Transportation Engineering Commons^™

15-06 Integrated Crowdsourcing Platform To Investigate Non-Motorized Behavior And Risk Factors On Walking, Running, And Cycling Routes, Ala Al-Fuqaha, Sepideh Mohammadi, Jun-Seok Oh, Valerian Kwigizile, Fadi Alhomaidat

Transportation Research Center Reports

There are several factors on the roads that impact bicyclists’ safety. This research aims to find the most important risk factors on roads, mainly in infrastructure facilities, to improve the safety for walkers, runners, and bicyclists. Most mobile cycling applications currently used by cyclists and runners were reviewed in this study in order to gain insight about the features that users care about. Features, such as speed, cumulative elevation gain, and connectivity to Google Fit, were found to be the most common features in the widely-used cycling apps. In this research, we developed and launched a mobile application for crowd-sourcing …

15-01 Effect Of Cycling Skills On Bicycle Safety And Comfort Associated With Bicycle Infrastructure And Environment, Jun-Seok Oh, Valerian Kwigizile, Kapseong Ro, Ahmad Feizi, Brent William Kostich, Raed Abdullah Hasan Hasan, Fadi Abdallah Mousa Alhomaidat

Transportation Research Center Reports

This study seeks to improve the methodology for determining the relationship between cycling dynamic performance and roadway environment characteristics across different bicyclists’ skill levels. To achieve the goal of this study, an Instrumented Probe Bicycle (IPB) equipped with various sensors was built. A naturalistic field experiment, including intersections, roundabout, alignment changes, and different road surface conditions, was conducted. Two self-reported questionnaires were used in order to obtain each participant’s skill level as well as perception on the level of cycling comfortability. The Cycling Comfortability Index (CCI) was derived from the probabilistic outcome of an Ordered Probit Model, which describes the …

15-11 Assessing Transit Oriented Development Strategies With A New Combined Modal Split And Traffic Assignment Model, Guangchao Wang, Anthony Chen, Ziqi Song, Songyot Kitthamkesorn

Transportation Research Center Reports

Transit oriented development (TOD) has emerged in recent years as a promising paradigm to promote public transportation, increase active transportation usage, mitigate congestion, and alleviate air pollution. However, there is a lack of analytic studies investigating the benefits of TOD quantitatively. Two major challenges of modeling a multimodal transportation network with TOD areas are: (1) failing to consider differences in feasible travel options available to different households in TOD areas may lead to inaccurate representations of travelers’ mode choice behavior, and (2) route overlapping is one of the major concerns in the route choice models used in the traffic assignment …

15-10 Development Of Multi-Class, Multi-Criteria Bicycle Traffic Assignment Models And Solution Algorithms, Seungkyu Ryu, Anthony Chen, Keith Christensen, Keechoo Choi

Transportation Research Center Reports

Cycling is gaining popularity both as a mode of travel in urban communities and as an alternative mode to private motorized vehicles due to its wide range of benefits (health, environmental, and economical). However, this change in modal share is not reflected in current transportation planning and travel demand forecasting modeling processes. The existing practices to model bicycle trips in a network are not sophisticated enough to describe the full cyclist experience in route decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to develop a multi-class and multi-criteria bicycle traffic assignment model that not only accounts for multiple user classes by …

15-03 Real Time Bicycle Simulation Study Of Bicyclists' Behaviors And Their Implication On Safety, Valerian Kwigizile, Jun-Seok Oh, Raed Hasan, Cole G. Villalobos, Aous Hammad Kurdi, Anil Shaw

Transportation Research Center Reports

The main goal of this study was to build a bicycle simulator and study the interaction between cyclists and other roadway users. The simulator developed was used in conjunction with Oculus Rift googles to create a virtual cycling environment. The virtual riding environment contained roadway infrastructures and features such as intersections, crosswalks, bicycle lanes, shared-lanes, etc. It also contained both motor vehicles and pedestrians that interacted with cyclists. The rider’s perception and reactions to different situations were investigated based on their performance during four virtual simulation scenarios with an electroencephalogram (EEG) readings. In addition to the results on interactions of …

15-02 Estimating And Enhancing Public Transit Accessibility For People With Mobility Limitations, Jun-Seok Oh, C. Scott Smith, Rostam Qatra, Mohammad Al-Akash

Transportation Research Center Reports

This two-part study employs fine-scale performance measures and analytical techniques designed to evaluate and improve transit services for people experiencing disability. Part one puts forth a series of time-sensitive, general transit feed system (GTFS)-enhanced employment accessibility models that account for multiple transportation modes, categories of functional limitation and design characteristics of existing public transit infrastructure. Model results shed light on the degree to which a medium-size city’s public transit system addresses the gap between a theoretical continuum of rider capacities and the physical demands required to achieve mobility and access to employment. Our research finds that an individual’s combined physical …

15-09 Impact Of Access Management Practices To Pedestrian Safety, Deo Chimba, Henry Ajieh

Transportation Research Center Reports

This study focused on the impact of access management practices to the safety of pedestrians. Some of the access management practices considered to impact pedestrian safety included limiting direct access to and from major streets, locating signals, limiting the number of conflict points and separating conflict areas, removing turning vehicles from through traffic lanes, using nontraversable medians to manage left-turn movements and providing a supporting street and circulation system. The study evaluated through statistical modeling the correlation between access management practices to pedestrian crashes. Focused on the impacts of access management on pedestrian crashes, eight (8) major roadway corridors were …

15-07 App-Based Crowd Sourcing Of Bicycle And Pedestrian Conflict Data, Stephen Mattingly, Colleen Casey, Taylor Johnson

Transportation Research Center Reports

Most agencies and decision-makers rely on crash and crash severity (property damage only, injury or fatality) data to assess transportation safety; however, in the context of public health where perceptions of safety may influence the willingness to adopt active transportation modes (e.g. bicycling and walking), pedestrian-vehicle and other similar conflicts may represent a better performance measure for safety assessment. For transportation safety, a clear conflict occurs when two parties’ paths cross and one of the parties must undertake an evasive maneuver (e.g. change direction or stop) to avoid a crash. Other less severe conflicts where paths cross but no evasive …

15-13 Exploring Bicycle Route Choice Behavior With Space Syntax Analysis, Zhaocai Liu, Anthony Chen, Seungkyu Ryu

Transportation Research Center Reports

Cycling provides an environmentally friendly alternative mode of transportation. It improves urban mobility, livability, and public health, and it also helps in reducing traffic congestion and emissions. Cycling is gaining popularity both as a recreational activity and a means of transportation. Therefore, to better serve and promote bicycle transportation, there is an acute need to understand the route choice behavior of cyclists.

This project explored the applicability of using space syntax theory to model cyclists’ route choice behavior. In addition, several bicycle-related attributes were also considered as influential factors affecting cyclists’ route choice. A multiple regression model was built and …

14-03 Transportation System And Its Association With Human Health - A Review And Modeling Approach, Jun-Seok Oh, Valerian Kwigizile, Ali Hamzah Hussein Alzuhairi, Fnu Zahid

Transportation Research Center Reports

Transportation systems constitute of infrastructure, commute modes, land use and other policies. The purpose of transportation is to provide easy access to goods and services. While attaining this purpose, impacts of transportation on human health and well-being have been ignored to some extent. Recently, studies have begun analyzing the impact of transportation systems on quality of life and health disparities. While many studies have discussed the impact of the transportation system on individual factors from health, a very limited number of studies have focused on the impact of multiple factors associated with multiple morbidity and mortality forms. The focus of …

Analysis Of Transit Accessibility For People With Disabilities, Rostam Khalid Mohammed Ameen Qatra

Masters Theses

The inconvenience of public transit systems and unavailability of bus stops in the United States has resulted in a heavy reliance on the private automobile. One of the main issues in transit services is accessibility, particularly for people with disabilities. This research is intended to compare estimated job accessibility measures by transit in Kalamazoo county for workers with reduced physical mobility and without. Using OpenTripPlanner (OTP) software, General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), Open Street Map (OSM) and Longitudinal Employer-Housing Dynamics (LODES) data were analyzed to estimate job accessibility for people with mobility constraints. By using the shortest tree path method, …

14-05 Development Of Decision Support Tools To Assess Pedestrian And Bicycle Safety: Development Of Safety Performance Functions, Valerian Kwigizile, Jun-Seok Oh, Ron Van Houten, Keneth Morgan Kwayu

Transportation Research Center Reports

While a number of studies have developed Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) for motorized traffic, there has been a very limited focus on developing SPFs for non-motorized traffic. Lack of exposure measures for pedestrians and bicyclists has been cited often as the obstacle to developing reliable SPFs. This project aimed at developing statewide SPFs for bicyclists and pedestrians at urban intersections. The SPFs developed can be used as a decision supporting tool for planners and practitioners in prioritizing areas for safety improvements. In order to capture crash patterns despite, a carefully designed sampling approach was implemented and improvements on other aspects …

14-06 Development Of Safety Performance Functions And Other Decision Support Tools To Assess Pedestrian And Bicycle Safety, Timothy J. Gates, Peter T. Savolainen, Steven Stapleton, Trevor Kirsch, Santosh Miraskar

Transportation Research Center Reports

A field study was performed at 40 uncontrolled midblock crosswalks and 26 signalized intersections on low-speed roadways selected from the areas surrounding three major urban college campuses across lower Michigan. An array of existing traffic control devices existed at the study sites, including various crosswalk marking strategies, along with additional treatments, such as pedestrian hybrid beacons (PHBs), rectangular rapid-flashing beacons (RRFBs) and single in-street R1-6 signs. The sites also collectively included a diverse set of roadway and traffic characteristics, including crossing widths, number of lanes, and median presence, along with vehicular, pedestrian, and bicyclist volumes. Three primary evaluations were performed …

15-04 Travel Behavior Of Blind Individuals Before And After Receiving Orientation And Mobility Training, Dae Shik Kim, C. Scott Smith, Elyse Connors

Transportation Research Center Reports

In this pilot study, we devised, tested, and refined a protocol for evaluating the travel behavior of blind individuals. Preliminary analyses of our pilot study data suggest that our new method involving Global Positioning Systems (GPS), accelerometers, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), will enable us to collect objective, quantitative, and valid measures of blind individuals’ travel behavior and Orientation and Mobility (O&M) training’s effectiveness. Preliminary analysis results from a small sample of blind travelers describe the individuals’ trip distances, trip frequencies, trip destinations, trip modes, travel times, whether assisted or not, and perceived ability to get around. With the completion …

15-08 Community-Aware Charging Station Network Design For Electrified Vehicles In Urban Areas: Reducing Congestion, Emissions, Improving Accessibility, And Promoting Walking, Bicycling, And Use Of Public Transportation, Ratna Babu Chinnam, Alper E. Murat

Transportation Research Center Reports

A major challenge for achieving large-scale adoption of EVs is an accessible infrastructure for the communities. The societal benefits of large-scale adoption of EVs cannot be realized without adequate deployment of publicly accessible charging stations due to mutual dependence of EV sales and public infrastructure deployment. Such infrastructure deployment also presents a number of unique opportunities for promoting livability while helping to reduce the negative side-effects of transportation (e.g., congestion, emissions, and noise pollution). In this phase, we develop a modeling framework (MF) to consider various factors and their associated uncertainties for an optimal network design for electrified vehicles. The …

15-05 Infrastructure And Technology For Sustainable Livable Cities, Upul Attanayake, Mehedi Hasan, Lizmert Lopez

Transportation Research Center Reports

Providing access and mobility for key installations and businesses located in cities become a challenge when there is limited public transport and non-motorized facilities. The challenges are significant in cities that are subjected to severe winter weather conditions. Improving access to sustainable mobility choices is a key aspect of developing livable cities. This project scope is limited to identifying methods and infrastructure to promote walking and cycling. With regards to cycling, bike-share program development and use of location-allocation models as planning tools are presented. To minimize exposure to adverse weather conditions, underground and above ground pedestrian systems are provided. These …

15-12 Analysis Of Walking Facility Performance Guidelines For Individuals With Disabilities, Keith Christensen, Anthony Chen, Mohammad Sadra Sharifi

Transportation Research Center Reports

It is necessary to design and evaluate the effectiveness of walking facilities to accommodate the needs of all pedestrian groups, including individuals with disabilities. The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) defines walking facility performance using a qualitative measure describing operational conditions, or level of service (LOS). However, how closely pedestrian LOS thresholds correspond to actual conditions are questionable. To overcome the limitations, a controlled large-scaled walking experiment involving individuals with disabilities was conducted at Utah State University (USU). A temporary circuit with the necessary walking facilities was constructed using eight foot self-standing walls. In total, 202 (160 without and 42 with …

14-07 Development Of Decision Support Tools To Assess Pedestrian And Bicycle Safety: Focus On Population, Demographic And Socioeconomic Spectra, Deo Chimba, Abram Musinguzi

Transportation Research Center Reports

Despite the increase of these non-motorized trips, bicyclists and pedestrians remain vulnerable road users that are often over represented in traffic crashes. While the currently used methods that identify hazardous locations serve their purpose well, majority represent a reactive approach that seeks improvement after crashes happen. This research addressed these issues and proposed decision support tools to aid the implementation of bicycle and pedestrian safety strategies. This work developed an access based tool to predict the expected number of crashes at different neighborhood levels. This tool combines the traditional methods such as those provided in the Highway Safety manual to …

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 …

14-02 Developing Public Health Performance Measures To Capture The Effects Of Transportation Facilities On Multiple Public Health Outcomes, Colleen Casey, Stephen Mattingly, Jianling Li, James Williams

Transportation Research Center Reports

Increasingly, federal transportation and public health agencies are working together to identify transportation investments that improve public health. Investments in transportation infrastructure represent one method to utilize transportation to improve public health outcomes. The ideal transportation investment is one that not only provides safe access for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders, but it also promotes more utilitarian or recreational trips for walking and biking in an environment of safe air quality. However, public health objectives can be at conflict when designing transportation infrastructure to support active commuting. For example, infrastructure investments may be made that promote physical activity through …

14-08 Big Data Analytics To Aid Developing Livable Communities, Li Yang, Hyunkeun Cho, Jun-Seok Oh

Transportation Research Center Reports

In transportation, ubiquitous deployment of low-cost sensors combined with powerful computer hardware and high-speed network makes big data available. USDOT defines big data research in transportation as a number of advanced techniques applied to the capture, management and analysis of very large and diverse volumes of data. Data in transportation are usually well organized into tables and are characterized by relatively low dimensionality and yet huge numbers of records. Therefore, big data research in transportation has unique challenges on how to effectively process huge amounts of data records and data streams. The purpose of this study is to conduct research …

14-12 Capacity Analysis Of Pedestrian Facilities Involving Individuals With Disabilities, Mohammad Sadra Sharifi, Keith Christensen, Anthony Chen

Transportation Research Center Reports

Walking facilities are important infrastructures that must be designed to accommodate the behavior of pedestrians in order to be effective. Heterogeneity in pedestrian composition is one important factor generally overlooked in walking facility design guidelines. Particularly, individuals with disabilities are often ignored due to lack of available data on their pedestrian behaviors. A controlled, large-scaled walking experiment involving individuals with disabilities was conducted at Utah State University to observe individual pedestrian behaviors in various walking facilities; these facilities include passageway and bottleneck formations. The purpose of this report is twofold: (1) to model time headway between different individual types using …

14-04 Conditions That Influence Drivers' Yielding Behavior At Uncontrolled Crossings And Intersections With Traffic Signal Controls, Robert Wall Emerson, Eugene Bourquin, Dona Sauerburger, Janet Barlow

Transportation Research Center Reports

There is a dearth of studies on how pedestrian who are blind might positively influence driver yielding in different travel situations. This project assessed common pedestrian behaviors (head turning, holding a cane, taking a step, holding up a hand, exaggerated cane movement, standing without a cane) on yielding rate for right turning traffic at lighted intersections as well as at entry and exit lanes at roundabouts. Data replicated previous findings on yielding rates for displaying a cane (about 60%), holding up a hand (65% to 80%), or taking one step into the roadway (80% to 100%) and also showed that …

14-11 Travel In Adverse Winter Weather Conditions By Blind Pedestrians, Dae Shik Kim, Robert Wall Emerson, Dave Guth, Richard Long

Transportation Research Center Reports

Winter weather creates many orientation and mobility (O&M) challenges for people who are visually impaired. Getting the cane tip stuck is one of the noticeable challenges when traveling in snow, particularly when the walking surface is covered in deep snow. We compared four different cane tips: 1) metal glide, 2) marshmallow roller, 3) roller ball, and 4) bundu bahser. There was a statistically significant difference in frequency of sticking among the different cane tips. Post hoc analyses revealed that the sticking frequency for the metal glide tip was significantly higher than that for the roller ball tip, for the bundu …

14-10 Innovative Park-And-Ride Management For Livable Communities, Ziqi Song, Yi He

Transportation Research Center Reports

Park-and-ride (P&R) has been recognized as an effective way to tackle the challenge of the last-mile problem in public transportation, i.e., connecting transit stations to final destinations. Although the design and operations of P&R facilities have been extensively investigated, there is a pressing need for a theoretically sound methodology for planning and managing P&R facilities. It is critically important to investigate where P&R facilities should be strategically located and how often transit service should be provided such that the net social benefit can be maximized.

This project proposes an integrated planning methodology for locating P&R facilities and designing transit services …

14-09 Alternatives For Providing A Safe Passage For Non-Motorized Traffic Across An Existing Highway Bridge, U. B. Attanayake, L. A. Lopez

Transportation Research Center Reports

Non-motorized transportation increases mobility choices, relieves congestion, promotes local economy, reduces greenhouse gas emission, promotes a healthy lifestyle, and improves quality of life. Recently, there is an emphasis on developing integrated transportation systems with off-road shared use paths and on-road facilities. A majority of highway bridges that are located on the planned or existing non-motorized paths have become bottle-necks for non-motorized traffic. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the bridges on non-motorized paths to identify safe passage alternatives to non-motorized traffic. The owner agencies need to have access to a methodological process to evaluate a site for the best …

14-01 Exploring The Equity Dimensions Of Us Bicycle Sharing Systems, C. Scott Smith, Jun-Seok Oh, Cheyenne Lei

Transportation Research Center Reports

Research over the past several decades has made it increasingly clear that livable communities are inextricably linked with the provision of opportunities for active and/or non-motorized transportation; i.e., walking, cycling and their variants. An emerging phenomena that is working within the broader movement of active transportation is public bicycle sharing systems (BSS). Such systems have grown considerably in the US in recent years and, in some cases, are dramatically changing the ecology of urban transport. Alongside celebrations of the early successes of US BSS, have been criticisms that these systems have not been adequately integrated into lower-income communities; a pattern …

Evaluation Of The Safety Effectiveness Of Clearview Font And Fluorescent Yellow Sheeting On Michigan Freeways And Non-Freeways, Lusanni Mercedes Acosta Rodrieuez

Masters Theses

Halation or irradiation makes guide sign fonts difficult to read. Missing the necessary guide sign information causes anxiety and confusion to drivers, and hence may lead to crashes. In order to avoid or mitigate the situation a newer font, Clearview, is used to provide better readability at long distances. In a similar context the lack of brightness in sheeting material for warning signs reduces conspicuity of sings. Installation of fluorescent yellow sheeting has been done to provide signs with more noticeable and brighter materials. This observational before and after study is an evaluation of the safety and economic benefits of …

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.

2015 Annual Report Transportation Research Center For Livable Communities, Western Michigan University, University Of Texas Arlington, Wayne State University, Utah State University, Tennessee State University

Transportation Research Center Reports

Table of Contents

• Messages from the Director and Representatives
• TRCLC Mission and Objectives
• Center Personnel
• Research Investigators
• Consortia
• Our Research
• List of Research Projects
• Highlighted Projects
• Technology Transfer and Outreach Activities
• Student Awards
• Upcoming Events