Cold Region Road Engineering Research Group "Scenic Landscape Research Team"

CERI > Cold Region Road Engineering Research Group ( Scenic Landscape Research Team )

Japanese

Traffic Engineering Research Team

Snow and Ice Research Team

Road Maintenance Research Team

okkaido’s natural splendor draws many auto tourists. This has con-tributed to interest in preserving the natural environment and land-scape. With the promotion of the Scenic Byway Hokkaido program and with the enactment of three laws on landscape, urban environ-ment and outdoor advertisement and one basic law on tourism de-velopment, there is increasing need for research on landscape and tourism. For this reason, the Scenic Landscape Research Team was established, in April 2006. This Team studies ways of creating beauti-ful landscapes along roads and environments for pleasant driving, and of providing sightseeing information to motorists.

Major research topics

Study on the creation of pleasant, scenic roadside environments
Study on the creation of an environment for pleasant driving
Study on more sophisticated provision of sightseeing information to motorists

Study on the creation of pleasant, scenic roadside environments

Road accessories such as snow fences, snow poles and road signs are designed to increase road safety and eﬃ ciency, but they sometimes detract from the lovely landscapes of Hokkaido. It is necessary to study how to improve the landscape while maintaining the functionality of road accessories. The team also is performing research to understand how landscape improvement aﬀ ects driving safety and behavior.

Study on the creation of an envi-ronment for pleasant driving

Hokkaido must be made more attractive as a place for driving. Improvements ad-dress the en-route driving conditions, rest areas and sightseeing spots. The Team is looking for ways to realize a safer, more pleasant driving environment in Hok-kaido.

Evaluation of the roadside landscape using computer renderings

Study on more sophisticated pro-vision of sightseeing information to motorists

To meet the various needs of travelers, the team is studying technologies for more sophisticated provision of sightseeing in-formation, including information on roads, weather conditions, sightseeing and re-gional items of interest, roadside scenery and animal-vehicle collisions.

Searching distance and travel time on the “Northern Road Navi” website

Study on quantitative evaluation of landscapes along roads

In improving landscapes it is important to foster consensus among the organizations involved and local residents, but the aes-thetics of landscapes tend to be subjective. Even so, landscapes that are regarded as beautiful or as ugly tend to have common factors. Research was performed on quan-titatively evaluating landscapes, speciﬁ -cally those along roads.

Method for evaluating the roadside landscape