Congested urban areas with high interactions between vehicular and pedestrian flows: A cost-benefit analysis for a sustainable transport policy in Naples, Italy

Abstract

Introduction/Methods:</jats:title><jats:p>A significant application of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan of Naples, in southern Italy, will be described with specific reference to design a sustainable transport scenario for one of the highest density and congested area of the city: Municipio square, in the centre of Naples, where the homonymous station of the Metro Line 1 was under construction. The particularity of this case study is that Municipio Square is a high dense population area characterized by multimodal traffic flows (vehicles and pedestrians) and a thousand of travellers who embark/disembark every day from the marina to the islands of the Naples Gulf (<jats:italic>e.g.</jats:italic>Capri, Ischia) and cruises around the Mediterranean Sea. Thousands of vehicles and people pass through the square every day, often slowing the vehicular flows.</jats:p><jats:p>Starting from these considerations, a multi-scale modelling architecture (estimated<jats:italic>ad-hoc</jats:italic>for the specific case study) was proposed to better evaluate policy impacts (<jats:italic>e.g.</jats:italic>, transport, social, environmental), applying both macroscopic and microscopic simulation models simultaneously to design a sustainable transport scenario in term of both geometrical and traffic solutions.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results:</jats:title><jats:p>Six different design scenario were compared and the main results of the most significant one are described and discussed. The best project solution reduces the average travel time and the long queues thanks to a better distribution of the flows (both vehicles and pedestrians) in the broader area around of Municipio square. The simulation results also underlined the benefits for pedestrians related to the presence of different size of sidewalks and paths.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion:</jats:title><jats:p>Because of the realization of the new metro station will increase the pedestrian flows, the external layout of the square was designed, regarding infrastructures and paths, to minimize the conflicts and reduce the overall travel time. The proposed sustainable transport scenario was conceived in term of best geometrical devices and traffic solutions.</jats:p><jats:p>Finally, a cost-benefit analysis was also proposed, according to the European guidelines, aiming in improving transport, urbanistic, artistic/cultural, aesthetic, economic and environmental aspects as well as liveability for citizens, transport users (public and private) and tourists.</jats:p></jats:sec