Engineering Commons^™

An Analysis Of Bicycle-Vehicle Interactions At Signalized Intersections With Bicycle Boxes, William Robert Farley

Dissertations and Theses

A before-and-after analysis was performed at eleven intersections where a bike box was installed in Portland, Oregon to explore the safety effects of the treatment. Video data were gathered prior to installation at 14 intersections where a bike box installation was planned by the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Cameras were set up to capture three full twenty-four hour days (72 hours) of data for each intersection from Tuesday through Thursday. Of the 14 original selected intersections, 11 intersections actually received the bike box treatment. Video data were again gathered for these intersections after the installation of the bike box for …

Stormwater Pollution Treatment Bmp Discharge Structures, Miles F. Simmons, David M. Admiraal

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Testing Of A Non-Proprietary, High-Tension, Cable End Terminal System, Ronald K. Faller, Dean L. Sicking, Jennifer D. Schmidt, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Effectiveness Study Of Unl's Pneumatic Crack/Joint Preparation Device, Yong Cho, Changbum Ahn

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

More Urban Form, Fewer Auto Trips, Kelly J. Clifton

TREC Project Briefs

Trip generation refers to the number of vehicle trips that are predicted to originate in a given zone. The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) publishes standard trip generation rates for various land use types, but these rates are primarily measured in low-density suburban areas. There is national interest in building data that expands upon the existing ITE trip generation rates to include sites located in a multi-modal context.

In areas that have a more compact urban form, better access to transit and a greater mix of land uses, fewer vehicle trips may be generated there than ITE rates indicate. However, …

Intercounty Commuter Public Transit Services And Opportunities In The Central Bluegrass, Ted H. Grossardt, Benjamin L. Blandford, Mei Chen

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report reviews the current state of available public transportation services in central Kentucky, with a focus on the Lexington-Fayette County commutershed. Within the region, this report identifies the major public transportation providers, describes the transit services available through them, and examines the potential opportunities of intercounty commuter public transportation services. Using intercounty commuting data obtained from the 2006-2008 Census Transportation Planning Products (CTPP), this report estimates the potential need and opportunity for additional transit services. Lastly, this report argues for the viability of vanpools as an efficient and cost-effective strategy for addressing the shortage of intercounty commuter transit services.

Safety Performance Evaluation Of Weak-Post, W-Beam Guardrail Attached To Culvert, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Ronald K. Faller, Dean L. Sicking, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Allison J. Schneider, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Comprehensive Evaluation Of Fracture Critical Bridges, Aaron Jon Yakel, Atorod Azizinamini, Huy Pham, Saeed Doust

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Public Private Partnership In Transit Projects, Rashmita Daschaudhuri

Theses

The government is cutting down government impediments and entering into the market. One of the outcomes has been the rise of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). There have been a lot of information and transaction cost problems in government institutions. These issues can be sorted and mitigated if the risk is shared with the private sector.

Until 1990, there had been a monopoly of the public sector developing transit projects. Now with the PPP concept, the transit projects are slowly moving into public private partnership agreements. This study tries to identify the various approaches of public private partnership delivery system. A few …

New Sensor Technology Integration For Safe And Efficient E-Navigation, Michael Baldauf, R. Glenn Wright

Conference Papers

This paper discusses the relation of new sensor technology on bridge resource management as pertaining to the integration of new information sources and types for ship navigation in a future e-Navigation environment. An overview of several new technologies will be provided showing how systems and devices currently available in the commercial marketplace are being adapted and used to aid ship navigation planning and decision making. Examples include live Doppler radar useful for coastal navigation available from land-based sources through broadband Internet connections, imagery from unmanned aerial vehicles to aid in ice-navigation in, and forward-looking sonar for navigating in poorly charted, …

A Comparative Assessment Of Crowded Source Travel Time Estimates: A Case Study Of Bluetooth Vs Inrix On A Suburban Arterial, Fahad Fasha Alhajri

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Travel time is one of the most widely used measures of traffic performance monitoring for the transportation systems. It is a simple concept that refers to the time required to traverse between two points of interest. Travel time is communicated and used by a wide variety of audience such as commuters, media reporters, and transportation engineers and planners. Recent developments within the wireless communication area made it possible to collect travel time data at a relatively low cost. These emerging technologies include mobile phone based technologies, in-vehicle navigation technologies and automatic vehicle identification technologies. Although these technologies offer a great …

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 …

Overwintering Biology And Tests Of Trap And Relocate As A Conservation Measure For Burying Beetles, W. Wyatt Hoback, Adrienne Conley

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Burying beetles are carrion beetles and utilize dead animal carcasses for feeding and reproductive efforts. They assist with decomposition, prevent the spread of disease, and reduce the number of pest species. The largest species of carrion beetle, the American burying beetle, is a federally endangered insect and its distribution has been reduced by 90%. The conservation of this species is important in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Overwintering biology and trap and relocation were studied to determine how this beetle survives freezing temperatures and to find whether trap and relocation could be a suitable conservation management measure.

Trap and relocation is …

An Analysis Of The Protected-Permitted Left Turn At Intersections With A Varying Number Of Opposing Through Lanes, Alexander Navarro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Flashing Yellow Arrow Left Turn signal is quickly becoming prominent in Central Florida as a new method of handling left turns at traffic signals. While the concept of a protected-permitted left turn is not groundbreaking, the departure from the typical display of a five-section signal head is, for this type of operation. The signal head introduced is a four-section head with a flashing yellow arrow between the yellow and green arrows. With this signal head quickly becoming the standard, there is a need to re-evaluate the operational characteristics of the left turning vehicle and advance the knowledge of the …

Equity And Fairness In Transport Planning: The State Of Play, Sarah Rock, Aoife Ahern Prof., Brian Caulfield Dr.

Conference Papers

This paper explores the concept of equity, or fairness, in transport. As a pillar of sustainable development, social equity is an important objective of transport planning. The provision of transport infrastructure can have significant equity impacts on society through the distribution of costs and benefits. In recent years, there has been an increase in research interest in transportation related equity issues. The paper outlines the primary theoretical traditions that relate to equity and transport equity, and how equity concerns are currently addressed and evaluated in academia and in practice. Recent research has attempted to establish stronger principles from which to …

Evaluation Of Truck Signal Priority At N Columbia Blvd And Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Intersection: Vissim Micro Simulation Analysis Of Truck Signal Priority, Maisha Mahmud

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Given the importance of over growing freight transportation system worldwide, engineers and planners are faced with the challenge of improving freight service in urban area using low cost measure. Truck Signal Priority is one of the strategy that can be used to improve operational efficiency with enhance safety benefits (red light running) of freight service, without major capital investment. In light to this interest this study focus on evaluating the impacts of freight signal priority on a high truck density intersection like N Columbia Blvd and NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Using a simulation tool, VISSIM, these impacts were …

Geospatial Analysis Of Rural Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes In Oregon, Saad Nayef Almutairi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

This research examines the spatial extent of crashes in and around city boundaries in the state of Oregon in the U.S.A. For this study, a summary of fatalities data for the year 2006 obtained from NHTSA's report (2009), crash data for the year 2012, and city boundaries were obtained from ODOT "Oregon Department of Transportation" FTP: www.odot.state.or.us. In order to differentiate between the urban and rural crashes, city boundaries were used to find the numbers of urban and rural crashes. Outside areas of this urban-rural boundary were divided into further boundaries of 2.5 miles. An intersection tool in ArcMap …

Transition Zone Design Final Report, Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Adam J. Kirk, Andrea Cull, Austin Dahlem

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The purpose of this report is to document the activities of the research effort and present the findings of the work accomplished. Transition zone is the area in which it is communicated to drivers that the roadway environment is changing (i.e., from rural to built-up) and that their speed should change as well. This study evaluated treatments that could advise drivers to this. Based on the study findings, it is recommended to add additional speed warning sites to such transition zones.

Concession Analysis For Highway Infrastructure Projects Financed As Public-Private Partnerships, Tanaphat Jeerangsuwan

Open Access Dissertations

Public funds allocated to the improvement and maintenance of highway infrastructure have reached the limits due to a rapid rate of socioeconomic growth and deterioration in infrastructure system performance. A public-private partnership (PPP) concessions a contractual and project financing mechanism that helps public authorities lessen the impact of their limited financial resources. In this project financing scheme, a public authority enters into a partnership with a private concessionaire for the purpose of developing a specific infrastructure facility. In return, the concessionaire receives the right to operate for a specified period of time. This creates strong potential for the delivery of …

Lessons In On-Campus And Distance Learning Delivery Of An Introductory Naval Architecture Course, Jennifer G. Michaeli

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This paper describes the author’s experiences in multi-mode (face-to-face and online) delivery of an introductory-level course on the topic of Naval Architecture geared towards anaudience of engineering and engineering technology undergraduate students with no previousmaritime background. The goal of this course is to expose talented undergraduate engineering students to the marine industry and to prepare those interested in pursing a career in this field with an introductory understanding of the complex nature of designing and building ships and other marine vessels. This course was offered in Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 to a group of engineering and engineering technology students. …

Generic Incident Model For Investigating Traffic Incident Impacts On Evacuation Times In Large-Scale Emergencies, Andrew J. Collins, Peter Foytik, Erika Frydenlund, R. Michael Robinson, Craig A. Jordan

VMASC Publications

Traffic incidents cause a ripple effect of reduced travel speeds, lane changes, and the pursuit of alternative routes that results in gridlock on the immediately affected and surrounding roadways. The disruptions caused by the secondary effects significantly degrade travel time reliability, which is of great concern to the emergency planners who manage evacuations. Outcomes forecast by a generic incident model embedded in a microscopic evacuation simulation, the Real-Time Evacuation Planning Model (RtePM), were examined to quantify the change in time required for an emergency evacuation that results from traffic incidents. The incident model considered vehicle miles traveled on each individual …

Safety Effectiveness Of Conversion Of Two-Way-Left-Turn Lanes Into Raised Medians, Saif Alarifi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two way left turn lanes (TWLTL) and raised medians are common median treatments on roadways. This research focused on evaluating the safety effectiveness of conversion of TWLTLs into raised medians using Before-After and Cross Sectional Studies. In the Before-After Studies, we evaluated the effect of this treatment using the Naive, Before-After with Comparison Group (CG), and Before-After with Empirical Bayes (EB) Methods. In order to apply these methods, a total of 33 segments of a treated group and 109 segments of a comparison group have been collected. Also, safety performance functions (SPFs) have been developed using the negative binomial model …

Applications Of Transit Signal Priority Technology For Transit Service, Frank Anthony Consoli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research demonstrated the effectiveness of Transit Signal Priority (TSP) in improving bus corridor travel time in a simulated environment using real world data. TSP is a technology that provides preferential treatment to buses at signalized intersections. By considering different scenarios of activating bus signal priority when a bus is 3 or 5 minutes behind schedule, it was demonstrated that bus travel times improved significantly while there is little effect on delays for crossing street traffic. The case of providing signal priority for buses unconditionally resulted in significant crossing street delays for some signalized intersections with only minor improvement to …

Analysis Of Taxi Drivers' Driving Behavior Based On A Driving Simulator Experiment, Jiawei Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to comfort, convenience, and flexibility, taxis become more and more prevalent in China, especially in large cities. According to a survey reported by Beijing Traffic Development Research Center, there were 696 million taxi person-rides in Beijing in 2011. However, many violations and road crashes that were related to taxi drivers occurred more frequently. The survey showed that there were a total of 17,242 taxi violations happened in Beijing in only one month in 2003, which accounted for 56% of all drivers' violations. Besides, taxi drivers also had a larger accident rate than other drivers, which showed that nearly 20% …

A Comparative Analysis Of Different Dilemma Zone Countermeasures At Signalized Intersections Based On Cellular Automaton Model, Yina Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, intersections are among the most frequent locations for crashes. One of the major problems at signalized intersection is the dilemma zone, which is caused by false driver behavior during the yellow interval. This research evaluated driver behavior during the yellow interval at signalized intersections and compared different dilemma zone countermeasures. The study was conducted through four stages. First, the driver behavior during the yellow interval were collected and analyzed. Eight variables, which are related to risky situations, are considered. The impact factors of drivers' stop/go decisions and the presence of the red-light running (RLR) violations were …

Urban Expressway Safety And Efficiency Evaluation And Improvement Using Big Data, Qi Shi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an age of data explosion, almost every aspect of social activities is impacted by the abundance of information. The information, characterized by alarming volume, velocity and variety, is often referred to as "Big Data". As one fundamental elements of human life, transportation also confronts the promises and challenges brought about by the Big Data era. Big Data in the transportation arena, enabled by the rapid popularization of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in the past few decades, are often collected continuously from different sources over vast geographical scale. Huge in size and rich in information, the seemingly disorganized data could …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Conversion Of Traditional Five Section Head Signal To Flashing Yellow Arrow (Fya) Signal, Meshal Almoshaogeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, there are two schemes of operating traffic signal controls for permitted protected left turns (PPLT) namely the traditional five-section head system (known as Dog-House) and the flashing yellow arrow system (FYA). Past studies have agreed that these controls lead to decrease the average delay per left turn vehicle, decrease the protected green time, increase the left turn capacity, and enhance the intersection overall operation. The flashing yellow arrow (FYA) has been approved by the Federal Highway Administration as the national standard for the PPLT operations at signalized intersections. So, the Florida Department of Transportation also approved …

Development Of A Nebraska Culvert Aquatic Organism Passage Screening Tool, W. Wyatt Hoback, Jeremy Grauf, Erik Prenosil

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Rural/Suburban High-Speed Multilane Roundabouts, Aemal Khattak, Eric Thompson, Shanshan Zhao

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This research was focused on two issues related to multilane roundabouts on high-speed highways (speed limit 45 mph or greater) in rural and suburban areas. The first was the tradeoff between converting a traditional stop-controlled or signalized intersection to a multilane roundabout while the second was the safety of newly constructed high-speed multilane roundabouts in rural and suburban areas. The research team reviewed information from diverse published documents and conducted a survey of state and local transportation agencies. Crash data on multilane rural roundabouts were not available for this research. Therefore, the research team relied on crash and other data …