Transportation Engineering Commons^™

Arterial-Level Real-Time Safety Evaluation In The Context Of Proactive Traffic Management, Jinghui Yuan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the context of pro-active traffic management, real-time safety evaluation is one of the most important components. Previous studies on real-time safety analysis mainly focused on freeways, seldom on arterials. With the advancement of sensing technologies and smart city initiative, more and more real-time traffic data sources are available on arterials, which enables us to evaluate the real-time crash risk on arterials. However, there exist substantial differences between arterials and freeways in terms of traffic flow characteristics, data availability, and even crash mechanism. Therefore, this study aims to deeply evaluate the real-time crash risk on arterials from multiple aspects by …

Assessing Pedestrian Safety Conditions On Campus, Morgan Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pedestrian-related crashes are a significant safety issue in the United States and cause considerable amounts of deaths and economic cost. Pedestrian safety is an issue that must be uniquely evaluated in a college campus, where pedestrian volumes are dense. The objective of this research is to identify issues at specific locations around UCF and suggest solutions for improvement. To address this problem, a survey that identifies pedestrian safety issues and locations is distributed to UCF students and staff, and an evaluation of drivers reactions to pedestrian to vehicle (P2V) warning systems is studied through the use of a NADS MiniSim …

Assessing The Safety And Operational Benefits Of Connected And Automated Vehicles: Application On Different Roadways, Weather, And Traffic Conditions, Md Sharikur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies have recently drawn an increasing attention from governments, vehicle manufacturers, and researchers. Connected vehicle (CV) technologies provide real-time information about the surrounding traffic condition (i.e., position, speed, acceleration) and the traffic management center's decisions. The CV technologies improve the safety by increasing driver situational awareness and reducing crashes through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I). Vehicle platooning with CV technologies is another key element of the future transportation systems which helps to simultaneously enhance traffic operations and safety. CV technologies can also further increase the efficiency and reliability of automated vehicles (AV) by collecting real-time …

The Use Of 3-D Highway Differential Geometry In Crash Prediction Modeling, Kiriakos Amiridis

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The objective of this research is to evaluate and introduce a new methodology regarding rural highway safety. Current practices rely on crash prediction models that utilize specific explanatory variables, whereas the depository of knowledge for past research is the Highway Safety Manual (HSM). Most of the prediction models in the HSM identify the effect of individual geometric elements on crash occurrence and consider their combination in a multiplicative manner, where each effect is multiplied with others to determine their combined influence. The concepts of 3-dimesnional (3-D) representation of the roadway surface have also been explored in the past aiming to …

Quantifying The Impact Of Transportation Network Companies (Tncs) On Traffic Congestion In San Francisco, Sneha Roy

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This research investigates whether Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), such as Uber and Lyft, live up to their stated vision of reducing congestion by complementing transit and reducing car ownership in major cities. The objective of this research study is to answer the question: are TNCs are correlated to traffic congestion in the city of San Francisco? If found to be so, do they increase or decrease traffic congestion for the case of San Francisco? If and how TNC pickups and drop-offs impact traffic congestion within San Francisco? And finally, how does the magnitude of this measured command of TNCs on …

Evaluate Probe Speed Data Quality To Improve Transportation Modeling, Fahmida Rahman

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Probe speed data are widely used to calculate performance measures for quantifying state-wide traffic conditions. Estimation of the accurate performance measures requires adequate speed data observations. However, probe vehicles reporting the speed data may not be available all the time on each road segment. Agencies need to develop a good understanding of the adequacy of these reported data before using them in different transportation applications. This study attempts to systematically assess the quality of the probe data by proposing a method, which determines the minimum sample rate for checking data adequacy. The minimum sample rate is defined as the minimum …

E-Construction Technologies For Efficient Highway Construction Inspections, Dhaivat Patel

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Over recent years, organizations such as the Federal Highway Administration and Departments of Transportation across the United States have showed interest in automating highway construction processes. The addition of e-Construction and other advanced technologies can significantly improve the efficiency and safety of highway paving operations, specifically paving inspections. Activities such as collecting load tickets, tracking pavement lay-down temperatures, and monitoring roller movement are antiquated practices that DOT inspectors perform during paving operations. E-Ticketing, Paver Mounted Thermal Profiling, and Intelligent Compaction were proposed to automate paving inspections and were recently tested in two resurfacing pilot projects in the state of Kentucky. …

Basic Turbo Roundabouts As An Alternative To Conventional Double-Lane Roundabouts: Operational Performance Evaluation, Zuhair Elhassy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventional roundabouts have been prevalent worldwide since the emergence of modern roundabouts in 1966. An innovative design of multilane roundabouts known as turbo roundabouts, however, has been recently introduced as an alternative to conventional multilane roundabouts. Due to several reasons, there has been no general consensus on the operational performance of turbo roundabouts throughout the world. Nationwide, turbo roundabouts have yet to be part of roadway systems, but there is an ongoing project expected to be finished in early 2020. Therefore, this dissertation aims to evaluate the operational performance of a widespread variant of turbo roundabouts, namely basic turbo roundabouts, …

Inventory Of Hazardous Materials Shipments Moving Into Fayette County, Kentucky, Candice Y. Wallace, Bryan Gibson, Steven Douglas Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Each day, significant quantities of hazardous materials are transported through Fayette County. The bulk of the materials pass through without incident, but some vehicles carrying them are involved in roadway incidents and/or accidents. However, first responders and management personnel lack clear knowledge of what hazardous material commodities are on central Kentucky’s roads. This project was designed to provide a high level analysis of hazardous material commodity flows in Fayette County.

Evaluation Of Shared Space To Reduce Traffic Congestion, Kimley Frosch, David Martinelli, Avinash Unnikrishnan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Pedestrian and vehicle interactions often lead to conflicts that bring about safety, traffic congestion, and priority or right of way issues. Common methods used in the past to combat said issues have largely relied on the principle of separating the motions of pedestrians and vehicles by means of bridges, tunnels, signals, and access restrictions. A different approach known as shared space aims to solve the same problems with a less structured and defined environment which instead places more reliance on human interaction and perception. Although it has been used in multiple scenarios across Europe with success, instances of shared spaces …

Investigate An Appropriate Spatial Resolution For Large-Scaled Pedestrian Travel Demand Model, Qin Zhang, Kelly Clifton, Rolf Moeckel

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

An appropriate spatial resolution plays a significant role in any travel demand models. It directly impacts the level of detail of model input data, outcomes, and sensitivities (Castiglione et al., 2014; Moeckel and Donnelly, 2015). Compared to motorized or bicycle travel, pedestrian trips occur over a shorter travel distance and they are sensitive to environmental conditions at a much finer grain. Thus, it is important for models to set an appropriate spatial resolution to capture variations in walking conditions, leading to better representation of pedestrian demand over space (Gehrke and Clifton, 2014).

Observational Method And Coding Framework For Analyzing The Functionality Of Unprotected Bicycle Lanes, Cat Silva, Kelly Clifton, Rolf Moeckel

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research evaluates how well unprotected bicycle lanes function as dedicated travel lanes for bicyclists. Two types of bicycle lanes are included in this study, including on-street bicycle lanes demarcated with painted lines on the vehicular roadway and bicycle lanes at-grade with, and immediately adjacent to, the pedestrian sidewalk. Specifically, the research is focused on how people behave and interact on street segments with these facilities in place. To assess how, and how well, these types of bicycle lanes function for the bicyclists using them, an observational method is deployed to record, document, and analyze people’s behavior and interactions. A …

An Initial Exploration Of The 2005 Iowa Rural Interstate Speed Limit Increase Using Linear Regression, Thomas Ryan Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Speed limit increases, particularly on interstates have been studied and researched many times over the course of the last 50 years in the United States. These research efforts began after the implementation of the National Maximum Speed Law (NMSL), which reduced all speed limits to a maximum of 55-mph. In the years that followed, this restriction was relaxed to 65-mph with the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act (STURAA) and ultimately repealed later by the National Highway System Designation Act (NHSDA). Since the repeal, states reacted in myriad of ways and many studies documented the changes of those reactions. …

Investigating The Use Of In-Place Lateral Pull Off Tests To Determine The Compressive Strength Of Structural Concrete, Charlie Sun

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s current practice for determining the compressive strength of structural concrete consists of two methods. Both methods require that samples be delivered to an off-site facility for testing. Accordingly, affected parties on the project site must wait for the delivery of samples to the off-site facility, the performance of tests and analysis of test data, and the return of test results to the project site. Analysis of existing structural concrete requires core samples to be taken from the structural element in question. As a result, sample locations must be patched and repaired. Sampling can also potentially damage …

Analysis And Optimization Of Chassis Movements In Transportation Networks With Centralized Chassis Processing Facilities, Timothy Martin Vanderbeek

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This work studies the concept of “Centralized Processing of Chassis,” and its potential impact on port drayage efficiency. The concept revolves around an off-dock terminal (or several off-dock terminals), referred to as Chassis Processing Facilities (CPFs). A CPF is located close to the port, where trucks will go to exchange chassis, thereby reducing traffic at the marine terminals and resulting in reduced travel times and reduced congestion. This work is divided into two major studies: one at the strategic planning level, and one at the operational level for individual trucking companies.

In the first study, an analytical framework for modeling …

Synthesis Of Fault Traces In Se Louisiana Relative To Infrastructure, David Culpepper, Elizabeth Chinn Mcdade, Nancye Dawers, Mark Kulp, Rui Zhang

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 17GTLSU12. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"Geological faulting has been implicated as a contributor to subsidence, coastal land-loss and submergence of marshlands in southern Louisiana. This report reviews whether fault motion, either by slow creep or more sudden slip, can cause deformation of engineered structures resulting in increased infrastructure maintenance and repair costs. The impact of surface, or near-surface, geologic faulting on critical infrastructure is insufficiently documented in southeastern Louisiana, but the state has a vast amount of energy-sector subsurface data that to date has been under-utilized for …

Field And Numerical Study For Deteriorating Precast Double-Tee Girder Bridges, Brian Kidd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two deteriorating DT bridges in South Dakota, both over 30-years old, were field tested with a static and dynamic load. From the recorded strain values, the liveload distribution factors (LLDFs) and dynamic load allowance (IM) factors were calculated. The AASHTO LRFD and AASHTO Standard Specifications were compared with the field LLDFs and IMs. It was determined that the AASHTO LRFD Specifications were conservative for deteriorating DT girder bridges, with two exceptions. The AASHTO Standard codified LLDFs were significantly higher than the field LLDFs in all cases. The AASHTO LRFD and AASHTO Standard specifications were conservative when calculating the IM factors …

Deterioration Modelling Of Bridges On Brm 5.2.3, Sudhir Palle, Theodore Hopwood Ii

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) initiated the study KYSPR 17-532, “Deterioration Modelling of Bridges on BrM 5.2.3,” so it could receive assistance identifying and employing bridge deterioration and cost forecast modeling for its bridge maintenance program. The Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) was to help coordinate KYTC in adapting BrM 5.2.3’s deterioration and cost modelling features and update the existing guide material to reflect all changes for BrM 5.2.3. This study included acquiring access and becoming familiar with AASHTO Bridge Management (BrM 5.2.3) software. It was also to explore opportunities for any training on BrM and BrM 5.2.3’s deterioration and cost …

Kentucky Traffic Collision Facts 2018, Eric R. Green, Paul A. Ross, Christopher L. Blackden, Kentucky State Police

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

KENTUCKY’S TRAFFIC COLLISION FACTS report is based on collision reports submitted to the Kentucky State Police Records Branch. As required by Kentucky Revised Statutes 189.635, “every law enforcement agency whose officers investigate a vehicle accident of which a report must be made...shall file a report of the accident...within ten days after investigation of the accident upon forms supplied by the bureau.” The stated purpose of this requirement is to utilize data on traffic collisions for such purposes as will improve the traffic safety program in the Commonwealth. Data contained in this report are based solely on the observations and judgements …

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 …