As part of a feasibility study on steel tunnels with a circular tube the Centre for Environmental and Traffic Psychology conducted a field study to the appreciation. There is a plan to construct such a tunnel with a tube diameter of 5.5 m in Sneek under the Houkesloot. Using a number of computer animations of variant of the tunnel design, and two existing situations for comparison, the expected usage, acceptation and appreciation was assessed. To this end the animations were presented on video to two groups of subjects, after which the subjects had to fill in questionnaires. One group consisted of drivers in the vicinity of Sneek, who knew the situation and would profit by the tunnel. The other group existed of inhabitants of Groningen, that, due to the geographical distance, where unaware of the situation and neutral regarding profit. The result was that the expected usage was estimated high; only about 11% indicated that they expected not to use the tunnel. Acceptance of the tunnel variants was lower than the existing situations, but still positive. Also the judgement of appreciation in terms of Hedonic Value (pleasurable - not pleasurable), Activation Value (activating - causing sleep), and Perceptual Variation (varied - monotonous) was less favourable than for the existing situations, but satisfactorily. People with interest in Sneek rated generally more positive than people from Groningen, and owners of drivers licenses for lorries and/or buses judged more positive than owners of a car licence only. The conclusion was that construction of such a circular-tube tunnel can be supported on the basis of this study. Attention should be paid to the presence of safety measures, the design of the tunnel interior and the actual driving behaviour, which was not measured in this study. (A)
Samenvatting