Ben Immers

Methodology for Identifying Vulnerable Sections in a National Road Network

Under the authority of the Flemish Traffic Centre, a study was carried out to identify road sections that are vulnerable to major incidents. The primary objective of the study was to develop a methodology capable of rapidly scanning a large network for the most vulnerable sections. The methodology builds on a number of vulnerability indicators based on an analysis of the typical stages of an incident. With these indicators, the most important bottlenecks in the network can be selected and subjected to a closer examination. The methodology developed in the project was tested on a study area comprising the network in the corridor between the two large cities of Brussels and Ghent, Belgium. For this network, an analysis of empirical data was performed to gain insight into the extent of the reliability problems on the Flemish road network.

Calculation of welfare effects of road pricing on a large scale road network

Abstract After a brief review of the theoretical principles of road pricing this paper presents the results of a modelling exercise aimed at ascertaining the effects of road pricing on a large road network. For the study area we chose an important part of the road network of Belgium, situated in the corridor between the main cities of Brussels and Ghent. Simulations were carried out using an elastic static traffic assignment method. Special care was taken to use realistic parameters for resource costs, time costs, external environmental costs and tax rates. The reduction of traffic caused by the increased trip prices as well as the route changes induced by the tolls were taken into account. The main objective of tolling as considered in this paper is the maximisation of the social welfare gain but possible adverse effects of tolling on traffic streams are also investigated. The relative merits of cordon and corridor tolling schemes are discussed. A combination of these two tolling schemes appears to give ...

Transitions Towards Sustainable Dynamic Traffic Management: A Living Systems Approach

The Transumo1 theme ‘Transition towards Sustainable Mobility’ asks for inspiration and the dare to come with stimulating, new ideas. The sustainability challenge ahead of us will need such input. Our belief is that several paradigm shifts in the field of traffic management are inevitable and necessary. One of them is to recognize that the traffic system needs to be seen and treated as a ‘living system’. This has far-reaching implications for our thoughts on how a traffic system should be ‘managed and controlled’ and might be of fundamental importance in the search for sustainable mobility. In this contribution, we will explore some of these implications, more specifically, those that deal with the relationship between the degree of complexity and the kind of management and control that should apply.