Construction of a new western bypass in Pilsen

CHALLENGE

The city ring road is a priority traffic construction in the city of Pilsen and special emphasis is placed on it. The first stage of construction of the western part of the ring road was completed in the autumn of 2014. The second – final stage of the western part of the road bypass is now underway. This should have a major impact on traffic calming in the city center. Its completion is scheduled for 2023. 

The route of the western part of the circuit will connect the largest housing estate in the north of the city (approx. 50,000 inhabitants) with the largest industrial zone of the town Borská pole in the south (see picture „Bypass_maps_labels“). It will be another new north-south connection, which is currently provided by the busy Karlovarská and Klatovská třída passing through the city center.  The traffic on these streets reaches up to 60 000 vehicles per day and the high traffic density on this main route through the city center is accompanied by a significant slowdown in traffic with up to 15 minutes of traffic delays (see G Layer traffic and density map). Concurrently these busy roads are a significant source of noise and air pollution in the city.

Before the measure was introduced, a simulation was done using a traffic model of Pilsen to assess the future impact of the new ring road on traffic intensity. The model showed that traffic from Klatovská and Karlovarská street would move to the new western ring.

Using the Digital Twin, Traffic Modeller and GLayer analytical traffic map, policymakers can assess the impact of the new road on traffic intensity, air quality and noise pollution.

RESULTS

The city has desktop applications (CUBE) for traffic modeling, which were used to analyze the impact of the construction of a new bypass on traffic calming in the city before construction began. The use of Cube software is limited to a few traffic experts in the city. The following documents provide examples of the results of the analysis of this system:  CUBE 2018 Model difference pentlogram and CUBE_2018_Model_WestBypass (see pictures). The values shown in the differential pentlogram represent the increase in the number of vehicles in the thousands per profile (both directions together) for 24 hours. The green sections mean a decrease in thousands of vehicles on the profile in 24 hours. According to the model from the robust Cube desktop system, the newly designed road assumes approximately 22,000 vehicles per day, and the busiest roads in Klatovská and Karlovarská streets are predicted by a decrease of up to 14,500 vehicles per day. Nevertheless, according to the model, a relatively heavy load of roads in the central part of the city can still be expected during rush hours.. 

Modeling in the Traffic Modeller web application and browsing the current and historical state of traffic in the GLayer web application is accessible to a wider range of city workers and policy makers in the city.  

The model created in the dev version of Traffic Modeller predicts about 12,000 vehicles a day in both directions on the newly built bypass. By comparing the model with the newly designed bypass and the existing (basic) model, we will find that up to 900 vehicles per hour and 11,000 vehicles per day will decrease on the busiest roads in Klatovská and Karlovarská Street in the city center. This corresponds to a decrease in vehicles and a calming of traffic by about 20%. The visualization of traffic in the Traffic Modeler with the new western bypass nevertheless predicts higher traffic intensities on the busiest parts of the Karlovarská and Klatovská třída roads during rush hour. Traffic on the newly built bypass should be smooth even at peak times (see picture TM_2021_Traffic_visualization_in_the_Traffic_Modeller_with_the_new_western_bypass_during_rush_hour).

The differences between the results of both models (CUBE x TraMod) can be given by different settings of communication network parameters and different calculation algorithms. Both models work with a number of parameters, which settings affect the result. Even in an effort to capture reality as best as possible, the prediction of the actual traffic load is uncertain.

After the commissioning of the western bypass, real measurements of the number of vehicles will be performed, which will be compared with the modeled situation in the Cube and Traffic Modeller software.

Based on the created traffic model, an air and noise model will be created and the improvement of noise and air pollution load in the city center will be evaluated.