Road Traffic and Pavement Engineering toward Sustainable Development

Dear Colleagues,

With the growing concern about climate change, major efforts are being introduced in all fields that produce greenhouse gases (GHG). Transportation is said to be responsible for more than 25% of GHG emissions and, hence, many initiatives are taken to reduce emissions. For example, in 2011, the European Union established numerous goals toward building a competitive transportation system but, at the same time, to also cut carbon emissions due to transportation by 60% in 2050. In the field of road transportation, efforts are oriented to develop two main areas: sustainable roads and efficient road transportation.

With regard to sustainable roads, research is focused on the production of new long-lasting materials in pavement construction, introduction of more sustainable materials (as a result of introducing waste materials, for example), better management of pavements and maintenance and rehabilitation techniques, etc. The development of energy-harvesting pavements is another way of creating greener road infrastructures.

On the other hand, efficient road transportation of passenger and freight aims to implement road traffic policies as well as innovative mobility services and solutions aiming to reduce pollution and, at the same time, support the present road transportation demands. This objective can be developed by means of any of the smart and emerging technologies (shared mobility, cooperative driving), intelligent transportation systems (ITS), digitalization, new policies, model simulation, use of big data, etc.

Consequently, submitted papers can target various different fields including, but not limited to the following.

In the area of sustainable roads:

• Geometric design of roads, including junctions and roundabouts
• Safer roads
• Introduction of waste materials in pavement construction
• Recycling of reclaimed asphalt pavement
• Soil stabilization
• Structural performance modeling
• Surface characteristics
• Analysis of the lifecycle cost analysis of pavements
• Road infrastructure preservation
• Pavement design methodologies
• Maintenance and rehabilitation strategies
• Pavement performance prediction models
• Pavement maintenance optimization models
• Energy-harvesting pavements

In the area of efficient road transportation:

• Road transportation demand analysis and evaluation
• Road transportation policies developing innovative mobility services and solutions
• Sustainable passenger and freight transportation model simulation
• Congestion reductions innovative techniques
• Sustainable road transportation policies
• Economics of road mobility and transportation
• Road transportation digitalization
• Evaluation of road transportation emissions
• Safer road transportation
• Innovative road mobility services for people and goods
• Big data analysis for sustainable road transportation
• Changes in road mobility behavior
• Shared road mobility

Prof. Dr. Hernán Gonzalo-Orden
Dr. Heriberto Pérez-Acebo
Guest Editors

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