Special Issue "New Perspectives and Challenges in Traffic and Transportation Engineering Supporting Energy Saving in Smart Cities"

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "Smart Cities and Urban Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Elżbieta Macioszek
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Transport, Department of Transport Systems and Traffic Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, 00-635 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: traffic engineering; civil engineering; transport
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Margarida Coelho
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Centre for Mechanical Engineering and Automation, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: sustainable mobility; road transportation impacts; intelligent transportation systems; active transportation modes
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Paulo Fernandes
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Centre for Mechanical Engineering and Automation, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: emission monitoring; emission and energy modelling; environmental and emission impacts of transportation system; traffic microsimulation; roads and intersections emission analyzing; pedestrian and bicycle traffic

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Transport, like other spheres of human activity, is constantly changing due to economic development. People are constantly improving the ways of moving using various energy sources, expanding infrastructures, and adapting cities to increasing traffic volumes. An efficient, modern, and demand-driven transport infrastructure is the strength of a growing economy. The development of transport improves the accessibility of regions and labor markets and reduces the nuisance caused by congestion. All these elements translate into economic benefits, competitiveness, increased productivity of enterprises and regions, as well as social benefits. On the other hand, however, transport consumes enormous energy resources; hence, all solutions in the scope of improving transport infrastructure, vehicle construction, as well as modeling users’ and drivers’ behavior may constitute an element contributing to broadly saving energy.

This Special Issue will consist of papers describing the state-of-the-art in methods and solutions in traffic and transportation engineering supporting energy saving in smart cities as well as outlining trends already under way and future developments in this sector. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

- Road traffic measurements, data analyzing;

- Road traffic (micro-, meso-, macro) modelling, simulation models;

- Road and intersection capacity;

- Optimization, route choice;

- Human factor in road traffic and transportation engineering;

- Road safety;

- Pedestrian and bicycle traffic and infrastructure;

- Public transport solutions, parking;

- Contemporary problems of road traffic engineering and sustainable transportation;

- Intelligent transportation systems (ITS), traffic control and management;

- Smart grid services;

- Electric mobility;

- Environmental impacts of transportation systems;

- Life cycle analysis (LCA) of alternative energy vectors for road vehicles;

- Transport systems and process modeling;

- Sustainable transportation development;

- Life cycle impact, fuel consumption and emissions.

Prof. Elżbieta Macioszek
Prof. Anna Granà
Prof. Margarida Coelho
Dr. Paulo Fernandes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • energy saving solutions
  • traffic engineering
  • sustainable transportation
  • road safety
  • traffic flow modeling
  • capacity
  • public transport
  • parking
  • traffic control
  • traffic safety of vulnerable road users
  • fuel consumption and emissions
  • transport network
  • intelligent transport systems (ITS)
  • smart grid services

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

Article
Investigating the Impact of Public Transport Service Disruptions upon Passenger Travel Behaviour—Results from Krakow City
Energies 2021, 14(16), 4889; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164889 - 10 Aug 2021
Viewed by 268
Abstract
Public transport (PT) service disruptions are common and unexpected events which often result in major impediment to passengers’ typical travel routines. However, attitudes and behavioural responses to unexpected PT disruptions are still not fully understood in state-of-the-art research. The objective of this study [...] Read more.
Public transport (PT) service disruptions are common and unexpected events which often result in major impediment to passengers’ typical travel routines. However, attitudes and behavioural responses to unexpected PT disruptions are still not fully understood in state-of-the-art research. The objective of this study is to examine how PT users adapt their travel choices and what travel information sources they utilize once they encounter sudden PT service disruptions. To this end, we conduct a passenger survey among PT users in the city of Kraków (Poland), consisting of a series of stated- and revealed-preference questions. Results show that passengers’ reported choices during past PT disruptions mostly involve adjusting the current PT travel routine, exposing a certain bias with their stated choices (which tend to overestimate the probability of modal shifts). Factors influencing travel behaviour shifts include frequency and recency of PT disruption experience, as well as propensity to arrive on-time. With regards to travel information sources, staff announcement and personal experience play an important role in recognizing the emerging disruption, but real-time information (RTI) sources are the most useful in planning the onward journey afterwards. Based on these, we highlight the implications for future RTI policy during PT service disruptions; in particular, the provision of a reliable time estimate until normal service conditions are resumed. Such RTI content could foster passengers’ tendency to use PT services in uncertain conditions, especially as their stated wait time tolerance often matches the actual duration of PT disruptions. Full article
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Article
Identifying the Optimal Packing and Routing to Improve Last-Mile Delivery Using Cargo Bicycles
Energies 2021, 14(14), 4132; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144132 - 08 Jul 2021
Viewed by 478
Abstract
Efficient vehicle routing is a major concern for any supply chain, especially when dealing with last-mile deliveries in highly urbanized areas. In this paper problems considering last-mile delivery in areas with the restrictions of motorized traffic are described and different types of cargo [...] Read more.
Efficient vehicle routing is a major concern for any supply chain, especially when dealing with last-mile deliveries in highly urbanized areas. In this paper problems considering last-mile delivery in areas with the restrictions of motorized traffic are described and different types of cargo bikes are reviewed. The paper describes methods developed in order to solve a combination of problems for cargo bicycle logistics, including efficient packing, routing and load-dependent speed constraints. Proposed models apply mathematical descriptions of problems, including the Knapsack Problem, Traveling Salesman Problem and Traveling Thief Problem. Based on synthetically generated data, we study the efficiency of the proposed algorithms. Models described in this paper are implemented in Python programming language and will be further developed and used for solving the problems of electric cargo bikes’ routing under real-world conditions. Full article
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Article
Identification of the Determinants of the Effectiveness of On-Road Chicanes in the Village Transition Zones Subject to a 50 km/h Speed Limit
Energies 2021, 14(13), 4002; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14134002 - 02 Jul 2021
Viewed by 392
Abstract
In recent years, in which a considerable increase in the road traffic volumes has been witnessed, traffic calming has become one the key issues in the area of road engineering. This concerns, in particular, trunk roads passing through small villages with a population [...] Read more.
In recent years, in which a considerable increase in the road traffic volumes has been witnessed, traffic calming has become one the key issues in the area of road engineering. This concerns, in particular, trunk roads passing through small villages with a population of up to 500 and the road section length within the village limits of ca. 1400–1700 m. A successful traffic calming scheme must involve primarily effective reduction in inbound traffic speed. A review of the data from various countries revealed that chicanes installed in the transition zones may have a determining effect on the success of the traffic calming project. The effectiveness of such chicanes depends mainly on the type of chicane, its location on the carriageway, its shape and the size of the lateral deflection imposed by the chicane on the inbound lane. The purpose of this study was to identify the speed reduction determinants in traffic calming schemes in village transition zones, based on a central island horizontally deflecting one lane of a two-lane two-way road with 50 km/h speed restriction. As part of the study, vehicle speeds were measured just before and after the chicanes under analysis. Furthermore, the inbound lane traffic volumes were measured in field and a number of factors were identified, including the applied traffic management scheme, road parameters, view of the road ahead and of the village skyline, isolated buildings, road infrastructure and adjacent roadside developments. The obtained data were analysed with a method employing tautologies of the selected 32 factors affecting the drivers’ perception. A single aggregate parameter was proposed for assessing the coincidence of the influence of selected factors on speed reduction. The analysis of the existing schemes and the results of statistical analyses carried out in this study confirmed the authors’ hypothesis that the combined selected factors produce a desirable effect and that they should be additionally enhanced by the application of solar powered devices. Full article
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Article
Modelling the Effects of Traffic-Calming Introduction to Volume–Delay Functions and Traffic Assignment
Energies 2021, 14(13), 3726; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14133726 - 22 Jun 2021
Viewed by 328
Abstract
Traffic calming is introduced to minimise the negative results of motor vehicle use, for example, low safety level or quality of life, high noise and pollution. It can be implemented through the introduction of road infrastructure reducing the velocity and the traffic volume. [...] Read more.
Traffic calming is introduced to minimise the negative results of motor vehicle use, for example, low safety level or quality of life, high noise and pollution. It can be implemented through the introduction of road infrastructure reducing the velocity and the traffic volume. In this paper, we studied how traffic-calming influences the traffic assignment. For the research, a traffic-calming measure of speed cushions on the Stachiewicza street in Krakow was taken. A method of extracting trajectories from aerial footage was shown, and it was used to build a model. For a given example, through driving characteristics research and microscopic modelling, volume–delay BPR functions were estimated—for a street with and without traffic calming. Later, a toy network of two roads of the same length, connecting the same origin and destination, was simulated using an equilibrium traffic assignment method. Simulations were conducted both with the use of PTV Vissim and Visum software and through individual calculations. According to the results of this paper, there was a difference in traffic volume according to the equilibrium traffic assignment in the aforementioned toy network as a function of total network traffic volume. Full article
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Article
Investigations of the Dynamic Travel Time Information Impact on Drivers’ Route Choice in an Urban Area—A Case Study Based on the City of Bialystok
Energies 2021, 14(6), 1645; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14061645 - 16 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 294
Abstract
Increasing traffic volumes in cities leads to common traffic congestions building up, especially during peak hours. To protect city dwellers from excessive fuel exhaust and traffic noise and to prevent drivers from time loss due to overloaded routes, it is important to inform [...] Read more.
Increasing traffic volumes in cities leads to common traffic congestions building up, especially during peak hours. To protect city dwellers from excessive fuel exhaust and traffic noise and to prevent drivers from time loss due to overloaded routes, it is important to inform them about real-time traffic conditions and possible delays in advance. Effectively influencing drivers’ decisions to divert from an original route choice in case of traffic hinderance is essential, and application of dynamic travel information in the form of variable message signs (VMSs) is believed to be effective in these terms. The paper examines drivers’ willingness to divert from an initial route choice due to the information provided on VMS boards. Their behavior was analyzed in terms of their response to everyday and artificially elongated travel times displayed on the VMSs. Maximum simulated elongation reached 200% and 300% of the initial state, depending on the characteristics of the pre-peak conditions. To assess the effectiveness of VMSs, the changes in traffic intensities were statistically analyzed. In general, apart from few significant differences, the results revealed drivers’ ignorance of the travel time information provided on the VMS, regardless of the extension of the original times. Full article
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Article
A Back-of-Queue Model of a Signal-Controlled Intersection Approach Developed Based on Analysis of Vehicle Driver Behavior
Energies 2021, 14(4), 1204; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14041204 - 23 Feb 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 665
Abstract
In smart cities, it is expected that transport, communication as well as the movement of people and goods will take place in the shortest possible time while maintaining a high level of safety. In recent years, due to the significant increase in the [...] Read more.
In smart cities, it is expected that transport, communication as well as the movement of people and goods will take place in the shortest possible time while maintaining a high level of safety. In recent years, due to the significant increase in the number of passengers and vehicles on the road and the capacity limitations of transport networks, it has become necessary to use new technologies for intelligent control and traffic management. Intelligent transport systems use advanced technologies in the field of data gathering, information processing, and traffic control to meet current transport needs. To be able to effectively control and manage road traffic, it is necessary to have reliable mathematical models that allow for a faithful representation of the real traffic conditions. Models of this type are usually the basis of complex algorithms used in practice in road traffic control. The application of appropriate models reflecting the behavior of road users contributes to the reduction of congestion, the vehicles travel time on the transport network, fuel consumption and the emissions, which in turn support broadly understood energy savings. The article proposes a model that allows for the estimation of the maximum queue size at the signal-controlled intersection approach (so-called: maximum back-of-queue). This model takes into account the most important traffic characteristics of the vehicles forming this queue. The verification allowed for the conclusion that the proposed model is characterized by high compliance with the actual traffic and road conditions at the intersections with signal controllers located in built-up areas in Poland. The obtained compliance confirms the possibility of using the model for practical applications in calculating the maximum back-of-queue at signal-controlled intersections located in built-up areas in Poland. Full article
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Article
The Economic Effects of Electromobility in Sustainable Urban Public Transport
Energies 2021, 14(4), 878; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14040878 - 08 Feb 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1218
Abstract
This paper focuses on effects of implementing zero-emission buses in public transport fleets in urban areas in the context of electromobility assumptions. It fills the literature gap in the area of research on the impact of the energy mix of a given country [...] Read more.
This paper focuses on effects of implementing zero-emission buses in public transport fleets in urban areas in the context of electromobility assumptions. It fills the literature gap in the area of research on the impact of the energy mix of a given country on the issues raised in this article. The main purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse economic effects of implementing zero-emission buses in public transport in cities. The research area was the city of Szczecin, Poland. The research study was completed using the following research methods: literature review, document analysis (legal acts and internal documents), case study, ratio analysis, and comparative analysis of selected variants (investment variant and base variant). The conducted research study has shown that economic benefits resulting from implementing zero-emission buses in an urban transport fleet are limited by the current energy mix structure of the given country. An unfavourable energy mix may lead to increased emissions of SO2 and CO2 resulting from operation of this kind of vehicle. Therefore, achieving full effects in the field of electromobility in the given country depends on taking concurrent actions in order to diversify the power generation sources, and in particular on increasing the share of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Full article
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Article
Identification of the Determinants of the Effectiveness of On-Road Chicanes in Transition Zones to Villages Subject to a 70 km/h Speed Limit
Energies 2020, 13(20), 5244; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13205244 - 09 Oct 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 478
Abstract
In recent decades traffic calming, especially in villages situated on through roads, has become an urgent issue. Various schemes are applied in the transition zones to reduce the inbound traffic speeds and thus improve the traffic safety. The studies conducted in several countries [...] Read more.
In recent decades traffic calming, especially in villages situated on through roads, has become an urgent issue. Various schemes are applied in the transition zones to reduce the inbound traffic speeds and thus improve the traffic safety. The studies conducted in several countries point to different determinants of the speed reduction obtained in this way. This article deals with the schemes including a central island horizontally deflecting one lane, located in transition zones to villages with 70 km/h speed restriction on two-lane roads (6 m carriageway width). In order to identify the speed reduction determinants, the speeds before and after chicanes were measured and the effect of the three criteria was investigated, characterising: the traffic management scheme, road design parameters, landscape elements present in the surroundings of the transition zone and visibility conditions. Based on the confirmation of logical tautology of many pre-selected factors, one aggregate parameter was proposed for the assessment of the practicable level of speed reduction, combining the effect of the selected factors in the above-mentioned criteria. Statistical analysis of the obtained results confirmed a statistically significant relationship between both the speed reduction value and the speed reduction index, and the aggregate parameter proposed by the authors. Factors related to the surrounding landscape and visibility conditions were found to have the greatest direct effect on speed reduction. The chicanes chosen in the final step of the proposed design process should be enhanced by additional solar-powered elements ensuring their improved visibility. These devices should not, however, require any additional energy supply and should not increase the construction or maintenance costs. Full article
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