Simulation model to assess freight flow effects in the urban–port road interface: A practical use-case for the commercial port in Catania (Italy)

The proximity of cities to ports has historically played a key role in shaping urban development, facilitating trade, promoting industrial growth and improving transport networks. Considering commercial ports, the operations produce significant impacts on vehicular circulation within port-city areas, generating congestion and pollution issues. To foster sustainability in these areas characterized by port commercial activities, the quantification of generated impacts and the identification of targeted mitigation measures is required. In this regard, traffic simulation models provide effective tools for assessing the performance of the transport system and the related performances that port operations may produce on urban mobility. These tools can be used to evaluate different scenarios by operating variations in terms of transport supply (e.g., transport infrastructure) and mobility demand (e.g., vehicular traffic flows). The paper presents a methodological framework to simulate and evaluate the interactions between urban traffic flow and one resulting from port activities with related externalities. A real-case study has been analyzed, implementing and calibrating the transport model of the access area of the commercial port of Catania (Italy). Different simulations have been performed to reproduce the state of affairs analysis, considering traffic flows related to (i) Pick-off hour, (ii) Pick-hour and (iii) Port Pick-hour. Additionally, having highlighted the critical issues through performance indicators related to light and heavy vehicular traffic (e.g. level of service, queue length; delays; emissions and fuel consuption), alternative scenarios of transport supply and mobility demand variation have been analyzed. Results show that infrastructural changes could be a viable approach for enhancing better mobility patterns at the port-city interface. Future research developments intend to integrate the simulation model with Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to perform a more in-depth analysis focused on the reorganization of the processes of entry and exit of heavy vehicles from the commercial port.