Engineering Commons^™

Economic Analysis Of Michigan Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Strategies, Randy José Jorge Díaz

Masters Theses

Transportation infrastructure is an essential component of a nation’s success as it allows efficient transportation of goods to all economic markets, providing economic stability and ensuring trade competiveness. Nearly 70 percent of all of Michigan’s freight is shipped by truck and Michigan is ranked eighth in the USA in terms of the value of its exports with $50 billion per year. Unfortunately, commercial vehicles also contribute to the deterioration of pavement, reducing air quality and potentially influencing road safety. To enforce commercial vehicle laws and regulations, most states utilize fixed weigh stations supplemented with other enforcement strategies. Although fixed weigh …

Virtual Analysis And Evaluation Of Roundabout Safety And Operational Features, Elisha Jackson Wankogere

Masters Theses

Roundabouts can be a solution to safety concerns present at other types of intersections. Recently in the United States, there has been an increase in conversion of problematic intersections to roundabouts to improve their safety. However, it is difficult to make these roundabouts, especially multi-lane roundabouts, safe to all ranges of users. Roundabout features such as advance warning and signage play an important role in determining driver performance as they navigate the roundabout.

This research is an effort to evaluate new and existing roundabout safety and operational features such as signs and pavement markings and how they influence performance of …

Development Of Safety Performance Functions For Non-Motorized Traffic Safety, Hamidreza Ahady Dolatsara

Masters Theses

This study investigates the factors which affect the safety of non-motorized transportation within the influence area of intersections to enhance development of safety performance functions (SPFs). The scope of this study is limited to the four Michigan cities of Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Flint and Grand Rapids. Due to the current lack of research regarding the appropriate size of the influence area, this study investigates the distance of crashes relative to the center of 148 intersections to identify the most probable area of influence for different crash types. For motorized and non-motorized crashes, 240 ft. and 137 ft. are proposed, …

Real-Time Hybrid Simulation With Online Model Updating, Adam Mueller

Masters Theses

Hybrid simulations have shown great potential for economic and reliable assessment of structural seismic performance through a combination of physically tested components, called the experimental substructure, and numerically simulated components, called the numerical substructure. Current hybrid simulation practices often use a fixed numerical model without considering the possible availability of a more accurate model obtained during hybrid simulation through an online model updating technique. To address this limitation and improve the reliability of numerical models in hybrid simulations, this study describes the implementation of an online model updating method in real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS). The Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) was …

Overtime Traffic Enforcement Evaluation: A Methodology For Selecting Agencies And Enforcement Periods, Dario Enrique Romero Santana

Masters Theses

Multiple studies have stated the advantages of police traffic enforcement on crash reduction (Zaidel, February 2002). It is very important to identify locations and time periods where police enforcement produces the greatest crash reductions. The objectives of this study were to: (1) determine the impact of overtime traffic enforcement on crash occurrence; (2) develop procedures to identify police agencies with potential to reduce targeted crashes; and (3) develop procedures to identify additional time periods in which enforcement activities should be conducted. In order to accomplish these objectives, many methodologies were explored. The study used crash and enforcement data collected by …

Use Of A Gateway In-Street Sign Treatment To Increase Yielding To Pedestrians At Crosswalks, Miles K. Bennett

Masters Theses

An important goal to reduce the number of collisions between motorists and pedestrians is to increase motorist’s yielding right-of-way to pedestrians in crosswalks. The current study addresses this goal. A Gateway installation of instreet signs (one in-street sign installed between the two travel lanes in each direction and one on both edges of the roadway in each direction) was evaluated on multilane roads. The first experiment compared the efficacy of adding multiple in-street signs used in a gateway configuration with a single sign between the two travel lanes in each direction. The second experiment compared the in-street sign gateway treatment …

Spatial Factors Impacting Non-Motorized Exposures And Crash Risks, Farhad Abasahl

Masters Theses

This research investigates spatial factors, that impact non-motorized exposures and crashes, and examines the relationship between exposure at signalized intersections and crash frequencies involving pedestrians and bicycles at a census tract level. The four Michigan cities of Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Flint and Grand Rapids are examined. After completing an extensive literature review to provide a list of required data, 92 intersections are selected from the four cities to collect pedestrian and bicyclist counts. Five-year crash records, special attractions, non-motorized facilities and transportation infrastructure data for the four cities are gathered for the four cities. This data are later mapped …

Statistical And Numerical Integrated Approach For Detecting Onset Of Prefabricated Bridge Component Connection Deterioration, Cem Mansiz

Masters Theses

Bridges are the substantial part of the transportation infrastructure. Most recent report shows that of the 605,086 bridges in the United States, 67,526 (11%) are deemed structurally deficient, and 76,363 (13%) are declared functionally obsolete (FHWA, 2011). Deck is the shelter of a bridge that is subjected to severe loads due to exposure and traffic. Importance of detecting deck deterioration is further highlighted with the introduction of accelerated bridge construction (ABC) where prefabricated components are brought to the site, assembled, and connected using field cast joints. However, durability performance of field cast connections is not encouraging. Hence, continuous monitoring of …

Regression-Based Prioritization And Data Modeling For Customized Civil Engineering Data Collection, Omar Kanaan

Masters Theses

Civil engineers frequently face the challenges of acquiring sufficient data to satisfy the informational needs of various decision making scenarios having time, budget, and resource constraints. This thesis focuses on exploring how statistical analysis of historical data sets can be used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of future data collection activities in transportation engineering and construction project control. Pearson's correlation, multiple regression, Akaike information criterion, and Bayesian information criterion are applied to two cases of data collection and analysis to understand the relative importance of various parameters within each case. Case I analyzes National Bridge Inventory (NBI) data to …

Data Fusion Technique For Measuring Intersection Delay Using Gps-Enabled Probe Vehicles, Byung-Hee Han

Masters Theses

Intersection control delay is considered a primary measure for determining the level of service at signalized intersections. This thesis develops a technique estimating intersection delay using GPS data from GPS-enabled vehicles. First, this study analyzes existing methods that estimate control delays using GPS data and proposes an improved technique in response to the weakness of those methods. The proposed method estimates the control delay well with better accuracy covering the weaknesses. However, the control delay from the GPS data has a sample size problem for determining the level of service at signalized intersections. Therefore, this thesis proposes a data fusion …

A Study On The Causes Of Variations In Transmissivity And Storativity During Pump Tests At Asylum Lake, Paul Joseph Pare

Masters Theses

Over a two year period, Western Michigan University ran a number of pump tests in the Asylum Lake Area in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The transmissivities and storativities calculated from these tests differed significantly from well to well in any particular test, and from pump test to pump test. Utilizing the computer programs AQTESOLV 3.0 and Aquifer Parameter Estimator, a number of T and S values were calculated. After analysis of the results, the following conclusion was drawn. The main reason for the deviations in the T and S values arose from the mixing of the results of numerous methods (some of …