Engineering Commons^™

Tra-944: Union Pearson Express Spur And T1 Station, Srdjan Brasic, Andrew Barr

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

The Union Pearson Express Spur and station in Terminal 1 is a Design-Build-Finance pursuit by Infrastructure Ontario on behalf of the client/owner, Metrolinx. The rail passenger service line branches off the existing GO Georgetown Rail corridor and connects to Toronto Pearson International Airport with a new passenger station at Terminal 1. The Spur alignment is elevated over its entire length and crosses above major existing airport access roads and existing bridges, and connects to a new UP Express Terminal 1 Station in-line with the existing Automated People Mover Station.

The Spur Elevated Guideway is a 3 km long, multi span …

Tra-950: A Dynamic Programming Approach For Arterial Signal Optimization In A Connected Vehicle Environment, Gang Liu, Tony Z. Qiu

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Within the Connected Vehicle (CV) environment, vehicles are able to communicate with each other and with infrastructure via wireless communication technology. The collected data from CVs provide a much more complete picture of the arterial traffic states and can be utilized for signal control. Based on the real-time traffic information from CVs, this paper enhances an arterial traffic flow model for arterial signal optimization. Then a dynamic programming optimization model is created to solve the signal optimization application. A real-world arterial corridor is modeled in VISSIM to validate the algorithms. This approach is shown to generate good results and may …

Tra-951: The Importance Of Integrated Corridor Management At Borders And Their Surrounding Communities, Ben Plested

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

The Transportation field is moving forward with an Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) approach whose aim is to manage the highway corridors as a multimodal system, and allows professionals to introduce operational decisions for the benefit of the corridor as a whole. Through this approach, travelers will be able to make educated decisions in choosing their method and route of travel, allowing highway corridors to realize significant improvements in the efficient movement of people and goods.

Border crossing locations are receiving attention from various stakeholders and partnerships, and substantial funding is being provided with the aim of implementing an Integrated Corridor …

Tra-952: Enhancing Resilience Of Traffic Networks With Connected Vehicles, Ata M. Khan, Matthew Whelen, Naser Snobar, Omar Elsafdi, Brooke Jones, Patricia Arnold

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Improving resilience of transportation infrastructure is a multifaceted subject. One of these addresses the traffic serving capability of the transportation system. As the profession progresses in finding ways to improve infrastructure resilience in physical terms, an associated thought process is underway to enhance the adaptive capacity in traffic networks with intelligent systems and advanced related methods in order to cope with shocks in the traffic environment caused by nature-induced or other events. This paper reports research in-progress on measures for enhancing the resilience of road traffic networks with applications of connected vehicles. The need for resilient road traffic networks is …

Tra-953: Automation In Driving For Enhancing Resiliency In Transportation System, Ata M. Khan, Matthew Whelen, Omar Elsafdi, Naser Snobar, Brooke Jones, Patricia Arnold

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

The ability of the transportation system to continue to serve traffic under disruptive conditions is a resilience characteristic of infrastructure and traffic management. In the context of this research, resilience is defined as the ability to resist the loss of traffic-serving capability by using traffic (including geometric) and control system design advances (i.e. the inherent resilience) and by activating capacity-enhancing measures (i.e. the dynamic resilience). Vulnerabilities in road traffic networks cause the loss of capability to serve demand overloads. On the other hand, intelligent technology and associated methodology can potentially prevent or reduce this loss of capability. An outstanding research …

Tra-954: Solution Model For Urban Traffic Congestion: Egyptian Case Study, Mary E. Soliman, Romany E. Bassily, Safwan A. Khedr, Maram M. Saudy, Ezzat H. Fahmy, Omar I. Khalil

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Traffic congestion is a major problem in many cities around the world resulting in massive delays, increased fuel wastage, environmental impact and other negative consequences affecting the daily life of each individual. From a transportation engineering point of view, making the correct decision to eliminate such congestion problems can be very difficult for decision-makers who carry the burden of analyzing large quantities of data which could be vague and conflicting in nature. Therefore, an effective and consistent system is required to simplify the decision-making process of the traffic congestion control. Traffic simulation could be that tool.

The seriousness of traffic …

Tra-956: Improving Intersection Throughput Using Connected Vehicles, Jiangchen Li, Jie Gao, Tony Z. Qiu

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

This paper proposes a connected vehicle based approach to improve the throughput at signalized intersections and ultimately increase the mobility of a transportation system. Connected vehicle technology demonstrates tremendous potential for improving safety and mobility, as it enables the real-time sharing of vehicle data, including position, speed, acceleration, etc., not only among vehicles but also between vehicles and infrastructure. The proposed approach takes advantage of such real-time data to develop a strategy that maximizes throughput of an isolated intersection locally. Accordingly, the problem is formulated as a two-step centralized optimization. There are two main processes in this method: optimization for …

Tra-957: London On Bikes – London’S Cycling Master Plan Strategic Changes To Improve London’S Cycling Culture & Infrastructure, Douglas W. Macrae, Claire A. S. Basinski

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

The City of London, Canada has been implementing cycling infrastructure since the 1980s. The City’s formal cycling master planning efforts to improve the cycling culture within the City were successfully “launched” in 2005 with the development and adoption of the City’s first Cycling Master Plan. The first master plan was followed by a strategic implementation plan which was completed in 2007 and used to guide planning, design and engineering efforts by City staff. The completion and adoption of both of these plans has led to the development of comprehensive off-road network of cycling facilities along the City’s premier Thames River …

Tra-958: A Methodology For Integrating Asset Valuation In Transportation Asset Management, Zaid Alyami, Susan L. Tighe

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Asset valuation is an essential component of effective asset management. It is an important method to demonstrate proper management of public assets and effective utilization of government’s budgets. In addition, it allows agencies to demonstrate justifications of funds needed to preserve its assets. Asset valuation is used in standard reporting, depreciation schedules, auditor requirements and condition assessments. Several government regulatory bodies mandate agencies to report their Capital Tangible Assets’ (CTA) values within their annual statement. For example, the Canadian Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB), the Governmental Accounting Standard Board (GASB) and the New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standards (NZ IFRS) …

Tra-960: Field Evaluation Of Passing Sight Distance Parameters, Udai Hassein, Said Easa

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Drivers require a sufficient distance on a two-lane highway to ensure that they can safely maneuver past an impeding vehicle. The passing behaviour of drivers is an important element of safe passing maneuvers. In this paper, field studies were conducted in different countries to determine the passing behaviour of drivers. The study involved participants of both genders in different age groups. A passing profile was established using experimental data collected by Dual Camera Car DVRs and a GPS data logger device that records the instantaneous speeds and positions of different passing vehicles. Using the collected data, linear regression models were …

Tra-961: Foam Glass Lightweight Aggregate: The New Approach, Yassaman Yousefi, Adam C. Schneider, Hassan Baaj, Susan L. Tighe, Abbas Youssefi

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Foam glass lightweight aggregate (LWA) derived from mixed waste and recycled glass has great potential for use as an alternative material for several applications in building and other industrial applications. Despite the significant superior features of the current product, there is still room for further research to improve the structural performance of newly developed foam glass and foam glass-ceramics produced from waste and recycled materials. Improvements may be achieved through controlling microstructures and the distributions of pore sizes and shapes, altering chemical and phase compositions, creating reinforced structures by the inclusion of other fibrous materials as well as adding colour …

Tra-962: Coloured Asphalt Bus Rapid Transit Lanes In The Regional Municipality Of York: Integrating Laboratory Performance Testing Into Sustainable Pavement Asset Management, Sina Varamini, Mehran Kafi Farashah, Susan L. Tighe

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Located north of Toronto, Ontario, The Regional Municipality of York, the sixth largest municipality in Canada, is a thriving community and home to a well-established service sector. York Region’s population is expected to grow from 1.1 million in 2013 to 1.8 million in 2041. With more people coming to the Region every year, Rapid Transit projects provide significant benefits. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lanes are built or being built along the three most heavily travelled roads in York Region: Yonge Street, Highway 7 and Davis Drive. To improve the level of safety through enhanced visibility and help residents and motorists …

Tra-963: Evaluation Of Using Wifi Signals To Estimate Intersection Travel Time, Sajad Shiravi, Kamal Hossain, Liping Fu, Amir Ghods

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Travel time is an important measure in traffic engineering and planning with many applications including identification of network bottlenecks, plan to improve traffic mobility, providing commuters with travel time information, and traffic signal control evaluation and control. Currently a number of technologies can provide travel time information such as GPS enabled probes and identifying vehicles with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi devices. The later method detects and matches unique Media Access Control (MAC) address of the Bluetooth or Wi-Fi activated devices to calculate travel time information. This method is a non-intrusive and cost effective and has gained a lot of attention in …

Tra-967: Time Expenditure Differences Among Weekdays, Weekends, And Fridays For Residents Of Makkah, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Alaa A. S. Sindi, Said Easa, A. O. Abd El Halim

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Many researchers have studied the differences in travel behaviours during the weekdays and the weekends for building travel demand in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, any travel demand framework should recognize the differences in residents’ travel behaviour not only between the weekdays and the weekends, but also on Fridays. During the weekends (i.e., Thursday and Friday), most residents spend time with their families and friends on Thursdays, whereas some go to work. On Fridays, there is the Friday prayer, which takes place around noon, and most of the stores are closed until late afternoon. This paper presents modelling of the activity duration …

Tra-968: Waterloo Region Light Rail Transit – Overview And Design Challenge, Scott Davis

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

The Region of Waterloo rapid transit system (“ION”) will connect the Region’s three major urban centres - the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. This presentation will focus on the Stage I Light Rail Transit (LRT) project between north Waterloo and south Kitchener. It is being implemented as a DBFOM project by GrandLinq Consortium, and AECOM is the lead designer for this project. The capital cost to construct is $818M and the cost is split approximately equally between the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the Region of Waterloo.

Influence Of Socio-Demography And Operating Streetscape On Last-Mile Mode Choice, M. Meng, P. P. Koh, Y. D. Wong

Journal of Public Transportation

This study investigated how personal and operational factors (travel distance and streetscape) influence traveler mode choice decisions for the last-mile home-bound trip stage from rail transit stations. Personal factors include the socio-demography of travelers, and attributes of the streetscape include the built environment (degree of areal development), prevalence of cycling, availability of short-range transport modes, and walking/cycling infrastructure. Interviewers randomly intercepted pedestrians to administer a mode choice survey at five rail transit station exits and engaged all available cyclists at bicycle parking areas in the vicinity of stations in Singapore. A multimodal logit regression model revealed a significant relationship between …

Commuting By Customized Bus: A Comparative Analysis With Private Car And Conventional Public Transport In Two Cities, Tao Liu, Avishai Ceder, Romain Bologna, Benjamin Cabantous

Journal of Public Transportation

Commuting is a major component in the creation of traffic and travel problems. Thus, more attention should be given to its practice. Private car (PC) transport, the dominant mode of commuting in most of the world’s major cities, creates traffic-related social problems such as traffic congestion, traffic fatalities and injuries, and adverse environmental impacts. This study proposes a novel commuting travel mode—a customized bus (CB) transit system that provides advanced, personalized, and flexible demand-interactive minibus service using Internet, telephone, and smartphone apps. The aim was to assess and compare the performance of CB with PC and with conventional public transport …

The Estimation Of Modal Shift Potential For A New Form Of Dial-A-Ride Service, Banihan Gunay, Kadir Akgol, Ingmar Andréasson, Serdal Terzi

Journal of Public Transportation

The concept of a dynamic and flexible Intelligent Subscription Bus Service (I-Service) was developed, and two integrated questionnaires were conducted among the commuters of a large university campus. To determine travel times to the campus by I-Service, a digital urban road network map with travel time databases was produced, and software was developed to calculate optimum routes using these databases. Travel times for each participant were determined by the shortest travel time principle. The proposed hypothetical service was introduced to participants, and anticipated advantages for each participant were reported back to them by means of a second questionnaire to determine …

Factors Influencing Demand For Buses Powered By Alternative Energy Sources, Janer Galván, Victor Cantillo, Julian Arellana

Journal of Public Transportation

Transit buses consume high amounts of fossil fuels, with the consequent release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In recent decades, much effort has been concentrated on the development of cleaner fuels to mitigate this externality. However, market shares for cleaner-fueled buses are still modest, which is why it is relevant to evaluate the aspects influencing their acceptance. This article presents an econometric model to evaluate factors influencing demand for transit buses in Colombia powered by cleaner fuels. For this purpose, a stated preference survey was applied to public transportation entrepreneurs. Results suggest that the target population considers acquisition cost …

A Composite Index For Evaluating Transit Service Quality Across Different User Profiles, Juan De Oña, Rocio De Oña, Francisco Diez-Mesa, Laura Eboli, Gabriella Mazzulla

Journal of Public Transportation

This paper evaluates the quality of service of the metropolitan Metro of Seville (Spain) across different user profiles, as determined through cluster analysis. Service quality evaluation is performed using a composite index that combines the user point of view with the service operator point of view. The combination of these two types of service quality measurement fulfils the need to provide a reliable measurement tool for transit performance. Six user profiles were identified, and it was ascertained that they have different opinions about the service, with heterogeneous gaps between the points of view among the six user profiles.

Examining Bus Lost Time Dynamics For A Bus Rapid Transit Station, Ankit Kathuria, M. Parida, Ch. Ravi Sekhar, Manu Pathak

Journal of Public Transportation

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems are considered to be the most effective alternative for solving urban transportation problems for both developed and developing countries. The conventional approach to estimate dwell time (DT) is based on traditional DT models derived for normal bus stops, but not for modern BRT stations. BRT stations are different from bus stops in terms of length of platform, multiple loading areas, and number of passengers handled. Therefore, understanding dwell time dynamics, including the recently-introduced component of Bus Lost Time (BLT), is important to improve the operations of BRT systems. This research introduces various possible scenarios of …

Cost Benefit Analysis: Applications And Future Opportunities, Bryan Gibson, Candice Y. Wallace

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA or Benefit Cost Analysis — BCA) is an evaluation tool that state transportation agencies can use to compare infrastructure project options across transportation modes and gauge if the discounted value of benefits exceed the costs. CBA lets policymakers compare alternative project proposals to a baseline scenario, or status quo case, under which no investments are made. CBA is used to select which proposal is the most sensible investment—ideally, the project that maximizes benefits while minimizing costs should be chosen. As the use of CBA to evaluate projects and grant applications (e.g., TIGER Discretionary Grants) continues to …

Evaluation Of The Use Of Painted And Unpainted Weathering Steel On Bridges, Theodore Hopwood Ii, Sudhir Palle, Bobby W. Meade, Rick Younce

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

KTC researchers studied the use of unpainted weathering steel on bridges, using findings of inspections performed on Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) bridges constructed with both painted and unpainted weathering steel as well as laboratory testing. Laboratory tests were conducted on test panels of conventional and weathering grades of steel to determine the performance of barrier and zinc-based coatings over abrasive-blasted substrates of those steel types in both the new and corroded conditions. The report provides the following recommendations for the use of painted and unpainted weathering steel on Kentucky bridges based upon both the field and laboratory findings:

• KYTC should …

Evaluation Of Alternatives To Provide Wet-Nighttime Delineation, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this study was to compare the performance of various types of materials, devices, and procedures that can potentially delineate roadways during wet, nighttime conditions. Snowplowable markers provide the most effective wet-nighttime delineation. Durability issues associated with the steel casting marker make the recessed marker preferable over the life of the pavement. Wet reflective tape placed in a groove provided both dry and wet-nighttime delineation and remained durable. The performance of thermoplastic material installed on the pavement surface supports its future use but will not provide wet-nighttime delineation. Inconsistent performance of inlaid tape argues against its expanded use. …

Comparison Of Safety And Operational Performances For Three Engineering Countermeasures, Ali Hamzah Hussein Alzuhairi

Masters Theses

While there have been many studies on engineering treatments for reducing traffic crashes or for improving intersection efficiency, few studies have been simultaneously taking both impacts into consideration. This thesis analyzed impacts of engineering countermeasures and determines when these countermeasures are cost effective with respect to the amount of traffic and the number of crashes. Both crash reduction and operational costs were compared for analysis. This study specifically investigated three countermeasures: changing from permitted to protected for a left-turn on minor approaches, leading pedestrian interval (LPI), and exclusive pedestrian phase (Barnes Dance). The general Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) from the …

Performance Assessment Of Deteriorated And Retrofitted Steel Hp Piles, Joshua Steelman, Steven Stauffer

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Exploring Travel Time Reliability Using Bluetooth Data Collection: A Case Study In San Luis Obispo, California, Krista Purser

Master's Theses

Bluetooth technology applications have improved travel time data collection efforts and allowed for collection of large data sets at a low cost per data unit. Mean travel times between pairs of points are available, but the primary value of this technique is the availability of the entire distribution of travel times throughout multiple days and time periods, allowing for a greater understanding of travel time variations and reliability. The use of these data for transportation planning, engineering and operations continues to expand. Previous applications of similar data sources have included travel demand and simulation model validation, work zone traffic patterns, …

Exploring Data Driven Models Of Transit Travel Time And Delay, Bobjot Singh Sidhu

Master's Theses

Transit travel time and operating speed influence service attractiveness, operating cost, system efficiency and sustainability. The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) provides public transportation service in the tri-county Portland metropolitan area. TriMet was one of the first transit agencies to implement a Bus Dispatch System (BDS) as a part of its overall service control and management system. TriMet has had the foresight to fully archive the BDS automatic vehicle location and automatic passenger count data for all bus trips at the stop level since 1997. More recently, the BDS system was upgraded to provide stop-level data plus 5-second …

Benefits Of Advanced Traffic Management Solutions: Before And After Crash Analysis For Deployment Of A Variable Advisory Speed Limit System, Alexander Lindsay Chambers

Master's Theses

Variable speed limit (VSL) systems are important active traffic management tools that are being deployed across the U.S. and indeed around the world for relieving congestion and improving safety. Oregon’s first variable advisory speed limit signs were activated along Oregon Highway 217 in the summer of 2014. The variable advisory speed system is responsive to both congestion and weather conditions. This seven-mile corridor stretches around Western Portland and has suffered from high crash rates and peak period congestion in the past. VSL systems are often deployed to address safety, mobility and sustainability related performance. This research seeks to determine whether …

Connected Vehicles And Rural Road Weather Management, Rhonda Young

PSU Transportation Seminars

Changing weather patterns and increases in extreme weather events has led to the deployment of more weather responsive traffic management strategies. As the transportation system moves towards a connected vehicle environment, questions arise as to how connected vehicle technology can support weather responsive systems. The presentation will discuss the use of connected vehicles in a rural environment as providers of mobile weather data. Two projects will be highlighted - a recently completed research project using passenger vehicle CAN-BUS data as weather surrogates, and the ongoing USDOT CV Pilot Deployment Project in Wyoming.