Transportation Engineering Commons^™

Plastic Roads And Waste Utilization In Pavements: Recycling Plastic Waste Into Durable Road Construction, Hunter Smith, Caden Hoffer, Robert Kincart, Winston De Feria Weber

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Plastic waste production continues to increase worldwide, creating significant environmental and waste management challenges. With over 350 million tons of plastic waste generated annually, researchers and engineers are exploring innovative methods to reuse materials in sustainable construction practices. To reduce construction waste and make productive use of recycled materials, engineers are investigating utilization applications for plastic waste in pavement systems. This project examines the use of recycled plastic as a modifier in asphalt pavement mixtures to improve road performance while addressing environmental concerns. The objective of this work is to evaluate how incorporating recycled plastics into asphalt mixtures can enhance …

Quantitative Assessment Of Cybersecurity Risk Variability Across Transportation Modes, Paulo Carreon

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Transportation systems are increasingly dependent on digital technologies, networked communications, and cyber-physical integration, making cybersecurity an important issue for operational continuity, resilience, and safety. Although cybersecurity risks in transportation are widely recognized, much of the existing research remains mode-specific and lacks a standardized quantitative framework for comparing risk across transportation systems. This study develops a quantitative, incident-based approach for assessing cybersecurity risk variability across four major transportation modes: Aviation, Maritime, Rail, and Road. The study is based on a manually constructed dataset of 189 publicly reported transportation cybersecurity incidents collected from 2000 to 2025. Each incident was coded into structured …

Guardrail Height Safety Requirements Given Recent Crash History And Evolution Of Vehicle Design, Delaney Morgan

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Roadside barriers such as guardrails are fundamental to roadway safety, providing a critical last line of defense in preventing vehicles from leaving the roadway and impacting potential hazards. As vehicles are ever changing, it is necessary for guardrail design to adapt in response. Many contemporary vehicles such as sport utility vehicles and light trucks have higher centers of gravity than previous years, while electric vehicles have increased weight. Having sufficient guardrail height is essential to ensure proper engagement with vehicles to prevent loss of containment during impact.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of current Florida …

Effect Of Vehicular Electrification On Transportation Emissions In Florida, Shreya Sapkota Dhakal

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Vehicular emissions from fuel-based passenger cars emit an array of gases and particles that are detrimental for human health and the environment. In that regard, electric vehicles (EVs) present a viable, sustainable solution. This study investigated the impact of electrification of passenger cars on air quality in Florida, in five major urban counties namely Miami-Dade, Duval, Hillsborough, Orange, and Leon. Between 2018 and 2022, these counties experienced a significant increase of 219.50 ± 52.32% in EV adoption, coupled with a 11.55 ± 6.13% decrease in fuel-based vehicle usage. Herein, we characterize five pollutants primarily generated from fuel-based passenger vehicles- carbon …

Analysis Of Responder-Involved Struck-By Crashes, Jacob Wilhelm

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Emergency responders face significant risks of injury and death from struck-by crashes while operating on or near roadways. Annually, about 50 responders are killed, and hundreds more are injured, leading to operational disruptions and damage to life-saving equipment (ERSI, 2024). This study takes a data-driven approach to identify key risk factors and effective countermeasures for reducing the severity of struck-by crashes. Key findings indicate that struck-by crashes most frequently occur on weekends during late-night hours (2 AM–4 AM), often at crash scenes or disabled vehicle scenes on limited-access highways. Driver behavior – particularly “D” drivers (distracted, drugged, drowsy, disgruntled) – …

Evaluating The Impact Of Access Density On Pedestrian And Bicycle Safety, Charles Hruda

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This study examines the impact of access density on pedestrian and bicycle crash rates in urban areas of Florida. Access management, defined as the strategic control of vehicular access points along roadways, plays a crucial role in mitigating conflicts between various roadway users. Previous research has established a positive correlation between access density and crash rates, yet limited studies have analyzed its effects on vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.

To quantify these impacts, this study identified high-crash roadway segments using Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) data. Geometric, traffic, crash, and access management information was collected and analyzed …

Assessment Of Improvement In Unpaved Roadway Performance Using 3d Geogrids Under Cyclic Loading, Munibhaskar Pagadala

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Geogrids have been used for decades to improve the performance in both paved and unpaved road construction. This research focuses on quantifying the performance and optimizing the design of unpaved roadways using the results from an extensive cyclic triaxial testing program. Twenty-seven cyclic triaxial tests were performed, consisting of unreinforced (control) and reinforced samples using two types of 3D geogrids: Grid1 and Grid2. The samples measured 150 mm in diameter and a height of 300 mm. The tests were run under different loading sequences ranging from 41 kPa to 55 psi (6 psi to 8 psi of confining stress and …

Safety Investigation Of Crash Rates During Hurricane Evacuations, Amelia K. Lawson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This study aimed to investigate crash rates across four distinct periods—evacuation, re-entry, emergency, and non-emergency—during Hurricanes Matthew (2016), Irma (2017), and Michael (2018). A notable gap in existing research pertains to understanding crash rates during these critical phases of hurricane events. By addressing this gap, this research contributes to a deeper comprehension of evacuation transportation safety. The methodology employed ArcMap to construct an interactive map for data collection, encompassing key variables such as the number of crashes, traffic volumes, duration of each period under analysis, and roadway segment lengths for each hurricane. Evaluating the crash rate per million vehicular miles …

The Intellectual Structure And The Future Of Counter-Uncrewed Aerial Systems (Uas) Research: A Bibliometric And A Scoping Review, Chuyang Yang, Chenyu Huang, Yanhui Zhao

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

With advancements in remote sensing technology and affordable design, uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), commonly known as drones, have become prevalent in civil and military applications, such as agriculture, public safety, and aerial imaging. However, the rise in unlawful UAS activities, such as non-compliance with legal standards and potential terrorist attacks, has raised significant public concern, necessitating effective detection and mitigation solutions. Despite the growing importance of this issue, comprehensive and detailed examinations of existing counter-UAS solutions are lacking. To address this gap, this study conducts a bibliometric analysis and scoping review of the current literature to identify key topics and …

Quantifying Geogrid Reinforcement Mechanism In Roadway Performance Using Cyclic Plate Load (Cpl) Test, G.S. Ellithy, A. Crippa

Publications

For decades, geogrids have been used successfully to improve performance in both paved and unpaved roadway construction. Even though the current state of practice differentiates between the design methodology incorporating geogrids in paved and unpaved roadways, the true improvement contribution of geogrids is to the base layer, or to the layer that is placed directly on top of it. It has been established that the three reinforcement mechanisms by which geogrids enhance roadway performance are: lateral restraint, bearing capacity increase and membrane tension support. In order to quantify these mechanisms and their contribution to the roadway performance improvement, two Cyclic …

Stochastic Optimization To Reduce Aircraft Taxi-In Time At Igia, New Delhi, Rajib Das, Saileswar Ghosh, Rajendra Desai, Pijus Kanti Bhuin, Stuti Agarwal

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Since there is an uncertainty in the arrival times of flights, pre-scheduled allocation of runways and stands and the subsequent first-come-first-served treatment results in a sub-optimal allocation of runways and stands, this is the prime reason for the unusual delays in taxi-in times at IGIA, New Delhi.

We simulated the arrival pattern of aircraft and utilized stochastic optimization to arrive at the best runway-stands allocation for a day. Optimization is done using a GRG Non-Linear algorithm in the Frontline Systems Analytic Solver platform. We applied this model to eight representative scenarios of two different days. Our results show that without …

Effects Of Emergency Vehicle Warning Lighting System Characteristics On Driver Perception And Behavior, Emily Hiebner

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Secondary crashes, including struck-by incidents are a leading cause of line-of-duty deaths among emergency responders, such as firefighters, law enforcement officers, and emergency medical service providers. The introduction of light emitting diode (LED) sources and advanced lighting control systems, provides a wide range of options for emergency lighting configurations. This study investigated the impact of lighting color, intensity, modulation, and flash rate on driver behavior while traversing a traffic incident scene at night. The impact of retroreflective chevron markings in combination with lighting configurations, as well as the measurement of “moth-to-flame” effects of emergency lighting on drivers was also investigated. …

Air Passenger Demand Forecast Through The Use Of Artificial Neural Network Algorithms, Juan Gerardo Muros Anguita, Oscar Díaz Olariaga

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Airport planning depends to a large extent on the levels of activity that are anticipated. In order to plan facilities and infrastructures of an airport system and to be able to satisfy future needs, it is essential to predict the level and distribution of demand. This document presents a short- and medium-term forecast of the demand for air passengers carried out through a specific case study (Colombia), in which the impact of the pandemic period due to COVID-19 on air traffic was taken into account. To make the forecast, an algorithm that implements techniques based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) …

International Analysis On The Traffic Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Fanny Margaretha Kristiansson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this research was to assess, compare, and contrast the impact of COVID-19 activity restrictions on road-based transportation activity in regions of the US, Sweden, and China from January 1st to December 31st, 2020. Roadway traffic volumes were used to relate the progression of reported COVID-19 cases and government directives for social separation in three countries with diverse governmental responses.

Among the contributions of this paper was the illustration of the timeline and level of public responses to closures, lockdowns, and reopening as represented through rapid traffic decreases and increases. Traffic was greatly impacted, showing that the pandemic …

Cross Domain Iw Threats To Sof Maritime Missions: Implications For U.S. Sof, Gary C. Kessler, Diane M. Zorri

Publications

As cyber vulnerabilities proliferate with the expansion of connected devices, wherein security is often forsaken for ease of use, Special Operations Forces (SOF) cannot escape the obvious, massive risk that they are assuming by incorporating emerging technologies into their toolkits. This is especially true in the maritime sector where SOF operates nearshore in littoral zones. As SOF—in support to the U.S. Navy— increasingly operate in these contested maritime environments, they will gradually encounter more hostile actors looking to exploit digital vulnerabilities. As such, this monograph comes at a perfect time as the world becomes more interconnected but also more vulnerable.

Analysis Of Crashes Involving First Responder Vehicles, Josie Gray

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

First responders face many hazards that put their lives at risk while on duty. A review of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund statistics shows that 553 police officers died in the line-of-duty between 2008 and 2017 as a direct result of a traffic related incidents. Sadly, the nation’s first responders are exposed to factors which make them uniquely vulnerable to traffic related injuries and deaths. The goal of this research is to investigate and analyze crashes involving first responder vehicles and struck-by crashes. This project concludes that approximately 1.2% of the crashes in the state of Florida involve …

Methodology For Quantifying Resiliency Of Transportation Systems, Hannah Rose Russell

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The National Science Foundation’s definition of resiliency is “the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, or more successfully adapt to actual or potential adverse events” (National Science Foundation, 2016). While this definition is informative and useful, it lacks a quantitative reference. There is a need for a method of quantifying resilience to better plan and prepare for system wide disruptions. The research effort described herein provides a quantifiable measures of system resiliency, consistent with NSF’s definition. Fundamentally, a system disruption can be partitioned into five distinctive states: the stable pre-event state, the absorption state, the disrupted state, …

Scenario-Based Strategic Planning For Future Civil Vertical Take-Off And Landing (Vtol) Transport, Woojin Choi, Steven Hampton

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Rapid evolvement of the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) technology in conjunction with recent robust R&D has demonstrated the technical feasibility of the civil VTOL system as a short-haul mass transit mode. Its combined benefits of a helicopter and a turboprop into one aircraft is expected to become an effective remedy for congested air traffic and difficulties with airport expansions in the metropolitan areas along with the potential benefit to improve accessibility to population centers and remote areas where conventional aircraft cannot access.

In this study, based on a the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal (PESTEL) factors and …

Temporal-Spatial Analysis Of Emergency Evacuation Traffic, Lorraine Margot Acevedo Loreto

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Mass evacuations, particularly those at a statewide level, represent the largest single-event traffic movements that exist. These complex events can last several days, cover thousands of miles of roadway, and include hundreds of thousands of people and vehicles. Often, they are also marked by enormous delay and congestion and are nearly always criticized for their inefficiency and lack of management. However, there are no standardized methods by which to systematically quantify traffic characteristics at the proper scale. This paper describes research to develop and apply an analytical method to measure and describe statewide mass-evacuations in a practical, cost-effective manner. The …

Mass Evacuation Effects On Transportation: A Comparative Analysis, Emily M. Jannace

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Mass evacuations have changed greatly in the past two decades. Evacuations such as Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina, Florida during Hurricane Irma, and New York during the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, Hurricane Sandy, and Hurricane Irene have had significant impacts on future mass evacuations in terms of transportation. This paper takes these methods and analyzes the best approach in given situations based on volume capacity, impact, and cost to make recommendations that can be used by the three previously mention municipalities. With so many different techniques available, it is important to choose the one that moves the most people out of harm’s …

Does Length Of Ride, Gender Or Nationality Affect Willingness To Ride In A Driverless Ambulance?, Stephen Rice, Scott R. Winter, Rian Mehta, Joseph R. Keebler, Bradley S. Baugh, Emily C. Anania, Mattie N. Milner

Publications

Due to the frequent lack of ambulances and personnel, the purpose of this study was to examine consumers’ willingness-to-ride in an ambulance that was either driven by a human driver or completely automated (with no human driver) based on the gender of the participant and their nationality, either Indian or American. A two-study experimental design was utilized using over 1,000 participants. In Study 1, the length of the ride and the type of driver were manipulated while in Study 2, the length of the ride was manipulated across genders and nationality. Study 2 also collected affect measures to complete a …

Reduction Of Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions To Mitigate Climate Change Impacts, Mary Snow, Richard Snow

Publications

Weather affects almost all modes of transportation in a modern society, and likewise, transportation has an enormous impact on the weather. Transportation greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) impact climate change, which impacts transportation in return. Reduction of transportation impacts on climate change can mitigate the reverse climate change impacts on transportation. This paper examines the relationship between transportation and climate change and establishes prospective solutions to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emission impacts on climate change and mitigate the reverse climate change impacts on transportation.

Optimizing High Volume Traffic Surges Using Discrete Event Simulation, Claire L. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this applied research study is to determine the fidelity of a discrete event simulation tool called the Evacuation Simulation Prediction Tool (ESP) in predicting transit times during a high volume surge in traffic flow. The ESP tool was developed for the purpose of predicting and optimizing large-scale evacuations of counties or regions as an aide in emergency and disaster preparedness planning. The goal of the ESP model is to ascertain the balance of traffic flow capacity by managing the human factor events that impinge upon orderly highway travel without immobilizing the travel route. The objective of this …

Internet Enabled Remote Driving Of A Combat Hybrid Electric Power System For Duty Cycle Measurement, Jarrett Goodell, Marc Compere, Wilford Smith, Mark Brudnak, Mike Pozolo, Et Al.

Publications

This paper describes a human-in-the-loop motion-based simulator interfaced to hybrid-electric power system hardware, both of which were used to measure the duty cycle of a combat vehicle in a virtual simulation environment. The project discussed is a greatly expanded follow-on to the experiment published in [1,7]. This paper is written in the context of [1,7] and therefore highlights the enhancements. The most prominent of these enhancements is the integration (in real-time) of the Power & Energy System Integration Lab (P&E SIL) with a motion base simulator by means of a “long haul” connection over the Internet (a geographical distance of …

Modeling Bus Priority Using Intermodal Dynamic Network Assignment-Simulation Methodology, Khaled F. Abdelghany, Ahmed F. Abdelghany, Hani S. Mahmassani, Akmal S. Abdelfatah

Publications

This article presents a modeling framework that represents bus priority at signalized intersections in the context of its potential network-level and intermodal effects. The model incorporates bus priority within an intermodal dynamic traffic assignment simulation model. It dynamically assigns travelers to different modes and routes in the network according to prevailing traffic conditions, which result from applying a certain network control/bus priority scheme. The model considers changes in traffic conditions as a result of (1) drivers’ route choice adjustments due to changes in traffic signals settings and (2) modal shifts by travelers to take advantage of improved transit service. Three …