helsingør Motorway-Denmark [52], which includes data monitoring, incident and queue warning, travel time info and dynamic lane management, even if the focus of the project is the coordination of the systems. The assessed results are positive and correspond to an increase in traffic volume of 1%/2%, a reduction in average travel time in peak hours between 3% and 17% and a reduction in time spent in queue during peak hours between 5% and 12%. In the study Integrated Traffic Management at Junction 33 of the M1 [16] the coordination and improvement of traffic efficiency is realised with the help of ramp metering. The results show a weighted reduction in journey time of 8,7% using the local road network, a value that becomes 9,8% during peak hours. With only ramp metering, applied on the previous section, the average journey time saved was around 9,1%, but the measured benefit following the installation of the Integrated Traffic Management increased this to 14,7%. The analysis Evaluation No-Regrets Traffic Management Programme [19] estimated the benefit-cost ratio for every piece of equipment, which comes to 1,2 for Motorway Traffic Management, 1,0 for Incident Management cameras and 5,6 considering VMS for incidents. It was also estimated with a simulation model that each VMS can save 100 VHL per incident.
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Finally, the project Praktijkproef Amsterdam (Practice Trial Amsterdam - PTA) [7], which is part of EasyWay, is considered. The impacts on traffic efficiency are several and overall positive. It was estimated that the application led to an increase in vehicle km driven between 2% and 2,5% during peak hours, a reduction of VHL of 7,9% in the evening peak but an increase of 3,7% in the morning peak, this can be considered as an average VHL reduction of 3,6% during peak periods. The reduction in congestion rate is higher during the evening peak and it was estimated, considering peak hours, to be equal to -5,7%. Travel time was also evaluated but it was demonstrated that the variation is very low and that in some case it even increases. 4.4.2 Impact on safety
Results of UM evaluation studies The variation in the number of accidents generated by the installation of this ITS type is the main result obtained from the evaluation Road/traffic monitoring on A4/A31 – BS – PD. As in a project mentioned in the previous paragraph, in this case as well the safety index was compared to the traffic flow variations. The calculations were performed to evaluate the change over two years, both before the installation of the system, and the change between the year after the installation and the year before. In the first case, considering an increase in traffic flow of +18,79%, the increase in the number of accidents was of +28,07%. In the second case, i.e. the before/after comparison, the increase in traffic flow (+16,98%) is bigger than the increase in accidents (+10,94%) and both percentages are smaller than the ones of the first case considered. An overall result can be calculated by comparing the variation in the number of accidents with that of traffic over three years. The ratio between the number of accidents and the flow decreased by 7% in the year of activation of the system, with respect to the previous year without the ITS. From the other Italian studies TCC and data exchange (DATEXII) upgrading and Traffic monitoring and control in A24/A25 – Strada dei Parchi S.p.A., both regarding the systems installed in the tunnels and along the motorway, qualitative considerations on the increase in safety emerged. It can be obtained as an indirect result thanks to the video monitoring system, which allows for a reduction in emergency management time, which leads to less chances of congestion and therefore of accidents. Similar considerations were made for the impacts of Regiodesk: Improve accessibility with traffic management scenarios, since the coordination of the different control centres and of ITS has the primary purpose of reducing congestion and therefore accidents, but also the better management of emergencies in order to promptly activate rescue teams and limit the severity of the consequences of critical events. It can be considered that monitoring, especially video monitoring, can lead to positive impacts on detection and intervention time with regards to the control centre in case of critical events, with an optimisation of management if scenarios are used and if there is a coordination of TCC. Results from other projects and literature review The analysed studies taken from literature and, in particular, from the European project EasyWay, confirm the benefits provided by the ITS service under consideration. The already mentioned evaluation of Deployment of road monitoring in accesses CV-30, CV-31, CV- 365, V-11 in Valencia TCC [14] showed how this system helped to reduce the number of accidents by 21% between the years 2007 and 2010 on a portion of the considered road. Also, in the project belonging to Serti, named All types of equipment for road monitoring. Management and Operation TCC/TICs. Valencia [46] a maximum reduction of 32% from 2010 to 2011 in the number of accidents was calculated, analysing the data splitted per area. Considering all areas and the same years, a reduction can be seen in all of them, with a maximum improvement of 14,63%.
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In the field of traffic management, the project ITS on the Helsingør Motorway-Denmark [52], shows that the coordination of different systems led to an almost halved number of personal injury accidents but that in the evaluation period the number of accidents with material damage increased (an aspect that can be due to the improvement of traffic flow and to the increase in speed). In Arc Atlantique, in the AG-64 Traffic Control and Traffic Management ITS deployment [1] and AG- 55 Traffic Control and Traffic Management ITS deployment [2] projects, an index (KPI) was calculated using this formula (adapted from EURORAP RISK INDEX´s formula): ∆푓푎푡푎푙푖푡푖푒푠 푎푛푑 푠푒푟푖표푢푠 푖푛푗푢푟푖푒푠 퐾푃퐼 = (365 ∗ 퐴퐷푇 ∗ 퐿) × 106 Where ADT is Average Daily Traffic and L is the length of the section considered. In the considered section of AG-64 this index is equal to 0,007, with a value of Socio-economic Benefit/Investment = 0,24, for the section of AG-55 this KPI was 0,017, with Socio-economic Benefit/Investment = 1,47. Interesting results with regards to safety were also obtained with the analysis of Evaluation No- Regrets Traffic Management Programme [19], where a percentage of reduction in the number of accidents with damage in about one year was calculated to be equal to 49%, with an estimate of 12 accidents with casualties that can be prevented yearly, and total savings of up to 580.000 € per year. The last project mentioned, System Enhancements [8], reports only qualitative information, stating that the number of accidents on the two involved roads decreased year by year, as well as the number of serious and slight injuries, thanks to the traffic management system. 4.4.3 Impact on environment
Results of UM evaluation studies The traffic monitoring and management, as well as the coordination of ITS systems installed, does not show direct impacts on the environment. Starting from the monitoring and then from the information received from TCC, it is possible to provide information to the users in order to allow them to adapt their behaviour according to the event, with the possibility of rerouting them to reduce congestion. It was estimated that the reduction in congestion brings indirect benefits to the environment, i.e. less fuel consumption and a reduction in greenhouse gases emissions. This type of ITS presents the mentioned indirect positive impacts which however were not detected or estimated in the project analysed. Results from other projects and literature review As in the case of projects developed on the Ursa Major corridor, even literature studies are not very supportive of the impact of these technologies on the environment. The evaluation in the Spanish project Deployment of road monitoring in accesses CV-30, CV-31, CV-365, V-11 in Valencia TCC [14], argues that the system installed and evaluated within EasyWay, lead to a reduction in pollution levels and in fuel consumption as a consequence of the decrease of the number of traffic jams. However, this information is not supported by numerical results coming from real monitoring. The analysis carried out in Portugal for the project Arc Atlantique, named System Enhancements [8], also included the monitoring of air quality after the installation of Traffic Control and the
Information Centre. The results show that the values of NO2 were under the contractual limit, stipulated with the Grantor and that the two motorways under examination do not have strategic bottlenecks with congestions or strong CO2 emissions. Also, in this case, the hypothesis of the positivity of impacts of this ITS service on the environment is supported and validated.
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4.4.4 Other results
Results of UM evaluation studies An interesting result is obtained from the evaluation TCC and data exchange (DATEXII) upgrading and is related to the performance of the system. In fact, the main result of this analysis is the reduction of the event detection time of video alarm, i.e. the system that detects stationary vehicles, queues, occupancy, speed and other information and sends an alert to the control centre. In particular, it was estimated that the system takes 10/20 seconds to respond. Before the application of this monitoring system, the alarm was launched by the user who had to exit the vehicle and reach an alarm site, so the response time was of about 5 minutes. The improvement given by the installation of this technology is remarkable, since the reduction of the average event detection time is 93% - 97%. As part of the project Regiodesk: Improve accessibility with traffic management scenarios a benefit- cost analysis was carried out for the years of application of the system. Specifically, the costs incurred, which derive from the development of traffic scenarios, amounted to 1,5 M€ per year. The calculation of the benefits was made considering the number of applications of the scenario, with a VOT of 13,15 €, and is equal to about 44 M€ for a period of 4 years, with costs equal to 6 M€ and a calculated benefit-cost ratio of more than 7. Results from other projects and literature review A result which recalls that described above is provided by the Emergency call and monitoring system [36] project, which reports the calculation of the arrival time of rescue teams on incident locations. These teams arrived on average 12’19’’ earlier on the location and, thanks to the monitoring of critical events, they can be provided with emergency equipment according to the different casualties. Furthermore, the number of immediate warnings for the rescue team have increased by 10% since the implementation of the new system. This time saving demonstrates once again how important the use of the described technologies is not only for managing traffic flow but also for safety, the environment and emergency services. 4.4.5 Outcomes The ITS service for traffic monitoring and management aims to optimise the management of traffic and to increase the safety through the continuous monitoring of motorways. The impacts on traffic efficiency are several and overall positive. Starting from the travel time, an increase between 2,7% and 4,2% of this index was evaluated in the Ursa Major study Traffic monitoring and control in A24/A25 – Strada dei Parchi S.p.A., that must be compared to the parallel increasing in traffic flow in the same section, especially that of heavy traffic. In studies taken from the literature [16], [52], however, the results obtained are positive and equal to a range of journey time reduction of 3% to 17%. The increase in traffic flow and the reduction in congestion are also testified by Praktijkproef Amsterdam (Practice Trial Amsterdam - PTA) [7] through the improvement of the vehicle-km driven parameter, which varies between +2% and +2,5% during peak periods. In ITS on the Helsingør Motorway-Denmark [52] the reduction in time spent in queues during peak hours was of 5% - 12%. Not always positive results are obtained from the literature: while in Deployment of road monitoring in accesses CV-30, CV-31, CV-365, V-11 in Valencia TCC [14] the number of traffic jams was reduced by 16% over three years, in All types of equipment for road monitoring. Management and Operation TCC/TICs. Valencia [46] the congestion and traffic jams decreased only on motorways already affected by severe congestion problems (-45% in one case). Again in this field, in Emergency call and monitoring system [36] it was estimated that the installation of a better monitoring system which transmits information about emergencies, can lead to a percentage of 0,4% of avoided congestion per year. On the Ursa Major corridor, a reduction of between 42% and 86% of VHL was
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achieved by Regiodesk: Improve accessibility with traffic management scenarios. These results can be compared to the ones achieved in Praktijkproef Amsterdam (Practice Trial Amsterdam - PTA) [7], where an average reduction was estimated of -3,6% VHL. From the already mentioned Ursa Major projects, it was estimated that an effective traffic management system can lead to save 6 - 11 VHL during regular rush hours, while in Evaluation No-Regrets Traffic Management Programme [19] it was stated that the use of VMS in the case of accidents can save about 100 VHL for each incident. The cost savings calculated from the analysis of certain events that occurred on the Ursa Major project Regiodesk: Improve accessibility with traffic management scenarios, were between 6.000 € and 55.000 €. A final but not less interesting result provided by Evaluation No-Regrets Traffic Management Programme [19], is the benefit-cost ratio for each element that generally makes up the ITS service for traffic monitoring and management; the results show a ratio of 1,2 for the Motorway Traffic Management, 1 for the Incident Management Cameras and 5,6 for the VMS used in the case of incidents. The impact on safety is not only focused on the reduction of the number of accidents, but also on the reduction of the intervention time for emergency services during critical events. In several analyses from the literature [8], [14], [19], [46], [52], the number of incidents saw a decrease ranging between 15% and 49%, with a very similar percentage also for accidents involving personal injuries, which in one analysed case was -50%. Within the field of Ursa Major, in particular in Road/traffic monitoring on A4/A31 – BS – PD, a decrease of -7% in the ratio between number of accidents and traffic flow was calculated after the installation, compared to previous years. In assessment studies taken from the literature [1], [2], the indicator evaluated and connected to safety was a KPI calculated with the Eurorap Risk Index formula, which turned out equal 0,007 in one case and 0,017 in another. The same motorway stretches obtained a benefit-cost ratio of between 0,24 and 1,47. Moreover, in Evaluation No-Regrets Traffic Management Programme [19] an annual reduction of accident-related costs was calculated to be equal to 580.000 €. For the assessment of the impact on environment, qualitatively it is possible to state that traffic monitoring and management leads to lower emissions and fuel consumption, as a consequence of the reduction of congestion. Only in one case taken from literature, System Enhancements [8], the air quality and the noise level were monitored, showing that the values of NO2 after the application of the system remain below the thresholds established by the Grantor. Other results of this ITS service are related to a reduction in the event detection time of video alarms of between 93% and 97% in the Ursa Major project TCC and data exchange (DATEXII) upgrading. A new system developed in Emergency call and monitoring system [36] leads to a 12’19’’ time saving for the arrival of rescue teams at the location. In Regiodesk: Improve accessibility with traffic management scenarios, benefits equal to about 44 M€, with a benefit-cost ratio of more than 7 were estimated for the four years of application of the system of coordinated traffic management scenarios. The traffic monitoring and management system led to overall positive impacts, especially regarding the better management of traffic flow and safety, with the reduction of congestion, accidents and all that follows. In this case it was not possible to obtain quantitative information regarding the variation in emissions and fuel consumption.
4.5 Variable speed limits
The ITS service called Variable Speed Limits (VSL) is usually applied to cases where the speed limits must be adapted to different traffic conditions. In practice, real-time data is collected; on the basis of this data the system defines the variation of speed limits, which are communicated to users through variable message signs (VMS). The cases for which the application of this system may be
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necessary are, for example, the presence of frequent congestion or traffic jams, accidents or obstacles on the road, bad weather conditions and road works. One of the main objectives of variable speed limits is to increase the throughput of the road sections, with a consequent reduction of travel time and, more generally, of congestion. This is achieved by slowing down the traffic flow upstream of the stretch with problems, in order to avoid the worsening of the congestion situation, thus optimising the use of the road. With regards to safety and the environment, it must be taken into account that speed reduction leads to a reduction in emissions and fuel consumption, as well as a decrease in secondary accidents during events of congestion and in the severity of the same events in the case of a crash. The expected impact of variable speed limits is the optimisation of the motorway capacity, making traffic flow smoother, reducing congestion and delays, while making the road safer and reducing its impact on the environment. The evaluation of this ITS service, which is made considering the system when turned off (ex-ante) compared with the system turned on (ex-post), focuses on the following points: • Analyse the improvement of road capacity and the impacts deriving from it, such as the change in travel time, traffic flow, delays; • Calculate the results connected to safety and the environment provided by the application of variable speed limits in a stretch of motorway. In particular, the variations in the number of accidents and emissions were evaluated. The variable speed limits were implemented in the Swiss project Variable speed limit and danger warning system A1 VBS Lenzburg-Birrfeld (LeBi) developed on a very important and congested section of the motorway between Bern and Zurich, where often speeds during peak hours are under 60 km/h and where heavy accidents occur. The installed system includes the application of new speed limits, which vary according to traffic conditions and danger warnings. The tools used for the application of this ITS are: • VMS: panels that display variable speed limits and also show danger signs in case of queues, accidents, etc.; • Traffic incident detectors: loops that detect the volume of traffic and the travel speed of vehicles; • CCTV: systems equipped with cameras that transmit the signal to monitors, which allow the monitoring of the road situation by the staff. 4.5.1 Impact on traffic efficiency
Results of UM evaluation studies The project Variable speed limit and danger warning system A1 VBS Lenzburg-Birrfeld (LeBi) applied in Switzerland demonstrates that the ITS service of variable speed limits lead to overall positive impacts, especially on throughput. In fact, the improvement of traffic flow is between 5% and 7,5% vehicles per hour, and with the system turned-off the travel speeds are reduced even further. Results from other projects and literature review An interesting study was conducted in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, Spain, with the evaluation carried out both by EasyWay and MedTIS which is entitled Dynamic Speed Control in the metropolitan area of Barcelona [12], [38], [45]. Even though this application is on peri-urban
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corridors, a different situation compared to the application on the Swiss motorway, the quantitative results can be considered representative all the same. The impacts obtained by this application of variable speed limits are provided by drivers who can drive at very low speeds, reaching very high occupancy rates and preventing the traffic from breaking down. The application also decreases the inter-lane speed variations and, in case of congested states, a clearly subcritical speed limit lead to a reduction in the inter-lane variance of occupancy and traffic flow. Regarding the speeds, in the involved roads a reduction in speeds was detected between 9,2% and 12,9% with the system in operation, with a decrease in the same period of traffic flow between 0% and 10% and a reduction in speed deviation of -46,6%. Another important aspect highlighted by this service is that travel times during peak hours have small differences considering the situations before and after the implementation of VSL. The annual benefit given by the decrease in travel time is between 658.000 € and 820.000 €, calculated considering the two roads involved in the project. As for congestion, interesting results are given by the evaluation of the Congestion Factor, which is the product of the average length of stretch subject to congestion and the duration of the congestion, which over four months in 2009 (after the implementation of VSL) highlighted a reduction of 55% compared to the previous year. The final indicator mentioned is the number of stop&go phenomena during peak periods on an examined motorway, an interesting indicator that provides information on the formation of traffic jams and therefore on congestion. From the assessment of the parameter what can be observed is that after the application of the analysed ITS there was a stop&go reduction of 33%. Also the Speed control evaluation on the A13 motorway (France) [17] was analysed, which determines, as a benefit of the variable speed limits, a reduction of 50% in total length of congestion during weekdays, with negative results on the weekends, where it is shown that after the implementation of the service, worse congestion was observed. In Italy the VSL was implemented and evaluated through Evaluation of the dynamic speed control system on the Mestre Beltway [35]. The impacts on traffic efficiency highlighted are about speed, where an improvement of journey speed of 3,29% in average was detected for the whole day, with a maximum of 5,73% of increase during peak hours (from 68,8 km/h to 72,7 km/h). The standard deviation of speed was reduced by 6% on the whole carriageway during peak period, a value that indicates a reduction in speed changes and therefore in stop&go phenomena. In addition to these indicators, a variation in density of -6,86% was also assessed, with a maximum of -9,42% during peak periods, and the hours under congestion before and after the variable speed limits, showing a reduction of 15,24% for the whole day, with a maximum reduction of 21,43% during peak hours. In the EasyWay project the evaluation described in Traffic controlled variable speed limits, Sweden [56] was carried out and shows that the variable speed limits generate a 5% reduction in travel time, with a maximum of 15% considering the queue situations. Turning this improvement into economic savings, a value of 36 million SEK/year (approximately 3,5 M€) was obtained. The results described by the project M1/A12 Westlink VMSL Evaluation Report [49], where VMSL is Variable Mandatory Speed Limit, are: an increase of 1% in the 80th percentile flow, a decrease in journey time between 2% and 14%, an improvement of the overall journey time reliability, a calculation of 30-year benefits equal to £ 51,6 million (61,2 M€) given by the reduction in average journey times and equal to £ 30,3 million (35,9 M€) from the increased time reliability. The last two projects analysed belong to EasyWay and from the first, entitled Evaluation Field Trials with Dynamic Speed Limits [25], the evaluation of impacts gained from five field tests was obtained; it shows a reduction in travel time of 7%, and 8% of shockwaves solved by the applied algorithm, a better throughput (with a reduction of 1% - 1,5% of VHL), an increase of 8% in capacity and an average decrease of 200 - 400 VHL per day in number of VHL due to delay. From the second project,
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named Field Trial with Dynamic Speed Limits – A20 Rotterdam (NL) [32], it emerges that with the help of variable speed limits it was possible to obtain an improvement of approximately 4% to traffic flow, due to an increase in the free capacity at the main bottleneck, and a reduction of 8% in traffic congestion and of 3% in travel time. All the described impacts demonstrate how the VSL has positive results on various parameters linked to traffic efficiency, among which the most important ones are: improvement of travel times, improvement of journey speed, reduction in congestion and stop&go phenomena. 4.5.2 Impact on safety
Results of UM evaluation studies In the Swiss motorway section where the VSL was installed, the accident rate was monitored for four weeks in the year of implementation of the system, both with the system turned on and off. A number of accidents equal to 3 in the first case and 5 in the second case with 5 slightly injured people were detected; it can be deduced that in the monitored weeks there were no significant differences with and without the application of the ITS. Statistically, the number of accidents and injured recorded is in the average for the analysed year, in which 75 accidents with 52 slightly injured and 4 seriously injured people during peak hours occurred. It can be concluded that in this implementation the variable speed limits do not prove to have an impact on safety, however, the brevity of the observation period performed for the evaluation of the project must also be taken into account. Results from other projects and literature review Some of the results relating to safety were shown by EasyWay projects, such as Speed control evaluation on the A13 motorway (France) [17]. The assessment of the impacts and, in particular, of the number of accidents in the previous year and after the installation of the system, shows that the VSL led to a variation of -17% with regards to accidents on the analysed motorway section. The already mentioned implementation in the area of Barcelona, described in different projects named Dynamic Speed Control in the metropolitan area of Barcelona [12], [38], [45] led to positive results in the field of safety, with a reduction in the number of accidents of 64,2% compared to the data of two previous years, of -65,5% in the casualties with seriously injured and of -40,7% in injured. The project MedTIS which considers the same area, shows an initial improvement in the year of implementation of the project and a worsening in the following years in one considered road (-2,5% number of accidents in the first year, +13,75% and +3,75% in the following two years, with respect to the average value over the years before the installation). Also in France, a project of variable speed limits was evaluated in Variable speed limits implementation [41]. The results are connected to safety and, in particular show that, considering both directions and all periods merged together, there was a reduction in the number of injury accidents of 44% and in the total number of accidents and victims of 25% with a strong decrease in the gravity of accidents. The positive impacts obtained from the evaluations described up to this point are further confirmed by the implementation of the VSL in Sweden, described in Traffic controlled variable speed limits, Sweden [56]. Through the analysis of this system the reduction of the accident ratio (number of accidents per million vehicle km) is shown as an impact on safety: after two years from activation it was equal to 20% along one examined road, which is a good result, but it is assumed that only 10% is due to the implementation of VSL. Translated into economic savings, this result is worth 2 million SEK/year (approximately 200.000 €/year).
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4.5.3 Impact on environment
Results of UM evaluation studies During the monitoring period, it was not possible to record changes in air quality or other aspects linked to the environment. However, as well as for other ITS services, there are indirect results, mainly due to the improvement of the traffic flow situation which leads to the reduction of congestion and therefore to overall positive impacts on the environment. Results from other projects and literature review The positive impacts on the environment are linked both to the reduction of congestion and to the reduction of speed limits and of its standard deviation. In the evaluation of the already mentioned EasyWay and MedTIS project Dynamic Speed Control in the metropolitan area of Barcelona [12], [38], [45] an estimate of the emissions and their variation was made, which came to -12,4% of CO, -2,2% of NH3, between -9,2% and -13% NOX, -9,7% of
PM2,5, between -8,7% and -13% of PM10 and -8% of SO2. From the evaluation made in the MedTIS project of the same area around Barcelona, developed in
2012, on the other hand, a reduction of 10% in PM10 and NOX was estimated for the first months of implementation, an improvement mainly due to the general reduction of the fixed speed limits which occurred before the VSL implementation. In the urban context a variable speed limits system was implemented, described in Implementation of dynamic speed regulation on urban fast lanes on the Lorrain Corridor (A31) [24] for which an ex- ante estimate of the emissions and fuel consumption was made; the reduction of fuel consumption is between 0,5% and 3% and the reduction of pollutants and greenhouse gas is between 0,5% and
6% (where greenhouse gases are CO, CO2, NOX, COV and Particulates). In the project Evaluation Field Trials with Dynamic Speed Limits [25] the reduction in the number of days exceeding the concentration norm of PM10 by 1,9 days was calculated and it was found that the traffic contribution of particulate matter and NOX emissions appeared to decline by 18%. Finally, some results are reported about the not entirely positive impacts of the VSL on the environment. The first project considered is Field Trial with Dynamic Speed Limits-A20 Rotterdam (NL) [32]. The results obtained relate to the air quality, which overall worsened; in particular during day time the total emissions of NOX and PM10 increased respectively between 3,7% and 4,8% and between 3,6% and 4,1% but where the flow is most improved, the increase is only of 1,5% for NOX and 1% for PM10. Considering the noise level, a 0,2 dB increase in noise was measured, particularly in the peak periods. The last project considered is EasyWay’s Traffic controlled variable speed limits, Sweden [56]. In this case however the impacts are not positive, in fact the CO2 emissions and fuel consumption result slightly increased, due to the raised speed; it must be considered that the influence of a more homogeneous traffic flow was not included in this estimate. An increase in environmental costs of 5% was calculated, equal to 2,6 million SEK/year (approximately 250.000 €/year). 4.5.4 Other results
Results of UM evaluation studies In the examined project a danger warning system, which displays dangers detected on the road section on VMS, was installed together with the variable speed limits service. No direct impacts of this service were evaluated but, from previous studies, it is well known that it is very useful, especially in case of broken-down vehicles, accidents and road works. The benefits of this ITS are mainly linked
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to safety as it aims to reduce the number of accidents, limit their severity and reduce the secondary accidents. Results from other projects and literature review In the study Traffic controlled variable speed limits, Sweden [56] a calculation on economic benefits and costs was made for each component of impacts. Economic savings provided by the improvements in travel time were estimated to be equal to 36 million SEK/year (approximately 3,5 M€/year), the savings in the number of injury accidents were of 2 million SEK/year (approximately 200.000 €/year) and the increase in environmental costs were calculated to be equal to 2,6 million SEK/year (approximately 250.000 €/year). Considering that the total costs of the project (investment and operation) over 20 years are of 37,2 million SEK (approximately 3,6 M€), a positive benefit-cost ratio of more than 10 can be estimated, considering the overall benefits of this ITS service. 4.5.5 Outcomes
The variable speed limits show interesting results relative to impacts on traffic efficiency. First of all, it is mentioned that there is an increase in traffic flow, which in the case of Ursa Major corridor (Variable speed limit and danger warning system A1 VBS Lenzburg-Birrfeld (LeBi) project) was improved by between +5% and +7,5% vehicles per hour. This result is coherent with the values obtained in other studies [25], [32], where an increase of 4% - 8% was estimated; only in the case of Dynamic Speed Control in the metropolitan area of Barcelona [12], [38], [45] the traffic flow decreased between 0% and -10% compared to the situation without the ITS service. These improvements are connected to a 1% - 1,5% reduction in VHL calculated in Evaluation Field Trials with Dynamic Speed Limits [25]. In general, in the Ursa Major project, and not only, it was stated that the variable speed limits can hardly prevent congestion, except in Field Trial with Dynamic Speed Limits – A20 Rotterdam (NL) [32], where the reduction in traffic congestion was equal to 8%. Connected to this result, other indicators were estimated, such as the Congestion Factor, which highlights a reduction of 55% using this ITS, and the total length of congestion, which reached -50% during week days. Also in studies taken from literature [12], [25], [35], [38], [45], a reduction of 33% in stop&go phenomena was estimated, as well as a variation of the density equal to -6,86%, with a maximum of -9,42% during peak periods, a reduction in hours under congestion of 15,24%, with a maximum of 21,43% for peak hours and 8% of shockwaves solved with the help of VSL. Considering travel time, there are applications for which no variation in travel time were recorded, while in other contexts an improvement of the indicator ranging between 2% and 15% was estimated [12], [25], [32], [38], [45], [49], [56]. Connected to travel time, in other projects [12], [38], [45] the annual benefits due to the improvement of this parameter with variable speed limits were calculated to be equal to 685.000 €/820.000 € yearly. In M1/A12 Westlink VMSL Evaluation Report [49] the 30-year benefits given by the reduction of journey time were equal to about 61,2 M€ and the benefit given by the increased time reliability is equal to about 35,9 M€. Considering the change in speeds, in the Ursa Major the travel speeds are even further reduced without VSL, as well as in Evaluation of the dynamic speed control system on the Mestre Beltway [35] where there was an increase in speeds between +3,39% and 5,73%; on the contrary there are other studies from the literature [12], [38], [45] where the speeds were reduced by between 9,2% and 12,9%. In the literature the standard deviation of speed was estimated, in particular in peak periods it can be observed to be reduced by 6% thanks to VSL [35], with a value of -46,6% of calculated speed deviation in other projects [12], [38], [45]. In the field of impacts on safety, the indicators strictly connected to variation of accidents were evaluated, but no significant results were found. Regarding the number of accidents, in the Ursa Major project no significant changes were detected between before and after the application of the system, while in the literature [12], [17], [38], [41], [45] a reduction of between 2,5% and 17%, with a maximum of 64,2% was evaluated. Interesting results were provided by a study taken from the
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literature [12], where it was shown that for the first year a decrease in the number of accidents was observed, while for the following years an increase of +13,75% and +3,75% was estimated. The number of accident with injured in several evaluations [38], [41], [45] shows a higher reduction, equal to -44%/-65,5%, as well as the number of injured, which decrease by 40,7%. The last indicator considered is the accident ratio, which saw a reduction of about 20% in Traffic controlled variable speed limits, Sweden [56]. A lot of analyses and estimates were made to evaluate the impact on environment provided by the variable speed limits with controversial final results. The Ursa Major evaluation stated that, with the reduction of congestion provided by VSL, the overall impacts on the environment are positive. In Implementation of dynamic speed regulation on urban fast lanes on the Lorrain Corridor (A31) [24], the reduction in pollutants and greenhouse gases is between 0,5% and 6%. Considering the elements as separate, the NOX decreased in more than one case by a range of between around 10% to 18%, as well as the PM10 which presented the same range of reduction even if in Field Trial with Dynamic Speed Limits-A20 Rotterdam (NL) [32] an increase of between +1% and +4% was registered. Other elements considered in evaluations [12], [24], [25], [32], [38], [45] are CO2, which in one case was monitored as slightly increased, a reduction in CO of 12,4%, a decrease of 2,2% in
NH3, of 8% in SO2 and finally a reduction in PM2,5 of 9,7%. Regarding fuel consumption, again in the literature [24], [56], controversial results were found, because it shows a reduction of 0,5% - 3% in one case, while in another it was slightly increased. Also, noise emissions were monitored in Field Trial with Dynamic Speed Limits-A20 Rotterdam (NL) [32] and they turned out to have increased by 0,2 dB. An economical consideration was provided by Traffic controlled variable speed limits,
Sweden [56] where an increase of 5% in environmental costs was assessed, considering CO2 and fuel consumption; this worsening in emissions and consumption was calculated to be equal to approximately 250.000 €/year. From the Ursa Major project no other results were provided. In a study taken from literature, Traffic controlled variable speed limits, Sweden [56], it is shown that the savings provided by travel time were of approximately 3,5 M€/year, the savings in terms of the number of injury accidents were of approximately 200.000 €/year and the increase in environmental costs were calculated to be equal to approximately 250.000 €/year. With a total cost over 20 years of approximately 3,6 M€, the benefit- cost ratio is over 10.
4.6 Other ITS services
4.6.1 Avoiding rush hour
The Dutch project Avoiding rush hour focuses on the reward for users who decide to not use their car to cross some stretches of motorways around Rotterdam during evening rush hours, i.e. from 15.00 to 18.00 for a little longer than a year. The application was started at the same time as large-scale road works to add a lane on the involved roads, with the aim of eliminating the additional impacts caused by these works on traffic and on the already existing congestion problem. In fact, the affected motorway is considered one of the most important in the Netherlands, as well as being the only link between the hinterland and the harbour of Rotterdam, which generates high truck traffic and work-related traffic in and from the harbour. Users who participated in the project were able to choose between different travel alternatives, i.e. travelling in other hours of the afternoon, using alternative roads, travelling by other means of transport, such as by public transport or by bicycle, not travelling at all by working from home, for example. The payment fee was of 6 € for each avoidance, reduced later to 3 €.
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Since this kind of project had already been carried out in the Netherlands, similar results were expected in this case too, for example an average number of rush hour avoidances per day of 1.100, which should lead to a reduction in traffic flow and therefore positive impacts on delay reduction and an overall congestion decrease during rush hours. The evaluation of the project was carried out with the following main objectives: • Calculate the number of users that participate in the program; • Evaluate the effect of the project on the traffic flow, if it is effective in eliminating the problem of congestion during road works; • Estimate the impacts on the environment due to the traffic reduction during the considered rush hours; • Check whether the users’ behaviour, i.e. avoiding rush hours, was maintained even after the end of the project or if they go back to their usual behaviour. The project was assessed ex-post, i.e. after the end of the programme and of the road works. To analyse whether users maintained a similar behaviour even after the end of the programme, some monitoring tools also remained active for a few months thereafter. For the activation of this project the following technological tools were used: • Video monitoring: cameras that detect licence plates and therefore allow to calculate the number of times the user crosses the considered road stretches, before, during and after the project. Impact on traffic efficiency During the ex-ante evaluation two indices linked to the changes in traffic flow due to avoidance were assessed: vehicle kilometres driven and VHL. The analysis showed a net effect of -51.456 vehicle kilometres driven and of -794 VHL per day for approximately one year. From these values it was possible to deduce that each avoided trip during rush hour in the project activation period leads to 35 - 36 less vehicle kilometres driven and to a reduction in VHL of between 0,5 and 0,6. The calculations performed through the information provided by monitoring the affected sections of the road show how the project was well received, obtained a good participation and above all managed to reach the objective of a positive impact on traffic efficiency during the road works. Impact on safety The impact on safety has not been directly investigated in the evaluation. Impact on environment Interesting results emerge from the estimation of the reduction of polluting emissions obtained as a result of the activation of the project. In fact, it is estimated that 367 tons of CO2 were saved during the active period of the project, along with 624 kg of NOX and 35 kg of PM10. The overall impacts linked to the environment are positive considering the activation period of the project. In evaluating the long-term effects deriving from the continuation of rush hour avoidance by the users were analysed. Considering the estimated savings for the activation period, after three years the effects could be 38% higher while, considering a 10-year period, there would be a rise in emission reduction equal to 86%. Other results The total number of participants in the project is 5.049 users, which corresponds to a value of about 1.493 people on average per day who avoided driving during rush hours in the afternoon in the
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examined area. This value exceeds the expected 1.100 avoidances per day, which is an improvement of 35%. By calculating the percentage reduction in the number of trips that users made at peak periods with respect to regular conditions, it was found that the participants performed 51% less trips than usual. An interesting aspect is related to the alternative choices of participants: 45% of users changed their route, avoiding the area, 38% changed their travel time, avoiding rush hours, 13% of the users did not travel, working from home, and 4% used an alternative transport mode, of which 3% chose to travel by bicycle and 1% by public transport. In this context long-term the user behaviour was also analysed after the end of the project. Through previous studies applied to the examined case, it was obtained that the number of people avoiding rush hours decreases rapidly after the initial period, up to about 50 participants after 2 years. A final interesting result is provided by the benefit-cost analysis of the project. The total cost of the development of Avoiding rush hour was of 4,2 M€, of which less than 2 M€ were used for the reward of the participants. The benefits are lower during the activation period of the project, but grow after the end of the project, considering that some users will maintain the habit of avoiding driving on some stretches of motorways during peak hours. The calculation of the benefit-cost ratio, as anticipated, is not positive, i.e. 0,7 in the activation period. If the following three years are considered, however the ratio becomes positive and equal to 1,1. It is only by considering the next 10 years that the ratio is back below 1 because it is assumed that most of users return to the original route and time choice. The benefit-cost ratio is lower than others calculated for similar projects, this can be because bikes and public transport did not represent a good alternative in this part of the hinterland of Rotterdam; this aspect also can contribute to the early return to old habits of using cars and driving during rush hour. 4.6.2 Extension of motorway exits and entrances
A project involving a number of junctions on the Swiss motorway A1, consists of the extension of the entry and exit lanes, in particular with an extension from 1 to 1,5 km using the existing hard shoulder. In addition to the change in length, signage equipment and road markings were adopted based on Swiss standards. The junctions involved in Extension of motorway exits and entrances are Aarau-Ost, Lenzburg, Mägenwil and Birrfeld, all on the A1, characterised by heavy traffic with congestion and safety problems, traffic jams, low or no residual capacity. The purpose of this project is to improve driving behaviour and avoid disrupting the traffic flow. In practice, preventing users entering too soon or too slowly, it is possible to avoid abrupt and sudden manoeuvres to enter or exit the motorway, making them black spots. The evaluation was made both ex-ante and ex-post, with data from permanent loop detectors, video and radar monitoring and incident databases with the previous two years data. The focus of this assessment can be summarised in these points: • Check whether the extension of these lanes leads to actual benefits for traffic efficiency and its management, with variations to traffic volume in the different lanes, speed and time gap; • Safety analysis made before and after the development of the project to evaluate the changes related to safety. In this case the technology described in the project was used for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the extension of exits and entrances and, in particular: • Video monitoring: cameras used for the monitoring of user behaviour near the junctions;
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• Traffic detectors and radars: installed permanently for monitoring traffic before and after the development of the project. The monitored indicators are speed, traffic flow, weaving behaviour, car distances and traffic volume. Impact on traffic efficiency The results were divided into two groups, i.e. the one given by the evaluation of traffic flow at motorway entrances and the other provided by data on the motorway section. In the first case no speed changes were registered but the extension of entry lanes incremented time gaps, which is a positive benefit with regards to the weaving behaviour of entering vehicles. The evaluation of traffic volumes on motorway sections showed a 2% - 3% increase in normal right lanes and a reduction of approximately 1% on the overtaking lane of daily traffic volumes. The time gaps, which help drivers enter the motorway with a smoother manoeuvre, increased significantly with the extension of entrances from a range of 3,15 - 3,19 seconds to a range between 5,55 and 5,59 seconds, which in percentage is equal to +75% - +76%. Regarding speed, the monitoring did not highlight substantial variations between before and after the development of the project; on the right lane speeds dropped to 100 km/h during peak period while on the overtaking lane speeds were reduced from 120 km/h to 110 km/h. The main effects of these extensions were the reduction in the differences in traffic load between the traffic lanes and less abrupt breaking manoeuvres made by users, which led to a more fluid and regular traffic flow. For heavy vehicles, moreover, the extended entrance allowed them to reach a lower relative speed between the entrance lane and the target lane; this way they could use shorter gaps for the lane change. Impact on safety No impact on safety was registered, because the number of accidents has not changed during the monitoring period after the extension of the exits/entrance lanes. In the three previous years the monthly accident rate, that is the average number accidents per months, was of 11,86, while in the 5 months after the extension it became 14,25. The monthly rate of seriously injured people varied from 0,22 ex-ante to 0,25 ex-post (+13,6%) while for the slightly injured people the variation of the monthly rate was from 5,81 to 8,25 (+42%). Furthermore, the type of accidents did not show significant variations. The most frequent accidents were rear-end collisions both ex-ante and during the months of post-extension monitoring. The results demonstrate that the extension of motorway exits and entrances did not have positive effects on the accidental rate and type, but it must be considered that the evaluation time interval is too short to be statistically significant. Impact on environment The impact on the environment has not been directly investigated in the evaluation. Other results No other results emerged from the evaluation.
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4.7 Integration of floating car data analysis
4.7.1 Evaluation of FC data for the assessment of benefits from Traffic Management – Establishing and using a cross-border statistical database1
Background and rationale Congestion is by far the major source for lost/lacking efficiency and safety issues along the TERN. All corridor projects, including Ursa Major, have made tackling congestion one of their most important goals. However, congestion is not a uniform phenomenon but has many different causes and effects, depending on time, location, severity etc. Getting to know the structure of congestion in space and time for the entire network is therefore crucial to assess and improve the traffic situation. Whereas local analysis – looking a lane, curvature, surface, ascent and weather conditions on a particular stretch of motorway is the domain of the traffic engineer, congestion can also be regarded as a statistical object, thereby delivering new insight by looking into correlations, large scale development, benchmarking or long-distance analysis. In the past, however, data for this type of study was simply not available. Information was restricted to certain spots, usually where traffic management measures were taken, and in proprietary formats for each road operator. Today, Floating Car Data can help to overcome these obstacles and is available at a reasonable cost. Ursa Major partners decided to establish a common database for their network, including all measured section-wise travel times. This database is to serve the current year and Ursa Major 2 and also the Ursa Major Neo follow-up project. General approach and method UM partners procured and purchased 2015 data for the German (3.900 km), Italian (2.740 km), and Dutch (650 km) part of the corridor. Swiss Data was to be delivered by SwissCom as a part of a contract between Swisscom and UM2 partner, ASTRA2. Data consisted in measured speeds for every minute in 2015 and for all LCL-sections, all in all about 5 billion datasets. As a first evaluation step it was aggregated into singular and contiguous (un-interrupted) congestion events, according to the method applied in Ursa Major 1, with the following qualities: • Average speed below 30 km/h for a section (sensitivity analysis was performed for 40 km/h) and at least 30 minutes of duration without interruption of more than 1 minute; • Continuous length of event of at least 1 km; • Event situated between decision points. Events with larger extent are split into several smaller ones; • A weight is assigned to events as a product of duration multiplied by crossing (or through) time. 44.500 events have been identified: 28.500 in Germany, 12.000 in Italy and 4.000 in the Netherlands. The comparison for some properties of the event set is given in the following table:
1 Chapter by Reiner Dölger, Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Verkehr, Landwirtschaft und Weinbau Rheinland-Pfalz 2 However, the quality of Swiss Com data was not sufficient. Since there was no contract between lead partner Rheinland-Pfalz and Swiss Com, this could not be resolved within the project’s framework.
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Table 3: Properties of the event set
Avg. Avg. Avg. Avg. Avg. Num. of number of length duration through weight Country sections events time GE 95 300,03 2.842,32 95,82 13,63 1.654,31 IT 66 182,28 4.097,68 79,85 16,30 1.497,67 NL 16 244,63 1.734,50 70,14 14,09 1.251,51
An outline for further work in Ursa Major neo is given in the following two use cases. Long Distance Traffic Management use case Long Distance Traffic Management is an increasingly valuable field of activity in ITS where travel distances are growing on average as a result of European integration. This is particularly true for HGV. It is obvious that congestion and subsequent time loss is a major factor in freight transport and jeopardises the common market’s smooth operation. To tackle this time loss, a comprehensive approach has to be followed by looking into traffic rerouting options that are the most promising in terms of capacity gain and time loss reduction. However, long-distance rerouting is often above the scale of single road operators and needs cross-border cooperation. Thorough statistical analysis must be the first step to develop long-distance rerouting plans and appropriate measures. Simply adding congestion hours for motorway sections is not sufficient, as events must be classified according to their severity (length, duration and time loss incurred) and possible interference (congestion might spread to alternative routes). Looking at the entire network, Floating Car Data for measured speeds can be applied. This data has a number of highly appreciated qualities: • Availability for all major roads with a homogeneous structure and small differences in quality between road operators; • High resolution in time and space, thereby the possibility to analyse the development (and disappearance) of events; • Clear reference in space, e.g. LCL codes can be identified and a comparison to TMC messages can be made; • Relatively low cost compared to road-side infrastructure. Ursa Major partners first designed this instrument in 2013 and encouraging results have been reported in the project report as well as at several international ITS conferences. The allocation of events to large-scale sections allows the impact coming from more distant network sections to be taken into account. In analogy to the physical principle of signals running to a communication network, congestion events can be considered as information that will be communicated according to its strength: severe events, such as tunnel closures for several days, can also impact on distant sections and decision points. Thus, a so-called allocation matrix has been designed which allows the impact of congestion’s propagation through the network according to the following principles: 1. Impact decreases over distance: if an event is far away, it may change or disappear by the time the driver will have reached it;
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2. Impact decreases over network geometry. For instance, if two sections are perpendicular to each other a relevant part of the signal will be lost. This can be seen as a situation with a high deviation factor. The method and results are explained in more detail in the Annex 4. As a result, additional rerouting benefits can be calculated from distant but large events and the total benefit is increased and better-balanced. Statistical Comparison use case If the congestion situation is known for the entire Ursa Major corridor, the evaluation of TMP and ITS services may be transferred to a statistical level: • Sections where ITS services are present or have been introduced can be compared to the total set of sections; • Background development can be taken into account. For instance, between 2013 and 2015 the number of events in Germany increased by 26%. Omitting such a baseline change will influence local analysis; • Further breakdowns can be made according to the type-distinctions of sections such as urban-rural, heavily charged - low charged or HGV-rates. This work will be fully undertaken after that 2017 data set is analysed. For Germany and the Netherlands, 3 such data sets will be available and will allow a thorough and comprehensive analysis. Some findings of work-to-date are included in the following diagrams (Figure 3, Figure 4).
350 GE IT NL 300
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100
50
0 Num Sections Events per average duration avg. through section time
Figure 3: Findings of work-to-date
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Figure 4: Patterns of congestion
4.7.2 Usage of FCD to improve the traffic situation in Bavaria, Germany
The evaluation of Floating Car Data in this evaluated Ursa Major project concerns the quality of the data provided by the private company INRIX on the motorway network of Bavaria. The report does not describe the impacts generated using this data, but their quality was analysed through measured values, characteristic values and other indicators. This information is helpful to determine INRIX FCD’s potential for improved detection of congestion. The following results emerged from the evaluation period of about 1 month: • Completeness of data submission: INRIX data entry contained all the required elements without failure during the evaluation period, with 0,03% of incomplete data. The daily set value of 480 transmitted detections was reached by 88,4% of all road kilometres; • Coverage quality of INRIX FCD: data transmitted as real-time values in the strategic road network reached 69,7%, where the percentage in motorway network was 77,2% and 55,2% in the network of main roads. Less data was transmitted as real-time data on Saturdays and Sundays. Data updates took place about every 7 - 9 minutes; • INRIX FC data plausibility assessment: only 4,2% of all data entries were considered as implausible and the average confidence value of real-time data was 84,5%. This value is lower at night-time and also in some LOS levels (speed values with LOS-2 showed a lower confidence level); • Comparative analysis between INRIX FCD and other traffic data sources: INRIX speed distribution and average day progress of speed data compared with the detectors, can be observed as mostly plausible. A comparison with FCD from the FCD model region of Salzburg shows similar results for real-time data and variations for historical INRIX FC data. The same problem was also highlighted in the comparison with detectors, not only with historical but especially with mixed data; • Detection of traffic disruption and latency time between INRIX FCD and comparison data: the detection of LOS-1 levels showed good matches (over 90%) between FCD and detector
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data; LOS-2 and LOS-3 had a lower percentage of matching between 55% and 71%. The correlation coefficient was 0,2389 which shows a slightly linear positive correlation between the ratio of current speed and reference speed; • Assessment and error analysis Open LR-Matching: the overall average matching of INRIX FC data between comparative-matching and reference matching was 94,8%. The difference in the average segment-specific absolute speed was 1,5 km/h with a maximum of 78 km/h between comparative-matching and reference-matching of INRIX FC data.
4.8 Summary of impacts
In this final paragraph the impacts of ITS services are summarized using tables. There is a table for each field of impact (traffic efficiency, safety, environment and other results), subdivided by indicator and by ITS service. The results describe the join of the impacts of the UM projects along with those obtained from the literature and described in previous paragraph of this chapter. This is done to increase the numerical sample of impacts given by the ITS in order to have a more solid estimate of results. Table 4: Impacts on Traffic Efficiency
Key Performance ITS services Indicators TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
5%/6% shifted to Traffic flow +17%/+23% +1,5%/+7% -10%/+8% public transport
I/C ratio -14%/-34%
Changed for -770.000 Travel time 33% of TIS hours per +9%/-50% -3%/-17% -0%/-15% users year
Variability of travel -22%/-23% time
-2,5%/-15% -48%/-86% -72% with for 4 events, VHL +30% in -14%/-95% -1%/-1,5% HGV ban secondary -100 VHL for roads incident
Critical mileage -74,5%
Vehicle km driven +2%/+2,5%
-50% on Queue length -11% -65% weekdays
Time spent in -5%/-12% -15%/-21% queue
Vehicle linear -31%/-41% -7%/-9% density
Number of stop&go -33%
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Key Performance ITS services Indicators TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
8% of Number of traffic -45%/-70% -24% -16%/-45% shockwaves jams solved
Traffic congestion -2%/-5% -0,4% -8%/-55%
-6.000€/- -685.000 €/- -9 M€ per -49.000 €/-26 -5 M€ per Congestion costs 55.000€ for 4 3,5 M€ per year M€ per year year events year
1,2 for TM, 1 for IMC, 5,6 Benefit-cost ratio 1,95 for VMS for incidents
Time of return on 1,2 – 3 years investment
Number of rerouted 10%/70% users
Travel speed +24% -13%/+6%
Speed deviation -6%/-47%
Capacity +26%/+34%
In the case of traffic efficiency (Table 4), the Dynamic Lane Management led to very positive impacts along the road section in which it was implemented. Indicators that will influence the assessment are the range of reduction of vehicle linear density (-31%/-41), which indicates the decrease of the congestion phenomenon, the time of return on investment (1,2 – 3 years), indicating a good relationship between expected benefits and amounts invested, and the increase in capacity (+26%/+34%), which is a parameter that indicates an infrastructural improvement in the road section. It must be considered that DLM is a punctual application concerning one or more road network sections and which, therefore, leads to positive but localized effects, difficult to expand to adjacent stretches without dynamic lanes. Positive evaluation results were also found for Dynamic Rerouting and Traffic Monitoring and Management systems which, unlike the case described above, are applications that involve road sections or road networks, with extensive impacts in both cases. Positive results obtained on traffic efficiency derive from the reduction of traffic jams (-16%/-45%) and Vehicle Hour Lost (-48%/-86% only considering 4 events) and Congestion Costs (-49.000 €/-26 M€), with both indicators linked to congestion and its decrease. For Variable Speed Limits, there are conflicting results for some indicators, such as changes in traffic flow, which decreased in some cases and increased in others, and in the variation of travel speed. The case of VSL can be considered atypical, since the reduction of speed must not always be seen as a negative result. In fact, in this case, the decrease in travel speed is not an indicator connected only to the creation of congestion but can be given by the dynamic decrease of speed limits in some sections. The variation of speed limits based on traffic conditions, in fact, has the reduction or
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increase of limits in strategic sections as objective, able to homogenize traffic, reduce the probability of traffic jams and, therefore, increase the flow passing through a section. Traveler Information Services have fewer results as the direct evaluation of the effects on traffic efficiency is complex. Even in this case, however, it must be considered that, despite the fact that the impacts which emerged are limited and few, they lead to widespread effects on the entire road network or on a road’s extensive portions.
Regarding impact on safety, Table 5 show a summary of the total results obtained on the Ursa Major corridor and in other studies. Table 5: Impacts on Safety
Key Performance ITS services Indicators TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
Number of -14%/-34% -60% -14%/-75% -15%/-49% +14%/-64% accidents
Number of injured people or accidents -11% -20%/-64% -50% -41%/-65,5% with injured
Number of fatalities or accidents with -71%/-100% -67% fatalities
Accident rate -4%/-51% -20%
N. of accident/changes -7% in flow
KPI 0,007/0,017
More than 5 Headway seconds
Vehicle linear -31%/-41% density
91% of Acceptance of satisfied safety campaign users
1,45 M€ per 580.000 € per 200.000 € per Economic benefits year year year
Accident cost rate -51%
Benefit-cost ratio 0,24/1,47
As a result of the comparison made between considered indicators, an evaluation of the impact on safety generated by each type of ITS service was carried out, but it has to be considered that positive data obtained are conditioned by the observation period (that was often very short). In order to obtain
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more correct and statistically significant results, these data should be compared and confirmed by a series of more extensive statistical analyses over the years. Overall, the impact is positive for analysed ITS services: in particular positive results emerged for Traveler Information Services and Dynamic Rerouting. In the first case, the positivity of the impact on safety is given mostly by a high reduction in the number of accidents with fatalities and in the number of fatalities (-71%/-100%) provided by the installation of VMS, which are systems that provide information on the presence of hazards or incidents occurring along the road. The same panels are protagonists of the safety campaign which, with a very high user satisfaction level (91% of satisfied users). Similar considerations can be given for Dynamic Rerouting, a system in which VMS are mainly used to provide warnings and alternative routes to drivers. In one evaluated case, the reduction in congestion and the choice of rerouting led to a good percentage of reduction in the number of accidents along the considered road section (-60%). It should be noted that no analysis on safety was carried out on roads where vehicles are redirected as a result of rerouting. In both cases, results achieved refer to the road stretch involved in the evaluation but, these interventions usually lead to the diffusion of the effects in the surroundings area, up to the road network of an entire nation. Therefore, impacts can be extended to an influence area greater than the single road section. A different case is that of Dynamic Lane Management, which proves to generate positive impacts also in the field of safety, even if this application is localized to one or more road stretches. Positive results are mainly due to the high percentage of reductions calculated for the number of accidents (- 14%/-75%) and in particular, to those characterized by a high degree of severity (-20%/-67%), but also to the improvement in the headway (more than 5 s) and the high economic benefits linked to safety generated by the ITS (1,45 M€ per year). Quite positive results emerged for Traffic Monitoring and Management and Variable Speed Limits, where less data was provided to support the safety assessment. Information obtained mostly refers to variations in congestion given by these ITS services and to what follows in terms of road safety. Reductions in the number of accidents and their severity emerged from the analysis (-15%/-64% and -41%/-65,5%). The positive judgments also derive from the calculation of economic benefits generated by these mentioned positive results (200.000 €/580.000 € per year).
The same analysis of the overall results was also made for impact on environment in Table 6, which was compiled considering both the impacts given by the Ursa Major projects and those assessed in literature.
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Table 6: Impacts on Environment
Key Performance ITS services Indicators TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
-2.000 litres Fuel consumption -4%/-55% -0,5%/-3% per year
-4% of -6,35/-3.650 CO2 emissions national traffic -4%/-40% tons per year emissions
NOX emissions -5%/-40% +5%/-18%
Fine particles -10%/-75% -18%
PM10 emissions -6%
VOC -13%
-1,8/-2,4 Noise level +0,2 dB(A) dB(A)
-1.000 €/- -455.000 € for +250.000 € Emissions costs 10.000 € per 15 days* per year year per CO2
* Economic benefits deriving from fuel savings, VHL reductions and CO2 The ITS service with the best impact on the environment is Dynamic Lane Management which, thanks to the reduction in congestion, vehicle density and stop&go, shows a high percentage reduction in the emission of fine particles (-10%/-75%), fuel consumption (-4%/-55%) and emissions costs (-455.000 € for 15 days). Also, in this area, the consideration of the impacts’ poor extensibility towards external parts of the road compared to the sections subject to the DLM must not be omitted. The complexity in obtaining environmental data related to Traveler Information Services and to Dynamic Rerouting is the main reason for few results and not very relevant impacts. As already seen for impacts on traffic efficiency, Variable Speed Limits also highlighted contrasting effects in various cases. In fact, the impacts on the environment were negative in some implementations, with increased emissions (+5%), noise levels (+0,2 dB(A)) and emission costs (+250.000 € per year), while in other applications reduction in emissions (-18%) and fuel consumption (-0,5%/-3%) were obtained.
Some other results have been added to the impacts described before, showing both Ursa Major projects results and literature studies, in order to increase the sample of available data. These are shown in Table 7.
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Table 7: Other results
Area of impact ITS services OTHER RESULTS TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
78% satisfied 90%/95% users, 46% User acceptance satisfied perceived users lower congestion
16%/28% Better 10% followed followed compliance parking User behaviour recommendat with VMS recommendat ions gaps of 1,5 ions (surveyed) km
17.000 / Page views 90.000 per (website) month
Event detection -93%/-97% time
44 M€, with Benefit-cost General benefits benefit-cost ratio of 10 ratio of 7
As it can be seen in Table 7, the results of the various studies are different for each type of ITS, with few exceptions in the indicators that they have in common. It must also be considered that judgments related to user acceptance and user behavior derive from surveys filled by the same drivers, and not from objective data measured in the field. Therefore, other results listed in this table must be considered as indicators examined to support previous evaluations.
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5 Conclusions
The following paragraphs describe the impacts of ITS services for the Ursa Major project. A table was created for each impact field (traffic efficiency, safety, the environment and other results), only containing the results of the evaluated and developed projects on the Ursa Major corridor, divided according to the type of indicator considered and the category of ITS service. ITS services considered are: Traveler Information Services (TIS), Dynamic Rerouting (DR), Dynamic Lane Management (DLM), Traffic Monitoring and Management (TMM) and Variable Speed Limit (VSL). The next step is scaling to the overall Ursa Major project, i.e. the extension of final expert judgment of impacts (that will be described in next paragraphs) obtained through the analysis to all evaluated and non-evaluated UM projects. This process was carried out calculating a weighted average on the total number of projects that deal with each ITS type. The final result of the analysis is a qualitative/quantitative judgment on each impact area, i.e. an assessment on traffic efficiency, safety and the environment.
5.1 Final evaluation of each ITS service’s impact
As described in the introduction to the chapter, four tables were inserted in this paragraph, one for each field of impact. These tables, together with the ones of paragraph 4.8, lead to the assessment of each system’s total impact on considered areas (traffic efficiency, safety, the environment and other results). This final expert judgement, that will be shown and explained at the end of this chapter, was made by taking into account the boundary conditions and the significance of the considered data; in particular, a qualitative scale based on symbols was used, that goes from “-” if the impact is slightly negative, “=” if no significative impact was detected, and “+”, “++” and “+++” if the impact is slightly positive, positive or very positive. This information will then be resumed and used to expand results to all Ursa Major projects and, finally, to calculate the overall impact of ITS services developed on the UM corridor.
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5.1.1 Impact on Traffic Efficiency
Table 8 contains results obtained from the ex-post evaluation of Ursa Major corridor implementations. Table 8: Impacts on Traffic Efficiency of the evaluated UM projects
Key Performance ITS services Indicators TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
Traffic flow +17%/+23% +1,5%/+7% +5%/+7,5%
-770.000 Travel time hours per -8%/-50% -3%/-4% year
-48%/-86% VHL -2,5% for 4 events
Number of traffic -24% jams
-6.000€/- -26 M€ per Congestion costs 55.000€ for 4 year events
Number of 10%/43% rerouted users
Travel speed Improved
Capacity +26%/+34%
As can be noticed from reported values, ITS types that provide greater impacts on traffic efficiency are Dynamic Rerouting, Dynamic Lane Management and Traffic Monitoring and Management. In the first case, positive results are given mainly by the high reduction in travel time (-777.000 hours per year), savings in congestion costs (-26 M€ per year) and the good number of rerouted users (10%/43%). As regards DLM, best results are the increase in traffic flow (+17%/+23%) and the reduction in travel time (-8%/-50%). In the case of TMM, the most important results are the reduction of VHL during some events (-48%/-86%) and savings in congestion costs in four events (-6.000 €/- 55.000 €). Overall, results can be considered as positive. 5.1.2 Impact on Safety
The impacts on road safety generated by Ursa Major projects are summarized in Table 9.
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Table 9: Impacts on Safety of the evaluated UM projects
Key Performance ITS services Indicators TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
Number of -67% in 1
accidents month
N. of accident/changes -7% in flow
Headway Low increase
91% of Acceptance of satisfied safety campaign users
The most interesting results were obtained for Traffic Monitoring and Management and for Variable Speed Limits, while the Traveler Information Service provided a result that particularly concerned a safety campaign (91% of satisfied users). In the first case, the indicator is the change in the ratio between the number of accidents and changes in traffic flow (-7%) and for VSL, the positive result obtained is the reduction in the number of accidents in a short period of observation (-67% in 1 month). 5.1.3 Impact on Environment
Table 10 shows the impacts on the environment described in the Ursa Major project’s evaluation. Table 10: Impacts on Environment of evaluated UM projects
Key Performance ITS services Indicators TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
Fuel consumption Reduction -28%/-55%
-3.650 tons CO2 emissions -40% per year
NOX emissions -40%
Fine particles -75%
VOC -13%
Results were divided by the type of emission and consumption evaluated. The best reduction in emissions and in fuel consumption is given by Dynamic Rerouting (-3.650 tons of CO2 per year) and Dynamic Lane Management (-28%/-55% of fuel consumption, -75% of fine particles). 5.1.4 Other results
Results related to Ursa Major implementations that can be considered additional to the fields described above are called “Other results” and are provided and summarized in Table 11.
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Table 11: Other results of evaluated UM projects
Key Performance ITS services Indicators TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
90%/95% 78% satisfied User acceptance satisfied users users
Better compliance User behaviour with VMS gaps of 1,5 km
Page views 36.500 per
(website) month
Event detection -93%/-97% time
44 M€, with General benefits benefit-cost ratio of 7
Results shown in Table 11 are mostly related to a single ITS service. Therefore, they are difficult to compare and evaluate. A mention must be made of one specific result, that is the improvement in event detection time (- 93%/-97%). This is interesting data and is the main result of an evaluated Ursa Major project, related to the technical performance of a new implemented system.
5.2 Expansion of results to the overall Ursa Major project
The procedure described in Figure 5 was performed in order to expand the results obtained from the analysis of evaluated Ursa Major projects and the literature to the whole UM corridor.
Figure 5: Evaluation and expansion process
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All evaluated and non-evaluated projects developed in Ursa Major were taken into consideration, and the type of ITS service was assigned (TIS, DR, DLM, TMM and VSL). It is necessary to consider that more than one category was assigned in cases where several systems were installed within the same project. The complete list of projects with the relative ITS services is shown in Annex 1. Information obtained through this procedure is the total number of projects implemented for each specific ITS service category. In cases where a project implemented more than one type of ITS service, it was counted multiple times. Given these values, it is possible to extend the results of the previously-determined analyses for each field of impact to the whole corridor. In particular, a weighted average of the qualitative impact for each type of ITS service was calculated over the number of implemented projects for the respective category. Results obtained are shown in the graphs below (Figure 6, Figure 7, Figure 8) where the horizontal axis corresponds to ITS types analyzed, while the vertical axis represents the judgments assigned in the evaluation. The bubbles are different in size depending on the sample size, i.e. the total number of implemented projects that fall within each ITS service considered. Within each graph, the dashed horizontal line represents the impact calculated through the weighted average; in this case the reported average values are the real ones, without rounding.
Impact on TRAFFIC EFFICIENCY
+++ 15
++ 8 31 Total impact on traffic efficiency
+ 26 3
=
- TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
Figure 6: ITS services – Expert judgment of impact on traffic efficiency – Number of projects in UM
In the case of impacts on traffic efficiency (Figure 6), the average line is slightly below the “++” value and it can be seen that the evaluation of services is very different from one case to another.
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Impact on SAFETY +++
++ 26 8 15
Total impact on safety + 31 3
=
- TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
Figure 7: ITS services – Expert judgment of impact on safety – Number of projects in UM
More homogeneous results emerged from the graph on the impacts on safety (Figure 7), with a weighted average very close to the mean value between “+” and “++”.
Impact on ENVIRONMENT +++
++ 15
+ 26 8 Total impact on environment
= 3
- TIS DR DLM TMM VSL
Figure 8: ITS services – Expert judgment of impact on environment – Number of projects in UM
Finally, with regard to impacts on the environment (Figure 8), it can be seen that the number of bubbles is reduced, since the TMM ITS service was not reported in the graph due to the absence of data. Results shown are those already described in the previous paragraph and the average line is slightly above the value of “+”.
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5.3 Overall impact
Final results obtained from the evaluation of the results reported in the previous paragraph (see Table 4, Table 5 and Table 6) are an overall and qualitative judgment derived from the analysis of the evaluated UM projects and the results of studies from literature, in order to increase the numerical sample of impacts given by the ITS and to have a more accurate estimate of results. The expert judgment of impacts is also illustrated by the graphs above. The Ursa Major project’s overall impact in each area is shown in Table 12 and is the result of the weighted average of the impact on traffic efficiency, safety and the environment, where the weight is the number of projects. Table 12: Expert judgment on Ursa Major’s overall impact
No. of Traffic ITS service Safety Environment projects Efficiency TIS 26 + ++ + DR 8 ++ ++ + DLM 15 +++ ++ ++ TMM 31 ++ + NA* VSL 3 + + = Impact on UM ++ ++ + * Results Not Available It was thus possible to define the associated qualitative/quantitative judgment for each impact area and to extend it to all projects for each ITS service category. The value obtained from the weighted average for each impact area was rounded up in order to assess a judgment that falls within the symbols “-“, “=”, “+”, “++”, “+++”. As regards the impact on traffic efficiency, it is noted that, using the numerical calculation criterion described above, the overall average rating corresponds to “positive” (++). Adopting the criterion of weighted average, it emerges that although in this case DLM is the ITS service characterized by the greater judgment (+++), the fact that it was implemented in 15 projects makes it reduce its influence on the final judgment. In fact, the TMM ITS service distinguished by a ++ rating represents the dominant value in this field, as it was applied to a large number of projects (31). In relation to the area of impact on road safety, a more homogeneous situation of final evaluations can be appreciated compared to the previous case. In fact, the different ITS services are marked by the values “+” and “++” in Table 12. In this case, the final rating “++” is given by the number of applications that contributed to impacts definable as “positive”. The last evaluated area of impact (environment) presents a particular situation: firstly, it was not possible to judge the TMM system’s environmental implications and secondly, the VSL system presents both positive and negative results in the various applications, resulting in a final neutral judgment on average for VSL. The TMM system has no available impacts because a numerical assessment on the environment was complex in most implementations. Thus, a “quite positive” (+) UM project overall impact on the environment was obtained by excluding the 31 projects related to TMM from the weighted average.
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6 References
[1] AG-64 Traffic Control and Traffic Management ITS deployment, Arc Atlantique (E01), ES [2] AG-55 Traffic Control and Traffic Management ITS deployment, Arc Atlantique (E02), ES [3] Analysis and evaluation of different traffic management strategies in order to reduce the congestions in Bilbao per-urban area, Arc Atlantique (ES-21), ES [4] Hard shoulder running E40 and weaving segments E314, Arc Atlantique (FL-01), BE [5] Hard shoulder running E19 Kleine Bareel – St-Job-in-‘t-Goor, Arc Atlantique (FL-02), BE [6] Traffic Management Plans, Arc Atlantique (FR-16), FR [7] Praktijkproef Amsterdam (Practice Trial Amsterdam - PTA), Arc Atlantique (NL-01), NL [8] System Enhancements, Arc Atlantique (PT-03), PT [9] M25 J 5 – 7 Variable Speed Limit, All lane Running/Hard Shoulder Running, Arc Atlantique, (UK 02), UK [10] M25 J 23 – 27 Variable Speed Limit, All lane Running/Hard Shoulder Running, Arc Atlantique, (UK 03), UK [11] Management of transit traffic on Walloon motorways, Arc Atlantique (WL-03), BE [12] Dynamic speed limit in the metropolitan Area of Barcelona, MedTIS (SPA-13), ES [13] Evaluación del proyecto “Señalización dinámica y gestión del tráfico de los accesos a Cádiz” (Dynamic signage and management of traffic access to Cadiz), EasyWay I – Arts (ART01), ES [14] Deployment of road monitoring in accesses CV-30, CV-31, CV-365, V-11 in Valencia TCC, EasyWay I – Arts (ART05), ES [15] Cross Border Management Evaluation, EasyWay I – Centrico (CEN03), NL [16] Integrated Traffic Management at Junction 33 of the M1, EasyWay I – Centrico (CEN04) and Streetwise (STR12), UK [17] Speed control evaluation on the A13 motorway (France), EasyWay I – Centrico (CEN05), FR [18] Investigation on the effects of the line control system on motorway A61 Meckenheim-Mendig, EasyWay I – Centrico (CEN07), DE [19] Evaluation No-Regrets Traffic Management Programme, EasyWay I – Centrico (CEN11), NL [20] Telematics-Controlled Truck Parking at the Motorway A3 Service and Rest Area “Montabaur”, EasyWay I – Centrico (CEN13), DE [21] Additional Lanes Programme – 10 Projects in The Netherlands, EasyWay I – Centrico (CEN16), NL [22] Line control system A6 Kaiserslautern, EasyWay I – Centrico (CEN19), DE [23] Mobility Portal Rheinland-Pfalz, EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN26), DE [24] Implementation of dynamic speed regulation on urban fast lanes on the Lorrain Corridor (A31), EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN31), FR [25] Evaluation Field Trials with Dynamic Speed Limits, EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN32), NL [26] Hard Shoulder Running and other Extra Lanes, EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN33), NL [27] Supplementary measures to improve traffic management on selected spots on the TERN: Dynamic Lane and Speed Control on motorway A5, EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN35), DE [28] Hard shoulder running – A63, EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN36), DE [29] Traffic Management Scenarios on the A15 Motorway (Rotterdam), EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN38), NL [30] Coordinated Traffic Management on the A10 Amsterdam Ring Road, EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN39), NL [31] Hard shoulder running – E313, EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN45), BE [32] Field Trial with Dynamic Speed Limits – A20 Rotterdam (NL), EasyWay II – Centrico (CEN50), NL
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[33] Evaluation of VMS deployment on Slovenian part of corridor V, EasyWay I – Connect (CON10), SI [34] Development of Mobile Services, EasyWay I – Corvette (COR01), DE [35] Evaluation of the dynamic speed control system on the Mestre Beltway, EasyWay I – Corvette (COR07), IT [36] Emergency call and monitoring system, EasyWay II – Corvette (COR16), IT [37] The Third Lane project (T3), EasyWay – Corvette, IT [38] Dynamic speed control in the area of Barcelona, EasyWay I – Serti (SER04), ES [39] Network Control Leonberg - Walldorf, EasyWay I – Serti (SER07), DE [40] Gutemberg traffic management system-Real time information on VMS on urban fast lane, EasyWay I – Serti (SER11), FR [41] Variable speed limits implementation, EasyWay I – Serti (SER19), FR [42] Information via VMS. A-7 Segment (Málaga – Benalmádena), EasyWay II – Serti (SER31), ES [43] Information via VMS. Segment GRANADA-ALMERÍA (KP 241- 393), EasyWay II – Serti (SER32), ES [44] Information via VMS. Segment Malaga-Nerja, EasyWay II – Serti (SER33), ES [45] Dynamic Speed Control in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, EasyWay II – Serti (SER40), ES [46] All types of equipment for road monitoring. Management and Operation TCC/TICs. Valencia, EasyWay II – Serti (SER44), ES [47] ATM Monitoring and Evaluation, 4 Lane Variable Mandatory, EasyWay I – Streetwise (STR09), UK [48] Dynamic Hard Shoulder Running M1 J10 – 13, EasyWay II – Streetwise (STR23), UK [49] M1/A12 Westlink VMSL Evaluation Report, EasyWay II – Streetwise (STR24), UK [50] Traffic Scotland Web Information Services, EasyWay I – Streetwise, UK [51] Temporary ITS applications during major road works on motorway E22/A1 in Northern Germany, EasyWay II – Viking (VIK05), DE [52] ITS on the Helsingør Motorway-Denmark, EasyWay II – Viking (VIK26), DK [53] New Travel Time VMS in Gothenburg, Sweden, EasyWay II – Viking (VIK32), SE [54] Evaluation of Renewal of Road Weather Information System and Finnish Road ITS Action Plan, EasyWay II – Viking (VIK35), FI [55] Evaluation of Bilrejseplanen.dk, EasyWay II – Viking (VIK38), DK [56] Traffic controlled variable speed limits, Sweden, EasyWay I – Viking, SE [57] Evaluation de l'expérimentation d’un panneau d’information sur la disponibilité en places de parking PL des aires d’autoroute, MV2 ETC, L’intelligence de l’information marketing, FR [58] Long-distance Corridor Demonstration Project - (from 2DECIDE-toolkit), between Member States and regions coming from CENTRICO, CORVETTE, VIKING and SERTI
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Annex 1 Ursa Major projects
In the table below, all the Ursa Major projects are listed, reporting both the evaluated and the non- evaluated ones. Each project is featured by a Code, where the first part is the project (Ursa Major 1 and Ursa Major 2), the second number refers to the activity to which the project belongs, and the last one is sequential, by Name of the project and by the Location of deployment. Finally, the ITS service/services assigned to each project is reported.
ITS service Code Project Location TIS DR DLM TMM VSL OT UM1.2.1 ParkR NL X UM1.2.2 ITP monitoring system A61 DE X ITP A9 between Munich and UM1.2.3 Nuremberg DE X Compact Parking A3 rest UM1.2.4 area Jura-West DE X Enhancement of truck UM1.2.5 parking services for 2 ITPs IT X Enhancement of truck UM1.2.6 parking services for 4 ITPs IT X UM1.3.1 RITS; Freight info A15 NL X X UM1.3.2 Avoiding Peak Hours A15 NL X Strategic Network Control UM1.3.3 Corridor A61/A3/A45 DE X X TMP Traffic Control Centre UM1.3.4 NRW DE X Network Control Rhein- UM1.3.5 Main-Ost / Mittelhessen DE X A5/A6/A61/A656 Dynamic UM1.3.6 Rerouting DE X Support for truck navigation UM1.3.7 services on A1/BO-FI IT X Monitoring and information UM1.3.8 freight transport on A4/A23 IT X X Brennero: TCC and data UM1.3.9 exchange (DATEX II) IT X X upgrading BS-PD: TCC and data UM1.3.10 exchange (DATEX II) IT X upgrading
Road/traffic monitoring on UM1.3.11 A4/A31 IT X CAV: TCC and data UM1.3.12 exchange (DATEX II) IT X upgrading Dynamic Traffic Data UM1.3.13 Management by Police IT X SDP: TCC and data UM1.3.14 exchange (DATEX II) IT X upgrading
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ITS service Code Project Location TIS DR DLM TMM VSL OT Traffic monitoring and UM1.3.15 control in A24/A25 IT X Improve accessibility of UM1.4.1 mainport Rotterdam NL X UM1.4.2 Lane Control System A61 DE X Traffic Control A3 AD UM1.4.3 DE X X Heumar UM1.4.4 Traffic control system A 61 DE X X Lane Control System A3 UM1.4.5 Limburg with integrated DE X HSR UM1.4.6 A9 Holledau – Neufahrn DE X A8, A99, B471 - AK UM1.4.7 München-S - AK München- DE X NW UM1.4.8 DLM along the Milano Ring IT X DLM on the stretch UM1.4.9 Rovereto Sud - Affi of A22 IT X A61 truck parking UM2.2.1 information Nordrhein- DE X Westfalen A61 truck parking UM2.2.2 information Rheinland-Pfalz DE X II A4 Venice-Trieste truck UM2.2.3 parking IT X Vipiteno HGV parking UM2.2.4 control station IT X A5, A8, A6, A81 Karlsruhe UM2.3.1 dynamic rerouting DE X Extension of the traffic information platform
UM2.3.2 BayernInfo towards parking DE X information for trucks A1, A3, A46 Leverkusen- UM2.3.3 Hilden-Wuppertal Nord DE X dynamic rerouting
A61, A48, A3, Cologne - UM2.3.4 Frankfurt dynamic rerouting DE X A3, A5, A45 dynamic UM2.3.5 rerouting DE X Re-design of traffic control centre with core UM2.3.6 components for traffic DE X monitoring and network control Hessen roadwork UM2.3.7 information map DE X Hessen online traffic UM2.3.8 information service DE X Ring road Rotterdam height UM2.3.9 warnings NL X Rotterdam, Eindhoven, UM2.3.10 Nijmegen Calm Traffic NL X UM2.3.11 A8, A9 Milano Ring VMS IT X
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ITS service Code Project Location TIS DR DLM TMM VSL OT Palmanova traffic control UM2.3.12 centre IT X UM2.3.13 Palmanova travel times IT X UM2.3.14 Verona traffic control centre IT X UM2.3.15 Mestre: traffic control centre IT X A5 Heidelberg hard shoulder UM2.4.1 running DE X A73 Erlangen hard shoulder UM2.4.2 running DE X A3 Aschaffenburg traffic UM2.4.3 management system DE X A9 Nuernberg Hof traffic UM2.4.4 management system DE X A96 Munich traffic UM2.4.5 management system DE X A8 Grabenstaett traffic UM2.4.6 management system DE X A93 Regensburg traffic UM2.4.7 management system DE X A95-A96 Munich traffic UM2.4.8 management system DE X A93 Regensburg ramp UM2.4.9 metering DE X A3 Hilden – Oberhausen UM2.4.10 lane control system with DE X hard shoulder running A3 Köln-Mülheim and UM2.4.11 Leverkusen lane control DE X system
A63 Nieder-Olm hard UM2.4.12 shoulder running DE X A3 Frankfurt airport, lane UM2.4.13 control system DE X A5 Frankfurt lane control UM2.4.14 system DE X A4 Milano ring road dynamic UM2.4.15 lane management IT X Usage of private floating car UM2.5.1 data DE X UM2.5.2 Roadwork information DE X Usage of floating car data UM2.5.3 for traffic information and DE X traffic management North sea - Alpine corridor: Usage of private floating car
UM2.5.4 data and increased traffic DE X monitoring
Public Private Partnership in UM2.5.5 traffic centres NL X X A2, A12, A15: Incident UM2.5.6 Management for Freight NL X traffic
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ITS service Code Project Location TIS DR DLM TMM VSL OT Ring road Rotterdam: Truck- UM2.5.7 spotting NL X A22 Modena-Brennero, UM2.5.8 Trento CCTV IT X A22 weather detection and UM2.5.9 information IT X A4 Brescia-Padova speed UM2.5.10 monitoring and AID system IT X development A31 Piovene R.-Vicenza- UM2.5.11 Rovigo speed monitoring IT X and AID system A4 Padova-Grisignano companion system upgrade
UM2.5.12 for safety and traffic IT X management
A4 Passante di Mestre UM2.5.13 traffic monitoring IT X A24 Roma-Teramo, A25 UM2.5.14 Torano-Popoli tunnel IT X management National Traffic UM2 Management Plans (TMP) CH X Hard shoulder running UM2 (BAU) A1 Morges-Ecublens CH X Variable speed limit and UM2 danger warning system A1 CH X VBS Lenzburg – Birrfeld Traffic Information and UM2 Safety Campaign on VMS in CH X Switzerland Extension of motorway exits UM2 and entrances CH X
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Annex 2 Deployment KPIs description summary table
The table below provides a short description of the project’s Deployment KPIs. The KPIs subject to evaluation in this document, listed in paragraph 2.6 of this report, are pointed out in the last column of the table. Please note that the KPIs listed below are described in greater detail within the EU/EIP ITS Deployment and Benefit KPIs definitions Technical Reference v10.0, 08 February 2017.
ITS Priorit Evaluation Deployment y Area/ Relevant KPI Short Deployment KPI Long Name Benefit EU EIP CODE Indicator Name Catego [tick as ry appropriate] Code Incident Length and % of road network (TEN- Detection T and/or National, as applicable) EUEIP-DKPI- R X and Incident covered or impacted by incident R1 Management detection and incident management. Length and % of road network (TEN- Automated T and/or National, as applicable) EUEIP-DKPI- Speed R X covered or impacted by automated R2 Detection speed detection. Number and % of urban, inter-urban and/or rural public transport stops for which dynamic Traveller information Dynamic is made available to the public. Stops Public include those provided with dynamic EUEIP-DKPI- Transport Traveller information in the form of O O1 Traveller both physical infrastructure (variable Information message signs) and virtual infrastructure (apps and/or other means). Report separately by public transport mode where possible. Length and % of road network (TEN- T and/or National, as applicable) covered or impacted by X Traffic websites/over-the-air Services Condition offering traffic and travel information. and Travel EUEIP-DKPI- Time Report separately: O O2 Information 1) Travel information X Service (TIS DG03_05) 2) Traffic information X 3) Integrated traffic and travel
information
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4) Freight specific information 5) Traffic management plan(s) X incl. cross border TMP 6) Traffic management and X control measures / equipment 7) Infrastructure or equipment on the network to enable X Cooperative-ITS 8) Intelligent safety Services for disabled and vulnerable road users Number and % of signal-controlled Adaptive road intersections using adaptive Traffic EUEIP-DKPI- traffic control or prioritisation on the C Control or C1 TEN-T and/or National road Prioritisation networks, as applicable. Number and % of new vehicles including the following intelligent vehicle features (if and when data becomes available). Report separately for each country: 1) safety readiness 2) automated operation 3) cooperative systems Intelligent L EUEIP-DKPI-L1 Vehicles 4) Public (112) systems 5) Private eCall systems In the case of 112 eCalls, measure also the number of annual eCalls and
the % eCalls over the total number of emergency calls for the same period. Report separately by vehicle types where possible, see breakdown by vehicle classification section. Provision of intelligent Services on Intelligent the TENT-T core and comprehensive Services in networks that are compliant with the accordance Delegated Regulations of the ITS to Delegated Directive: L EUEIP-DKPI-L2 Regulations 1) Length and % of TEN-T under the network and % of transport ITS Directive nodes covered by real-time traffic information Services
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that are compliant with the requirements of Delegated Regulation 962/2015 2) Length and % of TEN-T network covered by road safety related traffic information Services available free of charge to users that are compliant with the requirements of Delegated Regulation 886/2013 3) Length and % of TEN-T network and number and % of freight nodes covered by information Services for safe and secure parking places for X trucks and commercial vehicles that are compliant with the requirements of Delegated Regulation 885/2013. 4) Provision of EU-Wide multimodal Travel Information Services (to be advised, pending publication of Delegated Act xx/2017) Length and % of road network (TEN- T and/or National, as applicable) X covered or impacted by Speed limit Speed Limit EUEIP-DKPI- information, including: R Information R3 1) In-vehicle systems.
Length and % of road network (TEN- T and/or National, as applicable) X covered or impacted by Variable Speed Limits, including: Variable EUEIP-DKPI- Speed 1) Variable Message Signs; R X R4 Limits 2) Spot Speed Enforcement
(SE) Cameras; and 3) Average Speed Enforcement
(SE) Cameras
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Length and % of road network (TEN- T and/or National, as applicable) Forecast covered or impacted by Forecast and Real (pre-trip) and Real Time (on-trip) EUEIP-DKPI- O X Time Event Event Information about both O3 Information expected and unexpected abnormal events (situations) faced by road users Length and % of road network (TEN- Weather T and/or National, as applicable) EUEIP-DKPI- Information covered or impacted by Forecast R R5 Service (pre-trip) and Real Time (on-trip) Weather Information Service Length and % of road network (TEN- T and/or National, as applicable) covered or impacted by Co-Modal Traveller Information; i.e. offering Co-Modal parallel information for more than one Traveller I EUEIP-DKPI-I1 mode/means of transport. Inter- Information modal Services offer in addition the combination of several modes/means of transport within one route. Length and % of road network (TEN- Dynamic T and/or National, as applicable) EUEIP-DKPI- Lane O X covered or impacted by Dynamic O4 Management Lane Management
Length and % of road network (TEN- Hard T and/or National, as applicable) EUEIP-DKPI- Shoulder O X covered or impacted by Hard O5 Running Shoulder Running
Length and % of road network (TEN- HGV T and/or National, as applicable) EUEIP-DKPI- Overtaking R X covered or impacted by Dynamic R6 Ban HGV Overtaking Ban Traffic Length and % of road network (TEN- Management T and/or National, as applicable) Plan Service EUEIP-DKPI- covered or impacted by Traffic O X for Corridors O6 Management Plan Service for and Corridors and Networks Networks
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Length and % of road network (TEN- T and/or National, as applicable) covered or impacted by Dynamic information on Intelligent truck Dynamic parking (for ITS Parking Guidance Information Systems). Number and % of rest on EUEIP-DKPI- areas on the road network (TEN-T R X Intelligent R7 and/or National, as applicable) Truck covered or impacted by Intelligent Parking Truck Parking and Secure Truck Parking (for ITS reservation systems). As an alternative use to truck parking lots. Number and % of access points on Ramp the road network (TEN-T and/or EUEIP-DKPI- O X Metering National, as applicable) equipped O7 with Ramp Metering Traffic Centres / Data Exchange / Traffic Control and Information X Centres KPIs: 1) Provision of data exchange Services via DATEX II at traffic centres (No. and % of DATEX II traffic centres equipped with Data minimum level of service) EUEIP-DKPI- C Exchange 2) Length and % of TEN-T C2 Services network covered by traffic
centre data exchange Services via DATEX II 3) Number of: DATEX II links/content access
points/connected nodes to access points/nodes at TCC Cooperative- Length and % of TEN-T and/or ITS Services National road network (in km) and covered by C-ITS Services or L EUEIP-DKPI-L2 Applications applications. PLEASE ALSO refer to (road KPI) DGMOVE KPI in Appendix B.
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Annex 3 Benefit KPIs description summary table
The table below provides a short description of the project’s Benefit KPIs. The KPIs subject to evaluation in this document are pointed out in the last column of the table. Please note that the KPIs listed below are described in greater detail within the EU/EIP ITS Deployment and Benefit KPIs definitions Technical Reference v10.0, 08 February 2017.
Evaluation Benefit KPI Relevant EU/EIP Short Benefit KPI Long Name Indicator Code Name [tick as appropriate] Change in traffic flow (e.g. vehicles per hour/day at spot location), measured at specific locations of the road network (TEN-T and/or National) affected by the implementation of the relevant ITS system. Estimates to cover instances where changes in traffic flows are also linked to wider re-routeing effects. Estimates to Change in refer to any evaluator’s specified timeframe (e.g. the EUEIP- Traffic X morning peak from 06.00 until 09.59 hrs, inter-peak BKPI-N1 Flow 10.00 until 16.00, 24hr period, etc). The change in traffic flows can easily be derived from the measured spot/network traffic flows if the selected timeframes are defined consistently. Report separately by vehicle type where possible and provide clear descriptions of adopted vehicle classifications. Change in journey time variability as measured coefficient of variation (standard deviation of the measured travel times for a certain route or a part of a route). Change in coefficient of variation measured along the road network (TEN-T and/or National) affected by the implementation of the relevant ITS Change in system. Estimates to refer to any evaluator’s specified Road timeframe (e.g. the morning peak from 06.00 until Traffic EUEIP- 09.59 hrs, inter-peak 10.00 until 16.00, 24hr period, X Journey etc). The change in journey time coefficient of variation BKPI-N2 Time can easily be derived if the selected timeframes are Variability defined consistently. Report separately by vehicle type where possible and provide clear descriptions of adopted vehicle classifications. For a longer period (e.g. a few weeks or a month) the journey times should be put into one set and then the standard deviation should be taken.
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Congestion (LOST VEHICLE HOURS / TIME SAVING): Total delay or vehicle hours lost expressed as the difference between the total time spent and a Change in weighted (with the flow) reference (free-flow) journey EUEIP- Bottleneck time. Estimates can refer to any evaluator’s specified X BKPI-N3 Congestion timeframe (e.g. the morning peak from 06.00 until 09.59 hrs, inter-peak 10.00 until 16.00, 24hr period, etc) and a specified time period (e.g. working days, excluding holidays). JOURNEY TIME: Journey time is the indicator to determine the impact of a measure on the road users. It is measured along the road network (TEN-T and/or National Road networks) affected by the Change in implementation of the ITS system. Estimates to refer to EUEIP- Journey X any evaluator’s specified timeframe (e.g. the morning BKPI-N4 Time peak from 06.00 until 09.59 hrs, inter-peak 10.00 until 16.00, 24hr period, etc). The change in journey times can easily be derived from the measured journey times if the selected timeframes are defined consistently. Difference in Vehicle-km driven: The distance travelled or vehicle kilometres driven is a network indicator and is defined as the product of the length of a road section and the flow on that road section. Change in vehicle- km travelled measured along the road network (TEN-T and/or National) affected by the implementation of the Change in relevant ITS system. Estimates to refer to any EUEIP- Demand evaluator’s specified timeframe (e.g. the morning peak BKPI-N5 for Travel from 06.00 until 09.59 hrs, inter-peak 10.00 until 16.00, 24hr period, etc). The change in vehicle-km travelled can easily be derived if the selected timeframes are defined consistently. The summation of all or a part of the road sections gives the total distance travelled in the network or study area. Change in mode share (% mode share points) on Change in corridors where ITS has been implemented. Report EUEIP- Mode percentage mode share separately for each mode, see BKPI-I1 Share breakdown by vehicle classification section. Absolute and % change in number of reported accidents of all severities as well as accident rates (i.e. accidents per vehicle-km travelled) measured along Change in the road network (TEN-T and/or National) affected by Accident the implementation of the relevant ITS system. EUEIP- Numbers X Absolute number of accidents Estimates to refer to any BKPI-S1 and evaluator’s specified timeframe (e.g. the morning peak Severity from 06.00 until 09.59 hrs, inter-peak 10.00 until 16.00, 24hr period, etc). The change in accident and accident rates can easily be derived if the selected timeframes are defined consistently. Report separately by vehicle
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type and severity where possible and provide clear descriptions of adopted accident classification assumptions. Report separately by accident severity where possible.
Change in annual CO2 emissions (Tons) (absolute and % difference) measured along the road network (TEN- T and/or National) affected by the implementation of the relevant ITS system. Estimates to refer to any Change in evaluator’s specified timeframe (e.g. the morning peak EUEIP- CO from 06.00 until 09.59 hrs, inter-peak 10.00 until 16.00, X 2 BKPI-E1 emissions 24hr period, etc). The change CO2 emissions can easily be derived if the selected timeframes are defined consistently. Report separately by vehicle type where possible and provide clear descriptions of adopted vehicle classification and emission rate assumptions. Total time taken between: accident occurrence to Public initiation of public (112) eCall to the presentation of the EUEIP- eCall content of MSD in an intelligible way at the operator's BKPI-S2 Timeliness desk in the Public Safety Answering Point. The aim of eCall is to shorten the time between the accident and the dial of the call – not the length of the transmission.
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Annex 4 Evaluation of Floating Car Data
The following images show the roads for which the UM partners procured and purchased data and some information obtained from the process. Subsequently, the steps of the method and the results achieved are described.
Figure 9: Scope of data
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Figure 10: Cumulated weight of events for 2015 for the Ursa Major 2 network
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Figure 11: Ursa Major Traffic Management Plans
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Long Distance Traffic Management use case – Description of method and results
The aggregation: step 1
Speed data for 4300 Km of motorway (in D and NL) and for the entire year 2013 have been procured and analysed: 365 (days) * 24 (hours) * 60 (minutes) * 2 (directions) * 3800 (TMC locations) = 4 bn. Datasets Content
Direction of travel -> Time Segment1 Segment2 Segment3 Segment4 Segment5 Segment6 Segment7 Segment8 Segment9 Criteria for congestion 07:01 101 101 107 108 103 101 104 105 107 07:02 104 110 109 105 103 104 105 103 106 events. 07:03 101 104 103 106 102 104 102 105 110 07:04 108 103 107 104 101 100 106 70 49 07:05 101 105 105 107 101 109 109 103 54 07:06 100 100 109 85 55 101 109 101 107 Less than 30 km/h 07:07 103 51,5 25,75 12,875 6,4375 12,875 106 110 107 07:08 107 104 50 25 12,5 61 107 100 109 07:09 104 108 70 35 17,5 23 104 106 110 07:10 110 106 55 25 17 32 77 107 105 At least 30 min. duration 07:11 108 101 90 77 10 104 107 104 102 07:12 100 106 101 52 56 100 104 100 108 without 07:13 105 108 107 107 101 102 104 104 104 07:14 105 101 102 109 101 104 109 108 105 Interruption 07:15 108 108 100 100 109 104 103 105 103 07:16 110 105 102 106 108 101 109 101 108 07:17 106 105 103 102 105 109 104 100 109 07:18 106 104 108 109 100 108 107 101 107 At least 1 km length 07:19 107 108 108 101 103 45 106 60 101 07:20 110 100 104 108 104 34 35 36 107 07:21 100 109 103 104 107 89 109 104 106 These events make up for 07:22 104 59 102 106 110 109 103 106 103 07:23 105 62 74 105 108 102 103 110 110 80% of all congestion Reiner Dölger, Rheinland-Pfalz
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