Impact of Rainfall on Traffic Speed in Major Cities of China

Min Zhang, Yufu Liu, Wenqi Sun, Yixiong Xiao, Chang Jiang, Yong Wang and Yuqi Bai
Additional contact information
Min Zhang: Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Yufu Liu: Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Wenqi Sun: Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Yixiong Xiao: Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Chang Jiang: Beijing Baidu Netcom Science Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 100085, China
Yong Wang: Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Yuqi Bai: Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: The construction of healthy transportation is an important ingredient for promoting the healthy development of cities. The establishment of an urban traffic evaluation mechanism can provide an important basis for the construction of healthy transportation. This study focused on the impact of precipitation on traffic speed and developed an urban traffic vulnerability index. This index reflects the degree of traffic affected by precipitation, which is calculated based on the traffic congestion index under different rainfall intensities. The traffic vulnerability indices of 41 major cities in China under rainfall conditions were evaluated. Based on the above traffic vulnerability indexes, the impact of socioeconomic factors on urban traffic vulnerability was analyzed. The three key findings of this study are as follows: there was a positive correlation between the vulnerability index and the gross domestic product (GDP); the urban population (POP) had a significant impact on the urban traffic vulnerability; and urban car ownership had little impact on traffic vulnerability. Based on these findings, possible measures to improve urban traffic vulnerability are proposed. The construction of an index system provides a basis for enhancing the urban traffic assessment mechanism, promoting the development of urban physical examinations and building healthy transportation and healthy cities.

Keywords: healthy cities; rainfall intensity; vulnerability index; evaluation; socioeconomic factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9074/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9074/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9074-:d:613799

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().