Smart Road Assessment

Analysis of impacts on levels of service, emissions and road safety

In September, during ETC 2024, I received the Neil Mansfield award, from AET Young Researchers, as the best paper from an author aged 35 or under. I had the pleasure to present the paper on a dedicated AET TMF Webinar, organised by Dalia Zecchi, on December 5th.

This award was the result of an extensive process of applied research done together with my colleagues and partners Giovanni Acciaro, Margherita Sartori, Espedito Saponaro and Eugenio Morello.

With specific reference to one of the most strategic and congested motorway sections in Italy, our research aimed to investigate the effects of the implementation of new functions for regulating vehicle flow, based on smart road and ITS applications: the dynamic speed control system and the dynamic lane opening/closing system.

In brief, the objective of the study was to quantify the potential benefits deriving from the application of smart road systems on an Italian motorway section of approximately 14 kilometres, with singular points as junctions, toll barrier and interconnections.

The construction of various alternative scenarios (seven different scenarios) has made it possible to highlight, according to the calculation and analysis of appropriate synthetic indicators, the potential benefits of the aforementioned ITS measures with reference to vehicular flow changes, expected environmental emissions and to situations of potential accidentality.

These evaluations were provided using a microscopic model to analyse road section and a wide-area macrosimulation model to assess future demand growth on the motorway.