•Self-compiled DARQ has good reliability and validity.•The correctness of right-of-way attitude have significant gender, age and driving experience effects.•The drivers' right-of-way attitudes could ...screen the professional and non-professional drivers.•The drivers' right-of-way attitudes could screen the professional drivers with and without accidents.•Drivers' right-of-way attitudes could predict prosocial and aggressive driving behavior.
This study explored differences in the right-of-way attitudes of different drivers and the utility of right-of-way attitudes for predicting drivers’ driving behaviors through the development of the Drivers’ Attitudes of Right-of-way Questionnaire (DARQ). DARQ is a tool to judge the negative attitudes of drivers of the right-of-way and hence assist in the selection of excellent professional drivers. Moreover, the study defined drivers’ attitudes of the right-of-way and determines the psychological components of such attitudes. A total of 614 drivers participated in the study. After two tests, the DARQ was established, consisting of assessments of three dimensions: cognition, behavioral tendency, and emotion. We assessed Cronbach’s alpha, split-half reliability, and structural and criterion validity of the questionnaire; the DARQ had a sound theoretical construction and good reliability and validity. Results revealed that professional drivers and professional drivers without accidents had higher correctness of right-of-way attitudes. This shows that the questionnaire had good criterion validity and could be used to effectively screen professional drivers, especially those without accidents. The results also revealed differences in the correctness of drivers’ right-of-way attitudes according to gender, age, and driving experience (cognition and behavioral tendency). Male drivers, older drivers, and experienced drivers had more correct cognitions and behavioral tendencies than did female drivers, young drivers, and novice drivers. Finally, we conducted a third test with 214 drivers. The results revealed that the correctness of drivers’ right-of-way attitudes predicted prosocial and aggressive driving behavior. The higher the correctness of drivers’ right-of-way attitudes (cognition and behavioral tendency), the higher the level of prosocial driving behavior, and the lower the level of aggressive driving behavior. The more positive drivers’ emotions regarding right-of-way attitudes, the higher the level of prosocial driving behavior and the lower level of aggressive driving behavior. The study helps advance the measurement of right-of-way attitudes and automatic driving research. For example, this provides reference data and a model of human traffic participants’ right-of-way attitudes that could help inform research on automatic driving. Moreover, the results of this study could provide guidance for the screening and training of professional drivers, especially professional drivers without accidents, to reduce the rate of traffic accidents.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The proliferation of energy rights‐of‐way (pipelines and powerlines; ROWs) in the central Appalachian region has prompted wildlife management agencies to consider ways to use these features to manage ...and conserve at‐risk songbird species. However, little empirical evidence exists regarding best management strategies to enhance habitat surrounding ROWs for the songbird community during stopover or breeding periods. We used a before–after–control–impact design to study cut‐back border (linear tree cuttings along abrupt forest edges) harvest width (15, 30, and 45 m wide into the forest), and harvest intensity (14 and 4.5 m2/ha basal area retention) prescriptions along ROWs and assessed their effects on mature forest and young forest songbird species and avian guilds (forest gap habitat, forest interior habitat, young forest habitat, and species of regional conservation priority) up to 2 years after treatment throughout West Virginia. Species richness during the spring stopover period initially decreased at the 1‐year post‐treatment period but returned to pre‐treatment levels by 2 years post‐treatment. Breeding season responses to cut‐back border treatments varied across harvest width, harvest intensity, and time, but all responses of focal species abundance and guild richness were neutral or positive. Cut‐back border harvest intensity had a stronger influence (i.e., more positive responses) than harvest width on breeding focal species abundances and guild richness. For harvest intensity, the more intense, 4.5 m2/ha retention treatment had a stronger influence (i.e., more positive responses) than the less intense, 14 m2/ha retention treatment. For harvest width, the narrowest treatment (15‐m wide) had the strongest influence (i.e., more positive responses) of all width treatments, followed by the widest (45‐m wide treatment) with the least influence from the 30‐m wide treatment. Abundances and richness increased from pre‐treatment to 2 years post‐treatment across all species and guilds that exhibited a response. These results suggest that cut‐back borders increase breeding season habitat suitability along ROWs for the mature forest and young forest songbird community as well as for species of regional conservation priority in the short‐term. These findings can aid the development of management guidelines for the forest songbird community along abrupt forest edges of man‐made habitat features in forest‐dominated landscapes.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The width of street rights-of-way is normally determined by traffic engineering and urban design conventions, without considering the immense value of the underlying land. In this article, I develop ...an economic framework that can inform decisions on street width, and I use tax parcel data to quantify the widths, land areas, and land value of streets in 20 of the largest counties in the United States. Residential street rights-of-way in the urbanized portion of these counties average 55 ft wide, far greater than the functional minimum of 16 ft required for access. The land value of residential streets totals $959 billion in the urbanized portion of the 20-county sample. In most counties, subdivision regulations are binding. That is, few developers choose to build streets that are wider than code requirements, implying that softening requirements would mean more land devoted to housing and less to streets. Although I highlight the potential for narrower street rights-of-way, I did not consider detailed design issues. Nor did I analyze how any windfall from reduced land requirements would be divided among landowners, developers, and house purchasers.
Particularly in places with high land values and housing costs, reallocating street rights-of-way to housing would increase economic efficiency. In the most expensive county in the data set-Santa Clara (CA)-narrowing the right-of-way to 16 ft would save more than $100,000 per housing unit through reduced land consumption. Where streets have little or no function for through traffic, the costs and benefits accrue almost exclusively to neighborhood residents. Thus, planners could reduce or even eliminate street width requirements in subdivision ordinances, leaving developers to make the trade-off between land for streets and land for housing.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Confined driving environment of the tunnel will aggravate driver’s nervousness.•Longitudinal right-of-way is mainly reflected in the tunnel alignment perception.•Driver’s attention mainly focuses on ...the far front area.•For some facilities, alignment and contour guidance varies in inverse proportion.•Alignment and contour guidance facilities are conducive to spatial right-of-way.
Urban road tunnel construction is becoming ever more prevalent, and traffic safety in tunnel operation is even more important. This study evaluates the influence of different visual guiding facilities on drivers’ spatial right-of-way perception by combining quantitative and qualitative methods in order to provide a basis for traffic safety optimization in the tunnel. Simulation scenes were designed for six common types of visual guiding facilities as comprising no facility (baseline), horizontal strips, edge markers, LED arch, vertical stripes, and combination (multiple) facilities. An eye tracker was used to obtain eye movement data of subject drivers exposed to various scenes. After each driving test, psychological feeling of the subjects in tunnel driving, and their ratings of alignment and contour guidance of various facilities were obtained by questionnaires. The research results showed that setting locations and facility types have a great impact on drivers’ glance location and glance duration. When horizontal stripes, edge markers, LED arch and vertical stripes were set separately, alignment guidance and contour guidance performance were found to vary in inverse proportion. Horizontal stripes and edge markers are the preferred and necessary facilities, which are conducive to ensuring longitudinal and horizontal rights-of-way. LED arch and vertical stripes are also good supplements to spatial right-of-way. The combination of these 4 types of facilities can provide multi-level alignment guidance and contour guidance functions, which is beneficial to traffic safety in the tunnel.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Obtaining information about the conditions of the right-of-ways on Brazilian highways represents a primary need in preventing irregular occupations on them. In order to minimize the risks associated ...with irregular occupation on the right-of-ways, resulting from anthropic processes related to land use and coverage, it is necessary to monitor the areas close to the highways. In this sense, mathematical models based on cellular automata can help to understand the impact of changes in land use and/or coverage and to predict future changes in the margins of highways. The study area comprises the BR-408 highway, located in the forest area of the state of Pernambuco, and aims to assess the urban growth of areas that are crossed by highways, generating an annual land cover scenario for the 10-year period. The modeling carried out in this research used land cover maps from the years 2000 and 2010, obtained through the Mapbiomas Project as input. Eight variables were used to explain the changes in land cover on the margins of Highway BR-408. For the calibration of the Model, the Artificial Neural Network and Logistic Regression method was used. The model was validated by the Kappa concordance test. The results show that the generated scenario presents an increase of 0.50% for the class “Irregular Occupation over the Right-of-Way”, in the period of 10 years. This increase has the contribution of cells that were in the initial stage as class Forest/Non-Forest Formation, Agriculture and non-vegetated area. The results of the modeling point to the growth of occupations in the peripheral areas of the cities cut by the highway under study, showing a spatial segregation.
•The behavior of the statistical grid cells in the 5 km buffer located in the right-of-way on the analyzed highway with irregular occupations in 2010 is significantly correlated with population density and housing density.•A time sectioning analysis on interactions of changes on land use classes on neighboring cells (LUCC models) through the MAPBIOMAS data, together with the territory socio-economic profile extracted from census tracts on the margins of the analyzed highway makes it possible to interpret the spatial dynamics of the marginal occupations.•The identification of the socioeconomic profile of marginal territories to highways from disaggregated census data may represent a viable alternative to the need for more accurate data.•Socioeconomic variables and land cover data converted into grids are directly associated with other data of diverse nature, but with a similar spatial pattern.•There is a direct relationship between irregular occupation over the highway right-of-way and the occupation growth of non-vegetated areas.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•Transmission planners should focus more on using existing rights-of-way•New lines typically face more regulatory issues than amperage or voltage increases•Fifteen example projects illustrate the ...different paths approval takes•Planners should better consider hidden costs of regulatory approval
Transmission capacity expansion using existing lines and rights-of-way (ROW) is a strategy that deserves greater attention. The need to acquire siting approval and ROW for a new line can increase a project timeline by many years, and in some cases may even lead to project cancellation. Projects that use or expand an existing ROW face different regulatory pathways and typically result in different responses from the public and other entities than those that involve siting an entirely new line. In order to identify and compare some of the issues that arise in reconductoring existing lines, expanding rights of way for existing lines, and building entirely new lines, we obtained input from a number of PUCs and siting authorities across the United States, reviewed a large number of projects, and identified the types of approvals that different types of projects can expect. In this paper, we develop a taxonomy of technical strategies that can be used to increase the capacity in an existing transmission corridor and identify the regulatory and other issues that must be addressed in each case. We compare these options with that of building an entirely new line and illustrate the various strategies with examples drawn from U.S. transmission projects that have been undertaken over the past 20 years.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•Capacity of mixed flow has been proven to increase convexly with AV penetration rate.•This property demonstrates road capacity can be increased with RoW reallocation.•Crucial points of RoW ...strategies are identified quantitatively for policymakers.•CCapacity can still be increased with RoW reallocation when AVs are ‘worse’ than HDVs.
Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are bringing challenges and opportunities to urban traffic systems. One of the crucial challenges for traffic managers and local authorities is to understand the nonlinear change in road capacity with increasing AV penetration rate, and to efficiently reallocate the Right-of-Way (RoW) for the mixed flow of AVs and Human Driven Vehicles (HDVs). Most of the existing research suggests that road capacity will significantly increase at high AV penetration rates or an all-AV scenario, when AVs are able to drive with smaller headways to the leading vehicle. However, this increase in road capacity might not be significant at a lower AV penetration rate due to the heterogeneity between AVs and HDVs. In order to investigate the impacts of mixed flow conditions (AVs and HDVs), this paper firstly proposes a theoretical model to demonstrate that road capacity can be increased with proper RoW reallocation. Secondly, four different RoW reallocation strategies are compared using a SUMO simulation to cross-validate the results in a numerical analysis. A range of scenarios with different AV penetration rates and traffic demands are used. The results show that road capacity on a two-lane road can be significantly improved with appropriate RoW reallocation strategies at low or medium AV penetration rates, compared with the do-nothing RoW strategy.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Roadside habitats are increasingly being targeted for restoration and conservation. Roadside habitats often exhibit altered soil and plant chemistry due to pollution from maintenance (e.g. de-icing ...salt), car deterioration, and exhaust. Roadside plants may attract animals due to elevated levels of sodium or nitrogen, but high concentrations of heavy metals and sodium can be toxic, potentially setting an ecological trap. In this study, we determine how roads influence the chemistry of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) as it is the primary roadside host plant for the declining monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in the eastern United States. Even though road salt is applied during the winter, we detect enhanced sodium along roads the following growing season. Road salts increase soil sodium, which in turn elevates host-plant foliar sodium (occasionally to toxic levels in <10% of plants) and sodium content in monarch caterpillars feeding on these plants. Sodium levels of milkweed leaves are highest close to the edge of busy roads. Some heavy metals (lead, zinc) are also elevated in roadside soils or plants. Nitrogen content was affected by adjacent agricultural use, but not traffic volume or proximity to a road. Other potential road pollutants (e.g. nickel) were not elevated in soil or plants. Despite a clear signature of road pollution in the chemistry of milkweed, most plants are likely still suitable for developing monarchs. Nonetheless, restoration investments in snowy regions should prioritize sites with lower-traffic density that are further from the road edge to minimize toxic impacts of high sodium. To extend this research to other insects of conservation concern, future work should characterize the nutritional quality of nectar, pollen, and other species of host-plants in roadside habitats.
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•Roadside habitats are important for conservation of insects.•We show some pollutants are elevated in soils, plants, and caterpillars along roads.•Sodium and zinc are highest in leaves that are in close proximity to busy roads.•Management for insect conservation should consider nutrition of roadside plants.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•Suitability of insulated cross arms in high-voltage transmission lines.•Insulated cross arms reduce the width of the right of way in the electrical transmission line.•Insulated cross arms reduce ...operation and maintenance costs in transmission lines.
The development of the world power industry has led to studies focused on high-performance materials to enhance the durability and prolong the service life of existing structures. In this context, cross arm is one of the main components of an electricity-transmission structure. The application of composite units (insulated cross arm) on lattice transmission towers was evaluated using the software Ansys 2020 R2 in terms of efficiency, cost, and mechanical performance, compared to conventional transmission towers. Finite-element analysis results demonstrated reductions in internal forces, displacements, and support reactions when the insulated cross-arm (IC) tower structure was employed instead of the conventional cross-arm (CC) tower structure. This could lead to minor structural costs. The IC tower exhibited a better stability under free vibrations owing to its higher stiffness than that of the CC tower. The main reason for these results was the height reduction proportioned by IC structures.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Lane change is a common-yet-challenging driving behavior for automated vehicles. To improve the safety and efficiency of automated vehicles, researchers have proposed various lane-change decision ...models. However, most of the existing models consider lane-change behavior as a one-player decision-making problem, ignoring the essential multi-agent properties when vehicles are driving in traffic. Such models lead to deficiencies in interaction and collaboration between vehicles, which results in hazardous driving behaviors and overall traffic inefficiency. In this paper, we revisit the lane-change problem and propose a bi-level lane-change behavior planning strategy, where the upper level is a novel multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based lane-change decision model and the lower level is a negotiation based right-of-way assignment model. We promote the collaboration performance of the upper-level lane-change decision model from three crucial aspects. First, we formulate the lane-change decision problem with a novel multi-agent reinforcement learning model, which provides a more appropriate paradigm for collaboration than the single-agent model. Second, we encode the driving intentions of surrounding vehicles into the observation space, which can empower multiple vehicles to implicitly negotiate the right-of-way in decision-making and enable the model to determine the right-of-way in a collaborative manner. Third, an ingenious reward function is designed to allow the vehicles to consider not only ego benefits but also the impact of changing lanes on traffic, which will guide the multi-agent system to learn excellent coordination performance. With the upper-level lane-change decisions, the lower-level right-of-way assignment model is used to guarantee the safety of lane-change behaviors. The experiments show that the proposed approaches can lead to safe, efficient, and harmonious lane-change behaviors, which boosts the collaboration between vehicles and in turn improves the safety and efficiency of the overall traffic. Moreover, the proposed approaches promote the microscopic synchronization of vehicles, which can lead to the macroscopic synchronization of traffic flow.
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