Development of transport telematics control strategies for urban arterial roadside in developing countries: a study of the friction caused by the arterial road frontage

The design, analysis, and evaluation of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) require a good knowledge of traffic flow (pedestrian and vehicular) modeling and control techniques as well as of powerful methodologies from the areas of optimisation, control, networks, and dynamic systems. The objectives of this paper are to analyze the rate at which the vehicular traffic intensity is substituted for increments of pedestrians on footpaths and to evaluate the alternative measures of vehicular traffic intensity. Three segments on arterial road in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, were selected for study. The length of each segment was 94 m, 78 m and 90 m. The number of pedestrians on footpaths (left and right sides) and the vehicular traffic characteristics (volume and speed) were recorded for each segment during ten different time periods. Regression analysis was then used to express vehicular characteristics as a function of pedestrians on footpaths. The results of the research illustrate the importance of the control of footpath space as a means of preserving the road/road environment provided by urban arterial.