PROBLEM OF THE ROAD NETWORK CAPACITY

Abstract

The perception of a typical user of the road network in a large Polish city isdetermined by the time he spends in queues and congestion every day. Inthe opinion of many users of this network, it is too long. This time rangesfrom several to several dozen minutes. In order to explain the dysfunctionin question, the concept of physical and transportation capacity of the roadnetwork has been described. Then, the basic numerical characteristics ofthe Polish road network in selected small and voivodship cities have beenpresented. The analysis used basic data on the length of the road network,the number of inhabitants and the “motorization” indicator for the citiesanalysed in the article. In this context, reference was also made to commonlyused ways to improve the functioning of the road network, fromtraffic lights, through roundabouts, to ITS (Intelligent transport systems).The summary presents, in the context of new technical solutions in thefield of transport systems, the perspective of the functioning of road networksfor the next 20‑30 years.