Transportation Engineering Commons^™

Incorporating Ada And Aps Work On Traffic Contracts: Design Guidance And Construction Standards, Joseph Bruno

Purdue Road School

The presentation provides an overview of the Indiana Department of Transportation's design guidance and construction standards on curb ramps and accessible pedestrian signals. The presentation also summarizes the Indiana Department of Transportation's policy on when existing curb ramps and pedestrian pushbuttons must be upgraded as part of a traffic construction contract and when an upgrade is optional.

When To Use Midwest Guardrail System (Mgs) W-Beam Guardrail, Katherine Smutzer

Purdue Road School

In this session we will discuss when MGS w-beam guardrail should be placed on state and local projects and review pertinent INDOT Design Memos released over the past year.

Practical Overview Of Revised Section 918, Geosynthetics_Piccoli, Santino Piccoli

Purdue Road School

INDOT Standard Specifications Section 918, Geosynthetics, has been revised and updated, broadening the tools available to designers and contractors challenged with variable soil types and site conditions. The revision effort included harmonizing Section 200, 600, and 900 language relative to the design and use of geosynthetics. Section 918 broadly pertains to geosynthetics, which includes geotextiles, geogrids, geocells, geomembranes, and geocomposites. This session includes a practical discussion about specific changes to geotextile specifications and the addition of geotextile types.

Overview Of Performance Based Practical Design, Christopher W. Van Dyke, Jeff Jasper, Adam J. Kirk

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

State transportation agencies (STAs) have increasingly turned to practical design and performance based practical design (PBPD) to inform project development and implementation — and to reduce project costs while optimizing systemwide benefits. PBPD is a design-up philosophy that encourages agencies to formulate projects to meet the purpose and need rather than adhering to ostensibly immutable design standards. This paper reviews practical design and PBPD concepts and initiatives and their application in a variety of contexts. It also summarizes best practices STAs can use to develop a PBPD program. As a holistic approach to project design, PBPD underscores context sensitive solutions …

Review Of State Transportation Funding Initiatives, Bryan Gibson, Christopher W. Van Dyke, Steven Waddle, Steven Douglas Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Despite significant cutbacks to the funding allocated to state departments of transportation (DOTs), demand for accessible and reliable transportation has increased even as existing transportation infrastructure has continued to age. Falling gasoline tax revenues resulting from increasing fuel efficiency and technological advancements have prevented state DOTs, including the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), from funding and financing much-needed transportation projects. Meanwhile, the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which provides funding to states and is tied to the federal gas tax, routinely receives cash infusions from the Federal General Fund to remain solvent—the federal gas tax has not been increased since 1993. Needing …

Road Diet V2.0 - Road Diet With Roundabouts, Michael Williams

PSU Transportation Seminars

How can we go one step, or one lane, further than the standard road diet? Roundabouts allow a road diet to reduce the final number of lanes from three to two.

Questions arise when roundabouts are used with a road diet. What traffic volumes are supportable? Will the roundabouts fit within existing intersections? What does current guidance tell us about this approach?

Michael Williams will present his work on creating a sequel to FHWA’s Road Diet Informational Guide. This work is intended to provide a feasibility determination tool for the application of this approach to existing corridors. Data from Bird …

Piezocone Penetration Testing Device, Chung R. Song, Benyam M. Bekele, Brian Sawyer

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Hydraulic characteristics of soils can be estimated from piezocone penetration test (called PCPT

hereinafter) by performing dissipation test or on-the-fly using advanced analytical techniques. This

research report presents a method for fast estimation of hydraulic conductivity of overconsolidated soils

based on the piezocone penetration test. The method relies on an existing relationship developed for the

determination of hydraulic conductivity of normally consolidated soils on-the-fly. The present research

revises this relationship so that it can be applied for overconsolidated soils by incorporating a proper

correction equation. The revised relationship provides a pore pressure representing the hydraulic

conductivity of a hypothetical “equivalent …

Evaluation Of Route Changes Utilizing High-Resolution Gps Bus Transit Data, Travis Bradley Glick

PSU Transportation Seminars

Congestion and travel delay on urban roadways can influence operating costs and service attractiveness. This research uses high resolution bus data to examine sources of delay on urban arterials. A set of tools was created to help visualize trends in bus behavior and movement; this allowed larger traffic trends to be visualized along urban corridors and urban streets. By using buses as probes and examining aggregated bus behavior, contoured speed plots can be used to understand the behavior of roadways outside the zone of influence of bus stops. Speed plots can be utilized to discover trends and travel patterns with …

Utilization Of Light Detection And Ranging For Quality Control And Quality Assurance Of Pavement Grades, Brad W. Rister, Levi Mcintosh, Gabriel B. Dadi, Ruigang Yang, Eileen Grady

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) technology is a useful tool that can assist transportation agencies during the design, construction, and maintenance phases of transportation projects. To demonstrate the utility of Lidar, this report discusses how Lidar data can be used while performing quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) of pavement grades along road segments where safety concerns have been identified (e.g., increased crash rates due to water ponding on the roadway). Researchers modeled surface runoff using Lidar data for several roadways that had experienced significant crash increases during wet-weather events. Based on this modeling, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) undertook …

Hot Applied Sealant Bond Test For Joints With Penetrating Sealers, Lieska Halsey

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Recently a concern has been raised for hot applied sealant bond for joints with penetrating sealers. The objective of this study will be to determine if the bond between the sealant and the concrete is compromised by the sealer currently approved to be used in Nebraska. The expected results will be that the bond is not compromised and is serving for the expected joint service life.

Systematic Approach To Identifying Deeply Buried Archeological Deposits, Anthony L. Layzell, Rolfe D. Mandel, Courtney L. Ziska, John R. Bozell

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This project is designed to assist cultural resource specialists involved in Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) project planning and development. The goal was to develop Geographic Information System (GIS) data layers that spatially delineate different landform-sediment assemblages (LSAs) and depict the associated geologic potential for buried cultural deposits in select watersheds in Nebraska. The Nebraska Buried Sites GIS resource will allow planners and cultural resource specialists to determine whether future project areas are likely to be free of deeply buried sites or whether subsurface exploration is necessary.

Compressive Strength Of Concrete Cylinders By Different Preparation Methods: Sulphur, Neoprene Pads And Grinding, Wally Heyen, Lieska Halsey

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The purpose of this evaluation is to compare the effects of four types of cylinder preparation methods prior to compressive strength testing in accordance to ASTM C 39.

Corrosive Strength Of Concrete Cylinders By Different Preparation Methods: Sulphur, Neoprene Pads And Grinding, Wally Heyen, Lieska Halsey, Tim Krason

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The purpose of this evaluation is to compare the effects of four types of cylinder preparation methods prior to compressive strength testing in accordance to ASTM C 39.

Spot-R By Triax, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Triax’s Spot-r system was developed to tackle the construction industry’s unique safety and productivity challenges, stemming from a demonstrated lack of total jobsite visibility and automatically collected, easily accessible field data. Spot-r by Triax combines a proprietary mesh network with sensor technology to record and transmit previously unattainable workforce and equipment location, activity and safety data within a defined area – all in real-time.

The Spot-r network is installed around the site and operates in a 900 MHz network, with a subset using a cellular connection to forward Spot-r sensor data to Triax’s custom, cloud dashboard. In the hazardous construction …

Purdue’S Biowall, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Mechanical ventilation, energy recovery ventilation, and infiltration (air that leaks into a building) are commonly used to introduce fresh air. These are all valid approaches, but a living plant-based filter is an innovative complement to these traditional technologies. A Biowall has the potential to improve indoor air quality while reducing the quantity of air needed for ventilation, creating the potential for energy savings. Figure 1 shows a Biowall prototype being evaluated in the ReNEWW House, a research home located near the Purdue University campus (http://www.renewwhouse.com/).

Mdp (Machine Drive Power) Intelligent Compaction Technology, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Caterpillar developed MDP (Machine Drive Power) technology to fill this gap. Rather than an accelerometer and vibratory drum, it uses the principle of rolling resistance to provide indications of soil stiffness. This allows it to perform more reliably on cohesive and granular soils with less variability than accelerometer systems. It also means that the technology can be used on both vibratory and static drum compactors, which are often used on larger sites. While the technology is quite useful on its own, it is even better as a complementary technology to the existing accelerometer-based systems. Contractors who use vibratory soil compactors …

Comparative Analysis Of Road Roughness Specifications, Abduvokhid Yunusov, Narikawa Kazuo

Acta of Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent

In this paper, it is given that comparative analysis of road pavement roughness specifications between Uzbekistan and Japan. Road roughness measurement methods and acceptance values in construction and maintenance were analyzed. Based on comparative analysis, we developed recommendations about pavement roughness measurement methods for road authority of Uzbekistan.

Iri Roughness Index Requirements For Highway Functional Classification, Abduvokhid Yunusov, Jamshid Sodikov

Acta of Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent

The paper reviews the role of highway functional classification in pavement management. Predominantly, technical classification is used in pavement management in CIS countries. The paper raises importance of highway functional classification in pavement maintenance in order to efficiently manage road network. IRI roughness index is widely used to monitor, assess road condition, analyze life cycle of the pavement. Authors proposed IRI values according to highway functional classification.

Diversionary Behavior During Congestion, Venkata Vamsikrishna Peddisetty

LSU Master's Theses

Most people in the US prefer to travel on freeways, but when there is congestion they divert onto local routes to avoid travel delay. This study measures the traffic diversion induced by an increase in congestion on I-10 freeway in Baton Rouge during congestion, using a Bluetooth Detection System. The main objective of the study was to identify the difference in the level of congestion on the I-10 between the Mississippi River Bridge and the I-10/I-12 split and the level of congestion on local roads that triggers traffic to divert from the freeway to parallel arterials. Other objectives include measuring …

Hurricane Evacuation Modeling Using Behavior Models And Scenario-Driven Agent-Based Simulations, Yuan Zhu, Kun Xie, Kaan Ozbay, Hong Yang

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Transportation modeling and simulation play an important role in the planning and management of emergency evacuation. It is often indispensable for the preparedness and timely response to extreme events occurring in highly populated areas. Reliable and robust agent-based evacuation models are of great importance to support evacuation decision making. Nevertheless, these models rely on numerous hypothetical causal relationships between the evacuation behavior and a variety of factors including socio-economic characteristics and storm intensity. Understanding the impacts of these factors on evacuation behaviors (e.g., destination and route choices) is crucial in preparing optimal evacuation plans. This paper aims to contribute to …

Exploring High-Resolution Data Obtained From Asc/3 Controller Of Intersection Se Division St & Se 122nd Ave, Portland, Oregon, Naowar Al-Abbas

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

High-resolution data obtained from ASC/3 controllers can be used to create a variety of performance measures, helping engineers and professionals in monitoring intersection performance, identifying issues, and making proper improvements. These measures concern the intersection quality of the progression, capacity, and non-vehicular operations (e.g. pedestrian crossings). In this report, we explored high-resolution data obtained from the intersection of SE Division Street and 122nd Avenue. This intersection had some safety concerns as it is considered one of most dangerous intersections in Portland, Oregon. Thus, the first variable we examined from the data was pedestrian wait time when a cross request is …

Land Suitability Analysis For Emergency Medical Services Posts Along State Highways: A Case Study Of California, Ernest Tufuor, Laurence Rilett, Yunwoo Nam, Antonio Hurtado Beltran

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

The response time of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to road accidents can be the difference between life and death. The California strategic highway safety plan highlight the need to improve the response time and recognizes that: 37% and 8% of the fatal crashes are 30 or more miles away from a trauma center in rural and urban areas respectively.

The paper seeks to: (1) demonstrate the viability of using spatial multi-criteria analysis in road safety management, and (2) provide a good scientific justification in selecting optimal counties for EMS posts. The goal is to propose areas that are close to …

A Joint Econometric Approach For Modeling Crash Counts By Collision Type, Tanmoy Bhowmik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there is growing recognition that common unobserved factors that influence crash frequency by one attribute level are also likely to influence crash frequency by other attribute levels. The most common approach employed to address the potential unobserved heterogeneity in safety literature is the development of multivariate crash frequency models. The current study proposes an alternative joint econometric framework to accommodate for the presence of unobserved heterogeneity – referred to as joint negative binomial-multinomial logit fractional split (NB-MNLFS) model. Furthermore, the study undertakes a first of its kind comparison exercise between the most commonly used multivariate model (multivariate …

Investigation Of Factors Contributing To Fog-Related Single Vehicle Crashes, Jiazheng Zhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fog-related crashes continue to be one of the most serious traffic safety problems in Florida. Based on the historical crash data, we found that single-vehicle crashes have the highest severity among all types of crashes under fog conditions. This study first analyzed the contributing factors of the fog-related single-vehicle crashes' (i.e., off road/rollover/other) severity in Florida from 2011 to 2014 using association rules mining. The results show that lane departure distracted driving, wet road surface, and dark without road light are the main contributing factors to severe fog-related single vehicle crashes. Some suggested countermeasures were also provided to reduce the …

Hierarchical Corridor Safety Analysis Using Multiple Approaches, Saif Alarifi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traffic crashes are a major cause of concern globally. Extensive efforts from transportation professionals have been made to investigate new methods to identify the contributing factors to crashes at various locations on the road network. Corridors, among other road network's components, play a vital role in moving people and goods between primary zones in different areas, and the safety and operational improvements of them have been the focus of many studies since they carry the most traffic on the road network. Corridors contain mainly intersections and segments, and previous corridor studies have focused on a sole type of road entity. …

Investigating And Facilitating The Transferability Of Safety Performance Functions, Ahmed Tarek Ahmed Farid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Safety performance functions (SPFs) are essential analytical tools in the road safety field. The SPFs are statistical regression models used to predict crash counts by roadway facility type, crash type and severity. The national Highway Safety Manual (HSM) is a generic guidebook used for road safety evaluation and enhancement. In it, default SPFs, developed using negative binomial (NB) regression, are provided for multiple facility types and crash categories. Roadway agencies, whether public or private, may opt to not invest their resources in data collection and processing to develop own localized SPFs. Instead, the agencies may adopt the HSM's. However, the …

A Decision Support Model For Autonomous Trucks Strategies, Ahmad Mohamed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We examined the potential to improve the movement of freight using Truck Platooning Lane strategies on limited access highways in the State of Florida. In the First part of this research, we investigated the potential benefits from dedicating one lane from existing lanes for autonomous trucks only. In this regard, a general framework tool was developed to evaluate and compare different measurements (e.g., travel tim and emissions) to better assist decision makers to determine the most effective freight transportation strategy. Additionally, the travel time, level of service and emissions on Florida Strategic Intermodal System (SIS) were systematically analyzed using a …

Explore Contributing Geometric Factors And Built-Environment On Bicycle Activity And Safety At Intersections, Scott Castro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to explore all factors associated with bicycle motor-vehicle crashes at intersections in order to improve bicycle safety and bicycle activity. Factors such as exposure (bicycle and vehicle volumes), existing facilities (bike lanes, sidewalks, shared-use paths), geometric design (# of lanes, speed limit, medians, legs, roadway conditions), and land-use were collected and evaluated using Poisson, Zero-Inflated Poisson, and Negative Binomial models in SAS 9.4 software. Increasing the bicycle travel mode can have positive lasting effects on personal health, the environment, and improve traffic conditions. Deterrents that keep users from riding bicycles more are the lack of facilities and …

Accommodating Exogenous Variable And Decision Rule Heterogeneity In Discrete Choice Models: Application To Bicyclist Route Choice, Bibhas Dey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The thesis contributes to our understanding of incorporating heterogeneity in discrete choice models with respect to exogenous variables and decision rules. Specifically, we evaluate latent segmentation based mixed models that allow for segmenting population based on decision rules while also incorporating unobserved heterogeneity within the segment level decision rule models. In our analysis, we choose to consider the random utility framework along with random regret minimization approach. Further, instead of assuming the number of segments (as 2), we conduct an exhaustive exploration with multiple segments across the two decision rules. Within each segment we also allow for unobserved heterogeneity. The …

Understanding Crisis Communication And Mobility Resilience During Disasters From Social Media, Kamol Roy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rapid communication during extreme events is one of the critical aspects of successful disaster management strategies. Due to their ubiquitous nature, social media platforms offer a unique opportunity for crisis communication. Moreover, social media usage on GPS enabled devices such as smartphones allow us to collect human movement data which can help understanding mobility during a disaster. This study leverages social media (Twitter) data to understand the effectiveness of social media-based communication and the resilience of human mobility during a disaster. This thesis has two major contributions. First, about 52.5 million tweets related to hurricane Sandy are analyzed to assess …