Engineering Commons^™

Analyzing Major Elements Of Crash Injury Severity Involving Priority-I Detriments Of Vision-Zero Plan, Muhammad Umer Farooq, Cole Madson, Aemal Khattak

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Road traffic crashes result in significant economic losses for individuals, their families, and entire nations. These losses stem from the expenses associated with injury treatment, as well as the productivity lost due to fatalities or disabilities caused by these injuries. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development set an ambitious target of halving the global number of fatalities and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2020 and achieving zero deaths by 2030, commonly referred to as the 'Target Zero Plan.' The Target Zero Plan prioritizes traffic safety issues into three distinct levels. The three priority levels are determined based on the …

Road Work Zone Safety: Investigating Injury Severity In Motor Vehicle Crashes Using Random Effects Multinomial Logit Model, Aemal Khattak, Muhammad Umer Farooq

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Work zones serve the purpose of facilitating maintenance and rehabilitation activities on roadways. However, these areas can also present unforeseen conditions to drivers, including narrowed right-of-way, lane shifts, and traffic disruptions. These conditions frequently contribute to vehicular crashes within work zones, resulting in property damage, injuries, and even loss of life. This paper aims to highlight work zone related crash data insights and presents statistical estimates of significant determinants of injury severity by analyzing ten-year crash data (2008-2018) from Nebraska, USA. The examination of crash data helped in highlighting work zone attributes that are empirically associated with serious injury crashes …

Exploring Statistical And Machine Learning-Based Missing Data Imputation Methods To Improve Crash Frequency Prediction Models For Highway-Rail Grade Crossings, Muhammad Umer Farooq, Aemal Khattak

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs) are critical spatial locations of transportation safety because crashes at HRGCs are often catastrophic, potentially causing several injuries and fatalities. Every year in the United States, a significant number of crashes occur at these crossings, prompting local and state organizations to engage in safety analysis and estimate crash frequency prediction models for resource allocation. These models provide valuable insights into safety and risk mitigation strategies for HRGCs. Furthermore, the estimation of these models is based on inventory details of HRGCs, and their quality is crucial for reliable crash predictions. However, many of these models exclude crossings …

A Heterogeneity-Based Temporal Stability Assessment Of Pedestrian Crash Injury Severity Using An Aggregated Crash And Hospital Data Set, M. Umer Farooq, Aemal Khattak

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

This study utilized a unique approach to crash data analysis by examining the temporal stability of pedestrian crash injury severity and its contributory factors. Police-reported crash data and EMS-related injury data from Nebraska were obtained from 2014 to 2018, and random parameter ordered probit models for injury severity were estimated for each year to account for unobserved heterogeneity. Four discrete levels of injury severity were considered for model estimation: fatality, disabling injury/suspected serious injury, visible injury/possible injury, and no injury. Data were filtered based on several important variables of interest, such as pedestrian characteristics, crash characteristics, environmental and weather characteristics, …

Motor Vehicle Drivers' Knowledge Of Safely Traversing Highway-Rail Grade Crossings, Aemal Khattak, M. Umer Farooq, Abdul Farhan

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

This study investigates motor vehicle drivers’ socioeconomic, personality, and attitudinal factors associated with their knowledge of safely traversing highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs). A survey of randomly selected Nebraska households solicited responses from licensed drivers (N= 980, response rate = 39 percent). Of the total thirty-one questions on the questionnaire, nine pertained to respondents’ knowledge of safely navigating HRGCs (e.g., what does a crossbuck sign require a driver to do when approaching a rail crossing?). Correct answers to the questions provided a measure of respondents’ knowledge of safely traversing HRGCs and led to their classification in five ordered categories. A random …

The Effects Of Inaccurate And Missing Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Inventory Data On Crash Model Estimation And Crash Prediction, Aemal Khattak, M. Umer Farooq

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

ABSTRACT: Most highway-rail grade crossing (HRGC) crash models in the US rely on the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) highway/rail crossing inventory database. Any errors and/or incomplete information in this database affects the estimated crash model parameters and subsequent crash predictions. Using 560 HRGCs in Nebraska, this study illustrates differences in crash predictions obtained from the FRA’s new (2020) Accident Prediction and Severity (APS) model when: 1) using the unaltered, original FRA HRGC inventory dataset as input, and 2) using a field-validated inventory dataset for those 560 HRGCs as input to the new APS model. Results showed that the predictions using …

Exploration Of The Characteristics And Trends Of Electric Vehicle Crashes: A Case Study In Norway, Chenhui Liu, Li Zhao, Chaoru Lu

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

With the rapid growth of electric vehicles (EVs) in the past decade, many new traffic safety challenges are also emerging. With the crash data of Norway from 2011 to 2018, this study gives an overview of the status quo of EV crashes. In the survey period, the proportion of EV crashes in total traffic crashes had risen from zero to 3.11% in Norway. However, in terms of severity, EV crashes do not show statistically significant differences from the Internal Combustion Engine Vehicle (ICEV) crashes. Compared to ICEV crashes, the occurrence of EV crashes features on weekday peak hours, urban areas, …

Identifying Origin-Destination Trips From Gps Data – Application In Travel Time Reliability Of Dedicated Trucks, Li Zhao, Ying Li

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The advancement of data collection technologies has brought an upsurge in GPS applications. For example, travel behaviour research has benefited from the integration of multiple sources of Global Positioning System (GPS) data. However, the effective use of such data is still impeded by the challenge in data processing. For instance, GPS data, despite providing detailed spatial movement information, do not label the starting and finishing points of a trip, especially for commercial trucks. Hence, there is a critical need to develop a trip identification method to effectively use the trajectory data provided by GPS without additional information. This paper focused …

Optfill: A Tool For Infeasible Cycle-Free Gapfilling Of Stoichiometric Metabolic Models, Wheaton L. Schroeder, Rajib Saha

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Stoichiometric metabolic modeling, particularly genome-scale models (GSMs), is now an indispens- able tool for systems biology. The model reconstruction process typically involves collecting informa- tion from public databases; however, incomplete systems knowledge leaves gaps in any reconstruc- tion. Current tools for addressing gaps use databases of biochemical functionalities to address gaps on a per-metabolite basis and can provide multiple solutions but cannot avoid thermodynami- cally infeasible cycles (TICs), invariably requiring lengthy manual curation. To address these limita- tions, this work introduces an optimization-based multi-step method named OptFill, which performs TIC-avoiding whole-model gapfilling. We applied OptFill to three fictional prokaryotic models …

Corrigendum To “Heavy Metal Ion Detection On A Microspot Electrode Using An Optical Electrochemical Probe” [Electrochem. Commun. 86 (2018) 94–98], Santanu Roy, Abhijeet Prasad, Rahul Tevatia, Ravi Saraf

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The authors regret to inform an error. Ravi F. Saraf of this pub- lication discloses financial interest in Vajra Instrument as its founder and President. In accordance with its Conflict of Interest policy, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Conflict of Interest in Research Committee has determined that this must be disclosed. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

An Integrated Computational And Experimental Study To Investigate Staphylococcus Aureus Metabolism, Mohammad Mazharul Islam, Vinai C. Thomas, Matthew Van Beek, Jong-Sam Ahn, Abdulelah A. Alqarzaee, Chunyi Zhou, Paul D. Fey, Kenneth W. Bayles, Rajib Saha

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Staphylococcus aureus is a metabolically versatile pathogen that colonizes nearly all organs of the human body. A detailed and comprehensive knowledge of staphylococcal metabolism is essential to understand its pathogenesis. To this end, we have reconstructed and experimentally validated an updated and enhanced genome-scale metabolic model of S. aureus USA300_FPR3757. The model combined genome annotation data, reaction stoichiometry, and regulation information from biochemical databases and previous strain-specific models. Reactions in the model were checked and fixed to ensure chemical balance and thermodynamic consistency. To further refine the model, growth assessment of 1920 nonessential mutants from the Nebraska Transposon Mutant Library …

Calibrating The Highway Capacity Manual Arterial Travel Time Reliability Model, Ernest Tufuor, Laurence Rilett, Li Zhao

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The latest edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM-6) includes, for the first time, a methodology for estimating and predicting the average travel time distribution (TTD) of urban streets. Travel time reliability (TTR) metrics can then be estimated from the TTD. The HCM-6 explicitly considers five key sources of travel time variability. A literature search showed no evidence that the HCM-6 TTR model has ever been calibrated with empirical travel time data. More importantly, previous research showed that the HCM-6 underestimated the empirical TTD variability by 70% on a testbed in Lincoln, Nebraska. In other words, the HCM-6 TTR metrics …

Analysis Of Component Errors In The Highway Capacity Manual Travel Time Reliability Estimations For Urban Streets, Ernest Tufuor, Laurence Rilett

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The Highway Capacity Manual 6th edition (HCM6) includes a new methodology to estimate and predict the distribution of average travel times (TTD) for urban streets. The TTD can then be used to estimate travel time reliability (TTR) metrics. Previous research on a 0.5-mi testbed showed statistically significant differences between the HCM6 estimated TTD and the corresponding empirical TTD. The difference in average travel time was 4 s that, while statistically significant, is not important from a practical perspective. More importantly, the TTD variance was underestimated by 70%. In other words, the HCM6 results reflected a more reliable testbed than field …

Validation Of The Highway Capacity Manual Urban Street Travel Time Reliability Methodology Using Empirical Data, Ernest Tufuor, Laurence Rilett

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The 6th edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM-6) includes the concept of travel time reliability (TTR), which attempts to determine the distribution of average trip travel times over an extended period. TTR is an inherent part of travelers’ route choice decisions and is used by traffic managers to better quantify operations rather than simply using average travel times. The focus of this paper is on the HCM-6 urban street TTR methodology contained in Chapter 17. The approach uses historical data (e.g., weather and volume fluctuations) and simple empirical data (e.g., 1-day volume count) to provide the user with average …

Design And Implementation Of The Manitoba Constrained-Width Tall Wall Barrier, Harald P. Larsen, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Andrew Pankratz, Diana Emerson, Jennifer Schmidt, Ronald K. Faller, Elizabeth M. Regier

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Manitoba Infrastructure (MI) desired a new, tall concrete median barrier capable of satisfying the Test Level 5 (TL-5) safety requirements of the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH). It needed to fit within the footprint of an existing F-shape median barrier located in a narrow median. It also was required to address headlight glare from opposing traffic. The barrier was designed with a height of 1,250 mm, a maximum width of 600 mm and to resist a load of 845 kN applied at the top of the barrier. The Manitoba Constrained-Width, Tall Wall was optimised to withstand the design load …

Cable-To-Post Attachments For A Non-Proprietary High-Tension Cable Barrier – Phase Ii, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Robert W. Bielenberg, Brandt M. Humphrey, Ronald K. Faller, John D. Reid, Karla A. Lechtenberg

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The research objectives reported herein were based on further development of cable-to-post attachment hardware for use in the non-proprietary high-tension cable barrier system. Specifically, this project aimed to develop and evaluate alternative attachment designs for the bolted, tabbed bracket and evaluate the use of a larger diameter, keeper rod for use in the top cable attachment.

From a group of over 25 alternative attachment concepts, two tabbed bracket designs were selected for evaluation through dynamic component testing: 1) the lateral shear plate attachment and 2) the drop-in shear plate attachment. The drop-in shear plate concept did not perform as intended, …

Attachment Of A Combination Bridge Rail To Concrete Parapet Utilizing Epoxy Adhesive Anchors, Robert W. Bielenberg, John D. Reid, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Austin J. Haase, Ronald K. Faller

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The Iowa Department of Transportation (IaDOT) was interested in investigating the use of epoxy adhesive anchorages

for the attachment of posts used in the BR27C combination bridge rail system. Alternative anchorage concepts were developed using a modified version of the ACI 318-11 procedures for embedded anchor design. Four design concepts were developed for review by IaDOT, including: (1) a four-bolt square anchorage, (2) a four-bolt spread anchorage, (3) a two- bolt centered anchorage, and (4) a two-bolt offset anchorage. IaDOT representatives selected the four-bolt spread anchorage and the two-bolt offset anchorage as the preferred designs for evaluation. In addition to …

Feasibility Analysis Of Phase Transition Signals Based On E-Bike Rider Behavior, Sheng Dong, Jibiao Zhou, Li Zhao, Keshuang Tang, Renfa Yang

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

This article evaluates the feasibility of two scenarios of phase transition signals, that is, the flashing green together with red–yellow light and the green countdown together with red countdown, at signalized intersections in terms of e-bike rider behavior. An evaluation framework is first proposed. During the phase transition, the stop-go and start-up behavioral parameters are collected at four intersections in Shanghai, China. Sensitivity analysis is then performed to identify the most significant factors that influence the occurrence of traffic conflicts during the phase transition. Based on the above analysis results, case studies were finally done to look into safety performance …

Phase I Assessment Of Guardrail Length-Of-Need, Francisco Daniel B. Albuquerque, Cody S. Stolle, Dean L. Sicking, Ronald K. Faller, Karla A. Lechtenberg

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Report No. TRP-03-284-14

Roadside Grading Guidance - Phase Ii, Kevin D. Schrum, Francisco D. B. Albuquerque, Dean L. Sicking, Ronald K. Faller, John D. Reid

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Phase I of this project relied on assumptions surrounding crash data from the state of Ohio in 2000. The number of fatal and severe crashes in that year was significantly lower than average. As a result, the conclusions were indefinite. Phase II was carried out using crash data from the state of Ohio over seven years. The increased pool of data removed the need for many of the underlying assumptions used in Phase I and provided a solid foundation of conclusions and recommendations.

The number of fatal and severe crashes that occurred on each slope and height for each functional …

Roadside Grading Guidance - Phase I, Kevin D. Schrum, Francisco D. B. Albuquerque, Dean L. Sicking, Ronald K. Faller, John D. Reid

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Provisions for the design of roadside foreslopes are not readily available. As a result, engineering judgment is often employed. Unfortunately, this can lead to inconsistent designs, where, inevitably, some designs will be too costly and other designs will be too dangerous. Therefore guidance has been compiled to lend consistency to the design of these foreslopes while maintaining the most economical and safe design.

This guidance was prepared after conducting a benefit-cost analysis using the Roadside Safety Analysis Program (RSAP). A large test matrix was developed in an attempt to simulate the most possible scenarios, leaving interpolation to a minimum. However, …

Direct Detection Of Localized Modulation Of On Concentration On An Electrode-Electrolyte Interface, Ravi Saraf, Gaurav Singh

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The present invention directly measures localized electrochemical processes on a planar electrode using differential interferometry. The ionic charge accumulation at the electrode-electrolyte interface may be directly measured by using differential interferometry as a function of magnitude and frequency (for example, 2-50 kHz) of an external potential applied on an electrode. Methods in accordance with the present invention probe the ion dynamics confined to the electrical double layer. An electric field is applied using a pure AC potential and a superposition of AC and DC-ramp potential to measure ion concentration and detect redox processes.

Dynamic Evaluation Of A Pinned Anchoring System For New York State’S Temporary Concrete Barriers, Christopher N. Howard, Cale J. Stolle, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Ronald K. Faller, John D. Reid, Dean L. Sicking

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Temporary concrete barrier (TCB) systems are utilized in many circumstances, including for placement adjacent to vertical dropoffs. Free-standing TCB systems are known to have relatively large deflections when impacted, which may be undesirable when dealing with limited space behind the barrier (as seen on a bridge deck) or limited lane width in front of the barrier system. In order to allow TCB systems to be used in space-restricted locations, a variety of TCB stiffening options have been tested, including beam stiffening and pinning the barriers to the pavement. These pavement-pinning procedures have been considered time-consuming and may pose undue risk …

Dynamic Evaluation Of New York State’S Aluminum Pedestrian Signal Pole System, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Ronald K. Faller, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Robert W. Bielenberg, Dean L. Sicking, John D. Reid

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) mounts pedestrian “hand/man” signals to aluminum

poles and uses frangible transformer bases to allow the system to break away. However, engineers at NYSDOT believed that the material properties of the aluminum poles themselves would allow the pedestrian signal poles to break away without the use of transformer bases. Elimination of the frangible transformer base would result in significant savings.

An aluminum pedestrian signal pole system was erected at the Valmont testing facility and tested with the Valmont- MwRSF/UNL pendulum with crushable nose in accordance with NCHRP Report No. 350 test designation no. …

Dynamic Impact Testing Of Crt Wood Posts In A Rigid Sleeve, Steven W. Arens, Ronald K. Faller, John R. Rohde, Karla A. Polivka

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Dynamic impact testing was performed on 152-mm x 203-mm (6-in. x 8-in.) CRT wood posts placed in a rigid sleeve at various angles. A total of nine bogie tests were performed with three tests each at 0, 90, and 45 degree rotation angles relative to the strong axis of bending. For each bogie test, the raw acceleration data was obtained from accelerometers and was filtered. Then, force-displacement and energy-displacement graphs were plotted. Based on the results, the properties and strengths of the CRT wood posts at the different impact angles were determined. The results of this study will be the …

Evaluation Of An Existing Steel Post Alternative For The Thrie Beam Bullnose Guardrail System, Robert W. Bielenberg, Ronald K. Faller, John R. Rohde, John D. Reid

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Recently, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) funded a research project through the Midwest States Regional Pooled Fund to evaluate an existing steel post alternative for the thrie beam bullnose barrier system previously developed at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF). MnDOT had an interest in the replacement of the wooden breakaway posts used in the current bullnose system with proprietary breakaway steel posts. The research project consisted of evaluation of current breakaway steel post designs, investigation and selection of a candidate post design, and full-scale testing of the bullnose system with a steel post alternative. The full-scale testing was …

Dynamic Impact Testing Of W152x13.4 (W6x9) Steel Posts On A 2:1 Slope, Gopi Dey, Ronald K. Faller, John A. Hascall, Robert W. Bielenberg, Karla A. Polivka, Kirk Molacek

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Dynamic impact testing of W152x13.4 (W6x9) steel posts at various embedment depths has been detailed, and the results stated. A total of 17 bogie tests have been performed on a 2:1 slope, with post lengths varying from 1,829 mm (6 ft) through 2,743 mm (9 ft). A total of four bogie tests were performed on level terrain using 1,829-mm (6-ft) long steel posts at two different impact speeds. For each bogie test, raw acceleration data, obtained from accelerometers, was filtered and then force-displacement and energy-displacement graphs were plotted. From the energy-displacement graphs, the average post-soil forces were calculated for a …

Investigating The Use Of Small-Diameter Softwood As Guardrail Posts (Dynamic Test Results), Jason A. Hascall, Ronald K. Faller, John D. Reid, Dean L. Sicking, David E. Kretschmann

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

A modified version of the Midwest Guardrail System (MGS), utilizing small-diameter round wood posts, was developed, tested, and evaluated. Three systems were developed using different species of timber, Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, and Southern Yellow Pine. A combination of Barrier VII computer simulation modeling and several series of cantilever bogie tests, conducted in both a rigid sleeve and soil, were used to determine the required diameter of post for each species in order to serve as an equivalent substitute for the standard steel post used in the barrier system. The final recommended nominal sizes were determined to be 184 mm …

Performance Evaluation Of The Permanent New Jersey Safety Shape Barrier – Update To Nchrp 350 Test No. 4-12 (2214nj-2), Karla A. Polivka, Ronald K. Faller, Dean L. Sicking, John R. Rohde, Robert W. Bielenberg, John D. Reid, Brian A. Coon

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Based on the proposed changes to the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report No. 350 guidelines, NCHRP Project 22-14(2) researchers deemed it appropriate to evaluate permanent safety shape barrier systems prior to finalizing the new crash testing procedures and guidelines. For this effort, the permanent New Jersey Safety Shape barrier was selected for evaluation. One full-scale vehicle crash test was performed on the longitudinal barrier system in accordance with the Test Level 4 (TL-4) requirements presented in the Update to NCHRP Report No. 350. For the permanent barrier testing program, a 10000S single unit truck was used.

The permanent …

Performance Evaluation Of The Midwest Guardrail System – Update To Nchrp 350 Test No. 3-11 With 28" C.G. Height (2214mg-2), Karla A. Polivka, Ronald K. Faller, Dean L. Sicking, John R. Rohde, Robert W. Bielenberg, John D. Reid

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Based on the proposed changes to the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report No. 350 guidelines, NCHRP Project 22-14(2) researchers deemed it appropriate to evaluate a strong-post W-beam guardrail systems prior to finalizing the new crash testing procedures and guidelines. For this effort, the Midwest Guardrail System (MGS) was selected for evaluation. One full-scale vehicle crash test was performed on the longitudinal barrier system in accordance with the Test Level 3 (TL-3) requirements presented in the Update to NCHRP Report No. 350. For this test, a 2270P pickup truck vehicle, which was a 1⁄2-ton, four-door vehicle with a 711 …