An evaluation framework for traffic calming measures in residential areas

The paper evaluates the effectiveness of various traffic calming measures from the perspectives of traffic performance and safety, and environmental and public health impacts. The proposed framework was applied to four calming measures – two types of speed humps, speed tables, and chicanes – to demonstrate its usefulness and applicability. A field experiment using probe vehicles equipped with global positioning system devices was conducted to obtain vehicle trajectory data for use in more realistic simulations. In addition, a recently developed vehicle emissions model was used for more accurate evaluation of environmental and public health impacts. The results show that chicane is better than the other types of traffic calming measures considered, except in terms of vehicle emissions.

• Develops a framework to evaluate traffic calming measures on traffic performance and safety and emissions.
• Considers four traffic calming measures typically used in Korea.
• Conducts a field experiment using probe vehicles for use in traffic simulation.
• Chicanes are better than the other types of traffic calming measures considered.