Civil Engineering Commons^™

Evaluating The Use Of Crowdsourcing As A Data Collection Method For Bicycle Performance Measures And Identification Of Facility Improvement Needs, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Bryan Philip Blanc

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research developed a smartphone application called ORcycle to collect cyclists’ routes, users, and comfort levels. ORcycle combines GPS revealed route data collection with new questionnaires that try to elicit cyclists’ attitudes as well as comfort levels and factors that influence their perceived comfort and route choice. The new questionnaires were developed to better understand how cyclists’ comfort levels are affected by route characteristics, route stressors, safety reports, cyclists’ demographics, and cyclists’ cycling attitude. Preliminary results show that many trip characteristics, route choice factors, route stressors and demographic variables are correlated with comfort levels. ORcycle is the first statewide deployment …

An Evaluation Of The Neighborhood Traffic Management Program Of Centennial, Colorado, Rolando Gabriel Melgoza

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Residential neighborhoods throughout the United States seek to maintain a quality of life where residents can live free of traffic factors adversely affecting their safety. Many communities have adopted a Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) to address concerns over cut-through traffic, speeding, and safety. The City of Centennial, Colorado, incorporated in 2001, is a young city and has its own NTMP. Four traffic mitigation projects have been implemented. The objective of this research is to conduct a before and after comparison study of each Centennial NTMP project, to review the NTMP policies of American cities with similar suburban characteristics to …

Alkali Silica Reaction Mitigation Using High Volume Class C Fly Ash, William Joseph Phillips

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) is a neutralization reaction that occurs between an acid (silicic acid) and a basic pH pore solution (Calcium Oxide, Potassium Oxide, and Sodium Oxide). ASR causes deleterious expansion within concrete, which can cause durability issues decreasing the life span of concrete. ASR in concrete has been found in increasing quantities since its discovery in 1940 by Stanton. Several cases of ASR have occurred in Arkansas near Fayetteville, Pine Bluff, and Little Rock. The purpose of this research was to develop preventative measures using Class C fly ash in concrete, which contains the moderately reactive aggregates found in …

A Modified Rank Ordered Logit Model To Analyze Injury Severity Of Occupants In Multi-Vehicle Crashes, Shelley Bogue

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Research on methodological approaches to model injury severity has become important in order to prevent crash fatalities. Roadways have always been dangerous, with significant congestion and uncontrollable variables, such as weather, coupled with road users' decisions including seat belt and alcohol/drug use. These decisions can influence the severity of injuries sustained by vehicle occupants in the event of a crash. Few studies have examined the potential impacts of comprehensive roadway user injury severity profiles of all occupants ( drivers as well as passengers) in all vehicles involved in a crash. The focus of past studies has been on examining the …

A Microscopic Simulation Approach To Performance Evaluation Of Intelligent Transportation System Corridors: A Case In Michigan, Matthew Levi Clark

Masters Theses

A cost and benefit evaluation of the Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is performed through integration of analytical techniques and microscopic traffic microsimulation. Observed freeway corridor incident logs and characteristics are studied to determine representative incident management patterns on choice study corridors. The Quadstone Paramics microsimulation traffic package is used to model the selected corridors during various analysis scenarios and investigate the effects of ITS on freeway incident management performance.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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

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. …

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 …

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 …

Assessment Of Flood Protection Strategies For Combined Critical Infrastructure Failure And Hurricane/Storm Surge Events In The Meadowlands Area, Nisharg Dipakkumar Dalwadi

Theses

As a result of a wide-reaching comprehensive post-Sandy NJIT project entitled "Flood Mitigation Engineering Resource Center (FMERC)", a detailed investigation of alternative measures for flood mitigation in the Meadowlands area was completed in June 2014. The project involved the assessment of flood impacts, and the evaluation of a range of structural and non-structural capital improvement measures, maintenance, operations and regulatory measures, and broad system design and redundancy measures.

The basic objective of this thesis is to develop an innovative procedure for the enumeration and simulation of probability-weighted combined events, e.g., Oradell dam failure under various scenarios (sunny day, water level, …

Feasibility Analysis Of Phase Transition Signals Based On E-Bike Rider Behavior, Sheng Dong, Jibiao Zhou, Li Zhao, Keshuang Tang, Renfa Yang

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

This article evaluates the feasibility of two scenarios of phase transition signals, that is, the flashing green together with red–yellow light and the green countdown together with red countdown, at signalized intersections in terms of e-bike rider behavior. An evaluation framework is first proposed. During the phase transition, the stop-go and start-up behavioral parameters are collected at four intersections in Shanghai, China. Sensitivity analysis is then performed to identify the most significant factors that influence the occurrence of traffic conflicts during the phase transition. Based on the above analysis results, case studies were finally done to look into safety performance …

Attachment Of A Combination Bridge Rail To Concrete Parapet Utilizing Epoxy Adhesive Anchors, Robert W. Bielenberg, John D. Reid, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Austin J. Haase, Ronald K. Faller

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The Iowa Department of Transportation (IaDOT) was interested in investigating the use of epoxy adhesive anchorages

for the attachment of posts used in the BR27C combination bridge rail system. Alternative anchorage concepts were developed using a modified version of the ACI 318-11 procedures for embedded anchor design. Four design concepts were developed for review by IaDOT, including: (1) a four-bolt square anchorage, (2) a four-bolt spread anchorage, (3) a two- bolt centered anchorage, and (4) a two-bolt offset anchorage. IaDOT representatives selected the four-bolt spread anchorage and the two-bolt offset anchorage as the preferred designs for evaluation. In addition to …

Evaluating Travelers Experience With Highway Advisory Radio (Har) And Citizens Band Radio Advisory System (Cbras) On Florida's Turnpike Enterprise Toll Roadways And Florida Interstate Highways, Nabil Muhaisen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to evaluate travelers' experience with Highway Advisory Radio (HAR) and Citizens' Band Radio Advisory System (CBRAS) technologies on both Florida Interstate Highway system (FIH) and the Florida Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) toll roads. To achieve this goal, two different survey tools were used. The first tool is a random digit dialing phone survey known as CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing). The second tool is a field survey that intercepts travelers at the Florida Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) service plazas and the Florida Interstate Highway (FIH) rest areas. HAR and CBRAS are traditional components of the Advanced Traveler …

A Microsimulation Of Novel Intersection Designs, Aman Kinfemichael Woldetinsae

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

The focus of this project is to see how a turbo roundabout and a protected intersection designs behave when they are applied on two study sites in Portland, OR. PTV VISSM is used to model, analyze and compare the performances of these designs with the existing intersection. In addition, the best features of the protected intersection and the turbo roundabout were combined to create a new intersection design that is safer for the bicyclists and also performs better than the existing intersection.

The analysis is conducted for five different volume scenarios for both the study sites. The results of the …

Performance Characteristics Of Polyethylene Terephthalate (Pet) Modified Asphalt, Matthew D. Earnest

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic is utilized primarily in food and beverage packaging. Although a portion of waste PET is recycled, the majority of the waste is buried in landfills. Therefore, the use of ground PET particles in asphalt may provide an environmentally friendly solution for the disposal of large quantities of PET waste. This study evaluated the performance of PET as an asphalt modifier with both asphalt binder and asphalt mixture testing. The binder testing was conducted on wet process blends produced with a high shear mixer at PET contents of 5, 10, and 15 percent by weight of the …

Cable-To-Post Attachments For A Non-Proprietary High-Tension Cable Barrier – Phase Ii, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Robert W. Bielenberg, Brandt M. Humphrey, Ronald K. Faller, John D. Reid, Karla A. Lechtenberg

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The research objectives reported herein were based on further development of cable-to-post attachment hardware for use in the non-proprietary high-tension cable barrier system. Specifically, this project aimed to develop and evaluate alternative attachment designs for the bolted, tabbed bracket and evaluate the use of a larger diameter, keeper rod for use in the top cable attachment.

From a group of over 25 alternative attachment concepts, two tabbed bracket designs were selected for evaluation through dynamic component testing: 1) the lateral shear plate attachment and 2) the drop-in shear plate attachment. The drop-in shear plate concept did not perform as intended, …

Timetable Management Technique In Railway Capacity Analysis: Development Of The Hybrid Optimization Of Train Schedules (Hots) Model, Hamed Pouryousef

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

There are two general approaches to improve the capacity in a rail corridor, either by applying new capital infrastructure investment or by improving the operation of the rail services. Techniques to evaluate the railway operation include modeling and optimization through the use of commercial timetable management and rail simulation tools. However, only a few of the existing tools include complete features of timetable management techniques (e.g. timetable compression) are equipped with an optimization model for rescheduling and timetable improvement and this is especially true when it comes to the U.S. rail environment that prevalently uses unstructured operation practices.

This dissertation …

Counting And Classification Of Highway Vehicles By Regression Analysis, Mingpei Liang, Xinyu Huang, Chung-Hao Chen, Alade Tokuta

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we describe a novel algorithm that counts and classifies highway vehicles based on regression analysis. This algorithm requires no explicit segmentation or tracking of individual vehicles, which is usually an important part of many existing algorithms. Therefore, this algorithm is particularly useful when there are severe occlusions or vehicle resolution is low, in which extracted features are highly unreliable. There are mainly two contributions in our proposed algorithm. First, a warping method is developed to detect the foreground segments that contain unclassified vehicles. The common used modeling and tracking (e.g., Kalman filtering) of individual vehicles are not …

Roadway Determinants Of Bicyclist Multi-Pollutant Exposure Concentrations, Alexander Y. Bigazzi, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Due to poorly quantified traffic-exposure relationships, transportation professionals are unable to easily estimate exposure differences among bicycle routes for network planning, design, and analysis. This paper estimates the effects of roadway characteristics on bicyclist multi-pollutant exposure concentrations, controlling for meteorology and background conditions. Concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are modeled using high-resolution on-road data. This paper also compares exposure differences on immediately parallel high-traffic/low-traffic facilities and is the first study to quantify VOC exposure differences by facility. Results indicate that average daily traffic (ADT) provides a parsimonious way to characterize the …

Dynamic Ventilation And Power Output Of Urban Bicyclists, Alexander Y. Bigazzi, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bicyclist intake of air pollutants is linked to physical exertion levels, ventilation rates, and exposure concentrations. Whereas exposure concentrations have been widely studied in transportation environments, there is relatively scant research linking on-road ventilation with travel conditions and exertion levels. This paper investigates relationships among power output, heart rate, and ventilation rate for urban bicyclists. Heart rate and ventilation rate were measured on-road and combined with power output estimates from a bicycle power model. Dynamic ventilation rates increased by 0.4-0.8% per watt of power output, with a mean lag of 0.8 minutes. The use of physiology (ventilation) monitoring straps and …

Empirical Analysis Of Bus Bunching Characteristics Based On Bus Avl/Apc Data, Wei Feng, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bus bunching takes place when headways between buses are irregular. Bus bunching is associated with longer waiting times for riders, overcrowding in some buses, and an overall decrease on the level of service and capacity. Understanding the temporal and spatial characteristics and the causes and effects of bus bunching incidents from archived bus data can greatly aid transit agencies to develop efficient mitigation strategies. This paper presents methods to identify and visualize specific time periods and segments where bus bunching incidents occur based on automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) data. The paper also proposes methods that …

Does The Bicycle Detector Symbol Change Cyclist Queuing Position At Signalized Intersections?, Stefan W. Bussey, Christopher M. Monsere, Peter Koonce

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Manual of Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) includes a bicycle detector pavement marking (Section 9C-05) and accompanying explanatory sign (R10-22) which may encourage cyclists to position themselves over detection at traffic signals. This paper presents the results of an observational and survey- based study evaluating the bicycle detector marking. Three minor actuated approaches at signalized intersections with significant bicycle volumes and without bicycle detector markings were selected for treatment. Three configurations were compared: 1) bicycle detector marking only 2) bicycle detector marking with the R10-22 explanatory sign, and 3) an alternative bicycle detector installed over a contrasting green rectangle. Analysis …

Exploring Thresholds For Timing Strategies On A Pedestrian Active Corridor, Sirisha Murthy Kothuri, Peter Koonce, Christopher M. Monsere, Titus Reynolds

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Traditional signal timing policies have typically prioritized vehicles over pedestrians at intersections, leading to undesirable consequences such as large delays and risky crossing behaviors. The objective of this paper is to explore signal timing control strategies to reduce pedestrian delay at signalized intersections. The impacts of change in signal controller mode of operation (coordinated vs. free) at intersections were studied using the micro-simulation software VISSIM. A base model was developed and calibrated for an existing pedestrian active corridor. A hypothetical network of three intersections was used to explore the effects of mode of operation and measures of delay for pedestrians …