Expert Appointments Key Step on Road to DSM-V

Crash data in Kentucky show that the fatal crash rate on two-lane rural roads is substantially higher than on any other type of road. Improvements have been proposed at some locations on this type of road which involve either upgrading the existing two-lane road or adding lanes resulting in a four-lane road. As part of the public information process, highway officials have been asked to document the previous results of this type of construction. The objectives of this study were to: 1) identify sections of two-lane rural roadways where either the two-lane road had been realigned and reconstructed or additional lanes had been added and 2) conduct a before-and-after analysis to determine how these changes affected traffic crashes. Of the 49 locations included in the study, 25 involved adding lanes and converting to a four-lane road while the two-lane road was upgraded (realignment with wider lanes and shoulders) at 24 locations. Before the construction, the average traffic volume was almost three times higher on the roads where additional lanes were added than where the two-lane road was upgraded. The average daily traffic increased dramatically after the construction was completed with a slightly higher increase for roads where lanes were added. When all the locations are considered, there was a 51% reduction in the crash rate when the road was upgraded and a 56% reduction in the crash rate when lanes were added. The rate was reduced from 250 to 122 crashes/100 million vehicle miles (MVM) when the road was upgraded and from 258 to 114 crashes/100 MVM when lanes were added. When only the number of crashes is considered, the number of crashes per mile decreased by 39% when the road was upgraded and by 45% when lanes were added. The rate of injury or fatal crashes was reduced by 54% for upgrading the road and 55% by adding lanes, while the number of crashes per mile decreased by 43% both when the road was upgraded and when lanes were added. The overall conclusion of the study is that both upgrading two-lane rural roads and converting the road to four lanes are effective methods of reducing total crashes and injury or fatal crashes. The traffic volume would determine the appropriate alternative.

Coastal communities are becoming increasingly aware of the risks to local infrastructure from more frequent and severe flooding, more extreme storm surges, and sea-level rise. As local governments are responsible for the lion’s share of land use decision-making and infrastructure development in coastal communities in the United States, local governments in the coastal zone will play a key role in adapting to the changing climate. Local decision-makers are facing hard questions about whether to build new infrastructure, adapt existing infrastructure to new standards, continue maintaining existing infrastructure as is, or abandon infrastructure altogether. Monroe County, Florida, for example, has begun to factor sea-level rise considerations into decisions related to road improvement projects, creating specific design standards addressing elevation and working to weigh the benefits and costs of different adaptation options such as elevating roads. Local governments are making these decisions in the context of increasingly unreliable and aging road systems, all while meeting current stormwater criteria which may require drainage improvements. Local decision-makers also are recognizing that crucial infrastructure decisions that directly affect their adaptation success are sometimes out of their control. In the case of the City of Tybee Island, Georgia, for example, tidal flooding restricts access to U.S. Highway 80 on an ever-increasing basis—yet the highway, the only road leading to the island, is not under the city’s jurisdiction but that of the Georgia Department of Transportation. To further complicate matters for local governments, both taking action and failing to act could result in either tort or “takings” liability in cases where a poorly maintained road results in harm to life or loss of property value from diminished access. Using the duty of state and local governments to maintain roads as a focus, this Article explores the complexity of adaptation at the local level as the impacts of climate change become more pronounced. Specifically, this Article presents an analysis of coastal communities in four South Atlantic states—Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina—that are currently facing questions about how to protect property and infrastructure as sea levels rise and flooding increases. This Article distills the findings of an interdisciplinary research project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”), Florida Sea Grant, Georgia Sea Grant, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, and North Carolina Sea Grant. It also consists of a regional analysis comparing how tort and local government law can both further and hinder climate change resilience planning and climate adaptation efforts across these four states. Given that the federal government has offered little in terms of legislation, policy, or funding to direct or support climate adaptation activities, local efforts—and the litigation that inevitably results—are on the forefront of establishing the framework for defining adaptation policy more broadly and influencing the contours of tort and land use law. This Article, therefore, fills an important research gap in existing climate change literature, as it discusses how increased flooding at the local level is putting pressure on traditional conceptions of government duties, immunities, and authorities. This Article also uses roads as a case study to explore how sea-level rise is altering planning, maintenance, and funding for public infrastructure. This discussion focuses on local duties and responsibilities to build, rebuild, modify, or maintain existing roads for two primary reasons: (1) it is a widely shared function among jurisdictions and is the most obvious and visible type of infrastructure to the public, and (2) roads and highways, which are crucial to trade, defense, and nation-building, have long been under the purview of government regulation and funding in the United States. Recently, roads have also become a focal point in local government efforts to address rising sea levels and increased flooding. While sea-level rise may seem like a distant threat, many of its effects are being felt now, as low-lying coastal areas such as Norfolk, Virginia; Brunswick, Georgia; and Monroe County, Florida are experiencing increased nuisance or “sunny day” flooding occurring during seasonal or average high tides. Such flooding typically affects roads, temporarily closing them and increasing maintenance and repair costs. Residents who rely on these roads, often find themselves cut off from their homes, businesses, workplaces, schools, and local hospitals. In this way, sea-level rise and the flooding associated with it have become increasingly familiar and imminent, making roads the “climate change canary in the coal mine” for local governments. Part I of this Article briefly discusses recent sea-level rise issues and coastal science most relevant to the South Atlantic states—North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Part II analyzes and compares each state’s road ownership and maintenance duties, first by addressing the threshold question of ownership and jurisdiction, and then by explaining the multi-step analysis that governments must take to evaluate their duties to maintain roads in order to avoid liability. Part II also outlines the wide differences among the four states in our study area and observes a common thread, namely, that in almost each instance, local governments are faced with conflicting pressures that are likely to reward inaction over action and favor short-term political compromises over strategic investments in adaptation. This Part then details how counties and municipalities can discontinue their duties to maintain roads through the process of abandonment and how abandonment can lead to takings liability. Part III offers three proposals for encouraging coordinated adaptation action and protecting local governments that take action to address climate impacts: (1) redefining the scope of the duties that define reasonable conduct for governments in making decisions about public infrastructure in an era of rising sea levels; (2) defining the scope of sovereign immunity protections in a way that encourages innovative and creative decision-making in an era of climate uncertainty; and (3) calling for consistent adaptation duties and authorities at the state level as a crucial first step in mending the regulatory patchwork that currently exists at the state, county, and city levels in our four-state study area. Part IV concludes with a summary of observations and recommended next steps.

Road traffic accident is a massive health hazard in Egypt and all over the world. Also, Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a major cause of global mortality and morbidity. Available funds are insufficient to solve problems in all accident locations at the same time. Consequently, accident locations need to be ranked according to its severity for best allocation of available funds to repair the most severe locations. El Minia-Beni suif east and Agriculture roads are of the roads that have a highly repetition of accidents. This study compares between accident characteristics on both roads. In addition, areas of high accident occurrence are ranked according to its severity. Accident data on both roads is abstained from General Authority of Roads, Bridges and Land transport (GARBLT) for the period from 2010-2014. Analysis proved that Agriculture road has the major part of accidents, death and injuries. The maximum number of accidents on both roads occurs at kilometers between 20 and 30. The road section length of highly accident location on both roads is divided into subsections with length 2 km. These subsections are ranked according to its severity using the accident weight methodology. Accident weight is estimated using the economic cost of death, injury and property damage. Black spots are determined using Critical Crash Rate approach. Analysis proved that two locations on the study area can be considered as black spots. One on each road at the same km (24-26) is considered as a black spot. The present study recommends starting modifications with these two black spots sites then other locations according to its rank of severity. Also, the research recommends that the methodology introduced in should be used on all Egyptian roads. © 2016. Marsland Press, Zhengzhou University Language: en

Factors influencing diet, reproductive success and road mortality in the Barn Owl (Tyto Alba)

As the population increases and the growth of vehicles especially in urban areas causes traffic crowds. Roads are a very important means of land transportation to consider in order to support the progress of an urban area. Increasing the volume of traffic on urban roads, especially in the city of Meulaboh precisely deviated from the range caused by the increasing growth of traffic vehicles, especially during rush hour. Kisaran intersection connects Sisimangaraja road to Gajah Mada street, from Gajah Mada road heading Manekro road, and from Imam Bonjol road toward Sisimangaraja road. This intersection is one of the roads that is always crowded and very strategic and is used as access to get to the city center. Re-evaluate the performance of the signal intersection to find out the capacity, degree of saturation, delay, length of the queue and the number of stalled vehicles, which is based on the current traffic volume. The problem to be raised and also the purpose of this study is to determine the performance of the intersection of the Intersection Junction based on current traffic flow conditions. The method used is the Indonesian Road Capacity Manual Method 1997. Based on the results of the analysis of calculations, the volume of traffic flow of Manekro 3218 pcu / hour with a capacity of 1963 pcu / hour, Imam Bonjol road 2855 pcu / hour with a capacity of 1741 pcu / hour, Sisimangaraja road 2981 pcu / hour with a capacity of 1818 pcu / hour and the Gajah Mada road. Keywords : Evaluation, Signalized Intersection, Intersection Performance

Municipals and local authorities all over the world are attempting to boost the number of children walking or cycling to school as the benefits for children and society as a whole deriving from an active travel to and from school are widely acknowledged. For this reason programs that encourage active travel to school are often implemented by local authorities or schools. Many of these programs focus on the child. Cycle training or motivation programs aimed at a mode shift towards active travel are relatively easy to set up and can lead to quick results. Yet, a child centred review of the road infrastructure is necessary to sustain these modal shifts, as the road safety concerns of children and parents remain a major barrier to children’s independent travel to school. The needs of youth and children are often neglected in road and traffic design. This fact can be traced to a number of factors. The number of children using an active travel mode to school can be very low to start with, while the road network that the children commute on can be extensive. Only little data is available on children’s independent commuting patterns or their use of road infrastructure. These factors can lead to ad hoc decision making or to inactivity in implementing necessary road works. If only a fraction of a child’s route to school is perceived to be unsafe, if has a great potential to prevent children from walking or cycling to school. Children’s perception of dangerous road infrastructure is a major barrier to children’s independent travel to school. This study asked children to trace the routes that they take to and from school on a provided paper map. The children were than encouraged to mark areas and places on the map of where they felt or unsafe in traffic, using a set of predefined symbols. The resulting routes and symbols have been digitalised and analysed using the Geographic Information System ArcView. Of the 172 surveys distributed to 6 th year students of St. Fiachras Primary School in Beaumont Dublin a 36 % response rate was recorded. From the resulting 62 routes, 22 are categorized as walking routes, 18 were cycling routes and 16 routes are those of car passengers. Defined differences in the distribution of positive and negative markers along these routes were recorded, whereby the location of negative markers pinpointed a distinct problem area in the road network. Surprisingly, on a site visit this area was served quite well with pedestrian / cycling infrastructure. The results of this study indicate that children’s maps are a valuable analytical tool that can help road engineers to pinpoint problem areas in a road network in relation to specific road users. The methodology employed is cost effective and a fast method to survey small sample groups which can be used to analyse relatively large areas of road network and could be applied on a national scale.

One of the alleged justifications for government provision of highways and roads is that the power of compulsory purchase is necessary in order to overcome holdout problems and obtain right-of-way properties. This chapter describes how, after all, only the state has such power, so the private sector would be unable to supply the efficient amount of roads and highways. This market-failure justification for public roads is examined from three different perspectives in order to demonstrate that it is not valid. The first, and perhaps most obvious, point regarding the compulsory-purchase justification for government provision of roads is that even if this power required to obtain a right-of-way, the road itself does not have to be sited, constructed, financed, operated by the government. Section II briefly summarizes some substantial historical and modern evidence that demonstrates that the members of the private sector are able, and indeed, quite willing, to site, construct, finance and operate roads if they are allowed to do so. The implication is that even if compulsory purchase is required in order to obtain a right-of-way, that right-of-way can be turned over to the private sector, which can then build and operate the road. Section III turns to a direct examination of the alleged market-imperfection justification for the use of compulsory purchase to obtain right-of-way properties; transactions costs due to the “holdout” problem that are assumed to prevent private sector acquisitions of multiple contiguous land parcels for a roadway. It is demonstrated that the holdout problem is not nearly as severe as it is assumed to be when private entities are making the purchase. Therefore, while government entities may face significant holdout problems, the magnitude of any market failure that might actually exist with a privatized road system is much less significant than this holdout justification for public roads assumes. Furthermore, the use of compulsory purchase actually is undesirable for a number of government-failure reasons, as explained in Section IV. Section V concludes, not only that: (1) the “need” for compulsory purchase does not justify public provision of roads, but that compulsory purchase through government itself is not even just for the private provision of roads; (2) because the probability of market failure is low in the absence of the power; and (3) there is a substantial degree of government failure accompanying the power that appears to more than offset any benefit from overcoming the holdout problem.

Ormanların optimal şekilde işletmeye açılmasında yol ağları, ulaşım ve taşıma altyapısının temel unsurudur. Ana ve tali orman yolları ile yeterince işletmeye açılamayan orman alanlarında üçüncül yollar olarak sürütme ve/veya traktör yolları yapılarak sürütme mesafeleri kısaltılmaya ve sürütme maliyetleri azaltılmaya çalışılır. Ormancılığa yönelik birçok uygulamada olduğu gibi sürütme yollarının da orman ekosistemi üzerinde geçici ve/veya kalıcı olumsuz etki potansiyeli bulunmaktadır. Öte yandan, herhangi üretim bölmesi veya bölmeciğinde, üretim operasyonları için sürütme yol uzunluğunun nasıl bir artış gösterdiğine ilişkin yeterli veri, bilgi ve kayıtlara rastlanmamaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı; sürütme yollarının niteliklerini özetlemek, ayırt edici özelliklerini tarif etmek, örnek alınan bazı üretim bloklarında sürütme yolu yoğunluklarını hesaplayıp bu değerlerin değişimine göre sürütme yolu ağlarının potansiyel ekolojik etkileri konusunda bazı değerlendirmeler yapmaktadır. Isparta Orman Bölge Müdürlüğü sınırları içinde, Google Earth programından yararlanılarak rastgele seçilen 30 adet üretim ünitesinin, üretim öncesi ve sonrasındaki uydu görüntüleri üzerinden sürütme yolu yoğunlukları hakkında veri toplanmış ve analiz edilmiştir. Buna göre, üretim sezonunun hemen bitiminde, sürütme yolu uzunluklarının üretim üniteleri başına ortalama 3290 m olduğu ve sürütme yol yoğunluğunun da ortalama 83.1 m/ha’a eriştiği belirlenmiştir. Sürütme yollarının ortalama 3 m genişlikte bir alan kaybına neden olduğu kabul edildiğinde; 1 ha’ lık orman alanının yaklaşık % 2.5’i sürütme yollarından dolayı kaybolmaktadır.

In this paper a road network extraction algorithm for suburban areas is presented. The algorithm uses colour infrared (CIR) images and digital surface models (DSM). The CIR data allow a good separation between vegetation and roads. The image is first segmented in two steps: an initial segmentation using the normalized cuts algorithm and a subsequent grouping of the segments. Road parts are extracted from the segments and then first connected locally to form subgraphs, because roads are often not extracted as a whole due to disturbances in their appearance. Subgraphs can contain several branches, which are resolved by a subsequent optimisation. The optimisation uses criteria describing the relations between the road parts as well as context objects such as trees, vehicles and buildings. The resulting road strings, represented by their centre lines, are then connected to a road network by searching for junctions at the ends of the roads. Small isolated roads are eliminated because they are likely to be false extractions. Results are presented for three image subsets coming from two different data sets, and a quantitative analysis of the completeness and correctness is shown from nine image subsets from the two data sets. The results show that the approach is suitable for the extraction of roads in suburban areas from aerial images.

This paper reviews techniques on identification of road distress. The main key of this paper is to identify road distress and types of road distress. A literature reviews on the types of distress, detection techniques and methods used to identify road distress are presented. Hence, the advantages and disadvantages of current techniques such as laser scan, mobile mapping, stereo camera and uses of UAV used for road distress identification were to be out and gap in their techniques was identified. For many years, broad research has been conducted on road distress detection in order to maintain road surface to a high standard. Quick and accurate detection is required to maintain the road maintenance. A method using 2D images with supported 3D information is one of the best ways to get accurate results on identifying road distress. To keep up with the current technology, UAV with mounted camera is recommended to be used in order to provide quick and effective data capturing.

Optimal Methodology to Generate Road Traffic Emissions for Air Quality Modeling

Vulnerable road users, including motorcyclists, account for more than half of all road traffic fatalities worldwide. Communication actions are an essential part of prevention both in Africa and in the world. This study aimed to review the available scientific studies on the effectiveness of communication actions for the reduction of road traffic accidents among motorcyclists. We carried out an automatic search on PubMed using an equation and a manual search on Google Scholar using keywords and the bibliographic references of the studies generated by the automatic search. Using this strategy, 155 articles were identified, 16 of which were eliminated as duplicates. Thus, 139 were screened by reading the titles, abstracts, and full-texts. In the end, 13 articles met the inclusion criteria. The included articles provided evidence of the effectiveness of communication actions on the reduction of risk factors for the occurrence or severity of road traffic accidents. However, communication actions alone seem insufficient to achieve a sustainable and significant reduction in road traffic accidents, road traffic injuries, or road traffic fatalities. This confirms the need to integrate all road safety promotion strategies to act simultaneously on the various risk factors for the occurrence or severity of road traffic accidents and thereby significantly reduce their incidence and associated consequences.

The presence of roads is a necessary component of urban life, but the manner in which the urban road network affects the surrounding natural environment—and, more specifically, the urban wildlife—is not often considered. The danger posed to wildlife in urban environments by means of vehicle‐related fatalities is prevalent, even in areas of urban wilderness such as the Leslie Street Spit (the Spit) in Toronto, Ontario. The rate at which some species are killed on urban roads can be catastrophic to the population and possibly lead to extirpation. The goal of this study is to identify patterns of road mortality and, ultimately, to contribute data for effective mitigation strategies to reduce the instances of road kill at the Spit. The study area was divided into four sections and, from May to August 2011, the location and species of road kill found were recorded and mapped. The total count of road mortalities was 96, with snakes accounting for 71%, followed by birds (18%), amphibians (7%), and mammals (4%). The two sections of the study area with the highest vehicle traffic accounted for the majority (61%) of road mortalities. Temporal differences by taxonomic group were observed; for example, the mortality of snakes peaked in June, and that of birds in July and August. Overall, the results show that snakes are disproportionately affected by the presence of vehicles on the roads at Toronto’s Leslie Street Spit and that the areas of increased traffic are also areas of increased mortality for the wildlife in this urban wilderness area.

In order to promote the “Belt and Road” Sino-Russian friendly trade, the advanced web crawler technology is used for data analysis in the context of the rapid development of Internet of Things technology. The types and applications of web crawler in big data are described; then, the web crawler technology is applied to the big data ecological environment analysis of “Polar Silk Road” of “Belt and Road” Sino-Russian trade. The steps of applying web crawler to the big data ecological environment analysis of “Polar Silk Road” are explained first; next, the analysis results are clarified. The research results have shown that the Sino-Russian trade ecological environment analysis based on web crawler technology is more perfect, which promotes the application and propagation of web crawler technology. The analysis has pointed out that being the cooperation project of Sino-Russian “Belt and Road”, the “Polar Silk Road” is facing a huge test in terms of its ecological environment, in which the oil spills occurred in oil and gas transportation projects have become the most important source of pollution in the Arctic region. These ecological problems require China and Russia to strengthen the development and construction in the fields of marine biological development, navigation work, fishery market, natural energy, etc. to further promote the construction and development of the ecological environment of the “Polar Silk Road”.

The Lake Bosomtwe impact crater is located in the Ashanti region of Ghana, West Africa. The impact crater diameter from rim to rim is approximately 10.5 km wide with a lake located at the center. Three different districts touch the lake containing 155,000 hectacres of land. There are approximately 7,500 people from 24 villages, and 12 of those villages reside within walking distance of the lake shore. Within the last ten years, the lake has been subjected to overfishing and environmental degradation. The health of the lake has declined due to overfishing and algae blooms caused by improper fertilization rates. Because of these factors, residents of the area have been forced to transition to subsidence farming as their main vocation. According to the Ghana Statistical Service group, 97.6% of the population participates in some form of rural crop farming (Ghana Statistical Service, 2010). Experience with common practices such as crop rotation, fertilizer use, and erosion control is extremely limited. The lake has not been recommended for recreational use due to the excess runoff in the form of agrochemicals, liquid, and organic waste. Caged aquaculture and traditional fishing within Lake Bosomtwe is currently illegal.A comprehensive Institutional Review Board (IRB) survey was developed for the six primary research questions to be examined. From these six research questions, 147 specific questions were developed. Three of the 147 questions were to obtain Global Positioning System (GPS) data for community households, pit latrines, and water wells or boreholes. This study sought to interview 10-15 farmers per village, for each of the 12 villages located along the shore of Lake Bosomtwe of their perspective on land use change/cover in the Lake Bosomtwe area, current farming practices, current water sanitation and hygiene practices, and current fishing practices. These surveys were collected in the form of oral responses, for which 118 small-holder farmers were interviewed. Of the participants surveyed, 66% were qualified to answer all questions, and 100% of participants completed the survey.Some specific statistical tests were conducted based of market assessment survey. It was determined that no association between gender and level of education existed. Meaning, that female participants interviewed have just as many opportunities as male participants to pursue education beyond Junior High School (JHS). Yield averages between the villages on the north side of the lake with road access and villages on the southern portion of the lake with limited to no road access were determined to be significantly different. It was determined that road access does affect village yield. When comparing average usable yields between villages located on the northern side of the lake with road access or between villages on the southern side of the lake with limited to no road access, these results were not statistically significant. No significant difference in the scores for villages with road access on the northern side of the lake and villages with limited to no road access on the southern side of the lake existed. Therefore, road access does not affect village usable yield. Through statistical analysis an association was determined between people who practice bathing and washing in the lake and those who practice fishing as a form of livelihood.Four decision matrices were created to prioritize the following items: Farm Components, technologies to showcase at an appropriate technology center, improved farming practices to showcase through Demonstration Plots, and extension outreach topics. The top three results for the Farm Components were: Appropriate Technology Center (ATC), Demonstration Plots, and a Micro-Credit Union. The top three technologies to showcase as part of the ATC are: PICS Bags, Moisture Meters, and Above-Ground Aquaculture. The three demonstration plots recommended terracing/erosion control, crop rotation, and cover crops. The highest priority extension outreach topics were: basic home/farm finance, improving health through washing stations, and post-harvest loss prevention. The top three priorities of each decision matrix will be the focus of further study, so that these topics can be developed and programs focusing on these needs can be implemented in collaboration with the community partners.