Reflective Properties and Lighting Quality of Urban Asphalt Roads in a Full-Service Cycle: A Longitudinal Study in Zhejiang Province, China

Chi Zhang, Chuan Lei, Lei Ye, Cheng Kang, Meihong Wang, Zhiyi Huang and Ke Wu ()
Additional contact information
Chi Zhang: Key Laboratory of Offshore Geotechnics and Material of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Chuan Lei: Key Laboratory of Offshore Geotechnics and Material of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Lei Ye: Construction Management Division, Department of Transportation of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310007, China
Cheng Kang: Key Laboratory of Offshore Geotechnics and Material of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Meihong Wang: College of Quality and Safety Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Zhiyi Huang: Key Laboratory of Offshore Geotechnics and Material of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Ke Wu: Key Laboratory of Offshore Geotechnics and Material of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 24, 1-16

Abstract: To optimize the lighting design of urban roads in China and improve traffic safety, the present study conducted a 10-year longitudinal experiment on urban asphalt roads in Zhejiang Province, China, and analyzed variations of the road surface’s reflective properties and lighting quality with different service lengths, surface areas, and observation angles. The results showed that these roads were R2 roads with low resilience and strong directional reflection. The average luminance coefficient Q 0 reached maximum and minimum at the beginning and after around one year of service, respectively. After four years of service, Q 0 was about 80% of its initial value and remained stable. The specularity factor S 1 reached a maximum of around two years of service. The average luminance L av was approximately 35%, and overall luminance uniformity U 0 was 31%, lower than that of R3 roads during the toughest period of the service life. If the lighting design follows the 1° observation angle r -table recommended by the specification, high L av and low U 0 occur for roads like expressways, leading to a significant increase in traffic safety risks; collector roads may suffer from insufficient L av . Urban asphalt roads in Zhejiang Province, China, should use the R2 road standard and increase the design value of L av by 35–45%, and high-level roads should increase the design value of U 0 by 40%. The present study will provide scientific references for the design of lighting for urban roads in China, thus promoting long-term sustainable traffic safety in cities.

Keywords: Chinese urban roads; reflective properties of road surface; full-service cycle; lighting quality; observation angle; risk assessment; sustainable safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16784/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16784/ (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:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16784-:d:1299132

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 ().