Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology is rapidly entering the commercialization phase driven by advancements in artificial intelligence, sensor fusion, and communication-based vehicle control systems. Real-world road testing and pilot deployments are increasingly being conducted, both domestically and internationally. However, ensuring the safe operation of AVs on public roads requires not only technological advancement of the vehicle itself but also a thorough pre-evaluation of the road environments in which AVs are expected to operate. However, most previous studies have focused primarily on improving internal algorithms or sensor performance, with relatively limited efforts to quantitatively assess how the structural and physical characteristics of road environments affect AV driving safety. To address this gap, this study quantitatively evaluated the compatibility of road environments for AV operation and defined the road conditions under which AVs can drive safely. Three evaluation scenarios were designed by combining static factors such as curve radius and longitudinal gradient with dynamic factors such as level of service (LOS). Using the MORAI SIM autonomous driving simulator, we modeled the driving behaviors of autonomous vehicles and buses in a virtual environment. For each scenario, the minimum time to collision (mTTC) from the moment the AV sensors detected a lead vehicle was calculated to assess risk levels across different road conditions.The analysis revealed that sharper curves and lower service levels resulted in significantly increased risk. Autonomous buses exhibited a higher risk on downhill segments, autonomous vehicles were more vulnerable to uphill slopes and gradient transitions. The findings of this study can be applied to establish road design standards, develop pre-assessment systems for AV road compatibility, and improve AV route planning and navigation systems, thereby providing valuable implications for policy and infrastructure development.

As conventional road traffic noise prediction models are designed to estimate long-term representative noise levels, capturing fine-scale noise fluctuations caused by real-world traffic dynamics is challenging. A previous study proposed a microscopic road traffic noise model (MTN) can calculate time-series noise levels with a resolution of 1 s using the concept of a moving noise source. In this study, two experiments were conducted to verify the accuracy of the noise prediction of the model. First, by comparing the calculated noise levels of two conventional road traffic noise models and the MTN in a simple road simulation environment, it was confirmed that the calculation error was within 3 dB(A) when calculating the 1-h equivalent noise level. Second, an experiment was conducted to verify the noise prediction error of the MTN on six actual roads. A comparison of the calculated noise level using the MTN based on traffic data collected from actual roads with the measured noise level on real roads showed that the calculated noise level achieved a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.88 dB(A) from the equivalent noise level and 1.28 dB(A) from the maximum noise level. This was similar to the MAE of the foreign road traffic noise models. However, when the location of the receiver is within 10 m of the road, an error of more than 3 dB(A) occurs because of the simplicity of the MTN propagation model, which remains a problem that must be solved in the future. This study proved that the noise level calculation using the MTN is similar to the noise of an actual road environment. Additionally, the continuous development of the MTN is expected to make it an effective alternative for the management of road noise.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of key operational factors on traffic performance in long underground expressways. This study was motivated by the increasing policy interest in underground expressway infrastructure as a solution to chronic surface-level congestion in dense urban regions. A scenario-based microscopic traffic simulation was conducted using VISSIM considering combinations of traffic volume, proportion of heavy vehicles, and longitudinal slopes. A total of 72 scenarios were simulated, and the weighted average speed and total throughput were analyzed. The simulation results showed that the entry traffic volume and longitudinal gradient significantly affected the average speed, particularly in uphill exit segments. The heavy vehicle ratio also contributed to consistent reductions in speed. However, the overall throughput remained relatively stable despite variations in heavy vehicle proportions, suggesting that speed is more sensitive to flow composition than to volume capacity. Although interaction effects were not statistically tested, the combined scenario trends suggested that steeper slopes and high heavy-vehicle ratios jointly intensify speed reduction. These findings support the early-stage design and traffic planning of underground expressways.

In this study, the effects of a hypothetical autonomous vehicle (AV)-exclusive roadway were estimated through a step-by-step approach using both microscopic and macroscopic simulations. First, the AV-exclusive roadway was classified into four types—entry lanes, mainlines, merging lanes, and intersections—and the C, α, and β values of the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) function were estimated for each type through a microscopic simulation. These estimated values were then applied to a 3×3 (20 km) network, and a macroscopic simulation was conducted to compare the effectiveness of AVs and conventional vehicles (CVs) in terms of traffic volume and travel time.The analysis showed that for the same travel time, the traffic volume increased by more than 12% with AVs compared to that with CVs. Conversely, for the same traffic volume, the total travel time decreased by 11% for AVs. The estimated capacity of the AV-exclusive roadway, similar to the U-Smartway with a size of 3×3 (20 km), was approximately 400,000 vehicles, which was more than 140% higher than that of CVs. Assuming that each AV carries five passengers, up to two million people can be transported per day, indicating a significant potential benefit. However, these results were based on theoretical analyses using hypothetical networks under various assumptions. Future studies should incorporate more realistic conditions to further refine these estimations.

This paper presents a novel methodology for assessing the vulnerabilities of autonomous vehicles (AVs) across diverse operational design domains (ODDs) related to road transportation infrastructure, categorized by the level of service (LOS). Unlike previous studies that primarily focused on the technical performance of AVs, this study addressed the gap in understanding the impact of dynamic ODDs on driving safety under real-world traffic conditions. To overcome these limitations, we conducted a microscopic traffic simulation experiment on the Sangam autonomous mobility testbed in Seoul. This study systematically evaluated the driving vulnerability of AVs under various traffic conditions (LOSs A–E) across multiple ODD types, including signalized intersections, unsignalized intersections, roundabouts, and pedestrian crossings. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed to quantify the discriminatory power of the evaluation indicators as the traffic volume was changed by ODD. Furthermore, an autonomous driving vulnerability score (ADVS) was proposed to conduct sensitivity analyses of the vulnerability of each ODD to autonomous driving. The findings indicate that different ODDs exhibit varying levels of sensitivity to autonomous driving vulnerabilities owing to changes in traffic volume. As the LOS deteriorates, driving vulnerability significantly increases for AV–bicycle interactions and AV right turns at both signalized and unsignalized intersections. These results are expected to be valuable for developing scenarios and evaluation systems to assess the driving capabilities of AVs.

This study develops a comprehensive road operation evaluation model that integrates the perspectives of three principal stakeholders: road users prioritizing congestion mitigation, operators emphasizing investment efficiency, and policymakers advocating broader societal goals such as carbon reduction. The analysis database was constructed using traffic data obtained from reliable sources, including the Korea Transport Institute's Big Data Center and Suwon City's Urban Safety Integration Center. Binary logistic regression was employed to identify the factors influencing traffic congestion from the users’ perspective, whereas multiple linear regression models were used to analyze road investment efficiency from the operators’ viewpoint and carbon dioxide emissions from the policymakers’ standpoint. Statistical analyses were conducted on 4,322 road segments in Suwon City, with each evaluation criterion assigned an equal weight of 33.3 points in a unified 100-point scoring system. The analysis identified 15 statistically significant indicators affecting the three evaluation criteria, with the resulting models demonstrating strong explanatory power, evidenced by adjusted R² values of 0.197, 0.593, and 0.544 for traffic congestion, road investment efficiency, and carbon dioxide emission models, respectively. A volume-to-capacity (V/C) ratio of 0.64 was determined to represent the optimal balance point at which the requirements of all stakeholder groups align. When applied to Suwon City's arterial road network, the model identified 248 high-congestion segments (53.13 km), 203 segments with low investment efficiency (26.8 km), and 357 segments with high carbon emissions (156.33 km), each requiring targeted operational improvements. The proposed model addresses the limitations of existing single-stakeholder evaluation frameworks by offering transportation authorities a systematic and multi-dimensional approach to road operation assessment.

This study quantitatively assess the risk of ice-related accidents on road facilities such as bridges and tunnels, and examines the influence of road facility characteristics on ice-related accidents. Ice-related accident data from expressways and national highways in South Korea were collected over a 10-year period (2013–2022). Geographic information systems (GIS) and node-link systems were employed to classify accidents based on road facility types. The number of ice-related accidents per unit length and per individual segment was examined according to the road classification. Furthermore, the fatality rate and fatality-weighted indicator (FWI) were calculated to evaluate the severity of icerelated accidents.The number of ice-related accidents per unit length of road facilities is higher on national highways than on expressways. For both expressways and national highways, the incidence rate of ice-related accidents on bridges was higher than those on ordinary sections and tunnels. A greater number of ice-related accidents occurred on long-span bridges and tunnels for both road classifications. The fatality rate of ice-related accidents on expressways was approximately 1.5 times higher than that on national highways. The fatality rate of ice-related accidents occurring on road facilities within expressways was approximately three times higher than the overall fatality rate of ice-related accidents on expressways. On national highways, the fatality rate of ice-related accidents on bridges was higher than the overall fatality rate of ice-related accidents, whereas the fatality rate of ice-related accidents in tunnels was lower than that on national highways. The FWI of ice-related accidents on bridges and tunnels was more than twice that on ordinary sections on both expressways and national highways. Among expressway facilities, tunnels exhibited the highest FWI, whereas on national highways, the FWI values for bridges and tunnels were similar. The findings of this study suggest that the influence of road facilities on ice-related accidents should be considered in winter road maintenance strategies. This could contribute to reducing not only the frequency of ice-related accidents, but also the number of fatalities and injuries resulting from such incidents.

Road infrastructure development and biodiversity conservation are essential for sustainable development. However, many developing countries struggle to balance them. This study examines the impact of road construction in 24 African countries and evaluates strategies for achieving sustainability. Using a case study approach, road construction variables from individual country reports (2024) were quantitatively analyzed alongside Red List Index (RLI) scores from the Yale University's 2024 Environmental Performance Index Report. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were applied to assess the relationship between road development and biodiversity conservation to provide insights into effective mitigation strategies. Results indicate that in 2024, the average RLI score for the 24 African countries was 64.74, with a 10-year mean decline of -2.85. On average, 17,162.21 ha of biodiversity habitats were cleared for road construction, emphasizing the vulnerability of biodiversity. Burkina Faso (95.4), Mali (92.9), and Botswana (92.2) exhibited strong biodiversity health, whereas Kenya (24.9), South Africa (24.4), Uganda (15.7), and Tanzania (0) faced critical challenges. Wildlife crossing was the most significant predictor in lower-income economies (R² = 0.49, p < 0.0001), traffic volume in lower-middle income economies (R² = 0.35, p = 0.0007), and road width in upper-middle income economies (R² = 0.83, p = 0.0054). Habitat clearance exhibited a weak correlation. These findings highlight the crucial role of road construction variables—particularly wildlife crossings, road width, and traffic volume—in biodiversity conservation across income groups. Targeted road planning is required to mitigate biodiversity loss. These findings contribute to the emerging literature on the impact of infrastructure on conservation, policy guidance, and mitigation efforts in developing countries.