E4 (NRP 41) - VISUM: Traffic Information System and Environmental Management
Overview
Background & policy context:
The NRP 41 was launched by the Federal Council at the end of 1995 to improve the scientific basis on which Switzerland's traffic problems might be solved, taking into account the growing interconnection with Europe, ecological limits, and economic and social needs.
The NRP 41 aimed to become a think-tank for sustainable transport policy. Each one of the 54 projects belongs to one of the following six modules:
- A Mobility: Socio-institutional Aspects
- B Mobility: Socio-economical Aspects
- C Environment: Tools and Models for Impact Assessments
- D Political and Economic Strategies and Prerequisites
- E Traffic Management: Potentials and Impacts
- F Technologies: Potentials and Impacts
- M Materials
- S Synthesis Projects
Objectives:
Starting point:
In Switzerland's conurbations the traffic infrastructure is working at capacity, or is already overloaded at rush hours. With increasing passenger and goods transport this situation will be aggravated even more in the future.
The ever greater use of the road network leads to greater vulnerability to disruptions in the traffic flow, and local traffic jams lead increasingly to large-scale breakdowns of the system. More frequent traffic jams increase the environmental burden.
The locational advantage of a region decreases in economic terms. A transport systems management aims to use the available road system as efficiently as possible through technical and organisational measures, and with the aid of new technologies. All forms of transport are included equally in this.
The use of such a transport systems management should counteract the harmful developments described above.
Research content:
The goal of this research project is to assess the impact of a transport systems management on the environment and on traffic behaviour. The object of the research is the Berne transport systems management, which is to be introduced step by step over the next few years.
Methodology:
We pose the following concrete questions:
- How can the goals of a transport systems management be made concrete and turned into a form which can be monitored?
- What quantitative effects can be achieved in terms of form of transport chosen, reduction of environmental burden and road safety?
- What factors significantly influence the impact a transport systems management has, and how can these factors be manipulated (maximise positive factors, minimise negative effects)?
- How can investment in a transport systems management be kept as low as possible with the maximum inclusion of existing elements?
Since important parts of the Berne transport systems management have yet to be realised, their effects have had to be estimated ex ante (in advance).
As a first step, basic information (research undertaken in a similar context, etc.) was collected and analysed. Subsequently a methodology was formulated to determine the impact of a transport systems management.
Finally, the effects of the system in Berne were estimated with the help of the basic information.
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