BrennerLEC” is an European LIFE project aiming at testing and applying an advanced environmental traffic management system on the Italian A22 highway, in order to regulate traffic flows and reduce pollutants, and in particular NOx emissions. In the framework of the project different dynamic policies are being tested, including the temporary reduction of speed limits due to poor air quality levels or during highly saturated traffic conditions. A dense network of meteorological and air quality sensors has been implemented for the project, aiming at fully characterising air quality and meteorological conditions along the highway. Moreover, an advanced modelling chain, composed of integrated meteorological, air quality and traffic models, will be developed to support the adoption of the different dynamic policies.

The experimental results of the first part of the project are presented, considering both the regulation of the traffic in saturated conditions and the environmental benefits deriving from the application of the reduced speed limits. In particular, considering the latter aspect, it has been found that, with speed reductions of about 15 km/h, nitrogen oxides concentrations at the side of the highway are reduced on average of 10%.

In the second part of the project advanced “environmental traffic management” logics are being developed and are intended to suggest the operators of the A22 Traffic Management Centre on a real-time basis when and where a variable speed limit has to be activated in order to cope with increasing traffic flows and/or poorer air quality levels. The novelty of the proposed solution is that for the first time an integrated approach is proposed, targeting the ambition to both bring the highway to its full capacity potential and to control the pollution generated by vehicles.

 

Rural and in particular mountain regions pose specific challenges for mobility systems with respect to environment (heterogeneous topography and settlement structures; exposed to natural hazards [1]), transport demand (mixture of daily traffic of residents and local enterprises; increasing volumes in the tourism sector with seasonal variation) and infrastructure (arterial roads primary in the main valleys and lack of alternative routes; public transport relies on buses with only few railway connections). Clearly, these regions can benefit from new strategies and measures to increase resilience of the mobility system, provide alternative route and transport concepts, seamless integration of various transport modes (MaaS), autonomous driving to address the first/last mile, traffic management concepts to unbundle touristic traffic and demand responsive transport (e.g. for dispersed settlements).

Although, efforts to address these mobility related aspects and to provide new technological solutions are increasing on a global scale, their transformation for the implementation in rural and mountain regions is not always straight-forward. Strategies for the adaption and transformation of mobility systems are only successful and can be accepted when both users and operators have trust in new technologies and an acceptable level of service is guaranteed. At the same time, access to alternative, sustainable transport modes must be beneficial for both tourists and locals [2]. This can be achieved by analyzing and evaluating the user needs through participation processes and predicting the user’s behavior for instance in SP-off-RP studies. In the workshop, we will present approaches towards user-oriented mobility systems in rural regions based on findings from mobility related behavior research [3] and transport modelling as well as current automation trends for different transport modes and discuss their application based on experiences from several studies (e.g. Tbilisi [4], Vorarlberg [5]).

 

The aim of this contribution is to provide insights into mobility patterns and travel decisions of winter tourists in the context of future social and ecological challenges in mountain regions. Effective transport policies and measures can be developed only based on a sound scientific foundation. However, unlike in urban regions, the major hurdle in addressing transport-related problems in tourist mountain regions is a lack of data on tourist mobility patterns. Current research within this field is very limited and concentrates merely on international tourism demand and long-distance trips, at the same time overlooking the travel behavior of tourists already on their holidays in the destination regions. To close this distinct research gap, we designed a very extensive questionnaire, consisting of sociodemographic and travel/sojourn-related questions as well as a travel-activity diary for two days. The diary draws from the existing well-established examples of household travel surveys, complemented by specific questions on company and influence of weather. The survey in form of self-completion questionnaires and assisted on-site interviews was implemented in the Ötztal valley in the Austrian Alps in the winter high season 2018/2019. Eventually, the data set allows us to develop Discrete Choice models for the destination, mode, activity choice and time allocation, with particular consideration of joint decisions within families and groups and impact of weather on the decision process. The models identify factors significant for the on-site travel choices of tourists. They also provide policy-makers with a scientific basis on how to address the seasonal traffic severities caused by tourists and what measures need to be taken to make their travel behavior more socially and environmentally sustainable.