Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating The Need For Drainage Layers In Flexible Pavements, Masoud Seyed Mohammad Ghavami, Maryam Sadat Hosseini, Pablo D. Zavattieri, John E. Haddock

JTRP Technical Reports

Moisture can significantly affect flexible pavement performance. As such, it is crucial to remove moisture as quickly as possible from the pavements, mainly to avoid allowing moisture into the pavement subgrade. In the 1990s the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) adopted an asphalt pavement drainage system consisting of an open-graded asphalt drainage layer connected to edge drains and collector pipes to remove moisture from the pavement system. However, over the intervening two decades, asphalt pavement materials and designs have dramatically changed in Indiana, and the effectiveness of the pavements drainage system may have changed. Today, in-place field densities achieved during …

Economic Development Impact Of Preservation Projects, Yue Ke, Lisa Lorena Losada-Rojas, Davis Chacon-Hurtado, Sumedh Khair, Konstantina Gkritza, Jon D. Fricker

JTRP Technical Reports

Preservation and maintenance activities protect pavements and bridges, extending the life of these assets and guarantee the safety of users. Because rebuilding a road in poor condition can cost ten times as much as work needed to keep the road in good condition, these activities also represent significant savings to taxpayers. In addition to these benefits, preservation activities can also have wider economic benefits in the form of reduced user costs related to vehicle operation, travel time, and safety.

This project aims to develop sketch planning tools for assessing the economic development impacts of pavement and bridge preservation projects to …

Risk-Based Construction Inspection, Xin Xu, Yuxi Zhang, Chenxi Yuan, Hubo Cai, Dulcy M. Abraham, Mark D. Bowman

JTRP Technical Reports

Construction inspection is a critical component in the quality assurance (QA) program to ensure the quality and long-term performance of pavements. Over the years, INDOT has been developing and modifying its standard specification to set requirements for construction inspection and material testing. With the retirement of experienced employees, INDOT is challenged with the lack of knowledge to effectively inspect the critical elements of construction results/deliverables such as pavement, soil embankment, and bridge (decks). There is a critical need for INDOT to allocate limited resources to the riskiest areas and equip construction inspectors with necessary knowledge to conduct inspection, ensure the …

A Laboratory Study Of Apron-Riprap Design For Small-Culvert Outlets, Dennis A. Lyn, Siddharth Saksena, Sayan Dey, Venkatesh Merwade

JTRP Technical Reports

The present study investigated primarily the appropriate stone-sizing of on-grade riprap aprons, and more specifically whether the current INDOT design policy may be overly conservative especially within the context of smaller culverts. In the study, laboratory experiments were performed with two pipe diameters, D = 4.25 in (0.35 ft) and 5.75 in (0.48 ft), and four stone sizes, median diameters estimated to be d₅₀ = 0.61 in, 1.22 in, 1.73 in, and 2.24 in, for a range of discharges and tailwater depths. Video records were made of the laboratory apron to detect stone-mobilization events, and stable and unstable cases …

Subgrade Stabilization Alternatives, Eimar Sandoval, Andrea Ardila Quiroga, Antonio Bobet, Tommy Nantung

JTRP Technical Reports

Recent research has shown that the subgrade soil type and its engineering properties govern the performance of the pavement, especially for clayey soils. However, current application of the Pavement_ME in Indiana does not fully account for the changes of type of soil and stiffness that may arise with treatment. This research addresses this issue by exploring engineering properties, namely fines content, plasticity index, unconfined compression strength and resilient modulus of subgrade stabilization alternatives. The effects of changes in moisture content and temperature on the stiffness of treated subgrades are also studied. Three A-7-6 soils and one A-6 soil mixed with …

Development Of Automated Incident Detection System Using Existing Atms Cctv, Stanley Chien, Yaobin Chen, Qiang Yi, Zhengming Ding

JTRP Technical Reports

Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has over 300 digital cameras along highways in populated areas in Indiana. These cameras are used to monitor traffic conditions around the clock, all year round. Currently, the videos from these cameras are observed by human operators. The main objective of this research is to develop an automatic real-time system to monitor traffic conditions using the INDOT CCTV video feeds by a collaborative research team of the Transportation Active Safety Institute (TASI) at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and the Traffic Management Center (TMC) of INDOT.

In this project, the research team developed the system …

Back Of Queue Warning And Critical Information Delivery To Motorists, Lingxi Li, Yaobin Chen, Renran Tian, Feng Li

JTRP Technical Reports

Back-of-queue crashes are one of the main sources for fatal accidents on U.S. highways. A variety of factors including low visibility, slippery road surface, and driver distraction/drowsiness during highway cruising, all contribute to this type of fatal crashes. Thus, it is very important to improve the driver’s situational awareness before they approach traffic queues on highways.

In this project, we develop a prototype in-vehicle back-of-queue alerting system that is based on the probe vehicle data from INDOT. Speed changes among different road segments are used to identify slow traffic queues, which are compared with vehicle locations and moving directions to …

Cost-Effectiveness Of Converting Signalized Arterials To Free-Flow Facilities, Yu Qiao, Nathaniel Shellhamer, Samuel Labi, Jon D. Fricker, Kumares C. Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

Traffic signals on four-lane divided signalized arterials impair mobility and exacerbate traffic congestion, driver frustration, crash risk, and overall user and community costs. This study examined the economic feasibility of converting this roadway type to freeflow corridors. A free-flowing facility does not refer to a freeway, but rather, a facility that is free of traffic control devices (such as traffic signals and stop signs) on the mainline. At the intersection level, four intersection alternatives were considered: signalized intersection (do nothing), two-way stop-controlled (TWSC) intersection, J-turn and interchange. The study developed a decision framework that evaluates the overall performance of upgrade …

Pavement Acceptance Testing: Risk-Controlled Sampling Strategy, Jiannan Cai, Qingyi Gao, Hyonho Chun, Hubo Cai

JTRP Technical Reports

Acceptance testing is a critical aspect of the quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) program to ensure the reliable long-term performance of pavement. A typical acceptance testing specification includes acceptable quality characteristics (AQCs), testing methods, number of samples, sample locations, and acceptance criteria. In the current practice, Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) accepts pavement by sampling and testing materials with a pre-determined, very low frequency at random locations, leading to a significant problem: testing results are not truly “representative” of the project because sampling is neither based on a statistical foundation, nor on the reliability concept.

This study developed a …

Indot Research Program Benefit Cost Analysis—Return On Investment For Projects Completed In Fy 2018, Bob Mccullouch

JTRP Technical Reports

This project produced a financial analysis of INDOT’s research projects completed in 2018, as requested annually by the Governor’s office. This analysis uses the approach of calculating net present values created by the implementation of research project to determine benefit cost ratios and return on the research investment. The return on investment (ROI) is limited to projects where benefits and costs are quantifiable. Additionally, the 2018 ROI is combined with those from 2017 and 2016 to create a rolling average.

In FY 2018 twenty-two research projects were completed. Out of this number two projects produced outcomes that could be classified …

Predicting The Impact Of Changing Speed Limits On Traffic Safety And Mobility On Indiana Freeways, Andrew P. Tarko, Raul Pineda-Mendez, Qiming Guo

JTRP Technical Reports

After repeal of the National Maximum Speed Limit Law, states were allowed to set individual speed limits on their interstate roads. Several states opted for a uniform speed limit while others implemented differential speed limits. The current speed limit on Indiana rural freeways limits speed of passenger cars to 70 mph and restricts to 65 mph speed of vehicles with a gross weight of 26,000 pounds or more. Indiana’s speed limit on urban freeways is mostly 55 mph, but varies from 50 mph on certain downtown sections to 65 mph on some suburban sections. Previous studies comparing uniform and differential …

Snip Light User Manual, Andrew P. Tarko, Jose Thomaz, Mario Romero

JTRP Technical Reports

A systemic approach to identifying road locations that exhibit safety problems was provided by the Safety Needs Identification Program (SNIP and SNIP2) developed by the Purdue University Center for Road Safety (CRS). The new version SNIP Light has been developed to provide other uses with planning level traffic safety analysis capability for a wider range of uses including Metropolitan Planning Agencies (MPOs) who want the tool for planning cost-effective safety programs in their metropolitan areas. The SNIP Light reduces the demand of computing and data storage resources and replaces the SQL server database system an integrated module coded in-house which …

Strength Assessment Of Older Continuous Slab And T-Beam Reinforced Concrete Bridges, Seungwook Seok, Faezeh Ravazdezh, Ghadir Haikal, Julio A. Ramirez

JTRP Technical Reports

This report investigates a new methodology for load rating of older reinforced concrete flat-slab and T-beam bridges in Indiana, using the tools of 3D finite element analysis. The Conventional Load Rating (CLR) method currently in use by INDOT relies on a simplified 2D analysis based on beam theory that may underestimate bridge capacity. Since the actual behavior of a bridge structure is 3D in nature, a 3D computational model is better suited to estimate bridge response for load rating. 3D finite elements models are capable of reflecting actual bridge dimensions, cross sections, and connection configurations. More importantly, with three-dimensional models, …

Developing The Collision Diagram Builder: Phase Ii Corridor Edition, Andrew P. Tarko, Jose Thomaz, Mario Romero

JTRP Technical Reports

The Collision Diagram Builder–Corridor Edition (Corridor CDB) is a tool developed by the Center for Road Safety at the request of the Indiana Department of Transportation. The primary objective of the tool is to expand the existing Collision Diagram Builder to make it useful for analyzing spatial patterns of various types of crashes at multiple intersections and on segments in corridors and networks of a considerable size. The Corridor CDB displays crashes at major intersections, and between these intersections, on roads divided by the user into short segments that allow analysis of crash grouping between intersections.

The new CDB is …

Network-Level Scheduling Of Road Projects During The Construction Season Considering Network Connectivity, Wubeshet Woldemariam, Augustine Agyemang, Mohammad Miralinaghi, Dulcy M. Abraham, Kumares Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

INDOT implements several hundred highway projects annually. One of the unintended (and adverse) consequences of road work is the establishment of work zones or full or partial closure of certain road links and the subsequent impairment of network connectivity during the construction season. The temporary reduction in network connectivity can lead to reduced mobility and decreased accessibility to businesses. The user costs incurred during highway construction can be significant, particularly where the affected links have very high traffic volumes or offer few opportunities to detour. Delay also inflicts costs on the non-traveling public, such as when it is necessary to …

Assessment Of Bridges Subjected To Vehicular Collision, Yao Wang, Ashley P. Thrall

JTRP Technical Reports

Vehicles often collide with bridges. However, there are no available guidelines for bridge inspectors to assess damage and to make repair decisions. This project addresses this gap by investigating the behavior of steel girder bridges subjected to vehicular collision through (1) performing non-destructive field testing, (2) developing validated numerical models, and (3) performing parametric investigations to extend research findings. Field testing was performed using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) - a portable, non-destructive, photographic measurement technique. The focus was on two- and three-span continuous multi-girder steel bridges for which an exterior girder has sustained Category T damage, i.e., torsion about the …

Probability Of Detection Study For Visual Inspection Of Steel Bridges: Volume 1—Executive Summary, Leslie E. Campbell, Luke R. Snyder, Julie M. Whitehead, Robert J. Connor, Jason B. Lloyd

JTRP Technical Reports

An inspector’s ability to correctly identify surface and internal defects in steel bridge components is critical to protecting public safety. Ensuring that inspectors are properly trained and adequately equipped to detect these defects in locations that are difficult to access and/or in unfavorable environmental conditions must be a high priority. While the Federal Highway Administration and individual state departments of transportation have guidelines for inspector qualifications, trainings, and certifications, there is very little emphasis placed on evaluating or “testing” a given inspector’s capability to characterize detect defects in the field. As a result, there is also very little if any …

Central Hma Acceptance Lab Process Improvement Project, Ted W. Boehm, Jim Handy

JTRP Technical Reports

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) Central Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Acceptance Lab was opened on March 29, 2018, at the Office of Materials Management (OMM) facility in Indianapolis. The state-of-the-art lab conducts acceptance testing on HMA samples from INDOT’s Crawfordsville and Greenfield districts, as well as testing of appeals samples from the other four INDOT districts. Each HMA sample undergoes multiple sequences acceptance testing processes. INDOT’s standard metric is for these tests to be completed and reported in six days. Overall average performance in 2018 met this target (4.66 days for Crawfordsville, 4.99 days for Greenfield), however, turnaround time …

Cost-Effectiveness Of Constructing Minimal Shelter To Store Indot Equipment (Weather Protection), Ananth V. Iyer, Steven R. Dunlop, Dutt J. Thakkar, Naveed Lalani, Charul Bagla, Andrew Colbert, Rohan Shah

JTRP Technical Reports

Currently vehicles used by INDOT are more likely to be subject to maintenance and repair than to replacement. The extent of wear and tear on the vehicles is likely to be impacted by the lack of covered storage in all districts. There are many different levels of covered storage—from tent-like structures to completely covered garages to temperature-controlled environments—each of which has different associated costs. But the associated reduction in equipment wear, speed of startup of equipment, and perhaps better mileage may all reflect savings to INDOT. This project evaluates INDOT’s expected return on investment to create covered areas for equipment …

Connected Vehicle Corridor Deployment And Performance Measures For Assessment, Howell Li, Jijo K. Mathew, Woosung Kim, Enrique Daniel Saldivar-Carranza, Jim Sturdevant, W. Benjamin Smith, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

In November 2016, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) announced the Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) challenge to state and local agencies to kick start infrastructure deployments for V2I communications. The challenge involved the deployment of Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) infrastructure with SPaT broadcasts (current intersection signal light phase) on at least 20 signalized intersections in all of the 50 states by 2020. Although the roadmap for agencies to partner with the automotive industry is still evolving, it is important for Indiana to not only support the SPaT challenge, but also identify mutually beneficial opportunities …

Developing A Business Ecosystem Around Autonomous Vehicle Infrastructure In Indiana, Ananth V. Iyer, Steven R. Dunlop, Anmol Guram Singh, Mihir Bhatia, Sazzadur Rahman

JTRP Technical Reports

INDOT will soon be embarking on infrastructure planning to accommodate autonomous vehicles. This new technology affords the ability to impact economic value creation across the supply chain in Indiana, as well as foster economic development in Indiana to support these emerging technologies. This proposal will be a first cut towards exploring the development of a strategy to realize this potential. Our proposal will consist of two phases.

Phase 1: A focus on industry choices and plans that can inform INDOT choices.

Phase 2: A focus on INDOT’s internal decision making, risk tolerance, and choices regarding infrastructure projects.

Experimental Study Of The Load Response Of Large Diameter Closed-Ended And Open-Ended Pipe Piles Installed In Alluvial Soil, Fei Han, Eshan Ganju, Rodrigo Salgado, Monica Prezzi, Mir Zaheer

JTRP Technical Reports

A seven-span concrete bridge was constructed over the Wabash River in Lafayette, Indiana. The bridge, which has a total length of 305 m (1,000 ft) and typical spans of 46 m (152 ft), consists of six hammerhead bridge piers in the center and two end bents supported on open-ended and closed-ended pipe piles, respectively. According to the structural bridge design, the dead load carried by each pile ranges from 1,014 kN (228 kips) to 1,495 kN (336 kips), whereas the live load ranges from 512 kN (115 kips) to 1,188 kN (267 kips), depending on the location of the piles. …

Concrete Patching Materials And Techniques And Guidelines For Hot Weather Concreting, W. Jason Weiss, Pablo Zavattieri, Jan Olek, Cameron Wilson, Hadi S. Esmaeeli, Nathan Todd

JTRP Technical Reports

High early strength (HES) concrete is becoming increasingly used to repair damaged concrete pavement sections. The use of HES concrete enables the repaired pavement to be opened to traffic within hours of placing the concrete. Rapid repair of concrete pavement is an attractive solution since the traveling public is not delayed by the repair of the pavement in addition to a decrease in the amount of exposure to traffic by construction personnel; however, there are challenges due to strict requirements for opening strength and severe penalties for not achieving the target strength. This project examined failure to obtain long term …

Link Slab Details And Materials, Ghadir Haikal, Julio A. Ramirez, Mohammad R. Jahanshahi, Sandra Villamizar, Osama Abdelaleim

JTRP Technical Reports

This report contains the findings of a synthesis study on the use of link slabs to eliminate intermediate joints in bridges of Indiana. The study was conducted under the sponsorship of the Joint Transportation Research Program. The motivation for the study was to investigate this promising technique to mitigate the damage associated with expansion joints that has long been recognized as a persistent and costly issue negatively impacting the bridge service life.

The report summarizes the background information and motivation for the study. It also provides a description of the report organization. The results of an extensive literature review of …

Strategic And Tactical Guidance For The Connected And Autonomous Vehicle Future, Satish Ukkusuri, Fasil Sagir, Nishtha Mahajan, Benjamin Bowman, Salil Sharma

JTRP Technical Reports

Autonomous vehicle (AV) and Connected vehicle (CV) technologies are rapidly maturing and the timeline for their wider deployment is currently uncertain. These technologies are expected to have a number of significant societal benefits: traffic safety, improved mobility, improved road efficiency, reduced cost of congestion, reduced energy use, and reduced fuel emissions. State and local transportation agencies need to understand what this means for them and what they need to do now and in the next few years to prepare for the AV/CV future. In this context, the objectives of this research are as follows:

1. Synthesize the existing state of practice …

Investigation Of Delta Tc For Implementation In Indiana, Rebecca S. Mcdaniel, Ayesha Shah

JTRP Technical Reports

The current Superpave asphalt binder specifications do not address durability issues and do not adequately address fatigue. Several approaches have been proposed by different researchers to address both these durability issues. Some of the proposed refinements are quite complex, but one, ΔTc (delta Tc), is gaining favor because it is computationally simple and uses the existing BBR test method and data. This research explored the possible advantages and disadvantages of implementing a ΔTc limit in Indiana as one means to control binder-related durability cracking issues. This was accomplished by performing a detailed literature review, analyzing data for commonly used binders …

Rumble Stripes And Pavement Marking Delineation, Steven Zehr, Brandon Hardin, Hillary Lowther, Dana Plattner, Timothy Wells, Ayman Habib, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

Pavement markings serve an important role on the highway and must be visible in day, night, and wet conditions. Pavement markings placed in grooved pavement are receiving considerable interest due to their potential for greater durability by providing protection from plow blades used during winter maintenance. Raised pavement markers (RPMs) are also used for roadway delineation, and the failure rate of RPMs in and in between rumble depressions is also of interest. This study evaluated white edge lines and yellow edge lines on roads in Indiana and other northern states, as well as RPMs in and in between rumble depressions. …

Probability Of Detection Study For Visual Inspection Of Steel Bridges: Volume 2—Full Project Report, Leslie E. Campbell, Luke R. Snyder, Julie M. Whitehead, Robert J. Connor, Jason B. Lloyd

JTRP Technical Reports

An inspector’s ability to correctly identify surface and internal defects in steel bridge components is critical to protecting public safety. Ensuring that inspectors are properly trained and adequately equipped to detect these defects in locations that are difficult to access and/or in unfavorable environmental conditions must be a high priority. While the Federal Highway Administration and individual state departments of transportation have guidelines for inspector qualifications, trainings, and certifications, there is very little emphasis placed on evaluating or “testing: a given inspector’s capability to characterize defects in the field. As a result, there is also very little, if any, data …

Life-Cycle Cost Analysis For Short- And Medium-Span Bridges, Stefan L. Leiva Maldonado, Mark D. Bowman

JTRP Technical Reports

Life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) has been defined as a method to assess the total cost of a project. It is a simple tool to use when a single project has different alternatives that fulfill the original requirements. Different alternatives could differ in initial investment, operational and maintenance costs among other long term costs. The cost involved in building a bridge depends upon many different factors. However, long-term cost need to be considered to estimate the overall cost of the project and determine its LCC. Without watchful consideration of the long-term costs and full life-cycle costing, current investment decisions that look …

Quality Control And Quality Assurance Of Asphalt Mixtures Using Laboratory Rutting And Cracking Tests, Jusang Lee, John E. Haddock, Dario D. Batioja Alvarez, Reyhaneh Rahbar Rastegar

JTRP Technical Reports

The main objectives of this project were to review the available balanced-mix design (BMD) methodologies, understand the I-FIT and Hamburg Wheel Tracking Test (HWTT) test methods using INDOT asphalt mixtures, and to explore the application of these tests to both a BMD approach and as performance-related Quality Control (QC) and Quality Acceptance (QA) methods. Two QA mixture specimen types, plant-mixed laboratory-compacted (PMLC) and plant-mixed field-compacted (PMFC) were used in the determination of cracking and rutting parameters. Distribution functions for the flexibility index (FI) values and rutting parameters were determined for various mixture types. The effects of specimen geometry and air …