Nordic Road and Transport Research 3-2007

NORDIC ROAD AND TRANSPORT RESEARCH | NO.3 | 2007

What’s up in the Nordic Countries?

P7

Economics & Society P8

Amphibians and Roads P26

News from Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) VTI is an independent, internationally established research institute which is engaged in the transport sector. Our work covers all modes, and our core competence is in the fields of safety, economy, environment, traffic and transport analysis, public transport, behaviour and the man-vehicle-transport system interaction, and in road design, operation and maintenance. VTI is a world leader in several areas, for instance in simulator technology.

Danish Road Directorate (DRD) Danish Road Institute (DRI) The Road Directorate, which is a part of The Ministry of Transport & Energy, Denmark, is responsible for development and management of the national highways and for servicing and facilitating traffic on the network. As part of this responsibility, the Directorate conducts R&D, the aim of which is to contribute to efficient road management and to the safe use of the network. The materials research component is carried out by the Danish Road Institute.

Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is a contract research organisation with a staff of 2,800. In this joint publication, the VTT expertise areas cover research and development of transportation, logistics and road structures. The work is carried out in five research groups employing a staff of 60.

Editorial notes Nordic Road & Transport Research is a joint publication of six public road and transport research organisations in the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The main objective of the publication is to disseminate research results and news from the institutions, especially to researchers and decision makers. Each institution is responsible for the selection and presentation of the material from its own scope of activities.

Nordic Road & Transport Research is published three times a year. It is regularly sent out, free of charge, to recipients selected by the six joint publishers. Free sample copies are also sent out on special request.

Reproduction and quotation of the texts are allowed if reference is made to the author and source.

However, legislation regulates and restricts the right to reproduce the illustrations. Please contact the respective publishing institution for information.

Advertising is not accepted.

Correspondence about the contents of the publication: 2 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

Please write to the author or to the respective publishing organisation.

Requests for back issues, and notification of address changes: Readers outside the Nordic countries: please write to the Editor-in-chief at the VTI in Sweden.

Readers in the Nordic countries: please contact the publishing institution of your country.

Addresses: see back cover.

The Editorial Board consists of the following representatives of the publishing institutions Editor-in-Chief, Sweden Magdalena Green, VTI nordic@vti.se

Denmark Helen Hasz-Singh, DRI hhz@vd.dk

Icelandic Road Administration (ICERA) The ICERA's mission is to provide the Icelandic society with a road system in accordance with its needs and to provide a service with the aim of smooth and safe traffic. The number of employees is about 340. Applied research and development and to some extent also basic research concerning road construction, maintenance, traffic and safety is performed or directed by the ICERA. Development division is responsible for road research in Iceland.

Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) The Norwegian Public Roads Administration is one of the administrative agencies under the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Norway. The NPRA is responsible for the development and management of public roads and road traffic, as well as the Vehicle Department. This responsibility includes research and development of all areas related to road transport and the implementation of R&D results.

Institute of Transport Economics (TØI), Norway The Institute of Transport Economics is the national institution for transport research and development in Norway. The main objectives of the Institute are to carry out applied research and promote the application and use of results through consultative assistance to public authorities, the transport industry and others. The Institute is an independent research foundation employing about one hundred persons.

Finland Kari Mäkelä, VTT kari.makela@vtt.fi

Iceland G. Pétur Matthiasson, ICERA gpm@vegagerdin.is

Norway Thorbjørn Chr. Risan, NPRA thorbjorn.risan@vegvesen.no Harald Aas, TØI ha@toi.no

Graphic Design Johnny Dahlgren Grafisk produktion AB, Linköping, Sweden

Issue 3,900 ISSN 1101-5179 Cover Photos.com

www.vti.se/nordic

Contents In Brief | p4 What’s Up in the Nordic Countries? | p7 No Lorries, no Growth | p8 Long Term Performance-based Maintenance Contracts in Denmark | p10 WCARS Puts a Price on Safety | p12 Pricing of Infrastructure Use – VTI's Contribution of to the Debate on Sustainable Development | p13 Optimal Road Maintenance and Operations – Results of New Research and Analysis in Norway | p14 Freight Transport and Logistics Demand More Knowledge | p16 Evaluating the Economic Impacts of Intelligent Transport Systems | p18 The Computer Sees You | p20 Virtual Impact of Safety Barrier | p22 Possibilities of Noise Reduction through Road Traffic Flow Management | p24 Amphibians and Roads | p26 TRANSFORUM - Recommendations on Tools for Policy Impact Appraisal | p28 A Thin Line between a Rock and a Hard Place – Securing the Main Road from Coastal Erosion | p30 Traffic Safety and Noise Reducing Thin Layers | p32 Annotated Reports | p34

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 3

PHOTO: MAGDALENA GREEN, VTI

IN BRIEF

Ongoing transport research will be put into a database

Correction

The VTI Library and Information Centre, BIC, has for a long time been responsible for the provision of information on transport research in Sweden. Part of this responsibility is to run the web site Transguide in which links to web sites, literature, full-text electronic documents, databanks, forthcoming conferences etc. are collected, described and classified. It now seems that Transguide will be expanded to include also a database containing information regarding ongoing national transport research.

The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation

Systems finances a pilot study which will be made by BIC in the autumn of 2007.

The database is intended to provide a good overview of ongoing Swedish transport research and link up project information, results and membership of centres or research programmes. It will also enable coupling to international information systems for further information.

www.transguide.se Contact: Birgitta Sandstedt, birgitta.sandstedt@vti.se

4 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

PHOTO: PHOTOS.COM

In the last issue of Nordic Road and Transport Research wrong currency was given in the article about the Bicycle Tube in Bodø.

All amounts mentioned were in Norwegian Kroner. The correct currency should have been Euro.

The mistake is corrected in the article distributed on our web site, www.nordicroads.com.

www.vti.se/nordic

On the new web site for Nordic Road & Transport Research you can not only read all the latest issues, but also search articles and download annotated reports and older issues of the magazine.

Nordic Road & Transport Research is published three times a year. If you want to be notified with an e-mail when there is a new issue out on the web site fill in the form on www.nordicroads.com/subscribe.

Welcome! www.nordicroads.com

International Conference in Thailand on Road Safety During a period of nearly twenty years, starting in Göteborg, Sweden, in 1987, an international road safety conference has been organised by VTI. In November the 14th international conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand. In Bangkok the conference was arranged together with the Ministry of Transport, Thailand.

During three days about 250 participants from all continents took part in an extensive programme of sessions with presentations by speakers from a large number of countries.

The main themes of the conference were exchange of new findings on road safety, transfer of road safety knowledge, exchange of evaluated good practises and road safety as a working environment problem.

The conference aroused much interest in Thailand, especially when the Thailand Minister of Transport, Thira HaoCharoen, and the Deputy Minister of Transport, Sansern Wongcha-Um, and the Swedish Ambassador of Thailand, Lennart Linnér, took part in the opening ceremony.

"It is very gratifying that the delegates really appreciate that VTI arranges this kind of global conference on traffic safety," says Kent Gustafson, VTI Deputy Director General.

"This is the only conference of its kind, since the focus is on the transfer of experience from countries with a high standard of traffic safety to countries where this work has only just begun."

The day before the conference a bilateral seminar on traffic safety was held at the Thailand Ministry of Transport. This was arranged by the Swedish embassy together with OTP, Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning, Ministry of Transport, Thailand.

"It was a very successful seminar that gave rise to many interesting discussions,” says Kent Gustafson.

Read more about the conference at www.vti.se/rs4c

Urban Karlström has left VTI for the Ministry of Finance After eight years Urban Karlström has left his post as Director General of VTI. The Swedish Government resolved to appoint him to Secretary of State at the Ministry of Finance. At the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, which is the supervisory authority for VTI, work has begun to find Urban Karlström's successor as Director General. Kent Gustafson, Research Director at VTI, will act as Deputy Director General of VTI until the Government has made a decision as to the successor of Urban Karlström.

Contact: Kent Gustafson, kent.gustafson@vti.se

Urban Karlström has left his post as Director General of VTI.

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 5

PHOTO: HEJDLÖSA BILDER/VTI

Nordic on the web

IN BRIEF

PHOTO: MAGDALENA GREEN, VTI

Simulator for rail traffic awakes interest at rail fair

ECTRI meeting in Oslo

The rail vehicle simulator, called SST, awaked gratifying interest at the biannual fair Nordic Rail, held in Jönköping, Sweden, in October.

VTI had a stand at the fair as many times before. This time the institute focused its activities at the stand on the SST. – We were very pleased with the attention paid to the simulator, state Jerker Sundström and Mats Lidström, who work with the development and marketing of the simulator.

Four VTI researchers gave a lecture at the stand, too. The topics were security in public transportation, functional disturbances in railway infrastructure, particle emissions in railway environment and the effect of rail traffic noise and vibrations on sleep.

The European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI) aims to be an independent knowledge organisation capable of advising authorities in strategic policy issues in the transport sector. In September 2007, researchers from the member institutes gathered in Oslo for the Thematic Working Groups kick-off meetings.

The Institute of Transport Economics in Oslo hosted the kick-off meetings.

ECTRI’s members are 20 major transport research institutes or universities in European countries. Together, they account for more than 3 000 European scientific and research staff in the field of transport.

For more information: www.vti.se/railbound www.vti.se/ssteng

VTI at PIARC World Road Congress in Paris

6 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

President of ECTRI, Guy Bourgeois, and Managing Director Lasse Fridstrøm, Institute of Transport Economics (TØI), both regard the kick-off meetings in Oslo as an important step for closer cooperation among the ECTRI members.

PHOTO: PHOTOS.COM

VTI was represented at the 23rd Piarc World Road Congress, 17–21 September in Paris, in the joint Nordic stand. The device of the stand was ‘Nordic Solutions’.

At the VTI stand the visitors were, among other things, introduced to the magazine Nordic Road & Transport Research (the magazine you are reading just now) and the conference Road Safety on Four Continents, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand, in November. The Swedish work for traffic safety and above all the Vision Zero were mentioned in positive terms by many visitors.

The visitors at the VTI stand were also interested in receiving continuous information about traffic safety research performed at VTI. VTI’s library and information centre was also represented at the stand.

A number of VTI researchers took part in the conference part of the congress representing research news, acting as chair of session or taking part in committee meetings.

As an example of a well-attended congress workshop there was the one with the title ”Impact of emerging vehicle, pavement and monitoring technologies on road vehicle interaction: where will we be in 30 years?”. At this workshop Anita Ihs from VTI, to mention a VTI contribution, presented a vision based on a EU project HeavyRoute (Intelligent route guidance for heavy vehicles).

ECTRI’s president, Guy Bourgeois, from INRETS in France, underlined in his speech the importance of working together to build a strong organisation. ECTRI’s aim is to contribute to the building of the "European Research Area" (ERA) in surface transport by cooperation in thematic and process-oriented working groups, task forces, framework programme projects, and seminars. The 80 researchers worked two days in Oslo, divided into seven different thematic groups, where they prepared outlines for possible research projects.

ECTRI is also engaged in launching an open access European journal dedicated to transport, an alternative to the many USoriented transport journals existing today.

The journal will be launched in June 2008 available on internet free of charge. www.vti.se/nordic

WHAT’S UP IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES?

SWEDEN Transportforum® January 9–10, Linköping, Sweden

This year, Transportforum will be arranged for the 25th year since its start in 1984.

Transportforum has developed into the largest annual conference for the transport sector in the Nordic countries, and will take place at Linköping Konsert & Kongress. The entire transport sector will meet to exchange information and make contacts over two well-filled days. The contents of the Jubilee Year 2008 will provide additional attraction.

Transportforum is a unique meeting place where researchers and the many players of the transport sector come together. For two days, almost 1 600 people, 400 of whom present papers, will meet to learn about the latest research findings, share experiences and discuss timely issues. The entire transport sector is represented, from roads and railways to aviation and maritime transport.

At the same time as development over 25 years will be reviewed, the focus will be on vehicles and transport systems of the future.

Further information and registration: www.vti.se/transportforum.

NORWAY Winter Days 2008 January 28–31, Beitostølen, Norway

As announced in NR&TR no 2/2007 a winter conference will be held by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration in Beitostølen, high up in the mountains in the south of Norway. The conference will include seminars, demonstration of winter maintenance

equipment and exhibition, and it is a cooperation between road authorities, contractors, equipment suppliers, research institutes and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

The purpose of the conference is to create a meeting place for environment specialists and participants involved in maintaining winter roads. The outcome of such a meeting should be exchange of experience and discussions of challenges on the road maintenance area from the perspective of road users (transporters, pedestrians and drivers), the road maintainers (contractors), the Government, car rescue associations etc.

The main focus of the discussions will be environment, technology, cost effectiveness, regularity and safety.

Target group of the conference is politicians, road associations, counties, road and airport professionals, press, transporters, road maintenance equipment suppliers, research and educational establishments etc.

The conference language will mainly be Norwegian but specialists speaking Nordic languages are very welcome to participate in the conference.

For more information and booking, please send an e-mail with your contact information to: vinterdagene@vegvesen.no.

FINLAND 27th Winter Road Congress February 12–14, Turku, Finland

Winter Road Congress in Finland is an event specializing in winter service of roads, streets, public areas and estates. The traditional programme of Winter Road

Congress contains international congress, exhibition, demonstrations and social programme. The event is organised every other year.

The Congress has attracted recently 500–600 participants from 10–15 countries, while the number of visitors to the exhibition has been as much as 5 000.

Official languages are Finnish, English and Swedish.

The event is organised by Finnish Road Association, Finnish Road Administration and the Hosting City, in this case Turku City. Also major Finnish maintenance contractors Destia and YIT are closely involved.

The technical session themes are: • Climate is changing – what about winter maintenance • Weather, road conditions and road safety • Ice control • Road users´ expectations in winter.

Wide range of winter maintenance equipment will be at disposal in the exhibition.

Furthermore, latest innovations of related materials, technology and methods can be found at the congress. Part of the exhibition machines will participate in demonstrations.

Social programme and interesting excursions are also included in the congress programme.

The congress will be organised in Turku Fair & Congress Centre.

Further information and registrations: www.tieyhdistys.fi., e-mail: jouko.perkkio@ tieyhdistys.fi.

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 7

ECONOMICS & SOCIETY

No Lorries, no Growth Transport, and especially road freight transport, is a necessary prerequisite for economic growth. The transport industry’s central role in industrial and social development is, however, not well reflected in the industry’s share of national value formation: As in a host of other activities in a society marked by a large degree of mutual dependency, the hauling industry does not capture the full economic benefit of its impact on economic development.

Goods transport is a prerequisite for a well-functioning economy.

Given the spread of populations and a global economy, one cannot escape the need for freight transport. The lorry is the winner because it is flexible and efficient. Despite this, increasing amount of goods transported on roads is politically undesirable, but an inevitable fact.

he European Commission White Paper, “European Transport Policy for 2010: Time to Decide” (COM (2001)370) states two main challenges: 1. To decouple transport growth and GDP growth 2. To shift freight from roads to rail and sea.

The White Paper argues that the limited capacity of the existing transport infrastructure cannot support continued growth in transport. Ultimately, the capacity problems will hamper economic growth and cause further environmental damage.

The deregulation of rail freight has provided some new transport solutions and the entry of some new firms. However, the effects are not sufficient to significantly alter modal shares on a European level.

The rhetorical shift from “intermodality” to “co-modality”, which to most people must seem indistinguishable, conveys an understanding of the fact that improvements in the rail sector cannot solve future problems alone.

Our study of benefits of lorry transport – financed by the Norwegian Haulier’s

8 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

T

Association – offers an alternative approach compared to the overwhelming amount of research focusing on the negative aspects of road freight transport. But can such benefits be revealed by established economic theory? Immediately, the counterfactual question arises: what kind of society would there be if there were no goods transport, and specifically no lorry transport?

A good remedy necessitates a correct diagnosis. i.e., in this case, to study the cau-

sal relations that produce the observed effects. In order to understand the two above-mentioned issues, one needs to understand how freight transport is an integral part of the value formation process and the manifestations in time and place of industrial organisation, which to a large extent rely on road transport. Without transport of goods, we would have to rely on self-subsistence, or at least on small-scale production for local markets. A society free of transport today would imply a welfare level so low it would be hard to imagine.

Adam Smith provides an approach to understanding the role of transport in economic growth. According to him, division of labour was almost the only source of economic growth. Growth depends on, and is limited to, the size of the market: ”the division of labour – cause of the increased productivity of labour – is limited by the extent of the market” (Smith, 1776, Ch. 3). The larger volumes produced, the more specialised and efficient production, which again facilitates greater markets. Transport plays a key role if market expansion means geowww.vti.se/nordic

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

graphical expansion. As such, transport is a facilitator for the division of labour.

Internally, i.e. within an enterprise, a notable feature of spatially dispersed industrial networks is that the actors mutually depend on each other, and power relations prevail. This applies even if they act as independent enterprises. In other words, modern industrial networks, the technical division of labour transcends the juridical limits of the firm in such way that it influences not only the production site but applies to the whole network: Investment and market risks are diversified, while control over the accumulation process is retained.

The notion of transport as a facilitator for the division of labour holds regardless of the means of transport at hand. The strength of road transport lies in the fact that it has been, and is, the mode of transport which is most compatible with the technical, organisational and spatial manifestations of industrial networks.

The relation between transport and division of labour is of the greatest interest if the division has spatial implications. Great improvements in transport and information technologies enable coordinated production even if the different parts of the production are spread globally. Whereas integrated production ideally should be located where the cost of production factors are lowest in total, transport enables the different production stages to be carried out and located independently where they are cheapest.

A study of the Japanese car industry points out that: “the just-in-time-system is an extension of the principles of the Ford conveyor belt system of factory production to the regional production system of assembly plants and subcontractors … The timing and specialisation which characterise auto-production systems in Japan are analogous to those achieved in modern factory production” (Sheard, 1983, referred to in Asheim, B.T., 1997:168).

Such a spatial dispersion of the production process implies that transport within a firm, by means of a conveyor belt, is replaced by transport based on publicly available infrastructure. Further it implies that transport, through the increased focus on logistics, has become a key element of the enterprises’ production strategies. The increased globalisation observed over the past few decades is, i.a., attributed to more cost efficient supply of transport.

In general therefore, transport is a prerequisite for achieving the benefits brought about by division of labour, specialisation and economies of scale. Road transport has been by far the most supportive means of transport in the development of industrial networks.

In order to understand the driving forces behind transport in general and road transport in particular, one needs to acknowledge the fact that transport is a necessary condition for the increased productivity that follows from division of

labour and specialisation, and that road transport has been particularly good at meeting the needs for speed, precision and flexibility. These are key elements for successful administration of industrial networks that are geographically dispersed.

Goods transport appears in other words primarily internally within dispersed enterprises or within industrial networks.

Transport growth is not therefore only a result of more production or higher consumption, but also a consequence of how production is organised technically, organisationally and geographically.

References: Asheim, B.T. (1997): ’Learning Regions’ in a globalised world economy: Towards a new competitive advantage of industrial districts?, in Conti, S. og M. Taylor (ed): Interdependent and Uneven Development: Global-Local Perspectives.

Ashgate: Aldershot Smith, A. (1776): An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: Strahan and Cadell Thorkel C. Askildsen, Institute of Transport Economics

Title: Road Freight Transport: The hauling industry’s impact on growth, welfare and settlement Authors: Thorkel C. Askildsen and Anne Gjerdåker TØI report no. 901/2007. Available on www.toi.no

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 9

ECONOMICS & SOCIETY

Long Term Performance-based Maintenance Contracts in Denmark Long term performance-based maintenance contracting of asphalt surfaces has become popular in Denmark.

M

unicipalities use this type of contract form to turn over maintenance of the road network - typically between 100 and 300 km - to a contractor for a period of fifteen years. Beside the actual paved surface, often maintenance of road markings, shoulders and ditches, and maybe also bicycle tracks and footpaths are included. As of today, more than 3 000 km of municipality roads are covered by such long-term maintenance contracts.

Contracts ensure priority to roads The reason for choosing such a contract is partly political, as there is a move towards “privatisation”, and partly because pavement maintenance has had low priority in many municipalities, and now there is a need to do something drastic. This type of performance contracts generally give a faster rate of surface renewal in the first years of the contract, at a competitive price. And an argument is that the money is fixed to the roads, and cannot be used for other purposes when extra money is needed in the municipality.

Another reason for introducing long term performance contracts is to strengthen innovation by giving the contractor more “free hands”, and to make it a competitive parameter to produce good quality long lasting pavements.

10 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

Performance requirements are based on routine condition measurements The most important requirement that the contractor has to fulfil is the condition of the road based on visual inspections (cracks, potholes, etc.). In the PM-system, all distress registered in the visual inspection is transformed into a single number; a condition index, and this condition index is the primary performance requirement.

Before the tendering process, the entire network has been through a visual inspection. This gives the contractor an idea of the road condition, and also makes it possible to set realistic requirements. During the contract period, the requirements to condition index are routinely monitored.

One-third of the network is surveyed every year, so that the condition database is renewed every three years.

There are additional requirements to maintenance. These are requirements to rutting, skid resistance, evenness, profile and light reflection. These requirements are based on the traditional requirements for new surfaces with warranty periods of one to five years, adjusted to fit for long term use also. Common for these requirements is that they are not checked routinely, but only on request from the municipality. They could easily be checked routinely, but they are not routine measurements in municipa-

lities today, and there is no reason for them to be, just because of a new contract form.

Typically for these contracts, the contractor takes over the responsibility for the road “as it is”, so no matter for what reason the cracks appear, the contractor is responsible for the maintenance. It is also good advice that shoulders and ditches are included in the contract. It only provides a basis for conflicts if the roads show distresses due to low priority given to the maintenance of the drainage system.

The contractor is paid an equal yearly payment. The principle is that the product is a road network maintained to a standard described with identical requirements throughout all 15 years, resulting in a subsequent equal payment.

Positive experience The first long term performance contract in a municipality was signed in 2001, giving six years of experience. And the experience is positive so far. In the first years of the contract, the municipalities experience a faster rate of surface renewal than what their budget typically allows. And yet the price is very competitive. The contractors give a good price for at least two reasons: 1. It is a long contract to have in the order book; they do not need to spend resources every year on tenders. www.vti.se/nordic

PHOTO: ALLAN NØRREGAARD PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

For many municipalities, long term performance contracts are a means of ensuring priority to pavement maintenance.

2. The work can be planned almost entirely by the contractor, which gives them a welcome opportunity to even out the use of resources.

Unfortunately, experience until now also shows that the municipality engineer does not spend much less time on pavement maintenance than he used to do.

This is partly because all requests or observations from the citizens naturally still go to the municipality. The municipalities work in a way where the relevant issues are addressed directly to the contractor (i.e. observations of potholes, comments regarding asphalt works etc.). Controlling the visual requirements that are not routinely measured can also be time-consuming (i.e. road markings and shoulders). So it seems that the contracts should mainly be chosen for economic reasons, not so much for saving resources for the road administration.

Susanne Baltzer, Danish Road Institute, sub@vd.dk.

PHOTO: ALLAN NØRREGAARD

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 11

ECONOMICS & SOCIETY

WCARS Puts a Price on Safety Factors such as cleaner air, shorter trip times, more comfortable journeys and greater safety may be difficult to justify from a macroeconomic perspective because they have no market prices. In the VTI project WCARS (Willingness to pay for car safety as revealed and stated), a price is put on safety in cars by investigating the willingness to pay of Swedish car consumers.

well functioning infrastructure imposes high costs on both society and individuals. Management of such large sums is the reason for the transport policy objective of economic efficiency in the transport system, which can be established using benefit-cost analysis (BCA) in macroeconomic calculations in which benefits are considered in relation to costs. The problem in the transport sector is that the benefits are often in the form of cleaner air, shorter trip times, more comfortable journeys and greater safety – i.e. non-market goods for which there are no prices. If no consideration is given in BCA to the benefit of e.g. reduced emissions because these have no market prices, there is an appreciable risk that important measures will not be taken.

In order to avoid this, these goods should as far as possible be valued in monetary terms so that they may be included in the BCA. One approach to setting a price on these is made in the WCARS study.

WCARS investigates willingness to pay, WTP, on the basis of the car choice of Swedish consumers. The non-market good in focus is greater safety. A "hedonic" pricing method is used in estimating the observed WTP. The same car owners are also asked about their hypothetical WTP in a contingent valuation study. In this way, access is obtained, for one and the same 12 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

A

individual, to his/her actual and hypothetical WTP, data to which there has normally been no access in similar studies. The very fusion of these methods is innovative, and it enables a comparison between observed and hypothetical WTP which can be considered a validity test of estimated WTP. Make, comfort and performance are all factors that affect the price of a car; safety is another factor. By determining how the price level is influenced by changes in the various factors, i.e. the marginal WTP for various factors can be estimated. If a control is made with respect to make, comfort, performance and similar factors, there remains a relationship between actual safe-

ty and the car's price. This relationship is an expression for the market price of safety in that type of car. If safety is one of the benefits in a planned project, its value is expressed in concrete terms by the calculated consumer´s WTP. In this way, safety can be included as an item in the BCA. This is an amplification that is correct if it is borne in mind that greater safety ought to be seen as a societal benefit.

Sandra Johansson, VTI

For more information: Henrik Andersson, henrik.andersson@vti.se

www.vti.se/nordic

Pricing of Infrastructure Use – VTI's Contribution of to the Debate on Sustainable Development To make progress in achieving sustainable growth in society, it is necessary for infrastructure to be used more effectively. One step in the right direction is to create a correct pricing system for all transport modes. The project PINA, Pricing of infrastructure use, is VTI's contribution to the recurrent political debate on sustainable development.

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

I

ssues concerning the effects of the infrastructure on the environment through air pollution, reinforcement of the greenhouse effect, accidents, infrastructure wear and tear, etc. have been the subjects of discussion for a long time. In the future also, these issues will be discussed, and technical development with more advanced pricing systems will make contributions to the debate. The project PINA commenced in 2004 and has the aim to intensify research concerning the macroeconomic marginal costs of the transport sector in order to create the basis for an important knowledge base in this area. Thanks to favourable funding of the project in Sweden, VTÌ will be able to highlight the changes that are necessary in all fields of transport. Owing to work on previous projects and commissions, VTI also has a large pool of knowledge that will be useful in PINA. – Individuals choose the transport that suits them best. But do people think about the way in which the choice of mode affects society and its costs? asks Gunnar Lindberg of VTI who is project leader for PINA. – When a price is determined, all costs

should be included in the charge, he says, and describes how a lot of the work on PINA has related to differentiated costs.

This means, for instance, that in a comparison between a noisy train and one that runs quietly, the costs for society are considerably higher in the first case. This is one example of the factors which, according to Gunnar Lindberg, ought to determine the charges and be included when pricing for the infrastructure is revised.

The project has a broad-based reference group and, on the basis of the group's discussions, researchers at VTI work on a number of subprojects within the framework of PINA. The ultimate aim of the overriding project is to create a comprehensive picture that describes the best knowledge from the project.

The national Swedish rail administration, Banverket, one of the fund providers for the project, has been very pleased with the results that PINA has so far produced. When the new rules of the EU concerning the type of data required for access charges to the rail network were published, PINA's research results for the administra-

tion were already available. The cost calculations in the project have been one of the factors that influenced their new access charges.

It is expected that PINA will be completed some time during 2007, and one of the subprojects in progress at present is an investigation concerning environmental costs. Another study relates to noise and lorries, and in a third the costs of accidents are calculated. An analysis will also be made of the consequences that the ongoing trade with emission rights outside the transport sector will have for the climate policy of the transport sector and for the carbon dioxide tax. The access charges are already proof of the effect created by PINA's results, and it remains to be seen how the other transport areas will be affected.

Elin Frejd, VTI

For more information: Gunnar Lindberg, gunnar.lindberg@vti.se

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 13

ECONOMICS & SOCIETY

Optimal Road Maintenance and Operations – Results of New Research and Analysis in Norway The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has recently carried out two projects that focus on backlog in road maintenance and how road condition affects the users both in summer and winter.

Research on how pavement condition affects road user costs has been done, with emphasis on traffic safety issues. The results are being used in the ongoing revision of the maintenance and operational standards for national roads.

T

he Norwegian Public Road Administration (NPRA) has since 2002 carried out two projects that have improved the basis for finding optimal levels of service for maintenance and operations of national roads. The first projects focused on methods for valuation of road assets and maintenance backlog, including the calculation of these for the Norwegian road network.

The second project focused on how road condition (both in summer and winter) affects the consequences for road user, with emphasis on traffic safety. This article presents the results from this project.

Models have been developed for pavements, both in summer and winter conditions, giving the NPRA an improved basis for revising the corresponding maintenance and operational standards. They may also be used for analysing the effects of budget levels and allocation of maintenance funds. Other participants in the project were the Institute of Transport Economics (TØI), SINTEF Technology and Society, ViaNova Plan og Trafikk AS and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI).

New research Several studies were carried out to increase knowledge of basic relationships between

14 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

road condition and effects both for road users and road managers. The studies that have been carried out are: Winter operations • Time distribution of driving conditions (snow, ice, sleet etc.)

• Driving conditions and traffic safety • Speed adaptation to different driving conditions • Effect of winter operations on driving conditions • Roads with special winter problems (e.g. mountain roads) • Roads with low traffic volumes • Agency costs of winter operations.

Pavements • Pavement condition models • Pavement condition and traffic safety • Speed adaptation as a function of pavement condition • Seasonal variation of pavement condition.

In addition information from numerous earlier studies was used in the project. The analyses did not include environmental issues.

Analysis and results – winter operations A schematic overview of the model used is shown in Figure 1.

The basic situation of driving condition distributions was established from empirical data. Alternative driving condition distributions were established (Changed situation in Figure 1) in order to assess how agency and user costs vary with driving condition distributions. Details relating to the different models can be found in the reports from the project. An example of the model used, relating accident frequencies to driving conditions, is shown in Table 1.

Two types of climate were included: cold (in-land) and mild (coastal). The

Table 1: Accident frequencies for different driving conditions.

Driving condition

Absolute accident

Relative Dry – no snow

Relative Dry – no snow

frequency

(Most recent study)

(Adjusted – used in analysis)

Dry - no snow

0,19

1,00

1,00

Wet - no snow

0,193

1,02

1,30

No snow in wheel paths

0,245

1,29

1,30

Other winter conditions

0,409

2,15

2,20

www.vti.se/nordic

Figure 2: Relationship between rutting and relative accident frequency.

Figure 1: Schematic overview of winter model.

1,3

Model – Driving conditions Basis situation Model – Driving conditions Changed situation

Relative accident frequency

1,2

Model – Operational actions

Model – Speed adaptation

1,1 1 0,9 0,8 0,7 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Rut depth (mm)

Model – Accident costs

Model – Vehicle Operating Costs

Model – Time costs

Model – Road Agency Costs

Model – Total costs Benefif-cost ratio

Figure 3: Relationship between roughness (IRI) and relative accident frequency.

roads within these climate types were grouped according to speed limits of 60 km/h and less and above 60 km/h. Three service levels were analysed: the current service level and one higher and one lower service level.

The main conclusions of the analysis were: • For roads where the Winter road strategy (without extensive use of salt) is used it is not economical to lower the service level, even for roads with low traffic levels.

• For roads where the Winter road strategy is used it is economical to increase the service level for roads with traffic levels above 1 500 – 3 000 AADT, depending on climate and speed-limit.

• The Bare road strategy (with use of salt) is economical whenever use of salt has the intended effect for the prevailing climatic condition and traffic.

Analysis and results – pavements Three service levels were analysed: the current service level and one higher and one lower service level. The pavement condition parameters used were rutting and roughness (IRI). Pavement performance was modelled using both empirical and mechanistic models. The effect of pave-

Relative accident frequency

1,2 1,15 1,1 1,05 1

<=60 km/h - cars <=60 km/h - heavy vehicles >60 km/h -cars >60 km/h -heavy vehicles

0,95 0,9 0,85 0,8 0,75 0,7 2

3

4

5

6

IRI (mm/m)

ment maintenance actions on condition was modelled based on empirical data.

Road user cost models were used to calculate time costs, vehicle operating costs and accident costs. The models for accident costs were developed by analysing data from the Norwegian road network, and examples of the resulting models are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3.

The main conclusions of the analysis were: • It is economical to lower the service level for roads with traffic levels below 3 000 AADT. • It is economical to increase the service level for roads with traffic levels above 5 000 AADT. These conclusions are valid with some important limitations. The effect of how different service levels for the drainage system affects pavement condition were not explicitly included in the analysis. There is

also uncertainty regarding how well the two parameters rutting and roughness completely represents the pavement condition and its effects on user costs. Interacting effects of rutting and roughness were not included.

The results from the project are being used in the current revision of the defined service levels in the maintenance and operational standard for national roads. They are also being used in socio-economical analyses of both winter and pavement strategies. More research is needed to increase confidence in the conclusions.

Even K. Sund, NPRA, Norway

Contact: Bjørn Iuell, bjorn.iuell@vegvesen.no

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 15

35

ECONOMICS & SOCIETY

Freight Transport and Logistics Demand More Knowledge Freight transport is an important part of the economy, but at the same time it creates serious problems for society. In spite of this, research and information concerning freight transport are still relatively limited in scope. But there are high hopes that the VTI thematic project GODIS (Freight transport in society) will increase this knowledge.

n one year, freight transport by road, rail, sea and air amounts to over 100 billion tonne kilometres in Sweden and it is forecasted to increase further. The result is that environmental and climatic problems are on the increase, and such transport also has an impact on traffic safety.

Through its internal thematic project GODIS, VTI is formulating the starting points for an R&D programme that is new in this field. Through GODIS, VTI will be instrumental in increasing knowledge about the transport sector. The Swedish Government also wants to increase knowledge, and is creating a new advisory agency that has been given the name Logistics Forum and will be chaired by Minister for Communications, Åsa Torstensson.

VTI acts as the secretariat for Logistics Forum.

– The Logistiscs Forum is really a good step in the right direction, and the fact that the Minister for Communications takes the chair sends a signal that the Government

16 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

I

wants to invest in research on logistics and transport, says Inge Vierth of VTI who has been engaged on the work to implement GODIS. – It is remarkable that there is still so little information today on the structure and extent of freight transport and the way it can be modified, she says.

It was at the end of the 1990s that the

issue of freight transport in society began to attract attention in Sweden when the then Government set up the Freight Transport Delegation. The delegation has been at work on developing an approach that comprises all traffic modes and will have the effect of making freight transport more effective and safer and will reduce its effect on the environment. The new www.vti.se/nordic

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

Logistics Forum now takes over this work and at the same time expands it. The Logistics Forum follows the line of the EU Commission that research concerning transport should be broadened by also endeavouring to understand the driving forces behind the various logistics solutions.

The number of firms whose production takes place in a country outside Sweden is increasing. Because of various driving forces, the areas where people live and work are also becoming fewer and are concentrated in the cities. Logistics solutions which will deal with this are therefore being developed, and to a certain extent these demand a lot of transport. Even though vehicles are improved all the time, through e.g. better engines and fuels, this is not happening at the same rate as the rapid increase in traffic volume. Because of this, the negative effects on the environment remain and to some extent increase.

– VTI has good expertise which can be utilised in GODIS and the new R&D area,

says Inge Vierth. We can count both finished and current projects as part of our knowledge in this field. But we appreciate that it is time now for us to develop this field further.

Within the thematic project GODIS, action and R&D issues are proposed in six areas: • estimation of marginal costs and formulation of control measures • demand models • macroeconomic calculations • competition and funding • local and regional transport • impact analyses.

The project started last summer and work has now commenced on many of the projects which the new R&D in the area has given rise to.

– During the work on GODIS, we were also commissioned by the Government to study the effect of long lorries on the transport system, says Inge Vierth.

She knows that VTI is in a good position

to produce results of the quality demanded by clients in this area. At the same time, the knowledge available at VTI must be utilised in a better way. Through greater cooperation among units and departments, knowledge about freight transport can be further broadened.

One of the results of the work on GODIS is that ideas concerning new projects are being put forward. One proposal is to initiate a research project that studies the relationship between logistics, freight transport flows, lorry emissions and the effects on human health in towns. This could in future result in a new and stimulating cooperative project at VTI. Elin Frejd, VTI

Title: Freight transport in society. A VTI research theme, N 12-2007 Contact: Inge Vierth, inge.vierth@vti.se

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 17

ECONOMICS & SOCIETY

Evaluating the Economic Impacts of Intelligent Transport Systems The use of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) is on the increase throughout the world. What these systems have in common is that they are introduced to generate benefits to the users and to society. These benefits must, however, by definition outweigh the total costs of implementing and operating the systems to provide a net benefit to society. Given limited public budgets, ITS projects must be proven to provide greater benefits to society than competing alternatives. The net benefits of traditional transport projects are normally assessed using some sort of quantitative methodology, among which cost-benefit analysis being the most common method.

C

ost-benefit analysis (CBA) is based on measuring the costs and benefits of a project to whomever they may occur. The overall task is to measure if the benefits of the projects outweigh the costs or more specifically, if the net social benefits are positive. Although there are other methods available for project appraisal, CBA is the most widespread one.

The main summary measure in CBA is the Net Present Value (NPV) which is defined as follows: n

NPV = 10 +

â&#x20AC;&#x201C;C â&#x2C6;&#x2018; B(1+r) t

t

t

t=0

Here I0 denotes the investment costs, Bt the benefits in year t, C1 the costs in year t, r the social discount rate and n the horizon year.

From an economic point of view the decision to carry out a project will rest on the project having a positive NPV. CBA of ITS projects ITS projects are often considered to be an efficient method for utilising existing transport infrastructure capacity. An example 18 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

could be an automatic traffic information system where road users are informed about queues or congestion on certain road segments with the use of electronic signboards situated along corridors and where alternative routes could be suggested. The impacts for road users would be savings in travel time without the supply of more capacity.

However, for ITS to be preferred over traditional expenditure such as supplying more capacity, its merits must be demonstrated using economic evaluation techniques. CBA can be used to determine which project, either ITS or more capacity supply, that meet the social profitability test, and to assess ex post which project that has been successful in meeting the initial assumptions.

ITS projects are relatively new and still at their early stages in many countries.

Ascertaining their expected effects is therefore considered difficult. This might make traditional evaluation methods inappropriate.

Evaluation of ITS projects A literature study has revealed that there is a clear need for harmonisation of evalua-

tion practices for Nordic and Norwegian ITS projects. More work needs to be done in order to include ITS specific effects in the CBA framework to allow a better comparison and ranking of ITS and more traditional transport projects.

There is no clear methodology for ITS evaluation available. Although projects sometimes are subjected to ex ante evaluation there is no clear framework or methodology as to how projects should be evaluated. Attempts to carry out a full CBA of ITS projects are rare and evaluation is often just based on cost-effectiveness analysis in which the benefit side is not monetised.

This is an easy way of evaluation and certainly less time consuming than CBA but the significant disadvantages of the methodology includes an inability to measures and sum several benefits as well as a very crude valuation of effects.

Evaluations of ITS projects appear incomprehensive and economic consequences are often not valued at all. The end result of this is that several potential effects will not be demonstrated and an evaluation that appears narrow, fragmenwww.vti.se/nordic

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLĂ&#x2013;SA BILDER

ted and less interesting to planners and decision makers. Moreover, the evaluations are often positively biased, focusing more on the positive effects and choosing the most positive estimates where more than one alternative is available.

The evaluation results are imprecise.

The effects have largely been described verbally and there is very rarely any monetisation of effects. This makes comparisons between projects difficult and comparisons between ITS projects and ordinary projects impossible.

The Norwegian case suggests that ITS project evaluation too often is characterised by personal opinion rather than a systematic statement of costs and benefits expressed in monetary terms using discounted values. Evaluation of ITS projects appears arbitrary and unsuited for cross project comparisons.

Conclusion ITS is an increasing feature of modern transport systems and an increasing proportion of road administrationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; project

portfolios are made up of such projects.

ITS projects differ in nature from ordinary transport projects and traditional methods of evaluation such as CBA might not be applicable. There is, however, a clear need to evaluate ITS projects both ex post and ex ante both in order to demonstrate potential net benefits but also to test whether initial assumptions of these have been met.

CBA is the most widespread and in our opinion the most suitable method of evaluation for all transport projects. The method does, however, have some weaknesses in that it is not fully adapted to incorporate all the attributes of modern technologies. Examples from several countries show that ITS evaluation at times has been insufficient and that there is a clear need to expose ITS to more rigid evaluation. In order to achieve this, we need a change of minds and of methodology. ITS must move on from the R&D sphere were all projects are regarded as experimental were the benefits lie in just demonstrating ex post that the systems have had some effect and

into a situation were ITS are considered as relevant alternatives to traditional transport measures such as supplying more capacity. What's more, CBA frameworks must be revised in order to incorporate the specific effects of ITS. This will ensure that the right ITS projects are chosen for evaluation and that other projects with potentially higher implementation costs and lower net benefits to society are rejected.

The end result will be in the accordance with the overall objective of project evaluation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; better value for money and increased social surplus.

Morten Welde and James Odeck, NPRA

Contact: Morten Welde, e-mail: morten.welde@vegvesen.no or James Odeck, e-mail: james.odeck@vegvesen.no

This article is based on a paper presented at the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems in Beijing, October 9-13, 2007.

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 19

The Computer Sees You Research results show that only 35 per cent of all lorry drivers in Sweden wear a seat belt, and that 70 per cent drive too fast.

These figures must be improved to increase safety on our roads.

Technology today makes it possible to monitor how fast people drive, and there is a hope that this will make them drive more safely.

T

20 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

positive effect that the drivers can see how their driving styles compares to others, and it may also result in an indirect competition to see who drives most safely.

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

he objective of the research project UPPÅT is to test the effects that careful monitoring of speed limit transgressions and seat belt use will have on truck drivers.

It is hoped that, by combining experience and knowledge from the research world with new technology from an IT company, good results will be achieved in this project.

The research programme IVSS, Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems, was involved in launching this project and is also providing some of the finance. The objective of the programme is to stimulate research and development for the road safety of tomorrow, something that may result in smart technology and IT solutions that prevent road accidents due to collisions. It also focuses on developing intelligent vehicle and traffic systems.

Data for the project will be provided by a total of 120 heavy trucks from the around ten transport companies, that constitute the test group. These trucks have for some time been equipped with vehicle computers from the IT company Vehco. Vehco has developed new applications for these computers which measure speed transgressions and seat belt use, and also show what speed limit applies on the road the truck is travelling on. It is not only the driver who is given a warning when he/she drives too

Magnus Hjälmdahl, researcher at VTI, works with the project UPPÅT.

fast, but everything is also recorded and can be monitored by the employer. The results are then processed by the transport firms. The results can, for instance, be displayed in the coffee room so that drivers can see how their driving style compares with that of their colleagues.

Positive effects Up to now, around 30 drivers have used the technology long time enough for a first evaluation. It is found that the technology has been well received by most drivers, even though there were some misgivings in the beginning. Many feel that the pace of work has become slower and that the new technology has provided support for this.

Showing the results to everybody has the

Easy to revert to the old pattern The initial results and previous experience show that the users will improve their driving style for a start but will revert to their usual behaviour after a week or two and will no longer have the feeling of being watched.

– To maintain the positive effect, it is essential to have a constant dialogue and follow-up at the trucking companies, says Magnus Hjälmdahl, researcher at VTI. – To motivate the drivers, they will every month be given a feedback on how well they have kept to the speed limits and used the seat belt, and a bonus system will also be tested to provide additional motivation, says Magnus Hjälmdahl. Those who have kept to the speed limits will be rewarded with a cinema ticket by VTI every month. Some transport firms also have their own bonus systems which make an addition to the wages, and the transport firms consider that some of the money saved on fuel consumption by the drivers should benefit the drivers.

– Some kind of motivation system is needed for the positive results to be maintained, says Magnus Hjälmdahl. www.vti.se/nordic

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

The result – a commercial product The project UPPÅT is coming to an end and it is intended that, if the results are favourable, the computer system will be launched by Vehco as a commercial product. The system will test the willingness of transport firms to pay for road safety functions and will make it easier for the purchasers of transport services to demand improvements in road safety.

The research results will be compiled in

a report that will be presented at Transportforum in January. See p. 7.

Magdalena Green, VTI

For more information: www.ivss.se Contact: Magnus Hjälmdahl, magnus.hjalmdahl@vti.se

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 21

Virtual Impact of Safety Barrier Virtual tests as a complementary test to full-scale tests – are they reliable? Outcome of the EU project ROBUST.

F

E software can be used to calculate the safety of bridges, aeroplanes and even a journey to the moon, but until now safety barrier approval requires full-scale tests according to European standards. Over the last 10–15 years several attempts on using computational mechanics (CM) for impacting safety barrier have been made with mixed results. The conclusion has been that the use of software calculation for safety barrier approval is not reliable enough.

Until very recently, research had not been carried out on a large enough scale to secure the use of CM. During the last couple of years a number of simulations have been carried out by Force Technology, on behalf of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), with good results compared to full-scale tests. The experience from the simulations formed the basis for NPRA participating in the EU project ROBUST – Road Barrier Upgrade of Standard.

The ROBUST project had nine work packages, of which two were the full-scale test and CM. The intention was to compare the results of full-scale tests with virtual tests carried out using computational mechanics.

Four institutes participated in the CM work package: • Politecnico di Milano (POMI) - Italy • Centre for Automotive Research and Development (CIDAUT) – Spain • Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) – Norway

22 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

• Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) – Great Britain.

Test objective The objective was: • To evaluate and enhance the use of CM as a supplement to experimental activity.

• To elaborate criteria and procedures for the validation of CM results through comparison with test results.

• To identify the activity needed for further enhancement of the use of CM. The model of the car used in CM was the GeoMetro, which is identical to a Suzuki Swift. The cars used in full-scale testing were Peugeot 106 and Fiat Uno. Twelve simulations were carried out by three different institutes in Europe. The results were remarkably similar to each other and to the full-scale test results. They even had smaller scatter than the full-scale tests. The differences between the full-scale tests were mainly due to different ground friction at the test facilities.

The ROBUST project was carried out for concrete, steel N2, steel H2 and steel H4 barriers. This article only reports the test on the N2 barrier. It was crucial that all simulations were performed as blind tests, i.e. performed without prior knowledge of the results from the full-scale tests.

The results from the full-scale tests and simulations show that the difference between full-scale tests performed in four test houses and simulations performed in three institutes are minor. All the full-scale tests

were performed according to the regulations set out in EN1317.

Simulation: The ASI value & working width: • Std deviation = 0,08 – 63mm • Mean value = 0,75 – 834mm.

Full-scale test: The ASI value & working width: • Std deviation: 0,08 – 83mm • Mean value: 0,79 – 758mm.

The mean value of working width is somewhat more for simulation than for the full-scale test. When calculated with normalised values, the difference in mean working width is reduced from 76 to 49 mm.

The scatter for simulation is equal for ASI and less for working width than in the fullscale test.

Documentation The calculation of ASI-value is based on results from the accelerometer. Because of a different transmitter in the simulation compared to full-scale tests, a precalculation of the result from the simulations is needed before final calculation is performed.

The working width is easier to document and visualise based on a simulation than a full-scale test.

It is possible to eliminate forces and to study the behaviour of the safety barrier in more detail with simulation compared to full-scale tests.

The same overall picture emerges from the concrete barrier test.

www.vti.se/nordic

Simulation:

Documentation

0,95 0,90 0,85 0,80

ASI

0,75 0,70 0,65 0,60 0,55 0,50 0,45 600

650

700

750

800

Working width

850

900

950

Simulations Full-scale tests

Conclusions

Parameter study Some parameter studies have been carried out with the variation of yield point, modulus of elasticity and steel thickness within the requirement of the existing EN-standards. Difference in steel thickness and yield point in particular had a great effect on the working width and some effect on the severity indexes. The figure shows that the working width can vary by three classes for variation of yield point.

Remaining work Some work remains to be done before the use of CM in approval of safety barriers is recommended. Documentation and validation routines need to be established and more tests need to be performed for several

types of barriers before CM can be used as a complementary test to full-scale tests.

Conclusions This ROBUST project shows a strong correlation between the results from full-scale test and simulation, given the same conditions. This is valid for the two types of barrier, steel and concrete, which have been extensively tested. The severity indices and the deflection are within the scatter from full-scale tests. Work is already being carried out, and will continue to reduce the scatter for CM. The results from CM are as reliable as the results from full-scale tests when performed by experienced institutes. CM can also be used for calculation of the security level of the safety barrier, calculation of pro-

bability of failure, risk analyses and reliability analyses.

Use of one full-scale test as validation for simulation is difficult since the scatter is too great for that purpose. The use of simulation is much less costly than the full-scale test. The cost is 20â&#x20AC;&#x201C;50 per cent lower than a full-scale test depending on the complicity in the modelling of the barrier. The costs of carrying out a parameter study (model cost only once) are lower.

Otto Kleppe, NPRA

Contact: Otto Kleppe.

E-mail: otto.kleppe@vegvesen.no

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 23

Possibilities of Noise Reduction through Road Traffic Flow Management As part of the EU research project SILENCE, an extensive literature study of the noise and annoyance effects of various road traffic flow measures has been carried out. Below, some of the results are given.

O

ne way of reducing road traffic noise is to reduce traffic volumes. On minor roads with low traffic volumes, it may be an effective measure to move large percentages of traffic to major roads, where traffic volumes already are high. This could, for example, be achieved by impeding through-traffic or by completely closing roads to through-traffic through physical measures or bans. The use of road humps, chicanes or other measures can also be applied. Narrow cushions and round-top humps are preferable from a noise perspective.

On major roads, however, reductions in traffic volumes are rarely feasible solutions to noise problems. Due to the logarithmic nature of the dB scale, large numbers of vehicles would have to be removed in order to result in any significant level of noise reduction. A twenty per cent reduction in 24 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

traffic results in a 1 dB noise reduction, provided that speed, traffic composition and driving pattern are unchanged. Results from London and Stockholm indicate that a general initiative such as congestion charging, even if it does limit traffic volumes somewhat, has little or no effect on noise levels.

The traffic composition is also a factor in determining noise levels. Heavy vehicles and motorcycles are noisier than cars.

Noisier vehicles produce noise peaks, which may cause annoyance, disturbance and/or awakening. It may be possible to reduce the number of heavy vehicles on a road or in an area through planning initiatives, which move this traffic to less vulnerable roads and areas, or through city logistics initiatives, which concentrate freight in a city on fewer vehicles. Problems of sleep disturbance may be reduced through night

time bans or charging on trucks and perhaps also motorcycles. However, bans are likely to move some of the traffic to the daytime and thus may worsen daytime noise levels and problems of disturbance and annoyance.

Speed reductions Speed reductions are a way of reducing traffic noise, provided that the necessary measures do not lead to an increase in accelerations and decelerations. The effect depends on the traffic composition, but for both light and heavy vehicles, the largest reductions are achieved at low speeds. At speeds below 50 km/h, noise reductions of 2â&#x20AC;&#x201C;3 dB LAeq are realistic as a result of 10 km/h reductions in actual speeds.

The driving pattern of traffic on a road influences noise levels. Stop-and-go driving leads to higher noise emissions, because www.vti.se/nordic

accelerating vehicles make more noise than vehicles driving at a steady pace.

Several surveys have shown that roundabouts lead to less noise than intersections with or without signalization. This is to a large extent because more vehicles can pass without having to come to a complete stand-still. Coordinated signalization in the form of calming green waves may also be a measure to secure more even driving patterns. This needs further testing.

Research needs Speed humps and cushions are by far the measures which have been subject to most studies. The main research need for these measures is to determine the optimal distance between the measures in order to maintain an even driving pattern without large differences in speeds at and between the measures. Such optimal distances may

be general for speed-reducing measures, also including chicanes and miniroundabouts, or they may be specific for the various types and layouts of measures. This needs to be clarified.

If dummy humps are to be used, it should be clarified whether their effect on speed is permanent or there is a driver habituation. Chicanes and road narrowing should be studied further to gather knowledge on the noise and annoyance effects of such measures. Especially the use of various forms of overrun areas in chicanes needs to be studied.

There is a great need for clarifying the noise and annoyance effect of various layouts of junctions, both signalized and nonsignalized intersections and roundabouts.

Also miniroundabouts should be studied further in relation to the effect on noise and annoyance. It should also be clarified

whether there is a difference in the effect on speed, noise and annoyance depending on the construction of miniroundabouts, whether painted, constructed with various paving stones, or otherwise constructed.

Calming green waves appear to be a promising measure for securing even driving patterns at low speed, and thus also for noise reduction. The initial results found in literature merit further surveys to clarify the potential.

Lars Ellebjerg, Danish Road Institute, lel@vd.dk.

For full details on this study, please see http://www.roadinstitute.dk and then publications (to be published shortly on the internet).

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 25

Amphibians and Roads When traffic and wildlife have been discussed, traditionally the main issue is about traffic safety and accidents with bigger animals. Still during the last 10–15 years more and more countries have become concerned in the fragmentation of natural areas and impacts on habitats and migrations routes also for smaller species that have no influence on traffic safety at all, for example amphibians.

M

ost amphibians (frogs, toads and newts) need water bodies for breeding, whereas during the non-breeding period of their life cycle they may live in the water, at the water's edge or on land.

Many species thus migrate seasonally between different habitat types. In spring, adults migrate from their winter habitats to their breeding sites which some of them then leave after breeding to reach their terrestrial habitat. During summer, after metamorphosis, juveniles leave their birth pond to migrate to terrestrial habitats. In autumn, some species migrate back to their winter habitats. Some amphibians will return to their natal pond year on year, e.g. common frog and common toad have been reported to return to their breeding site even several years after its destruction. Other species breed in temporary aquatic ponds.

Amphibians move rather slowly on land, and they easily get killed while attempting to cross roads. The concentration of movements towards spawning sites requires specific measures to ensure safe crossing of roads.

There are mainly two ways to handle this: • To block the access onto the road to prevent road kills.

• To enable amphibians to safely cross roads while moving between breeding and non-breeding sites.

The best solution is to combine these two measures; i.e. blocking the access and

26 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

leading the animals to safe crossing points.

In Norway, as in many other countries, there is a growing awareness for the conservation of the amphibians’ different habitats and their need for safe connections between them. Amphibian crossing points have been constructed in several places, and new tunnels are integrated in coming road schemes.

The amphibian tunnel at Skoklefall At Skoklefall on the peninsula of Nesodden south of Oslo, a local biologist has for several years marked the dead toads on the road by painting white circles on the asphalt. The biologist’s children sent a letter to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration about the high numbers of dead toads on this road, and it was decided to establish a safe crossing point in connection with other construction work on the site. An amphibian specialist was engaged to find the best location for an amphibian tunnel, and to monitor the effect of the measures taken. The tunnel itself was made of a 60 cm corrugated steel pipe, with a concrete sole at the bottom. 170 meters of 30 cm high stone kerbs were placed on each side of the tunnel to lead the amphibians towards the tunnel.

The first reports after the spring migration indicate that the kerb stone wall actually leads the amphibians the right way, and that they are following the scent of others.

The first animals were a little bit reluctant and hesitated to enter the tunnel, but the later arrivals picked up the scent and went through without hesitation. The autumn migration was not quite as successful, mostly because the leading structure has been less efficient on the “autumn-side” of the road. Adjustments will therefore be made to lead the animals in the right direction.

The main conclusion is that the amphibian tunnel has had a positive effect in giving the amphibians a safer crossing of the road, and fewer animals have been killed during migration.

Conclusion Amphibians don't necessarily need special types of crossing structures. Culverts designed for a variety of small animals can be suitable for amphibians as well. However, some points are particularly important for amphibians: • Guiding structures leading the animals to tunnels are particularly important and have to be fitted very carefully.

• Amphibians are sensitive to drying out, in particular young animals. Long dry tunnels are therefore unsuitable, while a combination of functions with a drainage channel or a tiny stream can provide humid parts at the edge of the stream.

Bjørn Iuell, NPRA www.vti.se/nordic

PHOTO: SIRI GULDSETH, NPRA

Toads moving to their spawning site by safe crossing under the road.

TRANSFORUM – Recommendations on Tools for Policy Impact Appraisal Over the last three years the TRANSFORUM project in the European Commission's 6th Framework Program has brought together policy-makers, analysts and developers of policy impact appraisal tools to assess the state-of-the-art in transport policy evaluation methods and their ‘Fitness for Purpose’ in the changing policy environment.

T

he policy environment for transport is changing. Trends like globalisation, worldwide use of communication technologies, the rising importance of the knowledge economy, and high energy prices have a major impact on Europe and its citizens and this requires initiatives at European level. The mid-term review of the European Commission’s 2001 Transport White Paper has resulted in several shifts of focus regarding policy goals and the implementation of policy instruments. Europe needs to keep its transport policy-making process targeted at tackling the challenges. Tools used for the assessment of transport policy proposals will therefore have to integrate these (and other) emerging trends.

Extensive research has been conducted in the past EU Framework Programs to develop assessment tools for practitioners and policy-makers to help them in the development of the concept of sustainable mobility and make it operational.

Assessments can consist of very different elements, varying from the development of models to organising public hearings. In developing transport policy, policy-makers should ideally be supported by transparent and consistent information based on rese-

28 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

arch that is accepted by other policymakers, stakeholders and researchers.

Therefore, to be accepted and effectively applied by practitioners and decisionmakers, the tools used need to be checked against factors like scientific consistency, transparency and appropriateness in terms of the needs of their final users.

Over the last three years the TRANSFORUM project has brought together policymakers, analysts and developers of policy impact appraisal tools to assess the state-ofthe-art in transport policy evaluation methods and their ‘Fitness for Purpose’ (FFP) in the changing policy environment. The TRANSFORUM FFP assessment method comprised of: 1. Project screening process in which selection in nine different steps takes place to pinpoint and analyse relevant research projects.

2. The actual FFP analyses of finished/ ongoing research projects based on information from the screening process and interaction with researchers, stakeholders and policy makers in the network.

3. Transport researcher/civil servant/policymaker network building through European-wide forum meetings.

Thanks to this approach, the project has resulted in several recommendations aimed at improving the FFP for future policy impact appraisal. The focus of these recommendations is on improvements in the whole chain of transport policy impact appraisal, and they can be considered relevant for all those involved in assessing the impacts of transport policies. The recommendations address issues such as definitions and indicators used, transport modelling and supporting transport analysis tools, and also include suggestions for further research on these topics. Some of these recommendations are briefly mentioned below.

With regards to definitions and indicators, we recommend the use of one common set of indicators for transport policy appraisal and present a first proposal for such a set, derived from a systematic analysis of European Commission policy objectives. A basic, very important recommendation regarding transport models is that the models should first and foremost be developed based on the user’s information needs. In order to make policy-makers’ present and future needs clearer, we recommend that roadmaps for model www.vti.se/nordic

Figure 1. Graphic presentation of the FFP Assessment process used in TRANSFORUM.

development should be drawn up and refined in joint cooperation by policy-makers and researchers, in order to have a joint and consistent agenda for future research and development. Based on the assessment of two decades of EU transport modelling research, it is recommended to use the TRANS-TOOLS model development as the starting point for recommended discussions on incorporating multiple-actor user needs. On the more general issue of transport policy appraisal, we recommend that, in order to have more impact on policy development and implementation, the results of policy research projects should be presented in a form that is simple, concise and clearly communicating the key issues. In relation to transport models, we recommend to enhance the efficiency of post-processing in order to make model behaviour and results understandable to a wider audience. We also recommend that stakeholdersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; participation should be a basic element within European transport research projects. Mixing theoretical and practical knowledge and people (i.e. researchers and civil servants) within the rese-

Figure 2.

Results of a TRANSFORUM brainstorming session.

arch projects may give the research results a great advantage in their implementation phase. We therefore recommend the establishment of innovation networks targeting at co-operative mutual learning of researchers and civil servants as an essential task for the future. Certain elements of the methodology used in the TRANSFORUM project, to bring together people from different disciplines and regional origins, could be applied in this process.

More information: http://www.transforum-eu.net/ Contact: Anu Tuominen, Senior Research Scientist VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland anu.tuominen@vtt.fi Jan van der Waard (TRANSFORUM co-ordinator) Rijkswaterstaat, Centre for Transport and Navigation (former AVV Transport Research Centre), The Netherlands jan.vander.waard@rws.nl

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 29

A Thin Line between a Rock and a Hard Securing the main road from coastal erosion

During the twentieth century there has been a substantial coastal erosion on Breidamerkursandur near the bridge across Jökulsá river. From 1904 to 2003 the erosion has been 770 m or about 8 meters in a year. This erosion threatens the safety of the road (Route One) across Breidamerkursandur and two powerlines. Since 1990 the Icelandic Road Administration has initiated various research projects in the area, the aim being to maintain a secure road across Breidamerkursandur. Herein, this research is described, the focus being on the possibility of securing the road by defending the coast.

T

he location of the study area within Iceland is shown in Figure 1. Breidamerkurjökull reached its maximum extent in historical times about 1890 and has since then been retreating. From 1890 to 2003 the glacier has retreated about 4,7 km, leaving behind a lagoon, Jökulsárlón, the area of which was 17,0 km2 in 2003. Radio echosoundings of Breidamerkurjökull show that under the glacier (north of Jökulsárlón) there is a 2 to 4 km wide and 20 km long fjord the bottom of which is as much as 300 m below sea level.

After the glacier started to retreat, and Jökulsárlón emerged, the sediment load carried by Jökulsá to the sea changed from being about 14 million m3/year to be negligible. The reason for this is that all the sediment load carried by the river is now trapped by Jökulsárlón. The shape of the coast in the beginning of the twentieth century was influenced by the fact that Jökulsá carried substantial amount of sediment to the sea (Figure 2). The coast had advanced until littoral currents were able to carry the sediment load of the river to both east and west of the river outlet. After the sediment load of the river was reduced the 30 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

shape of the shoreline was not in equilibrium with the currents along the coast. The currents are still eroding sediment from the shore but no sediment is added to the coast by the river. Sediment is, therefore, continuously lost from the coast which is eroding towards a new equilibrium.

In Figure 2 the shoreline at the Jökulsá river outlet is shown for the years 1904, 1945, 1960, 1982, 1989 and 1997. The shoreline erosion, as measured along section number 9, has been 765 m in 99 years or 7.7 m/year on average. Assuming that the erosion started in 1930 when Jökulsárlón started to emerge, the erosion rate was at the highest 20.7 m/year for the period 1930-1945, but is 5.5 m/year for the period 1982-2003. It can, therefore, be concluded that the erosion is slowing down.

The impact of future land uplift around Vatnajökull on coastal erosion The glaciers in Iceland retreated during the twentieth century and it has been estimated that the Vatnajökull ice cap reduced by 182 km3 from 1890 to 1978. Current uplift rates at the edge of Vatnajökull are about 15 mm/year. It has been estimated

that the southern part of Vatnajökull ice cap may be reduced by about 500 km3 from 2000 to 2100 due to a global warming rate of 2.25˚C/100yr. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect that the total reduction of Vatnajökull ice cap may be about 1000 km3 from 2000 to 2100. This reduction of ice volume will influence the uplift rates which may be as high as 40 mm/year in 2050, with total uplift at the ice edge of 4 m from 2000 to 2100.

The impact of land uplift should have the same effect on the coast as lowering the sea-level. This means that the future land uplift around Vatnajökull may cause the erosion rate at Breidamerkursandur to lower by as much as 3 m/year by the year 2050.

Coastal protection In 2003 the banks of Jökulsá river were protected following a substantial erosion of the river banks due to a flood in the river in October 2002. In conjunction with this project a defense line for the road across Breidamerkursandur was defined. The defence line is the line where sea defenses will be built in due time to prevent sea floowww.vti.se/nordic

Place Vatnajökull

Study area Figure 1. Location of the study area within Iceland. Glaciers are white. The picture also shows the Icelandic road system.

Figure 2. Shoreline changes at Breidamerkursandur. Also shown is the present road/powerline and a proposed new road/powerline alignment east of Jökulsá.

ding and erosion. The defense line is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 also shows the present location of the road and the future road alignment. The location of the defence line is based on the assumption that the road alignment east of the river will be changed.

The total cost of sea defences at Breidamerkursandur is of the order of 13 million USD (9,4 million EUR) and it is expected that these defences will be sufficient for the next 50 years or until about 2050. The sea defences will be built gradually and it is expected that the above cost will be more or less evenly distributed over the 50 year period. Looking further ahead than 50 years it seems possible that sea defences may be a permanent solution to the problem of maintaining a secure road across Breidamerkursandur. This conclusion is partly based on the assumption that substantial land uplift will occur in the future due to reduced ice volume of Vatnajökull due to the warming climate.

Figure 3. Bridge across Jökulsá river.

In the background there is Jökulsárlón and Breidamerkurjökull.

Contact: Helgi Jóhannesson, Icelandic Road Administration hej@vegagerdin.is

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 31

Traffic Safety and Noise Reducing Thin Layers The Danish Road Institute (DRI) and the Road and Hydraulic Engineering Institute in the Netherlands (DWW) co-operate in the DRI-DWW noise abatement program which is a part of the Dutch Noise Innovation Program on Road Traffic (the IPG program).

O

ne of the projects in the DRI-DWW noise abatement program is dedicated to development and testing of noise reducing thin pavements for highway application which have a high long-time noise reducing effect and at the same time are also durable from a structural point of view.

But by doing this, it is important not to jeopardize other functionalities like traffic safety etc. The structure of the surface texture can have an influence on the pavements in relation to traffic safety.

Thin noise reducing pavements have an open surface structure in order to reduce the noise generated from air pumping and at the same time they have a smooth even surface in order to reduce the vibrations generated in the tyre which also induces tyre/road noise. Thin noise reducing pavements are often characterised by: 1. The use of a small maximum aggregate size 2. The use of cubic aggregate 3. Good compaction 4. High built-in air voids 5. The pavement layers are thin as the maximum aggregate size is small.

It is generally not considered that there is a correlation between skid resistance and tyre-road noise. Skid resistance is related 32 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLĂ&#x2013;SA BILDER

www.vti.se/nordic

PHOTO HANS BENDTSEN

both to the pavementsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; micro and macrotexture, whereas noise is mainly related to macro-texture. The objective was to investigate the following two hypotheses regarding noise reducing thin layers: 1. The pavements have a good skid resistance under wet conditions when they are new.

2. The skid resistance of the pavement will not be significantly reduced due to polishing of the aggregate or bleeding.

The skid resistance of the Danish test sections has been measured by the ROAR device operated by DRI. On the background of the available Danish data and the analyses carried out the following tendencies can be seen: 1. All pavements included in the test show a skid resistance that fulfils the requirements set by the Danish Road standards.

2. Generally, noise reducing thin layers have a high skid resistance when they are new.

3. There is a little reduction in the skid resistance as pavements (dense reference pavements as well as noise reducing thin layer pavements) get older.

4. Noise reducing thin layer pavements has a skid resistance that is marginally higher than the dense reference pavement in Denmark.

5. No correlation has been found between the macro texture (MPD) and skid resistance.

6. There seems to be a general tendency that there is an increase in the skid resistance if the maximum aggregate size is reduced.

7. The inclusion of oversized aggregates did not have influence on the skid resistance.

DRI has carried out an international literature study on noise reducing thin layers. On traffic safety issues the main findings were that measurements generally show that thin noise reducing layers have a high skid resistance. No special information about the performance of thin layers during winter conditions has been found.

DWW and DRI have also conducted a joint study tour to France in order to collect information. The main findings on traffic safety issues in France were: 1. Thin layer pavements have an excellent skid resistance.

2. Skid resistance is better for thin pavements than for ordinary dense asphalt concrete. This is due to the pavement texture.

3. It is found that the skid resistance increases with decreasing maximum

4.

5.

6.

7.

aggregate size. An explanation could be that the size of contact point between the pavement and the tyre is increased with the smaller texture sizes. Hence, the results show that pavements with 6 mm aggregate show a better skid resistance than pavements with 10 mm aggregate.

The polished stone value of the pavements is good, because the aggregate is of high quality.

The skid resistance can be improved on the newly laid thin layers by applying sand during compaction.

The skid resistance performance is very good.

It was considered that the reduction of splash and spray by using 10 mm aggregate is better than by using 6 mm aggregate.

Hans Bendtsen, Danish Road Directorate, Danish Road Institute, hbe@vd.dk.

Further details on this work can be found on http://www.vejdirektoratet .dk/publikationer/VInot052/index. htm.

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 33

ANNOTATED REPORTS

Optimized Thin Layers for Highways

Traffic Management and Noise Title: Traffic management and noise Author: Lars Ellebjerg, Hans Bendtsen Series: Report 155 Language: English Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Traffic Management and Noise

Title: Optimized thin layers for highways Author: Hans Bendtsen, Bent Andersen, Sigurd Thomsen Series: Report 153 Language: English Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Thin Layers for Highways

Title: Research directions for future transport service assessments Author: Anu Tuominen, Toni Ahlqvist, Pirkko Rämä, Marja Rosenberg & Jukka Räsänen Series: VTT Research Notes 2390 Language: Finnish with English abstract Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Future Transport

As part of the EU research project SILENCE, an extensive literature study of the noise and annoyance effects of various road traffic flow measures has been carried out. For traffic calming as a whole, noise reduction potentials of up to 4 dB LAeq and

PHOTO: PHOTOS.COM

PHOTO: PHOTOS.COM

There is a great need for durable noise reducing pavements for highways. The concept for noise reduction is to create a pavement texture, with big cavities at the pavement surface in order to reduce the noise generated from air pumping, and ensuring a smooth surface so noise generated by vibration of the tyres will not be increased. Open textured pavements are open only at the upper part and are not expected to need special winter maintenance. European experiences with thin layers have been further developed. Four different pavement concepts are used: Open graded asphalt concrete (DAC-open), Stone Mastics Asphalt (SMA), a thin layer constructed as an UTLAC (Ultra Thin Layer Asphalt Concrete), and semi porous pavement (PAC). In 2006, ten optimized thin layers were laid on a Danish highway near Herning. Maximum aggregate sizes were in the range of 6 to 8 mm. Dense Asphalt Concrete with 11 mm maximum aggregate size is a reference pavement.

34 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

Research Directions for Future Transport Service Assessments

7 dB LAmax have been found. The effect on noise as well as on annoyance is highly dependent on traffic composition and speed, road layout and the use of individual measures such as road humps, chicanes, gateways, and miniroundabouts. Other measures included in the study are rumble devices, junction layout, speed reductions using static and variable speed signs, automatic traffic control, congestion charging, parking information systems, city logistics and nighttime ban on trucks. Most of the measures need further studies if firm conclusions are to be drawn regarding the noise and annoyance effects; only humps and speed cushions have been studied extensively regarding noise and annoyance.

Ex ante and ex post assessments have long been standard procedure for public bodies involved in developing the transport system. The range of assessment methods is wide, including e.g. theoretical appraisals, simulations, empirical measurements, etc.

However, in all cases the question is, “How well does this scheme or strategy meet the set objectives?”.

Currently, new technology brought into the transport system is changing the nature of schemes, strategies or measures and the role of stakeholders within the system. In the ubiquitous society of the future, it is argued that the functioning of the transport system will be based on mobile, flexible and personalized Information and Communication Technology, ICT, services.

This development will have some impact on how people move and work. The field of transport policy and management is expanding from the macro-scale infrastructural level towards the micro-scale end-user level. In this context, a concept called “technology service” will become a crucially important tool for understanding the dynamics between the transport system and end-users. Technology service is a flexible and tailored combination of technologies and services that takes into account the travelling or transportation preferences, needs and expectations of end-users of the transport system. The emergence of tailored technology services brings new challenges to decision makers, businesses, and other societal actors. Consequently, the roles of public and private parties in the www.vti.se/nordic

themes include at least societal impact assessments (policy analyses), user-centred design and various assessments regarding service demand and market foresight as well as business models.

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

Experimental Automatic Slipperiness Information System Found Promising in Finland

transport system will intermingle in different ways, giving rise to new business models and operational practices.

A Finnish study “Research directions for future transport service assessments” presents a view of transport system technology services in the future and, even more importantly, the assessment knowledge needed for their development and monitoring. The results are presented in the form of four road maps: networking technologies, real time information-based interactive systems, and service packaging. The fourth, the meta-roadmap, serves as a research umbrella under which the more detailed thematic roadmaps are presented. The road maps provide three complementary perspectives of the development of transport system technology services: Networking technologies will create settings for the service development; real-time information-based interactive systems will offer the information produced by new technologies in a format custom-built for end users; and service packaging will help implement necessary, user-friendly technology services.

The study revealed a need to produce assessment knowledge simultaneously, from various key perspectives and throughout the transport service innovation processes. Important continuous assessment

Title: Trial for slipperiness risk forecast service.

Follow-up research Author: Mikko Malmivuo Series: Finnra Reports 41/2007 Language: Finnish with English abstract Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Slipperiness Risk

Between 1 February and 20 April 2007 the Finnish Road Administration’s Internet pages included a new experimental forecast service called “Kelipilotti” (Road Weather Pilot). The service automatically generated every hour slipperiness forecasts for the road between Turku and Pori, which had been divided into 11 stretches, each of average length of 12 km. The service included three individual forecasts for each road stretch, the first one relating to the first 2 hours, the second to hours 2–4, and the third to hours 4–6. The system also gave the causes of slipperiness, which could be freezing during

rain, slipperiness caused by snow, wet road surface freezing and frost development.

The experimental period was compared with the traditional 6-hour road weather forecast, which is given by road weather officers and where typical road stretches are about 50 km. During the experimental period 21 difficult road weather situations were identified; both systems forecast them with roughly the same success rate.

Kelipilotti generated a number of slipperiness warnings that only applied to one particular stretch of road, which can be interpreted as the program utilising the division of road stretches quite efficiently. In particular, towards the end of the winter, Kelipilotti generated more warnings than the traditional 6-hour road weather forecast, probably because the pilot did not have access to information about winter maintenance.

Based on interviews and Internet feedback, it seemed that road weather professionals (road weather officers, ploughing personnel etc.) where more sceptical towards the new system, whereas average road users found it very helpful.

The conclusions state that Kelipilotti worked relatively well in relation to the objectives set for the system, and the study recommends that Kelipilotti development is continued along the current lines.

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 35

ANNOTATED REPORTS

Effects of Strengthening Employees’ Rights in Competitive Tendering Title: Economical and administrative effects of strengthening employees’ rights in public transport Author: Susanne Oddgeir Osland and Merethe Dotterud Leiren Series: TØI report no: 896/2007 Language: Norwegien with english summery Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Employees’ rights

Title: Evaluation of the trial with an alcohol ignition interlock programme in Sweden Author: Susanne Nordbakke, Terje Assum, Knut S. Eriksen and Tonje Grunnan Series: TØI report no: 905/2007 Language: Norwegien with english summery Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, Name: Alcohol Ignition Interlock

The Mobilization of Communication

In this project we study the effects of introducing employees’ rights in the event of transfer of undertakings (TU) in competitive tendering of public transport services.

Title: The Mobilization of communication Author: Mattias Gripsrud Series: TØI report no: 892/2007 Language: Norwegien with english summery Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Mobilization of Communication

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

The trial with an alcohol ignition interlock programme commenced in 1999 in three Swedish counties. In 2003 the trial was extended to the whole country. The purpose of the project has been an independent evaluation of the trial.

Only 11 per cent of the drink drivers participated in the programme, and only half of these completed the two-year programme. The trial is successful in terms of lasting effects on the rate of DWI (driving while impaired) offences and on the rate of traffic accidents among participants who have regained their licence. Furthermore, a cost-benefit analysis shows that the programme is cost-effective. The conclusion is that the program should be made permanent. A permanent programme should be simpler and more flexible to increase the participation and completion rates.

36 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

excessive employees, and increased costs of education because of, i.e. new material.

The Public Transport Authority will experience increased administrative costs due to collection of information. This will, however, amount to a marginal part of the administrative costs. More important are increased costs due to bidders’ potentially rising costs.

This report examines the interplay between mobility, transport and the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The report identifies three important strands of research – within transportation, ICT and urban geography – that have examined this interplay, and highlights relevant literature within these traditions. The diffusion of mobile ICT and possibilities of ubiquitous communica-

We find that the effects depend on the labour market, tariff regulations, education requirements, competitive relations such as entry barriers, and different procurements and contracts established prior to the transfer of service to the winner of a competitive round. These conditions vary among the sectors; public transport at land, sea, and railway. We argue that for the employees, TU strengthens individual employment relations and employees’ negotiating position. For operators, TU implies a restricted employment policy, increased costs of lay-off in situations of

PHOTO: PHOTOS.COM

Evaluation of Swedish Trial Programme with Alcohol Ignition Interlock

www.vti.se/nordic

ANNOTATED REPORTS

Title: Health impact, does it influence the acceptance for road pricing?

Author: Lena Nerhagen Series: VTI report 582 Language: Swedish with English abstract Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Health Impact

Evaluation of PPP in the Norwegian Road Sector

PHOTO: PHOTOS.COM

Title: Evaluation of PPP in the Norwegian road sector Author: Knut Sandberg Eriksen, Harald Minken, Glenn Steenberg, Thorleif Sunde and Karl-Erik Hagen Series: TØI report no: 890/2007 Language: Norwegien with english summery Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: PPP – Public Private Partnership

Initiated by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, publicprivate partnership (PPP) is tried in three test projects in the road sector in the period 2001–2009. The preliminary evaluation shows several benefits, among these shorter construction periods and an improved distribution of risk between private and public stakeholders. We also observe innovative solutions concerning organisation, contract strategy and financing models. Several of these benefits may be obtained within a public financing model as well as with private financing.

Negative health effects of traffic emissions are not likely to influence the general public’s acceptance for road pricing. But this is not because the health effects are considered to be of little importance. It is more likely that this is due to a lack of knowledge among the general public about the short and long term effects on human health that traffic causes.

Road traffic is one of the most important sources to concentrations of particulate matter and other airborne pollutants in our towns. Human health is affected negatively by these pollutants, especially particulate matter, which results in large costs to society due to work absence and medical care. There is therefore much to gain from regulating and reducing traffic both within and outside of towns. One way of doing this is to use economic policy instruments, for example through road pricing schemes such as the congestion charges in Stockholm. VTI has investigated if the improvements in health that such a sche-

me results in influence people's acceptance for this type of policy instrument.

Road pricing has for a long time been discussed as an efficient policy instrument among transport economists but this has had little influence on transport policy in practice. There are few places where road pricing has been introduced which is probably due to a great resistance among the general public. And this is in spite of the health improvements that would result from reduced road traffic. But the resistance is probably not because people consider the health impacts to be unimportant. It is rather that people are unaware of the negative effects that particulate emissions and other airborne pollutants have on human health, and hence, of the positive effects that would be the result of reduced traffic.

This in turn is because the relationship between air pollution and health is complex and the health effects of a more long term nature for example are not given much attention in the public debate.

Since the public at large has little knowledge of the health effects that are related to traffic emissions, improved information would probably increase the acceptance for road pricing. Without accurate information it can also be questioned if collective decision making, such as a referendum, is a good way to decide whether or not to use this type of policy instrument.

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

Health Effects and the Acceptance of Road-pricing

tion has partly rendered the original substitution thesis obsolete. ICT and transport are primarily used as complementary modes of communication. The report concludes by addressing some further fields of research.

NORDIC NO. 3 2007 | 37

ANNOTATED REPORTS

Road Safety Effects of Active Safety Systems Title: Methods for the evaluation of traffic safety effects of Antilock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a literature review.

Author: Astrid Linder and others Series: VTI report 580A Language: English Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Active Safety Systems

Title: Compilation of 34 traffic safety measures Author: Anna Vadeby, Fridtjof Thomas Series: VTI report 577 Language: Swedish with English abstract Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Traffic Safety Measures

PHOTO: VTI/KATJA KIRCHER

Most new vehicles are today equipped with various types of active safety systems. The obvious purpose of these systems is to reduce the risk of accidents. But how are the road safety effects of these safety systems assessed and evaluated?

VTI has decided to study the road safety effects of two active safety systems. It is the systems ABS (antilock brakes) and ESC (active brakes) which have been examined.

Statistical methods, mechanical testing and driver behaviour have been studied in the literature. VTI has also decided to investigate what studies are needed in the future, and the way these should be formulated.

As regards statistical methods, it is mainly methods based on odds ratios that have been used in evaluating the road safety effects. Odds ratios are often used in studying the relationship between risks â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for example, the risk of having a certain type of accident when travelling in a car with

Measures to Enhance Road Safety

ESC in relation to the risk of having the same type of accident in a car without ESC. For the future, VTI is proposing that several evaluation methods should be used on the same data to find if there are any differences in the results regarding the road safety effect.

Mechanical testing can be carried out in several ways. One proposed test has recently been presented by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in the US. VTI considers that this test method should be evaluated not only with respect to its repeatability and robustness but also its relevance to the accidents that the systems aim to prevent.

Estimates of driver behaviour have often been made using questionnaires sent to the owners of vehicles which have, or have not, been equipped with the safety system concerned. There are also studies where driver simulators have been used or field studies have been made. In many EU projects, the methods used have the aim of estimating the effect of driver behaviour. In behavioural science, protocols have also been formulated to ensure that the system introduced has no negative effects. To evaluate driver behaviour, it is proposed that a check list should be drawn up for the assessment of active safety systems by experts.

User tests or simulated scenarios are also being considered for future studies.

38 | NORDIC NO. 3 2007

Road safety is a result of the interplay between humans, vehicles and the infrastructure. In Sweden, a large number of road safety measures have been taken over the years by identifying specific problems and taking countermeasures. Road safety in Sweden, which has a high standard in an international comparison, is the result of this purposeful work on different measures.

In 1997, the Riksdag passed the resolution that work on road safety in Sweden must have the aim to achieve a Vision Zero.

What this means is that nobody is to be killed or severely injured in accidents within the road transport system. The Government has now given the Swedish Road Administration the task of proposing a new interim target for road safety development. As part of this work, VTI has compiled a number of road safety measures taken since the Vision Zero was introduced.

Road safety measures must have a beneficial effect on the interplay between humans, vehicles and the infrastructure. By identifying specific problems, specific measures can be taken to improve the situation. One example is that if there is an unusually high number of accidents at an intersection, the design of the intersection is examined and a specific measure is taken.

"Measures" can also be developed with respect to people's transport needs.

Certain municipalities intend, for example, to ensure that children's journeys to school are safe by scrutinising the various phases of the entire journey: from the door of the home, into the classroom and back home again. www.vti.se/nordic

ANNOTATED REPORTS

Improved Public Transport in Low Density Regions

PHOTO: VTI/HEJDLÖSA BILDER

Title: Improved public transport in low density regions. Advice on service design Authors: Gustav Nielsen and Truls Lange Series: TØI report no. 887/2007 Language: Norwegien Available at: www.nordicroads.com/reports, name: Improved Public Transport

– Such approaches are of interest since they necessitate a broader approach concerning road safety which, in a natural way, includes modal choice and journey time, says Anna Vadeby, researcher at VTI. In this report, VTI has compiled knowledge concerning 34 different road safety measures and their implementation in order to facilitate the Swedish Road Administration's work on the new target.

According to the Swedish Road Administration's wish, special attention is focused on measures concerning speed, alcohol in traffic and seat belt use. Measures that relate to changes in the physical environment, road user groups and modifications to vehicles are also included. The various tasks have been determined in consultation between VTI and the Swedish Road Administration. Examples of measures are increased fines for exceeding the speed limit, alcohol lock programmes, belts for bus passengers, rumble strips and the obligation to give way to pedestrians at crossings.

The Riksdag has drawn up an 11-point programme based on cooperation among

several sectors of society in order to promote work on road safety. Many of the road safety measures VTI has described in the report are based on the first three points in the programme, namely concentration on the most dangerous roads, safer traffic in local authority areas, and the responsibility of road users.

Measures that affect the physical environment, such as separation of carriageways by a central barrier to prevent headon collisions, measures to improve roadside areas in the countryside, and separate pedestrian and cycle networks in towns, must be seen as the most effective measures. They are however expensive in comparison with measures in the socio-economic environment, such as legislation and monitoring of traffic rules. The measures described should therefore be evaluated on the basis of in-depth studies regarding the cost effectiveness of the measures. Such analyses are still to be made for many of the measures, but this does not come within the ambit of this task.

The report is a good practice guide on public transport service design in rural and small town regions. It is based on experiences from real-world projects in Norway and abroad, and describes the main elements of a concept that makes public transport easy for everybody to use. The service concept combines a simple, integrated scheduled service focused on the regional centre with demand responsive services in areas with insufficient demand to support regular public transport. A travel dispatch centre should coordinate all demand responsive services and transport tasks of public responsibility, and provide customer information to users of the complete travel network in a region.

NORDIC | 39

NORDIC SWEDEN VTI Magdalena Green SE-581 95 Linköping Phone +46 13 20 42 26 Fax +46 13 14 14 36 Orderphone +46 13 20 42 69 Email nordic@vti.se Web www.vti.se

ICELAND

DENMARK Danish Road Institute Helen Hasz-Singh Guldalderen 12 DK-2640 Hedehusene Phone +45 72 44 70 00 Fax +45 72 44 71 05 Email hhz@vd.dk Web www.roaddirectorate.dk

NORWAY

FINLAND VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Kari Mäkelä P.O.Box 1000 FI-02044 VTT Phone +358 20 722 4586 Fax +358 20 722 7056 Email kari.makela@vtt.fi Web www.vtt.fi

NORWAY

Icelandic Road Administration G. Pétur Matthiasson Borgartún 7 IS-105 Reykjavik Phone +354 522 1000 Fax +354 522 1009 Email gpm@vegagerdin.is Web www.vegagerdin.is

Norwegian Public Roads Administration Thorbjørn Chr. Risan P.O. Box 8142 Dep NO-0033 Oslo Phone +47 22 07 35 00 Fax +47 22 07 37 68 Email thorbjorn.risan@vegvesen.no Web www.vegvesen.no

Institute of Transport Economics Harald Aas Gaustadalléen 21 NO-0349 Oslo Phone +47 22 57 38 00 Fax +47 22 60 92 00 Email ha@toi.no Web www.toi.no

Questions concerning the content of the articles, or orders for the publications referred to, should be directed to the publishing institution, see addressed above.

Requests for back issues, and notification of address changes.

Readers outside the Nordic countries: see Swedish address. Readers in the Nordic countries: see adresses above.

Web www.nordicroads.com Subscribe www.nordicroads.com/subscribe order@vti.se