Salvatore Antonio Biancardo

By Francesca Russo, Salvatore Antonio Biancardo and Rosa Veropalumbo

This chapter describes a methodological structure to support and improve the decision-making process for redesigning the geometric configurations of substandard sites and thus reduce crash risk factors on at-grade three-leg and four-leg intersections with stop-control on minor roads and single-lane roundabouts belonging to a two-lane rural road network located in Southern Italy. Starting from an initial evaluation of the risk level at each investigated site and adopting a procedure developed by the Italian National Research Council based on an estimated crash rate level, a more precise hierarchy of intersections with “black” rankings was developed. In addition, new geometric configurations for the most hazardous sites were suggested based on a statistical comparison in terms of safety and Level of Service (LoS). The effectiveness of the strategies was validated by computing the expected LoS and safety by adopting an empirical Bayesian analysis and performance functions centered on a revised Highway Safety Manual procedure reflecting the context of the study.

Part of the book: Transportation Systems Analysis and Assessment

By Salvatore Antonio Biancardo, Nunzio Viscione, Cristina Oreto and Francesca Russo

In the age of the Internet-of-Things and Big Data, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is being expanded into sectors for which it was not originally designed, such as the infrastructure sector, and becomes a necessity for the planning and management of smart cities. The digitization of the urban environment, its building and infrastructural heritage and its services is at the center of the concept of smart city, and this appears strongly linked to the use of BIM on an increasingly extended scale as an enabling tool for planning cities that are increasingly intelligent, sustainable, interconnected and above all liveable. In this chapter a creation process for the digitalization of existing roads, as well-known as reverse engineering method, will be shown as follows: a) modeling 3D digital terrain model; b) creating the horizontal alignment, vertical profiles and editing cross-sections; c) modeling the 3D corridor. As a response to long-term development between BIM and road engineering, this chapter will contribute also by offering innovative and practical solutions for integration of road design and pavement analysis, for a better management and optimization of road pavement maintenance.

Part of the book: Models and Technologies for Smart, Sustainable and Safe Transportation Systems

By Salvatore Antonio Biancardo, Mattia Intignano, Francesco De Paola and Gianluca Dell’Acqua

Building information modelling for infrastructure (I-BIM) is used for creating and managing data during the design, construction, and operations process of roads, railways, and airports. I-BIM integrates multi-disciplinary data to create detailed digital representations that are managed in an open cloud platform for real-time collaboration. The newly founded university spin-off VIASTRATA aims to develop digital information management methods and tools for the design and construction of roads, railways, airports and hydraulic works. Its scope also includes interventions on existing constructions and ultimately aims to the creation and products with high technological value and innovative BIM services. The chapter covers structured and innovative methodologies for designing, modelling and managing transport and hydraulic infrastructures leveraging BIM. To this end, the operation of an algorithm developed in visual programming language that realises the parametric model of a road dynamically from data contained in a spreadsheet is described.

Part of the book: Recent Topics in Highway Engineering