Optimization of Urban Traffic Management towards Environment - Friendly and Safe Mobility
In the recent past, environmental problems in emerging markets, especially in China, have increased dramatically. Compared to the slightly decreasing air pollution caused by the industry, traffic-related air pollution has increased significantly. High traffic congestion in urban areas raises the level of pollution which in turn results in a disturbance of daily life of inhabitants in large cities. Especially in big cities, like Beijing, the air pollution level is above the critical health threshold. Beside the environmental issues traffic safety aspects need also to be focused. Compared to European Cities the level of traffic safety in China like in other emerging countries is much lower. Reasons for that are for instance the high amounts of motor bicycles and scooters as well as the fact that traffic rules are often not observed. This leads to chaotic traffic situations in many intersections. Now, countries like China are asked to solve these problems and improve the current precarious situation.
Together with the Chinese partners the project OptimUM addresses this issues and helps to create an environmentally friendly and safe mobility. The partners analyze and develop solutions to reduce the air pollution and increase traffic safety at intersections. The approaches are implemented and evaluated at real intersections in the ITS test area in Hefei, China. The findings of the research project will help to reduce the high level of traffic-related air pollution in China, later worldwide, by applying an efficient traffic and transport management system. Further it will provide a contribution for safer road mobility.
Goal
General analysis of the traffic-related influence on air pollution and traffic safety
Consolidation of the German-Chinese partnership
Continuing current research fields in an application-oriented multicultural field of application
Project content
Combination of traffic measurements and environmental measurements to identify traffic-related air pollution
Establishment of a cost-effective prototype model for simulating traffic-related emissions at the urban area in China
Establishment of the environmental toolset consisting of a traffic emission model and the street immission model
Evaluation of the effects of traffic-related pollution on air quality at the urban area in China
Identification of the causal relationship between driving behaviors and traffic safety at intersections
Identification of accident-prone situations at intersections by integration of the intersection monitoring system and the traffic simulation
Traffic safety analysis with use of traffic simulation
Development of traffic management strategies and concepts with regard to the reduction of environmental impacts and increase of traffic safety
Investigation on the potential benefits of the optimized traffic management in terms of traffic safety and traffic-related air pollution.
Field tests and comparisons at selected crossroads in Germany and China
Approach - Closed-loop cycle to reduce traffic-related air pollution and optimize traffic safety
Closed-loop cycle to reduce traffic-related air pollution and optimize traffic safety.
Intersection Monitoring -> Optical detection of traffic-related data at the research intersection (Figure 1)
Simulation -> modeling of traffic behavior and calculation of traffic-related air pollution/emission
Development of optimized traffic management concepts regarding traffic safety and environment
Impact analysis of the developed concepts in the field of traffic
Environmental Monitoring -> Detection/Measurment of air pollution close to road intersection (traffic related load) as well as in a suitable distance (basic load) (Figure 2)
ITS test area -> Implement the selected traffic management concepts (Figure 3)
Figure 1: Set-up of the Intersection Monitoring System (IMS) in the intersection Huangshan-Tianzhi Road, City Hefei.
2015-04-21 Kick-off Workshop for the Project in Hefei/China
The project Kick-off Meeting took place on April 21th 2015 in Hefei within the framework of “2015 Hefei International Forum Towards Smart & Responsible City Traffic Management”. About 20 members of all project participants of both countries attended the first official Kick-off meeting, among them as guests representations of the "Department of Science and Technology Anhui province China (Anhui Most)". The following days more meetings on topics of the different working areas took place. The results of the workshop were collecting information, arranged working contents, and project-timetable, which are confirmed by all project participants.
2017-10-25 The International Forum on Transport and Environment in Chengdu/China
From October 25th to 27th 2017, “the International Forum on Transport and Environment” was held in Chengdu, China as a special event of “The 12th EU - China Business and Technology Cooperation Fair”. The international forum was jointly organized by the Institute of Transportation Systems of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Anhui Institute of Optics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIOFM-CAS) and the EU Project Innovation Center. More than 100 Chinese and foreign experts and scholars, government departments and enterprises and institutions attended the forum. The forum aims to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of transportation management and environmental protection so as to jointly promote the improvement of urban transport with environmentally friendly and efficient Mobility. During the forum, researchers from China and EU conducted academic exchanges and discussions mainly on the topics: reduction of traffic-related emissions such as pollutants and noise, increasing the attractiveness of energy-efficient mobility and logistics solutions, environment oriented city development.
Sponsored with the funding from the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association and the International Cooperation Fund of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
