Análise dos fatores de equivalência para veículos de carga em um corredor urbano de Manaus

Abstract

Avenida General Rodrigo Otávio is considered an important access route to the ports of the significant South Zone of Manaus (AM), which handles a large number of containers, and to the main reasons for transporting cargo along its length. This road, in urban sections, has a general traffic and the circulation of these general vehicles interferes with mobility, given that its intense characteristics, of total combined flow, as well as the mechanical flow of locomotion, combined with aspects of locomotion infrastructure available, has contributed to the increase in traffic delays. For any intervention in the road network, with a view to improving fluidity, it is necessary to standardize the volume of traffic, with the adoption of equivalence factors, which are more representative of the local reality. This factor converts the type of cargo vehicle or similar to a value corresponding to that of a passenger car. It is important to emphasize the use of imp factors, it can lead to the perception that services and service projects, duly identified via sub or superdimension of transport facilities, jeopardize the service. Therefore, this work aims to calculate the equivalence factors through methods based on the technical-scientific literature, for a stretch of the aforementioned avenue, which has a traffic light intersection. A categorized volumetric count of the traffic between the two operated vehicles were not considered as selected equivalence areas, being considered as operations for operational operations, such as the maneuver times observed between the two selected vehicles, the passage of freight and passenger vehicles, at the intersection under study. Next, the equivalence factors for the calculation means of transport of loads were compared with the values of analysis of application of the American manual (Highway Manual - HCM), the capacity of adoption in Brazil for the use. In addition, they were compared with the factors presented in the DNIT Traffic Studies Manual (2006) and with the mechanisms adopted by the municipal management body of Manaus (AM), in traffic carried out in 213, by the extinct MANAUSTRANS, current IMMU. The calculated factors were also used to perform a simulation and sensitivity analysis regarding the variation of the adjustment factor for heavy vehicles in the saturation flow, proposed by the HCM (TRB, 2010) for the design of traffic lights. As main results, the following stand out: (a) the divergences between the traffic flows standardized with the equivalence factors for recommended freight vehicles DNIT and IMMU, being 2 and 4, respectively; (b) a table with the equivalence factors calculated by the methods selected in the technical-scientific literature, considering the typology of freight vehicles, with variations between 3.2 and 18.6; and, (c) the different values calculated for the adjustment factor in the saturation flow (HCM methodology), considering the equivalence factors adopted by DNIT, IMMU and by the methods proposed in this study. The work concludes by the need for further investigations regarding load equivalence factors, which are more consistent with the reality of Brazilian cities.