Engineering Commons^™

Swift Fox Abundance Along The Heartland Expressway Corridor In Nebraska, Marc Albrecht

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

An Exploratory Scenario For San Francisco To Become A Walking, Bicycling And Transit City, Chaowen Huang

Master's Projects and Capstones

The effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on global warming and climate change have become increasingly evident, and the transportation sector is a dominant contributor to GHG emissions which responsible for 13% of the world’s total GHG emissions and more than 21% of overall energy-related CO₂ emissions. Cities need sustainable transportation system that integrate new technologies and strategies to provide efficient and effective transit service while reducing its GHG emission and improving its livability. This paper explores a suitable and sustainable transportation scenario for San Francisco to achieve its 2035 goal which is to reduce 1,767,500 metric tons GHG emissions …

Evaluating The Effects Of A Congestion And Weather Responsive Advisory Variable Speed Limit System In Portland, Oregon, Matthew Blake Downey

Dissertations and Theses

Safety and congestion are ever present and increasingly severe transportation problems in urban areas throughout the nation and world. These phenomena can have wide-ranging consequences relating to safety, the economy, and the environment. Adverse weather conditions represent another significant challenge to safety and mobility on highways. Oregon is not immune from either of these global issues. Oregon Route (OR) 217, to the southwest of the downtown Portland, is one of the worst freeways for congestion in the state and is also subject to the Pacific Northwest's frequently inclement and unpredictable climate. High crash rates, severe recurrent bottlenecks and highly unreliable …

Measuring Reliability In Dynamic And Stochastic Transportation Networks, Zifeng Wu

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As the traffic demand levels continue to grow in cities, more and more transportation systems experience instability during recurrent and non-recurrent congestion periods. Therefore, reliability has taken on increasing emphases in performance evaluation for transportation agencies, and in performance communication between agencies and the public. Existing reliability-related studies in transportation engineering focus on the long-term reliability of day-to-day travel time variations. This dissertation expands the reliability research literature with studies on the short-term reliability which is valuable for both real-time management and real-time traffic information systems.

This dissertation proposes a level of service reliability metric for system evaluation. Instead of …

A Guide For Planning A Bike Share System At The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln, Wade M. Schuldt

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The purpose of this document is to serve as a framework for planning a bicycle share system at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with the possible inclusion of the City of Lincoln, Nebraska, in the system. This document provides a background review of the evolution of bike share systems and the recent rapid growth of these systems around the world. The document describes planning methodologies used in other locations and the lessons learned from the bike share systems around the world, as to what processes should be pursued to implement a successful bike share system. With the University of Nebraska-Lincoln move …

Development Of Best Management Practices For Turbidity Control During Rainfall Events At Highway Construction Sites Using Polyacrylamide, Joanne Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2009, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated a national turbidity standard for runoff water leaving highway construction sites at 280 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). Meeting this standard can be challenging as turbidities of runoff waters can exceed 15,000 NTU. The objective of this research was to assess polyacrylamide (PAM), a coagulant aid used in water treatment, to help meet the EPA turbidity regulation. Twelve commercially available PAM types were studied, selected on the basis of charge type (cationic, nonionic, anionic), charge density (0-100%), and molecular weight (0.1-28 Mg mol-1). Jar tests were conducted with runoff waters from …

Measurement Of Transfer And Development Lengths Of 0.7 In. Strands On Pretensioned Concrete Elements, Canh Ngoc Dang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The implementation of 0.7 in. (17.8 mm), Grade 270 (1860), low-relaxation prestressing strands in construction is slow regardless of its advantages over the use of 0.6 in. (15.2 mm) and 0.5 in. (12.7 mm) strands. The limited research data and unavailable design guidelines partially account for the slow utilization. This study measured transfer and development length, and evaluated applicable strand spacing of 0.7 in. (17.8 mm) prestressing strands for 24 pretensioned concrete beams. Each beam contained one prestressing strand or two prestressing strands placed at spacing of 2.0 in. (51 mm). The beams were fabricated with high strength, conventional concrete …

Ensc 300 (Energy Seminar) Annotated Bibliography, Supplementary Reading, Adam Liska

Adam Liska Papers

Innovation
Sociology of Innovation, Business, & Work
Sustainable Business Strategy
Leadership
Science, Engineering, & Business History
Economics
Energy, Business, & Environmental Policy
Climate Change & Insurance
Education
Ethics

62 monographic resources

Bulbous Pier: Alternative To Bridge Pier Extensions, Amilcar Chavez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bridge deck splashing causes deterioration to the bridge structure and renders the bridge unsafe for motorist and pedestrians. The traditional countermeasure for bridge deck splashing is pier extension, the pier extension moves the pier wave away from the bridge deck, but retrofitting existing bridges with pier extensions is costly. This research proposes the bulbous pier concept as an alternative to pier extension.

The decrease in the pier wave produced by the bulb is due to energy subtracted by the bulb via two forces, the viscous resistance, and the wave-making resistance. The proposed mathematical model for the bulbous pier design follows …

Design Of An Improved Post For Use In A Non-Proprietary High-Tension Cable Median Barrier, Robert W. Bielenberg, Ronald K. Faller, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Tyler L. Schmidt, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, John D. Reid, Dean L. Sicking

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The objective of this research study was to develop a revised post section for the non-proprietary high-tension cable median barrier that improved the safety and function of the post by lowering strong-axis forces. A total of twenty dynamic component tests were performed, along with one cable pull test – ten tests with the 7-gauge C-section post, eight with the 10-gauge C-Section posts, and three with the Midwest Weak Post (MWP). The tests were conducted with the posts installed in either a compacted, crushed limestone soil or a rigid sleeve in order to determine the force vs. deflection and energy vs. …

Best Practices For Winter Maintenance Roadway Deicer Applications In The State Of Nebraska, Tregan P. D. Albers Ii

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The cost of deicing chemicals is a significant part of the Nebraska Department of Road’s winter maintenance budget. The objectives of this research are to review literature to determine current winter maintenance practices, analyze and present information gathered in a survey of winter maintenance professionals across Nebraska, and correlate this information with data obtained via MDSS (Maintenance Decision Support System) software to determine current practices being used in the state of Nebraska. Best practices for winter maintenance deicer applications for rural city and county officials in Nebraska are recommended. An explanation of the development of the survey that winter maintenance …

Conceptual Development Of An Impact-Attenuation System For Intersecting Roadways, Joseph G. Putjenter

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Longitudinal barriers are commonly used to shield hazards, including stiff bridge rail ends and slopes. In some locations, a secondary roadway intersects the primary roadway within the guardrail’s length-of-need (LON). Some intersections have as little as 15 ft (4.6 m) between the intersection and beginning of the bridge railing, which require short-radius guardrail systems. No short-radius systems have been tested and approved to current impact safety standards for shielding hazards with these conditions.

Site conditions provided by the Nebraska Department of Roads were used to determine the constraints for a new safety treatment for intersecting roadways and include intersection radii, …

Evaluating The Air Emissions From Solid Waste Refuse Trucks, Lauren D. Hauser

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The air emissions from solid waste refuse trucks is an issue that has not been widely studied, but is becoming an ever increasing issue. In the United States alone they have generated around 251 million tons of waste in 2012. This study in particular will collect data on 24 different refuse trucks (front-load, side-load, and roll-off, and diesel and compressed natural gas fuel) while on real-life routes in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. The collected data will then be aggregated and summarized based on the type of trucks. A regression analysis will also be done to determine the relationship between …

Webinar: Impacts Of Roadway And Traffic Characteristics On Air Pollution Risks For Bicyclists, Alexander Y. Bigazzi

TREC Webinar Series

Active travel such as walking and bicycling can lead to health benefits through an increase in physical activity. At the same time, more active travelers breath more and so can experience high pollution inhalation rates during travel. This webinar will review the state of knowledge about how roadway and traffic characteristics impact air pollution risks for bicyclists, including the latest PSU research quantifying bicyclists' uptake of traffic-related air pollution using on-road measurements in Portland. The PSU research team including Alex Bigazzi, Jim Pankow, and Miguel Figliozzi quantified bicyclist exposure concentrations on different types of roadways, respiration responses to exertion level, …

Senior Design: Proposed Stem Academic Building, Middlesex Community College, Senior Design Class

Civil Engineering Student Work

2015 Civil Engineering Senior Design Project.

A proposal for a new STEM building to be constructed on the Middlesex Community College.

Completed by:

• Abdullah Al Bakri
• Ryan Benoit
• Brittany Brown
• Michael Buraczynski
• Samuel Colangelo
• Joseph Connolly
• Kyle Elmy
• Michael Fischer
• Victor Goitia Jurado
• Michael Hanley
• Andrew Malian
• Michael Mathews
• Dionys Quezada
• Katie Rougeot
• Jacob Santos
• Isadora Sartor
• Vega Yerko

Forensic Pavement Evaluation For Us 31 W, Jefferson County, Kentucky Using Ground Penetrating Radar, Brad W. Rister, Kean Ashurst, R. Clark Graves

Kentucky Transportation Center Technical Assistance Report

The Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) utilized ground penetrating radar technology to provide a forensic evaluation of the existing pavement structure for the US31W pavement rehabilitation Project in Jefferson County, KY. Processed ground penetrating radar data indicated that the integrity of the underlying concrete pavement beneath the asphalt pavement appears to be competent and structurally sound. The clay soil beneath the concrete pavement appears relatively dry and well compacted. The analyzed GPR data also indicated that the average asphalt layer varied by lane throughout the project from 4.89 to 7.59 inches +/- ½ inch and that the underlying concrete layer average …

Hydrodemolition And Use Of A Rapid Early Strength Latex Modified Concrete Overlay, Theodore Hopwood Ii, Christopher Goff, Danny Wells, Sudhir Palle

Kentucky Transportation Center Technical Assistance Report

On July 11, 2014, KYTC held a letting for the hydro demolition of two bridge decks on I-64 in Franklin County - main-line twin bridges over Cardwell Lane MP 51.516 (Contract ID 143915; Fed/State Project No. IM 0643(052)). The special notes for the project are provided in Appendix A. The tabulation of bids is provided in Appendix B. Five bids were received ranging from $787,836.00 to $1,082,639.46. The contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, Halls Contracting. Each bridge is 30 ft. wide and 159 ft. long, with for a total area of 4,770 ft. The type 104 bridges have …

Low Income, Supermarket Accessibility, And The Transportation Network: A Multimodal Analysis Identifying Areas Of Poor Accessibility And Intervention Strategies In Indianapolis, Indiana, Andrea Leigh Bailey

Open Access Theses

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service estimates that 23.5 million people live in food deserts, over half of which are considered low-income residents. Accurately defining a food desert is crucial as the designated areas can benefit from grant opportunities and funding priority. To qualify as an urban food desert, the USDA requires that at least 500 residents or one-third of the population live outside a one-mile buffer from a supermarket as well as have a median income of less than 80% of the area average or a poverty rate of greater than 20%. Approaches in the …

Four Runway Configuration Types And Their Relation To Arrival Delays, Rachel Jayne Kennedy

Open Access Theses

Aside from a safe flight, airline passengers expect to arrive to their destination on time. With an abundance of flights in the United States arriving late each day, it has yet to be determined if the airport's layout plays a role. This research looks at four common runway configuration types at hub and non-hub airports to determine if runway configurations affect arrival delays. A two-way ANOVA is conducted comparing the means of the on-time arrival percentage between airports exhibiting each of the four runway configurations as well as hub and non-hub airport status. The results determine if any or none …

Algorithms For Bundling And Pricing Trucking Services: Deterministic And Stochastic Approaches, Rodrigo Mesa-Arango

Open Access Dissertations

Bundling and pricing trucking services is an important strategic decision for carriers. This is helpful when they consider the incorporation of new businesses to their networks, look for economic and optimal operations, and develop revenue management strategies. Reverse combinatorial auctions for trucking services are real-world examples that illustrate the necessity of such strategies. In these auctions, a shipper asks carriers for quotes to serve combinations of lanes and the carriers have to bundle demand and price it properly. This dissertation explores several dimensions of the problem employing state-of-the-art analytical tools. These dimensions include: Truckload (TL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) operations, behavioral …

Development Of Socketed Foundations For S3x5.7 Posts, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Tyler L. Schmidt, Ronald K. Faller, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The objective of this study was to develop a socketed foundation for use with the S3x5.7 (S76x8.5) weak post. The design focused on cylindrical, reinforced concrete foundations with a steel tube placed in the center for use as the socket. The foundation was to prevent both damage and displacements exceeding 1 in. (25 mm), as measured at groundline, during an impact event. To evaluate various foundation designs, ten dynamic bogie tests were conducted over three separate rounds of testing. Round 1 was conducted in a weak, sandy soil; Round 2 was conducted in a strong, stiff soil; and Round 3 …

Safety And Operational Analysis Of Lane Widths In Mid-Block Segments And Intersection Approaches In The Urban Environment In Nebraska, Anuj Sharma, Wei Li, Mo Zhao, Laurence Rilett

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This research examined the safety and operational effects of roadway lane width on mid-block segments between signalized intersections as well as on signalized intersection approaches in the urban environments of Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. In the safety analysis, the Poisson and negative binomial regressions with fixed or random parameters were estimated to evaluate the effects of lane width on annual crash frequencies at mid-block segments and intersection approaches. In the operational analysis, linear regressions were used to examine lane width effects on the vehicles’ speed at mid-block segments. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to explore the effects of lane width …

An Operational Performance And Safety Comparison Of Roundabouts Vs. Traditional Intersections, Vincent Spahr

Honors Theses

As the modern roundabout becomes a more popular intersection alternative in the United States, the ability of the roundabout to effectively manage traffic and to do so safely is on the forefront of engineering concerns. Despite decades of international success and credibility, regions throughout the U.S. have been hesitant to implement roundabouts in place of more traditional intersections. This case study of a series of intersections in Dublin, OH assesses the operational performance of roundabouts as it compares to that of their stop-controlled and signalized counterparts and analyzes historical crash data to evaluate the safety of the various intersection types. …

Analyzing Driver Behavior And Traffic Flow Breakdowns At The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, Michelle L. Allen

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (HRBT) is a major link for activity in Hampton Roads. The eastbound direction also suffers from congestion during both morning and peak hours. During these periods of congestion, the flow rate varies in regards to the location of the congestion. This study focuses on investigating driver behavior during these different conditions and briefly investigates the cost of delay due to the different capacities. To accomplish this, per vehicle record data (PVR) is used. This data, collected at the exit of the tunnel, provides information on arrival time, speed, lane location, vehicle class, and time headway. …

Java Animated Software For Teaching The Frank-Wolfe Algorithm For Static Traffic Network Equilibrium, Zhi Li

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The popular Frank-Wolfe (FW) algorithm for solving the network equilibrium problems plays an important role in transportation simulation. Not only has the basic Frank Wolfe algorithm been studied, but also other variations of the FW algorithm (such as Conjugate Frank Wolfe and Bi-Conjugate Frank Wolfe algorithms) have been extensively studied by the research communities.

In this work, the basic Frank Wolfe algorithm is re-visited for the purpose of developing a useful, user-friendly, and appealing Java computer animation for enhancing the teaching effectiveness of this fundamental transportation static network equilibrium algorithm. Since the shortest path (SP) algorithms (such as the well-known …

Bicyclist Compliance At Signalized Intersections, Samson Ray Riley Thompson

Dissertations and Theses

This project examined cyclist red light running behavior using two data sets. Previous studies of cyclist compliance have investigated the tendencies of cyclists to run red lights on the whole by generalizing different maneuvers to their end outcome, running a red light. This project differentiates between the different types of red light running and focuses on the most egregious case, gap acceptance, which is when a cyclist runs a red light by accepting a gap in opposing traffic.

Using video data, a mathematical model of cyclist red light running was developed for gap acceptance. Similar to other studies, this analysis …

Risk-Taking Characteristics As Explanatory Variables In Variations Of Fatality Rates In The Southeastern United States, Jodi Anne Godfrey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traffic fatalities accounted for 1.24 million lives lost in 2013 worldwide, and almost 33 thousand of those fatalities were in the U.S. in 2013. The southeastern region of the nation stands out for continuously having higher fatality rates per mile driven than the national average. If one can establish compelling relationships between various factors and fatality rates, then policies and investments can be targeted to increase the safety on the network by focusing on policies that mitigate those factors. In this research effort risk-taking characteristics are explored. These factors have not been as comprehensively reviewed as conventional factors such as …

Integrated Multi-Criteria Signal Timing Design For Sustainable Traffic Operations, Rui Guo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traffic signal systems serve as one of the most powerful control tools in improving the efficiency of surface transportation travel. Traffic operations on arterial roads are particularly complex because of traffic interruptions caused by signalized intersections along the corridor. This dissertation research presents a systematic framework of integrated traffic control in an attempt to break down the complexities into several simpler sub-problems such as pattern recognition, environment-mobility relationships and multi-objective optimization for multi-criterial signal timing design.

The overall goal of this dissertation is to develop signal timing plans, including a day plan schedule, cycle length parameters, splits and offsets, which …

Structural Integrity Of Conventional And Modified Railroad Bearing Adapters For Onboard Monitoring, Joseph Montalvo, Alexis Trevino, Arturo A. Fuentes, Constantine Tarawneh

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a detailed study of the structural integrity of conventional and modified railroad bearing adapters for onboard monitoring applications. Freight railcars rely heavily on weigh bridges and stations to determine cargo load. As a consequence, most load measurements are limited to certain physical railroad locations. This limitation provided an opportunity for an optimized sensor that could potentially deliver significant insight on bearing condition monitoring as well as load information. Bearing adapter modifications (e.g. cut outs) were necessary to house the sensor and, thus, it is imperative to determine the reliability of the modified railroad bearing adapter, which will …

Railroad Quiet Zones, Glen T. Campbell, Mary Cripe

Purdue Road School

Speaker(s): Mary Cripe, P.E., City of Goshen Engineering Department

Glen Campbell, P.E., Patrick Engineering

Track: Multi-Modal Transportation

Submission ID #: 119

Presentation Duration: 50 Minutes

Presentation Title: Railroad Quiet Zones

Abstract: In 2005, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) provided communities with the opportunity to reduce locomotive horn noise without compromising public safety. The proposed Marion Branch Quiet Zone, located in Goshen, Indiana, will not only improve public safety, it will also enhance the quality of life and raise home values for adjacent residents.

This intricate process involves creative problem-solving and knowledge of the multiple parties involved. It will take a …