Explore a new mode of comprehensive management of urban traffic
Core reading
The Outline of Building a Powerful Transportation Country clearly states that by 2035, the development level of intelligent, safe, green and shared transportation will be significantly improved, and urban traffic congestion will be basically alleviated. In recent years, all localities have taken the initiative to explore a new model of comprehensive management of urban traffic and achieved certain results in promoting traffic congestion management.
Traffic is the "blood" to ensure the normal operation of the city, and it is also the key to enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of the city. At present, the urban passenger transport system serves about 300 million trips per day. The increasingly prominent urban traffic congestion has brought inconvenience to citizens’ lives, but it has also become a bottleneck restricting the sustainable development of cities.
What are the main causes of urban traffic congestion? In recent years, what local samples have been formed to control traffic congestion, and what results have been achieved? The reporter conducted an interview.
The population is increasing and the foundation is relatively weak.
Traffic congestion has accelerated to spread to small and medium-sized cities.
"Traffic congestion stems from the contradiction between traffic demand and supply." Chen Xumei, chief engineer of the Urban Traffic and Rail Transit Research Center of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, analyzed that the current urban traffic congestion presents the following characteristics-
From the perspective of space, traffic congestion has accelerated from megacities and big cities to small and medium-sized cities. In 2022, the urbanization rate of permanent residents in China exceeded 65%, and in the past five years, about 18 million people have entered cities every year. With the rapid development of urbanization and the increasing urban population, the traffic development foundation of superimposed small and medium-sized cities is relatively weak, resulting in increasingly serious traffic congestion problems in small and medium-sized cities.
Under the unreasonable urban spatial structure, tidal traffic congestion is becoming more and more obvious. In some cities, a large number of people work in urban areas and live in suburbs. Commuting back and forth causes a huge increase in passenger flow on the axial passage, which brings huge tidal traffic pressure and increases the difficulty of transportation organization.
From the time point of view, urban traffic has changed from rush hour congestion to all-weather and normal congestion. By September 2023, the number of motor vehicles in China had reached 430 million, and the number of vehicles in 90 cities had exceeded one million. With the rapid growth of motorized travel, especially private car travel, and the surge in the number of electric bicycles in recent years, illegal riding and parking are common occurrences, and the impact on road safety and traffic order is gradually emerging.
"The essence of controlling traffic congestion is to alleviate the conflict between demand and supply." Yao Enjian, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, proposed that on the demand side, through policy regulation, on the one hand, we should reduce the use of motor vehicles and guide green travel, on the other hand, we should encourage off-peak travel to alleviate the excessive accumulation of travel demand in time. On the supply side, it is necessary to meet the diverse travel needs of the masses with a more perfect public transportation network; At the same time, it is also necessary to turn "blocking the heart" into "comfortable road" by optimizing intersections and improving traffic facilities.
Strengthen infrastructure construction and optimize traffic management.
Improve road capacity and service level.
In recent years, all localities have taken the initiative to explore new modes of comprehensive management of urban traffic and achieved results in promoting traffic congestion control.
During the morning rush hour in winter, west china hospital is completely different from the previous congestion situation, and the vehicles in the surrounding sections pass normally and orderly.
There are more than 80,000 outpatient emergency visits per day, and the traffic pressure around here is huge. By setting bus lanes on small and medium-sized streets that must pass through the hospital, and coordinating the opening of three special buses, the connection with subway and bus rapid transit will be strengthened, and the whole process travel chain of urban public transportation will be improved. The bus operation speed of this section will be increased from 1 km/h to 16 km/h, and the travel time for residents to seek medical treatment will be shortened from 30 minutes to 10 minutes.
"The combination therapy of’ bus blocking’ has effectively improved the serious traffic congestion in the area in the past 20 years, and the road service level has been greatly improved." According to the relevant person in charge of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Transportation, at present, Chengdu has built 107 bus lanes with a length of more than 1,000 kilometers, and basically formed a bus priority network covering the main passenger corridors in the central city.
In Hangzhou and Dalian, by building, rebuilding and expanding expressways, primary and secondary trunk roads and opening up "broken roads", the road infrastructure construction has been strengthened, and the recycling efficiency of road networks has been continuously improved; In Shanghai and Lanzhou, aiming at the integration of airport, high-speed railway station and urban passenger transport, the integrated transfer of various passenger transport modes will be realized, and the efficiency and convenience of urban traffic transfer will be significantly improved.
"By strengthening the construction of transportation infrastructure, especially the construction of green travel systems such as urban public transportation, the traffic carrying capacity can be effectively improved and urban traffic congestion can be alleviated." Chen Xumei said that improving the efficiency and service level of public transportation and attracting other modes of transportation to transfer to public transportation will not only benefit the development of public transportation itself, but also reduce traffic interference and traffic accidents.
"To control traffic congestion, we can’t only start with’ small incision’ through big moves such as road expansion and demolition, and Daxing infrastructure. By optimizing traffic signals, intersection reconstruction and lane optimization, we can improve road traffic capacity and service level, which can also’ dredge meridians, remove blood stasis and promote blood circulation’ for urban traffic." Yao Enjian said.
Futian, Shenzhen, Futian Toll Station of Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway connects Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway and Shennan Avenue, and the section where it is located undertakes the rapid conversion function of several areas. During the morning rush hour, the demand for high-speed vehicles is as high as 2,305 vehicles/hour.
"In the past, due to the restrictions of ETC layout, the departure traffic of toll stations moved slowly, and there was once a big safety hazard in this section." The relevant person in charge of Shenzhen Municipal Transportation Bureau introduced that through systematic analysis, the layout of ETC lanes was optimized, and the ETC toll collection function of two exit lanes was added, which effectively alleviated the interweaving problem of export traffic on the premise of ensuring the maximum utilization rate of toll lanes.
In Handan, Hebei Province, the road of Junying Road under the jurisdiction of Fuxing District is narrow, passing through 7 old residential areas and 1 primary school. The urban management department "squeezed out" 68 free public berths in idle areas by accurately arranging roads. According to the person in charge of the traffic patrol police detachment of Handan Public Security Bureau, up to now, the city has increased more than 10,000 free temporary parking spaces by excavating the "leftover materials" of the city.
In addition to engineering plugging, focus on technology plugging.
Intelligent transportation provides new ideas for alleviating congestion
"The most blocked time, the 4 km road took 80 minutes." This is the "spit" of a younger brother of a network car at a special meeting of citizens in Changchun, Jilin Province in October 2023.
In recent years, the growth rate of motor vehicles far exceeds expectations, and the long-term urban layout of "separation of occupation and residence" has brought great pressure to Changchun’s urban traffic.
In the face of severe challenges, in addition to engineering congestion control, Changchun traffic control department will focus more on technology congestion control. "Through Baidu’s intelligent cloud computing data, aiming at 79 main streets with the top ranking of congestion, 212 congestion control measures such as strengthening police control and engineering guidance and reform were formulated in a targeted manner." The relevant person in charge of the traffic police detachment of Changchun City introduced that at the entrance node of expressway, combined with AI traffic monitoring data, a new expressway ramp control system was built, which can comprehensively consider the real-time traffic capacity of upstream and downstream lanes and realize the temporary control of lanes at the confluence point to manage intelligently and relieve traffic pressure. At present, the peak congestion index of expressway decreased by 20.1% and the average speed increased by 18.1%.
In Jinan, Shandong Province, in the intelligent control and command center of the traffic police detachment, through the big screen, the real-time traffic flow of the city’s roads, the state of relevant traffic facilities, the progress of road accident handling, and the release of public travel information can be seen at a glance.
"By optimizing and transforming the congestion points and flexibly adjusting the traffic signal timing scheme, the traffic efficiency at intersections has increased by 5.6%, and the morning and evening peak congestion index has decreased by 23% year-on-year. Especially in special periods such as holidays and bad weather, the platform can use data research and video inspection to capture changes in traffic situation in time and make optimization and adjustment. " Xin Chao, head of Inspur New Infrastructure Smart City Division, said.
"Blockage control is a complex systematic project, and it is necessary to adhere to the combination of long-term root cause and short-term palliative." In Chen Xumei’s view, the problem of urban congestion is ultimately a problem of urban spatial structure and functional layout. We must promote the balance between occupation and residence around the optimization of urban layout and adhere to public transportation-oriented development, so as to improve the congestion problem from the source. At the same time, we should also pay close attention to key areas, as well as highway toll stations and key sections, and provide the right medicine and precise policies from the aspects of road facilities, bus priority, parking construction and traffic management, so as to continuously promote the obvious improvement of urban traffic congestion.
Layout design: Zhang Fangman
People’s Daily (January 11, 2024, 07 edition)