A Glance at the 13th International Conference on
Traffic & Transportation Engineering
Preface
Obviously, traffic congestion and its consequences are the most important problems of urbanization in
many developed or developing countries. Moreover, metropolitans spend huge amount of their time
on daily trips. Hence, “The 13th International Conference on Traffic and Transportation Engineering”
with enhance on "Human-oriented Transportation" will be an effective step to reduce private car
domination on urban spaces and changing cities to suitable places for human life. The most important
objectives of this conference are as below:
1- Using the capabilities of both Iranian and international transportation experts.
2- Planning to exchange the viewpoints of transportation activists with university and research
institutes and make interaction between them.
3- Preparing suitable situations for presenting new ideas and traffic knowledge management.
4- Providing the opportunity for researchers to present their innovations and opinions and
directing them with the help of the experts’ experiences.
5- Providing opportunities for updating and increasing transportation experts' knowledge.
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History of the Conference
The 1st Conference on Traffic and Transportation Engineering was held in 1995 and by 2001, six
editions of this conference were held. It was stopped for 5 years, and then it was revitalized by Dr.
Ghalibaf, the current Excellency mayor of Tehran and since 2007 it was held every year.
Since 2010, with the efforts of authorities and the support of domestic and international organizations
it was held internationally, and modern ideas to solve the problem of traffic emerged.
The 13th International Conference on Traffic and Transportation was held in Tehran Milad Tower on
25th and 26th February, 2014 with the presence of domestic and international participants from
England, Canada, Portugal, Netherlands, America, Australia and Belgium. The details of this conference
are as follows:
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Opening Ceremony
The First Speaker
Dr. Mahmood Saffarzadeh
Greetings and presenting a scientific report on the conference
The Second Speaker
Dr. Alain Flausch (The Secretary General of UITP)
A presentation on "Investing in Public Transport is Investing in the City": Dr. Flausch mentioned
that, public transport is the key to the attractiveness of the cities and the economic case for
public transport is strong and essential to mobilize required funding.
The Third Speaker
Professor Bert Van Wee (Professor of Transport Policy, Delft University of Technology,
Netherlands)
A presentation on "10 Propositions on Public Transport Policies: What Works and What Does
Not": Afterwards he named 10 propositions on public transport policies as follows: 1. The
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market for public transport and car only partly overlap. 2. Free public transport is a bad idea. 3.
Acceptable policies are not effective, effective policies are not acceptable 4. Related public
transport measures can increase the support for road pricing 5. Parking policies are undervalued
to fight urban car related problems 6. Land use policies can influence modal shift 7. Land use
policies for modal shift 8. Think rail, act bus 9. Visionaries needed to be able to implement
policies 10. Use policy package
The Fourth Speaker
Dr. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (Mayor of Tehran)
A presentation on "The Main Concerns of Tehran Municipality": Dr. Ghalibaf addressed "Air
Pollution" as the main concern of Tehran Municipality, since it deals with the health and life of
the people. He added that there are 130 days clean-air day in Tehran every year and we are
determined to double this number in following 5 years. Afterwards, he wished to construct 30
kilometers of metro lines per year, but he believed that using potentials available in Tehran
Municipality we could reach a record of 50 kilometers metro line construction in coming 5
years.
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The Fifth Speaker
Jim Walker (Chair of the Board, walk21)
A short presentation on "The International Charter for Walking": Afterwards the international
charter for walking was signed by Dr. Ghalibaf, and Tehran joined the charter and cities in which
people choose to walk. Then, Mr. Jim Walker appreciated Dr. Ghalibaf's efforts to construct
walkways and make Tehran a city in which people choose to walk instead of using their private
cars.
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Closing Ceremony
The First Speaker
Dr. Richard Mills (Director General of the International Union of Air Pollution Prevention
associations)
A presentation on "International Cooperation on Air Quality-Perspectives for Iran": Dr. Mills
addressed some ways in which Iran could strengthen its contribution to cooperative
international action on air pollution. These ways are as follows: 1. An enhanced leadership role
for the Male declaration 2. Engage with the LRTAP Convention in support of action programs for
Central Asia 3. Encourage non-governmental initiatives for scientific and technical cooperation
across the Middle East 4. Link with the work of the Hemispheric Task Force 5. Recognize the
enormous potential for mitigating short lived climate pollutants, develop a national action plan,
and consider joining the Climate and Clean Air Coalition
The Second Speaker
Professor Monteiro Figueira (Lusofana University, Lisbon)
A presentation on "How to keep cities on the move – Insights and perspectives": The main
subjects of Professor Figueira's are as follows: 1. Transportation and urban planning 2.
Transportation and sustainable development
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The Third Speaker
Dr. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli (Interior Minister of Iran)
A presentation on the methods of decision making in previous decades in Iran on
transportation: Then he added that we must provide a situation in which the citizens even do
not think about having a private car and if they buy but for having funs not commute inside the
populated cities. Afterwards he addressed the risks of air pollution and its physical and mental
effects on the people commuting in the cities.
Final Statement
The participants appreciated the efforts of Petroleum Ministry and Environment Protection
Organization, and they expect them to force to use Euro 4 or Euro 5 petrol in Tehran and other
major cities to have a clean and blue sky. Then it was emphasized the education as one basics of
traffic and safety engineering which need the efforts of all the organizations such as Ministry of
Education, government and private universities and etc.
Conference Subjects and Submitted Articles
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Public Transportation (112 papers)
Intelligent Transportation Systems (148 papers)
Traffic Engineering (95 papers)
Urban Transportation Planning (155 papers)
Traffic Safety and Risk (206 papers)
Transportation and Sustainable Development (136 papers)
Education and Traffic Culture Creation (66 papers)
Transportation Economy (78 papers)
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9. Transportation Systems Management (111 papers)
10. Terms and Conditions and Traffic Integrated Management (27 papers)
11. Geometric Design of the Roads (30 papers)
12. Non-motorized Transportation (54 papers)
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Tours
Tehran traffic projects sightseeing have been held in two days (a day before and a day after the
Conference). The places are as follow:
1.
2.
3.
4.
A visit of two-storey station in line 7 of Tehran metro
A visit of TBM machine in line 7 of Tehran metro
A visit of intelligent traffic control center in Niayesh Tunnel and Sadr two-storey highway
A visit of Tehran Traffic Control Center
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