http://blogs.najah.edu/author/al-sahili An-Najah Blogs :: Dean / Associate Professor en-us Thu, 18 Apr 2024 20:10:06 IDT Thu, 18 Apr 2024 20:10:06 IDT [email protected] [email protected] http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/articlePublished Articlesملخص فرضت السلطات الإسرائيلية العديد من القيود على التنقل ما بين مدن الضفة الغربية منذ اندلاع انتفاضة الأقصى في أيلول 2000 تهدف الدراسة إلى تحليل أنماط الإجراءات الإسرائيلية على الطرق والتوجهات الجديدة وأثر هذا على قطاع النقل والمواصلات وذلك من أجل التوثيق العلمي ومساعدة أصحاب القرار الفلسطيني اتسمت الإجراءات الإسرائيلية المختلفة بالتذبذب من حيث الزمان والمكان، واستهدفت مناطق معينة بحيث عملت على تجزئة أراضي الضفة الغربية إلى مناطق جغرافية محددة، مثل الشمال والوسط والجنوب والأغوار كان نتيجة ذلك آثار سلبية واضحة على قطاع المواصلات من حيث التكلفة وطول المسافة وزمنها وقد أدت هذه الإجراءات إلى أضرار بالغة في قطاع المواصلات نتيجة تدمير الطرق، وأدى ذلك إلى انخفاض في مستوى حالة أسطح الطرق تستنتج الدراسة أن السلطات الإسرائيلية عملت على مأسسة الحواجز على حساب الأراضي الفلسطينية وعناء المواطن الفلسطيني وضعف التنافسية للاقتصاد الفلسطيني توصي الدراسة بضرورة صيانة وتأهيل الطرق المتضررة من هذه الإجراءات، وعمل دراسة تفصيلية على المستوى الرسمي حول نمط ومأسسة هذه الإجراءات، وذلك من أجل توثيقها وللقيام بإجراءات فلسطينية وقائية، قدر الإمكان http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/CURRENT-DATA-AND-CONDITIONS-AND-FUTURE-PRIORITIES-OF-THE-PALESTINIAN-FREIGHT-TRANSPORTPublished ArticlesKhaled Al-Sahiliand Sameer Abu-Eisheh Abstract This paper presents part of the findings of the World Bank sponsored study updating conditions of the transport sector in the Palestinian territories This study focuses on freight transport; conditions and needed development programs to enable it to play its role in the economy of the upcoming Palestinian state Freight transport is currently road-based and fully privatized The number of operating vehicles increased drastically after establishing the Palestinian National Authority However due to the current political conditions which resulted in travel restrictions and road closures by the Israeli authorities this number sharply declined and some freight companies closed operation Sizeable percentages of operating vehicles and companies did not renew their registrations because of lack of enforcement and the economic depression The Israeli imposed measures increased travel distances time and costs; therefore freight transport experienced loss or severe decline in services Israel controls border points within the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Israel and the outside world Travel between the West Bank and Gaza Strip which has the only Palestinian airport and the under-construction seaport is severely restricted The paper concludes that the priorities are facilitating freight travel within the West Bank and across Gaza Strip eliminating road closures and movement restrictions constructing freight land border-crossings establishing the free-trade area and assisting in the consolidation of freight services because it is mainly done by the informal sector There should be a comprehensive study to evaluate the inter-modal freight transport at the verge of establishing the Palestinian State http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/THE-FRAMEWORK-FOR-THE-DEVELOPMENT-OF-A-MEDIUM-TERM-Published ArticlesTRANSPORTATION program FOR AN ECONOMY IN TRANSITION: THE PALESTINIAN CASE Sameer Abu-Eisheh and Khaled Al-Sahili ABSTRACT This paper presents the framework for the development of the transportation sector in the Palestinian territories These territories which are evolving towards being an independent state after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank in August 2005 are considered to represent an economy in transition The paper considers a medium-term developmental framework which covers the various components of the multimodal physical transportation system as well as the institutional infrastructure The needs have been identified based on a diagnostic study of the conditions of the transportation system in the West Bank and Gaza Strip The transportation infrastructure suffered for about 29 years of occupation since 1967 as well as for the past five years during the current crisis The recent and expected considerable changes on the ground require reformulation of the transportation sector development strategies The paper presents a suggested outline for a five-year development program for the maintenance rehabilitation and development of the road air and sea transportation infrastructure The program also identifies actions to support the development of public and freight transportation systems It includes as well recommended policy changes to the current institutional regulatory and financial frameworks Finally the program estimates funding requirements for development of the physical infrastructure and technical assistance The required capital investment and recurrent expenditure sum to slightly above one billion US dollars The output can be used to facilitate approaching the international community for anticipated intervention responding to the sectoral needs http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/DIAGNOSIS-OF-EXISTING-TRANSPORTATION-SYSTEMS-IN-PALESTINE-UNDER-THE-CURRENT-POLITICAL-CONDITIONSPublished ArticlesAbstract This study diagnoses the transportation infrastructure in Palestine This includes roads air sea freight and public transport as well as the institutional structure This assessment should help formulate future developmental strategies and identify assistance needs There have been considerable recent positive developments such as rehabilitating roads constructing transport facilities and establishing national institutions Other developments were negative due to the great losses in infrastructure assets especially during the years of Intifada and the resultant incursions which caused severe damage to transport facilities restrictions on movement of people and goods and weakening of Palestinian institutions Land transportation infrastructure is the predominant type of transportation It is estimated that about 50 percent of roads are under poor pavement conditions Operation at Gaza International Airport was banned after the beginning of Intifada in 2000 and Israel damaged part of the airport in 2001 There have been efforts to construct a Palestine seaport in Gaza in 1999 Such efforts were stopped and Israel damaged some of its constructed parts The public transport consists of buses shared-taxis and taxis There is excess supply of shared-taxis while the reliance on buses is limited Freight transport is provided by land and by trucks and trailers Other types are provided through Israeli borders Therefore the service is subject to Israeli control Several ministries are involved in the transport sector There is no official mandate or clear responsibilities identifying roles and duties Therefore roles overlap and some duties are not carried out by any partyhttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/INFRASTRUCTURE-ASSESSMENT-IN-THE-WEST-BANK-AND-GAZA-TRANSPORT-SECTOR-ASSESSMENTPublished ArticlesThis assessment of the transport sector comes as part of a World Bank effort to update its data on the status of the infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip After about ten years since the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority and publishing the first assessment and development strategy conducted by the Bank there have been considerable developments on the ground Some were positive in terms of rehabilitating roads constructing transport facilities and establishing institutions However others were negative due to the great losses in the infrastructure assets especially during the past three years of Intifadah and the resultant incursions which caused severe damage to the transport facilities considerable restrictions on movement of people and goods and had weakened the institutions These changes has lead the Bank to seek to update its data and information on the status of the transport sector as part of the infrastructure system and the associated institutions to help formulate the Banks strategy for future assistance and intervention to respond to the needs of this sector Therefore the current status of the various transportation sub-sectors related to the roads air and sea transport systems as well as public and freight transport is reviewed; and the institutional arrangements in the transport sector are presented Such assessment would lead to the identification of the developmental objectives and sectoral priorities along with the presentation of a suggested short-and medium-term development program identifying the urgent and development needs in the sector As a general background it can be stated that due to its underdeveloped status the transportation sector contribution to the gross domestic product GDP of the Palestinian territories is limited as it accounted for 42 of the GDP in the West Bank not including Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in 2000 This is despite the observed trend of gradual increase of the share of the transport sector in the GDP as the share was 34 in 1995 and 39 in 1997 and 58 of the GDP in 1998 PCBS 2000 Although the GDP of the Palestinian territories has been slightly improving transportation infrastructure investment is still low compared to other developing countries The World Bank 2000 The consequences of road closures and travel restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the last few years severely influenced the transport sector The transport sector employed about 94 of total persons employed in the service sector in the Palestinian territories in 2002 which was the lowest employing sector among the services sectors El-Jafari et al 2003 The number of persons engaged in the transport sector dropped by 40 in year 2002 compared to year 2000 The share of the employed persons in the transport sector was estimated at 4 of the total labor force in the Palestinian territories in 1995 but this percentage was slightly decreasing over the years in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip PCBS 2001 The total number of enterprises working in land transport sector was 190 in 2002 Key performance indicators for the transport sector are presented in Annex 1 which were supplied in part by the Ministry of Planning The existing conditions for each of the components of the transport sector the road air and sea systems the public and freight transport systems as well as the institutional structures are illustrated hereafter A brief overall presentation of the rail transport system is presented in Annex 2 as there are no operating rail services This is followed by a presentation of the objectives sectoral priorities and the outline of developmental program for the sector for the period 2004-2007http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/ELASTICITY-OF-INTERCITY-BUSES-IN-THE-WEST-BANKPublished ArticlesKhaled A Al-Sahili PhD PE and Abdel Majid M Sadeq ABSTRACT In the Palestinian territories as the country is developing there is a need to study public transport characteristics This study is concerned with transportation planning in Palestine The objective of the study is to collect and analyze information about public transportation ridership behavior using two different questionnaires for bus riders and shared taxi riders The study area was the Northern and Central Governorates of the West Bank Five hundred and eight six forms were distributed for intercity bus and shared-taxis riders which accounted for 5 percent of riders Questions were about riders characteristics trip itself and changing mode preference for a change in bus fare or waiting time Results showed that ridership demand elasticity towards the change in bus fare was -183 for bus riders and 134 for shared-taxi riders Employees and students who make frequent trips were the most sensitive to mode change based on fare change reducing waiting time and availability of express bus services It is recommended for future research to extend such efforts for the rest of the West Bank governorates and Gaza Strip http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/article-1Published Articlesملخص: إن الهدف من هذه الدراسة هو إعطاء تقييم عام للظروف الحالية والمستقبلية والاحتياجات لشبكة الطرق خارج المدن في الضفة الغربية لقد عانى قطاع الطرق من الإهمال خلال سنوات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي وفي خلال الانتفاضة الحالية، تم إغلاق وتدمير أجزاءاً كبيرة من شبكة الطرق، مما اضطر الفلسطينيون لاستخدام طرقاً بديلة ذات مؤهلات متدنية لم تكن مصممة أو مهيئة لهذا العدد من المركبات من المشكلات الرئيسة التي تواجه قطاع الطرق: غياب نظام تصنيف معتمد للطرق وعدم وجود كود فلسطيني للتصميم وبالرغم من أن توزيع شبكة الطرق مقبولاً، إلا أنها تتميز بطاقة استيعابية متدنية، ومقاطع عرضية غير ملائمة، ومحاذاة أفقية ورأسية غير مناسبة، وأنظمة تشغيل غير ملائمة، ومعدلات حوادث سير مرتفعة هناك العديد من الوزارات والمؤسسات التي تعنى بشكل أو بآخر بشبكة الطرق الفلسطينية، ولكن هناك تداخل وعدم وضوح في صلاحياتها ومسؤولياتها، والتنسيق فيما بينها محدود، مما أدى إلى عدم انتظام في مشاريع الطرق لذا فمن الضروري أن يقوم مجلس الوزراء والمجلس التشريعي بتوضيح صلاحياتها ومسؤولياتها من أولويات تطوير قطاع الطرق: إنشاء مخطط هيكلي للطرق وإعادة بناء الأجزاء المدمرة من الشبكة واعتماد نظام تصنيف الطرق وتبني كود فلسطيني للطرق وتطوير برنامج سلامة المرور وتطوير نظام صيانة وإدارة الطرقhttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/IMPACT-OF-THE-NEW-TRAFFIC-CIRCULATION-PLAN-FOR-NABLUS-CITY-NETWORK-ON-QUALITY-OF-LIFEPublished Articles Summary: Because of recent Israeli military invasions to the City of Nablus many parts of the citys infrastructure were destroyed including roadways and traffic control devices There are efforts to rebuild the damaged parts of the city network and its elements such as pavements sidewalks islands traffic signs and signals In the midst of these reconstruction activities the Municipality of Nablus has opened new roads and set up a new traffic circulation plan for the downtown area In addition a major Commercial Development Center is currently under construction in city center and the first phase is scheduled to be open in the near future The city did not fully evaluate the traffic operations impact of these new changes A simulation-based evaluation of the existing traffic conditions for the study area of the city before changes was evaluated using CORSIM traffic micro-simulation model The model was calibrated versus field conditions Major problem locations within the study network were identified In the proposed new traffic circulation plans some of the problem spots and key locations were changed by redesigning intersections creating new intersections and changing traffic directions The impact of the new development project and traffic plan on quality of life in terms of travel time delay and environmental conditions was evaluated and compared with existing traffic conditions Results showed that the new traffic plan will mitigate the adverse impacts of the additional traffic on most locations of the network Palestine Street would be experiencing a considerable increase in delay because it will act as a primary exit from the downtown area A traffic management plan for this street is recommended to mitigate adverse impacts of the new development http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/article-2Published Articles ملخص: إن حركة سير المركبات وسرعتها أو تباطؤها يرتبط بشكل مباشر بكمية ومعدل استهلاك الوقود وانبعاث الغازات الملوثة من عوادمها وتستهلك وسائل المواصلات في فلسطين حوالي 60 من كمية الوقود المستوردة لذا، فإن الاستمرار في ازدياد أعداد المركبات بشكل عام، والمركبات الخاصة بالذات، سيؤدي إلى زيادة استهلاك الوقود والتلوث الجوي في المنطقة وتهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تقييم أثر الإشارات الضوئية وتحسينها على حركة السير ومعدل تأخير المركبات، وربط ذلك بمعدل استهلاك الوقود وتلوث الهواء الناجم عن الغازات المنبعثة من عوادم المركبات في وسط مدينة نابلس وتعتمد هذه الورقة في حساباتها على استخدام برنامج المحاكاة المحوسب في مجال هندسة المرور CORSIM لقد أثبتت الدراسات العالمية أن تحسين الإشارات الضوئية داخل المدينة قد يؤدي إلى انخفاض استهلاك الوقود بنسب تتراوح ما بين 25 65 أما في وسط مدينة نابلس، فقد أدى تحسين الإشارات الضوئية على بعض التقاطعات والممرات، عن طريق اختيار الزمن الأمثل للدورة وخطة التنسيق المقترحة بين التقاطعات، إلى تخفيض الزمن الضائع بنسب تتراوح ما بين 3 إلى 57، وتخفيض استهلاك الوقود بنسب تتراوح ما بين 2 إلى 25، وتخفيض تلوث الهواء الناتج عن أكاسيد الكربون المنبعثة بنسب تتراوح ما بين 2 إلى 10 ويوصي البحث بضرورة استخدام إجراءات تحسين الإشارات الضوئية والتنسيق بينها على مستوى شبكة الطرق في وسط المدينة، وكذلك ضرورة تطبيق مبادئ إدارة أنظمة المرور القليلة التكلفة السريعة التنفيذ، وذلك من أجل تحسين حركة السير وتخفيض معدل استهلاك الوقود في المدن الفلسطينيةhttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/PARKING-CONTROL-AS-A-PLANNING-TOOL-TO-MANAGE-DOWNTOWN-CONGESTION-ndash-USERS-PERSPECTIVEPublished ArticlesMajor city downtowns experience parking and congestion problems Both problems can be improved by reducing single-occupancy vehicle use Several factors affect transportation users mode choice This study investigated parking users profile in Miami-Dade County Florida USA The study investigated users attitude towards alternative modes of transportation and the most common reasons for driving single-occupancy vehicles Parking data were obtained using a parking user survey distributed at representative locations throughout the county to cover all available types of parking facilities Survey results showed that parking was available and accessible Most automobile users drove because driving was quicker and nearby transit services were not convenient There was no formalized incentive structure for carpooling or vanpooling A high percentage of respondents had an employer-paid parking subsidy Majority of automobile users were either willing to switch to an alternative transportation modes for the least suggested parking price increase or not willing to switch at all Most automobile users who drove for business purposes were not willing to switch mode and ride transit no matter how much parking prices increase The study recommends adopting pricing and accessibility policies to manage parking encourage the use of high-occupancy vehicles and thus improve traffic congestion in downtown areas [1] Construction and Transportation Research Center at An-Najah National University Palestine Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Ridership-Demand-Analysis-for-Palestinian-Intercity-Public-TransportPublished ArticlesThis article presents results of research to study the intercity bus ridership demand assess existing services and form a basis to predict future ridership in the Palestinian territories This study is the first of its type in the area Intercity public transport between six governorates in the northern and central districts of the West Bank was examined The relationship between public transportation demand and both operating and socioeconomic variables that influence demand was established An on-board survey of intercity bus riders identified some of the variables that can potentially influence ridership demand A simple linear regression equation of the ridership demand was developed using five independent variables: population of origin city population of destination city bus fare percent of employees at origin city and percent of higher education students at origin city Ridership profiles and trip characteristics were also established The study results can be used to evaluate existing public transportation and forecast future intercity public transport demand Decision-makers can use the results to improve intercity public transport services and attract more riders Future research should be based on this simple model include the impact of other modes on intercity demand include all governorates of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and establish a comprehensive nationwide model http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Traffic-Systems-Management-Studies-for-Palestinian-CitiesPublished ArticlesKhaled Al-Sahili1 PhD PE and Sameer Abu-Eisheh2 PhD Abstract Several Traffic Systems Management TSM studies for Palestinian cities were conducted since 1995 Their objectives were better traffic circulation less traffic congestion management of the CBD parking management of public transportation traffic engineering improvement and enhancement of administration and training capabilities Each study identified an action plan for the respective city The Municipality was identified as the primary agency that should carry on the TSM plans with local and international assistance Several years after the completion of the TSM studies the interaction of municipalities with the recommended action plans varied among these cities The impact of the TSM studies in each city after several years have passed was evaluated Interviews with city officials were conducted to assess the status of following through study recommendations Some action plan items were conducted because of their high priority availability of funds and public demand Other improvements were not implemented because of their low priority lack of funds high cost public objection and political conditionshttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/PLANNING-GUIDELINES-FOR-BUS-PRIORITY-SYSTEMS-AT-SIGNALIZED-INTERSECTIONSPublished Articles ABSTRACT In the last decade the world experienced a renewed interest in using the advanced technology to improve transit service operation reliability and image The development of the Intelligent Transportation Systems ITS in the last decade contributed towards this renewed interest in transit services Providing preferential treatments for high occupancy vehicles HOV will make the HOV more competitive with other modes of transportation This will increase the transit modal split and reduce single occupancy vehicle demand thus reducing traffic congestion within the urban boundaries The study examined various bus priority signal BPS strategies for a major corridor in the City of Ann Arbor Michigan USA The BPS process was simulated using TRAF-NETSIM software The graphic animation feature in the software was used to monitor the bus arrival at the signalized intersection The preemption plans of green extensionred truncation withwithout compensation the skip phase and the conditional preemption were evaluated The most appropriate preemption plan for each intersection along the study corridor was determined The vehicular vehicles buses and carpools measures of effectiveness MOE in terms of travel time and delay were tested under various levels of network traffic volumes and main to cross street traffic ratios for an isolated intersection The signal priority for carpools was also tested The general conclusion that traffic progression is most critical under heavy traffic conditions Traffic volume guidelines for signal preemption strategies were also established The study concluded that there are advantages of providing a limited percentage of carpools with the signal preemption capability http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/SENSITIVITY-ANALYSIS-OF-BUS-PREEMPTION-SIGNAL---AN-APPLICATION-OF-ADVANCED-PUBLIC-TRANSPORTATION-SYSTEMSPublished ArticlesKhaled A Al-Sahili and William C Taylor ABSTRACT With the emergence of Intelligent Transportation System technologies there has been a renewed interest in the study of bus priority signals BPS However at present there is no convenient method of conducting these studies since existing models are not capable of simulating various BPS strategies and then restoring the original signal settings after bus preemption is awarded The NETSIM graphic animation feature was used in this study to detect the bus arrival award preemption and the signal timing plan was then restored to the original signal setting manually The green extension red truncation with and without compensation the skip phase with and without compensation and the conditional preemption plans were evaluated The most appropriate preemption strategy at each intersection along the study corridor in Ann Arbor Michigan was established The sensitivity of BPS was tested under different network traffic volumes and different main to cross street traffic ratios for an isolated intersection The signal preemption for carpools and the impact of random traffic fluctuation were also tested It was found that maintaining progression is critical under heavy traffic conditions The traffic volume criteria that warrant signal preemption were established There appears to be advantages to providing carpools with preemption capability up to between 5 and 10 of the main street traffic volume In any corridor there is likely to be random fluctuations in the traffic demand and this variation may be as large as the measured effect of BPShttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Accessibility-Measures-to-Public-Services-in-Palestinian-Cities-The-Case-of-Nablus-CityGeneral Postshe distribution and planning of public services is considered one of the major objectives of city planning due to its direct relation with serving residents meeting their needs and their accessibility to these services The Palestinian cities in general and Nablus city in particular are suffering from the random distribution of public services without referring to the planning regulations that are based on population density and range of these services In addition there is a difficulty for the inhabitants of some residential districts especially the outer ones and the suburbs in accessibility to basic services like education and health The major aim of this thesis is to study and analyze the current situation of public services in Nablus City as a case study through the application of certain accessibility measures to these services The methodology of the study was based mainly on the descriptive and analytical methods using the available data and the field survey of public services as well as the results of the questionnaire distributed to a random sample in the city to measure the accessibility and determine the difficulties in access to these services The results of the study indicated that there is a medium degree of accessibility to public services for most districts in Nablus City except some suburbs like Kufr Qallil Zawata and Roujeeb which face difficulty in access to these services Also the results showed that there is a medium degree of difficulty in most districts and a high degree of difficulty in the suburbs to access to public hospitals For other services like public libraries banks and post office the results indicated that there is a medium degree of difficulty in access to such services from most of districts in the city The results of the study have referred the difficulty in access to public services in Nablus City to certain factors the most important being the long distance from public services traffic congestion and the absence of public transportation The study suggested providing certain public services in specified locations in the city of Nablus so that to cover the shortage in distribution of these services throughout the city; and to provide better accessibility for these services to the surrounding neighborhoods The study recommended the necessity of using the accessibility measures as a basic factor in the planning and distribution of public services in the city In addition it recommended the necessity of undertaking a traffic plan for arranging the transportation network and the provision of public transportation service in Nablus City Finally the study recommended the importance of preparing similar studies in other Palestinian cities on the regional scale including the city and its surroundings Full text available from: http:scholarnajaheducontentaccessibility-measures-public-services-palestinian-cities-case-nablus-city http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Aspects-of-A-Traffic-Safety-Program-in-Palestinian-CitiesGeneral PostsIn recent days limited efforts were applied to improve highway safety in Palestinian cities Establishing highway safety programs is essential to achieve this purpose The main component in such programs is planning The main process in the planning component is the collection of accident data to form the accident database Then the analysis of such database will identify the hazardous locations Effective countermeasures should then be applied at these hazardous locations These countermeasures should eliminate or minimize the hazards of these accidents Therefore the application of such highway safety program will result in safety improvements The police accident report form is the most important source to create the accident database A new comprehensive police accident report was designed in this study A new computer program \Accident\ based on Microsoft Access Software was also developed in this study This program is designed for a computerized data recording and tiling lt is user friendly It also provides options for data retrieval and analysis In this study the outline of the proposed safety program for Palestinian cities as discussed Accident data in this study were based upon accident records of years 1997 and 1998 for the Nablus City Threshold values for identifying hazardous locations were established based on these data According to the established threshold values Al-Hesba Intersection was one of the most hazardous locations in Nablus City A detailed study was conducted for this intersection Proper countermeasures were specified at this intersection such as retime signal police enforcement and repainting all pavement markings The results of this research showed that Palestinian cities are in dire need for the implementation of such a program Therefore developing the highway trafhc safety program in Palestine is recommended Full text available from: http:scholarnajaheducontentaspects-traffic-safety-program-palestinian-citieshttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Compliance-of-Access-Management-Techniques-on-Urban-Arterials-in-Nablus-CityGeneral PostsTransportation services provided in Palestine are inadequate to satisfy both the current and increasing demand for transportation Due to the increasing limitation of spaces and resources in most cities there has been a growing trend in the management of the existing traffic system rather than building new facilities Traffic management is a low cost improvement while constructing new facilities is capital-intensive and may be faced with the limitations of space and financial resources The objective of this project is to evaluate the applicability and effectiveness of some access management measures on two urban arterials in Nablus City Proper evaluation was performed for Rafidia-Yaser Arafat Street and Faisal-Haifa Street The methodology of this research is based on the following items: i Review existing international access management processes ii Explain the functions and the importance of access management measures iii Collect the related access management data about the studied streets iv Select the steps techniques and adopt access management standards which suite the Palestinian cities v Evaluate the effect of these techniques on the street network vi Survey the public\s opinions on drivers pedestrians and business owners on the two studied arterials by doing face-to-face interviews with these groups The access management measures that will be discussed in this research address the following areas: intersection spacing driveway spacing median treatments and median openings turning lanes and auxiliary lanes street connections and parking management The main results of this study were: There are no specific guidelines or standards that are universally adopted for some access management measures The level of compliance of the arterials in Nablus City with access management measures is relatively acceptable It is difficult to apply access management measures on urban arterials especially near the CBD area where space is limited and the need for accessibility is high while it is much easier on rural arterials Closing some driveways and openings or prohibiting some movements improved traffic movements and level of service and reduce delay on the main arterial streets in Nablus City LOS for signalized intersections was improved from D-F to C-E The unsignalized intersections which operate at LOS F were improved to LOS C After the discussion of the applicability of access management strategies it is concluded that these measures can be applied on Nablus arterials For the two studied streets some measures are easily applied others can be applied with limited geometric improvements and some measures could not be applied because they need large space Full text available from: http:scholarnajaheducontentcompliance-access-management-techniques-urban-arterials-nablus-cityhttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Analysis-and-Short-Term-Future-Vision-for-the-Transportation-Plan-in-Jenin-CityGeneral Posts There is a lack of urban and transportation planning in Jenin City This study addresses the short-term planning for the transportation systems in Jenin City to reach at appropriate solutions for the transportation problems in the city In addition the study addresses other detailed objectives for the various transportation systems in the city This study includes statistical data collection from its various sources and field surveys traffic volume studies parking studies and inventory studies The thesis includes a study of existing transportation systems description and evaluation traffic analysis of studied intersections capacity level of service and signalization The analysis includes existing and future conditions after five years which depend on projected number of vehicles based on natural population growth for Jenin City as the number of vehicles during the last ten years was not regularly registered and licensed The importance of this thesis is that there is a need for regularly conducting such studies every five years to update such plans taking into consideration several changes taking place in this city Most of these changes come from political and economical reasons in addition to the changing traffic conditions in the transportation network and the existing and proposed transportation systems resulted from the Jenin Master Plan Based on the analysis the study reached at several recommendations for the existing and proposed road network conditions which form the transportation master plan for the city The proposed changes include plans for the studied intersections and roadways parking public transportation truck routes pedestrian areas and the institutional structure The study concluded that only one intersection is warranted for signalization in the future which is An-Naffa Intersection Full Text: http:scholarnajaheducontentanalysis-and-short-term-future-vision-transportation-plan-jenin-city http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Impact-of-the-Current-Transportation-System-on-Poverty-in-the-West-Bank-Case-Study-NablusGeneral Posts One of the stated objectives of various international development organizations is to reduce poverty through sustainable economic developmentTherefore the question is how can transport systems best contribute to poverty alleviation? There are no direct and easy answers for this question There are considerable changes in the transport system operations in the West Bank during the years of the Intifadah and due to the Israeli Occupation Authorities IOA measures on the road network So it is important to study the impact of the current transportation system on poverty and standards of living The primary objective of this study is to investigate the impact of current conditions of the transport system on the socio-economic aspects of the Palestinian life particularly poverty and quality of life in terms of transport accessibility expenditures on transport travel time and cost affordability of public transportation and access to markets and employment The methodology of this research is based a reviewing related studies at the local and international levels b surveying related existing conditions related transport and socio-economic indicators and c field surveying of transport and living conditions of selected communities Nablus City was taken as a case study in this project The main findings of this project are: 1 West Bank is facing great numbers of IOA measures which had a devastating impact on the life of Palestinian people economic social service and other sectors 2 Travel time and cost increase in the West Bank are results of closures and checkpoints which have lead to income decrease and high levels of poverty rates in the Palestinian society 3 Economic and social issues of the Palestinians have greatly been affected by these measures 4 Poverty rates have sharply increased during the years of the Intifadah due to multidimensional reasons of unemployment income decrease and inaccessibility to work opportunities 5 The field survey analysis indicates an increase in travel time and cost decrease in income change in home style increase in transport expenditure and difficulties in access to hospitals educational institutions and general services All were results of the closures regimes imposed by Israeli Occupation Forces IOF 6 Drivers were also affected by the imposed measures Less daily trips were made income has decreased vehicle maintenance frequency and cost has increased and travel routes have constantly been changed to pass by the IOF road blocks and closures 7 The Separation Wall has destructive effects on Palestinian life; isolating communities of each other inaccessibility to work places and access difficulties to social and service sites Based on these results it is recommended to continuously consider these closures in negotiating with the Israelis The Palestinian Authority should continue working hard to remove Israeli checkpoints Furthermore the Palestinian Authority should establish measures to counter these effects on Palestinians The Palestinian Ministry of Transport should also consider supporting the transport sector and re-establishing public transport fares to make the public transport more affordable Nablus City was hardly hit by these closures Therefore every effort should be made at the official level to encourage investment in the city to strengthen its economy and reduce these effects Full Text: impact_of_the_current_transportation_system_on_poverty_in_the_west_bank_case_study_nablus http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Application-of-Superpave-System-for-Binder-Selection-Based-on-Local-ConditionsGeneral PostsThis thesis generally aims to apply the Superpave system in West Bank regions This system was developed in the USA during period 1987- 1993 The temperature data for West Bank regions was obtained from Directorate of Meteorology at the Ministry of Transportation The latitude for each city was obtained from geographical maps The analysis of data showed that most of Palestinian areas require one Type of binder which is PG 64-10 excluding Jericho which requires PG 70-10 According to a study conducted in Jordan about the properties of local binders which is the same type of binder used in the West Bank it appeared that it has the same properties of PG 64-16 Therefore the local binder can be used in all West Bank regions excluding Jericho In this thesis several special cases were studied as such as slow traffic standing traffic and heavy traffic volume The optimum binders for these cases were determined accordingly Finally it is recommended to use Superpave system in the West Bank because it has better performance over the Marshall mix design as found by several studies Full Text Available from: http:scholarnajaheducontentapplication-superpave-system-binder-selection-based-local-conditions http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Modeling-Relationship-between-Geometric-Design-Consistency-and-Road-Safety-for-Two-Lane-Rural-Highways-in-the-West-BankGeneral PostsThe objectives of this study are to investigate and quantify the relationship between design consistency and road safety for two-lane highways in the West Bank This study produced speed prediction method using real time traffic speed data obtained from Google Earth maps which were used to estimate the 85th percentile speed along an alignment that includes both horizontal curve sections and tangent sections A comprehensive crash and geometric design database of two-lane rural highways has been used to investigate the effect of several design consistency measures on road safety Previous studies showed that the most promising consistency measures identified in previous research fall into four main categories namely: operating speed vehicle stability alignment indices and driver workload Five crash prediction models which relate design consistency to road safety have been examined The generalized linear regression approach has been used for model development All models adopted in this study showed acceptable levels of goodness of fit and over-dispersion The developed models verified that the main design consistency measures have an important impact on safety The consistency measures used in model development are: variation between the design speed and the operating speed absolute difference of the 85th percentile speeds between successive design elements difference between side friction supplied and demanded average radius of curvature average tangent length maximum radius of curvature to minimum radius of curvature curvature change rate ratio of individual curve radius to average radius of the section and visual demand of familiar drivers of the section Validation step was performed; the goal was not only to compare the accuracy of different models developed but also to evaluate the overall accuracy of Crash Prediction Models for use on rural two-lane highways in the West Bank Validation requirement was to demonstrate that a model is appropriate meaningful and useful for the purpose for which it is intended The models can be used as a quantitative tool to evaluate the impact of design consistency on road safety An application is presented where the effectiveness of crash prediction models which incorporate design consistency measures is compared with those which rely on geometric design characteristics The study concluded that models which explicitly consider design consistency can identify the inconsistencies more effectively and reflect the resulting impacts on safety more accurately than those which do not Finally a systematic approach to identify geometrically inconsistent locations using the safety consistency factor has been proposed Full text available from: http:scholarnajaheducontentmodeling-relationship-between-geometric-design-consistency-and-road-safety-two-lane-ruralhttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Reality-of-Road-Safety-Conditions-at-Critical-Locations-in-Nablus-City-with-a-Road-Map-for-Future-InterventiGeneral PostsNablus occupies the second level among the Palestinian Governorates for the frequency of traffic crashes while it was the first regarding the number of injuries resulting from traffic crashes during the years of this research which are 2009 2010 and 2011 This research aims to study the reality of traffic safety conditions at selected locations in the city of Nablus Traffic crash data was collected with information about injuries based on crash reports from the Police Directorate in Nablus city for the study period Data was collected at selected links and intersections in Nablus city which are known as main and important locations with relatively sensitivity of traffic compared with other locations in the city Analysis was done for several patterns of traffic conditions that may have an effect on traffic safety at these sensitive locations such as crash rate weather lighting road surface road geometry types and causes of crashes etc Studying the reality of traffic safety at these locations shows that certain conditions and patterns may contribute the level of safety Many results emanated from this thesis for example; pedestrian crashes form approximately 196 of crashes approximately 26 of all crashes involved by old drivers half of crashes on Al-Fatimah Intersection done during night lighting female drivers caused only 66 of crashes with 230 of crashes of the intersections of Rafeedia and Tunes Streets and no problem for pedestrians on Schools Street on the contrary with Rafeedia Street Full Text available from: http:scholarnajaheducontentreality-road-safety-conditions-critical-locations-nablus-city-road-mapfor-future This research and results form the road map for traffic crashes and road safety conditions studies in the city of Nablus at the selected strategic locations for improving the conditions of traffic safety to reduce the number of crashes and to protect citizens and their propertyhttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Infrastructure-Development-and-its-Role-in-Improving-the-Palestinian-Socio-Economic-ConditionsGeneral Posts Abstract Through the last decade the infrastructure sectors including transportation faced several challenges with respect to the construction and rehabilitation of proper facilities and the establishment of institutions to carry out the burden of the sector A large portion of the road network in the Palestinian territories has been blocked by Israeli physical barriers and checkpoints in the last seven years and Palestinian traffic is generally forbidden on other parts of the road system International transport services have been highly restricted Many roads have been dug up by heavy machinery to render them unusable The impacts of these restrictions include limiting mobility and accessibility increasing travel time and cost restricting the transportation of agricultural industrial construction materials and imports and exports In addition these measures fragmented communities and isolates residents from social support networks Furthermore the social ties and relationships are weakened The increased cost of and expenditure on transportation has contributed to the increased poverty level poverty rate was 31 in 2000 50 in 2001-2004 and 43 in 2005 On the other hand Palestinians are paying more out of their pocket expenses for less travel Transportation can be a primary tool to alleviate poverty and improve socio-economic conditions This can be done through its indirect impacts on economic growth or its direct impact on personal welfare of the poor The contribution of transport operations to poverty alleviation is seen in general as indirect and stemming from broadly based economic development Yet most direct poverty-targeted interventions schools health clinics nutrition programs and social services depend on transport as a complementary input for their effective delivery Therefore there is a need to strengthen the role of transport interventions in improving the Palestinian socio-economic conditions On the other hand labor-intensive methods in road work where relatively low wages make them cost effective provide a sustainable source of supplementary employment for the less advantaged especially in rural communities The role of the transport sector in improving the quality of life and income can be seen in terms of improving opportunities reducing transport cost providing good access or trade and passengers increasing productivity increasing the social interaction and reducing unemployment This paper will help to formulate the strategy for future assistance and intervention to respond to the needs of this sector Such assessment would lead to the identification of the developmental objectives and sectoral prioritieshttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/al-sahili/article/Transport-Systems-Impact-and-Air-Quality-Assessment-of-Downtown-Nablus-City-1General PostsThe United Nations Development Program UNDP has started an environmental awareness program addressing the air pollution resulting from transport vehicles in Palestinian cities However an evaluation of existing air pollution conditions in these cities does not exist Furthermore the Palestinian Ministry of Environment was established few years ago and air quality policies and regulations established by the ministry are still under development Traffic congestion is a common problem in the downtown area of major Palestinian cities The average age of vehicles used in Palestinian cities is much higher than vehicles used in other developed countries Several related agencies and professionals believe that fuel consumption and fuel emission in these areas resulted from vehicles are problems that can not be ignored In addition local fuel price is quite expensive This research evaluates the existing air pollution conditions in the downtown area of Nablus City in the West Bank resulted from existing transport systems and traffic congestion Existing fuel consumption and emission within the downtown street network were estimated using computer simulation Existing local air quality policies related to vehicle emissions and regulation were also evaluated Activities related to air quality control by governmental and non-governmental agencies will be surveyed and evaluated There are several air quality management policies and transportation control measures used worldwide The applicability of congestion mitigation and air quality management policies by international and regional agencies to Palestinian cities were evaluated Interviews with Ministry of Environment and transport authority officials will be conducted to assess the practical aspects of applying any of these policies for Palestinian cities The research will present practical recommendations in the form of transportation control measures traffic management policies and regulations and awareness programs that will improve the adverse air quality impacts of existing transport systems in Palestinian cities in general and Nablus City in particular The impact of some of these recommendations on air quality will be quantified