Smart Upgrades and Digitalization of Traditional Roads: A Case Study of Tonglu County for the Asian Games

There exists a huge amount of roads without intelligent hardware like cameras or radars in China, and it would be great to upgrade and turn them into smart roads at a small cost compared with building a new one. This paper presents a case study of Tonglu County for the upcoming Asian Games, where three traditional roads are upgraded and digitalized with high tech systems. A multi-purpose digital twin platform is constructed using real traffic data to improve travel efficiency, road safety, and reduces the emission of pollutants. An observer-based model is developed with Multi-Target Multi-Camera tracking to recognize and track pedestrians and vehicles. Simulations are carried out to test and verify various traffic flow control strategies. The successful upgrade of these three traditional roads is a great example of digital transformation of existing infrastructure, and shows the feasibility of building smart roads at a relatively low expenditure.