Infrastructure Commons^™

Beneath I-280: Excavating A Neighborhood Lost To San José Freeways, Leila Ullmann, Gordon Douglas

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, thousands of people in San José, California were displaced from their homes as the state used eminent domain to purchase land and uproot neighborhoods for the construction of Interstate freeways. This report presents a multifaceted research and public knowledge effort that uncovers some of the communities buried beneath these freeways, in the area where I-280 and CA-87 meet today near downtown San José. The project builds primarily from previously unprocessed California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) archival documents, which this project studies for the first time. The records are rich in detail about valuation and sale …

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

The Disposal Mode Of Maine’S Waste Governance, Travis Blackmer, Brieanne Berry, Michael Haedicke, Cindy Isenhour, Susanne Lee, Jean Macrae, Deborah Saber, Erin Victor

Maine Policy Review

Maine’s materials management system is stuck in a disposal mode of waste governance. Despite significant investments in programs and policies designed to reduce the amount of waste the state buries each year, recent shocks and uncertainties have resulted in increased waste generation and disposal. This paper analyzes specific ways through which materials management in Maine has become locked in to a disposal mode of waste governance. We build a framework to help understand various forms of lock-in and how they might be unlocked. This framework is applied to the extended producer responsibility packaging law that is presently under the rule-making …

Historic Downtown Streetscape Plan Price City, Utah, Patricia Beckert

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The idea of a small-town Main Street has profound meaning within the American culture that has prevailed for the past two centuries. Historically, Main Street serves as the beating heart of a community, a place where economic, social, cultural, and civic activities are centered (Francaviglia, 1996; Main Street America, n.d.). Since the beginning of the 19th century, many factors have led to the decline of Main Streets, and despite a variety of efforts from different stakeholders, that decline has only intensified in recent decades (Isenberg, 2008; Orvell, 2014 Howard, 2015). In 1980, after a three-year project conducted by the National …

Evaluation Of Left Shoulder As Part-Time Travel Lane Design Alternatives And Transportation Management Center Staff Training Module Development, Zhuohang Deng, Zhiliang Luo, Neil Hockaday, Ahmed Farid, Anurag Pande

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Permanent capacity expansion, such as adding new lanes, is no longer a viable strategy to address traffic congestion in California; hence, ITS (Intelligent Transportation System) strategies, such as part-time use of the shoulder as a travel lane, need to be explored. The use of the shoulder as a travel lane during peak traffic hours has limited applications in the US, and most use the right shoulder as a part-time travel lane even though either the right or left shoulder (but not both) may be used. Caltrans District 5 is exploring the use of Left Shoulder as a Part-time Travel Lane …

Effect Of Weather Events On Travel Time Reliability And Crash Occurrence, Sonu Mathew, Srinivas S. Pulugurtha

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

The magnitude of the effect of adverse weather conditions on road operational performance varies with the type of weather condition and the road characteristics of the road links and adjacent links. Therefore, the relationship between weather and traffic is always a concern to traffic engineers and planners, and they have extensively explored ways to integrate weather information into transportation systems. Understanding the influence of weather on operational performance and safety helps traffic engineers and planners to proactively plan and manage transportation systems. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of adverse weather conditions on travel time …

Does Transit Service Reliability Influence Ridership?, Srinivas S. Pulugurtha, Raunak Mishra, Sravya L. Jayanthi

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

This research focused on analyzing the association between transit service reliability indicators and ridership. Further, the effect of road network, demographic, socioeconomic, and land use characteristics on transit service reliability was analyzed. The analysis was conducted at a bus stop level. Bus arrival/departure and ridership data from the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) was obtained. The road network, demographic, socioeconomic, and land use characteristics were captured within 0.25-mile and 0.50-mile buffers. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to understand the association between road network, demographic, socioeconomic, and land use characteristics and bus transit service reliability measures. The results show that bus …

Damage Detection And Damage Localization In Bridges With Low-Density Instrumentations Using The Wave-Method: Application To A Shake-Table Tested Bridge, Mehran Rahmani, Xintong Ji, Sovann Reach Kiet

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

This study presents a major development to the wave method, a methodology used for structural identification and monitoring. The research team tested the method for use in structural damage detection and damage localization in bridges, the latter being a challenging task. The main goal was to assess capability of the improved method by applying it to a shake-table-tested prototype bridge with sparse instrumentation. The bridge was a 4-span reinforced concrete structure comprising two columns at each bent (6 columns total) and a flat slab. It was tested to failure using seven biaxial excitations at its base. Availability of a robust …

Contracting Strategies: A Different Approach To Address Long-Term Performance, Maria Calahorra-Jimenez

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

For cost-efficiency, public safety, and sustainability, improving long-term performance in highway projects is imperative for public administrations. Project delivery and procurement methods provide an opportunity to align design and construction processes with this goal. While previous studies have explored whether project delivery methods impact the long-term performance of highway projects, these studies did not focus on how core elements within project procurement relate to long-term performance. Thus, to fill this gap, this research explores how and to what extent long-term evaluation criteria are considered in design-build best-value procurement of highway projects. To this end, the team conducted content analysis on …

Connected Simulation For Work Zone Safety Application, Vahid Balali

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Every year, over 60,000 work zone crashes are reported in the United States (FHWA 2016). Such work zone crashes have resulted in over 4,400 fatal and 200,000 non-fatal injuries in the last 5 years (FHWA 2016, BLS 2014). Apart from the physical and emotional trauma, the annual cost of these injuries exceeds $4 million-representing significant wasted resources. To improve work zone safety, this research developed a system architecture for unveiling high-risk behavioral patterns among highway workers, equipment operators, and drivers within dynamic highway work zones. This research implemented the use of a connected virtual environment, which is an immersive hyper-realistic …

Manual For Asphalt Pavement Repair And Resurfacing Preparation, Dingxin Cheng, Gary Hicks, Roger D. Smith

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Timely repairs of pavement defects are essential in protecting an important investment and asset that public agencies have. These repairs may be made as durable “stand-alone” repairs of isolated problems, or as part of preparations for a total resurfacing. This manual provides basic information on the planning, materials and construction aspects of common pavement repairs such as crack sealing, crack filling, and patching, as well as a broader look at other preparations needed for total resurfacing a pavement, whether the resurfacing is a surface treatment or a thin hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay.

Why We Should Reuse Wastewater, Bridget Sarver

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

As population and industry grow, the need to reuse wastewater is growing. Aquifers are often the dominant water supplies to surrounding areas. The levels of those aquifers are declining each year. Water loss affects many things like water wells, lakes, and rivers. Lakes and rivers that are used as water sources are seeing a decline in levels. Low water levels and drought occur because of the changing water cycle. Heavy rain and runoff can help refill lakes and rivers; however precipitation does not always fall back on the area that it evaporated from. By reusing wastewater, we will be saving …

Evaluation Of Polymer Binder Technisoil G5® In Concrete Mixture, Shadi Saadeh, Pritam Katawal

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Plastic is everywhere, and with its increasing use in so many everyday materials, the production and demand of plastic has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the accumulation of a mammoth amount of plastic waste and adverse effects on the environment. To optimize the huge amount of materials required by the pavement industry each year and reuse recycled plastics, the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) has been common practice. This research studied the use of a binder completely made from recycled waste plastic named Technisoil G5® and compared it with performance grade PG 70-22 mix containing virgin aggregates and …

Impact Of Dedicated Bus Lanes On Intersection Operations And Travel Time Model Development, Stephen Arhin, Babin Manandhar, Kevin Obike, Melissa Anderson

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Over the years, public transit agencies have been trying to improve their operations by continuously evaluating best practices to better serve patrons. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) oversees the transit bus operations in the Washington Metropolitan Area (District of Columbia, some parts of Maryland and Virginia). One practice attempted by WMATA to improve bus travel time and transit reliability has been the implementation of designated bus lanes (DBLs). The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) implemented a bus priority program on selected corridors in the District of Columbia leading to the installation of red-painted DBLs on corridors of H Street, …

Our Streets: Increasing Equity In Active Transportation Planning Through Community Outreach, Jordan Hoy

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT Significant research has demonstrated that active transportation infrastructure is essential for the growth and livability of San Francisco: it increases access to economic opportunities, promotes overall improved public health, encourages mobility without contributing to roadway congestion, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities, and supports the sustainability goals of the city. Despite the fact that communities of color will benefit the most from active transportation infrastructure development, historical disenfranchisement in tandem with a lack of diverse representation within public participation contributes to an inequitable distribution of walking and biking investments throughout the city of San Francisco. While research shows that Black …

Investigating The Resilience Of Accessibility To Emergency And Lifesaving Facilities Under Natural Hazards, Chih-Hao Wang, Na Chen

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Studying accessibility, including the resilience of city transportation networks, is critical to understand how these networks influence individuals’ mobility and lives. This study developed an analytical research framework to examine the resilience of accessibility to emergency and lifesaving facilities under the threats of natural hazards such as earthquakes and wildfires. With a cumulative-opportunity approach, the authors measured accessibility by counting emergency and lifesaving facilities (including parks, schools, hospitals, roads, and fire stations) that can be reached by driving at the census tract level in San Fernando Valley, CA. With the calculated accessibility, the authors run simulations to collect data showing …

Exact Algorithms For Practical Instances Of The Railcar Loading Problem At Marine Container Terminals, Manwo Ng, Dung-Ying Lin

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

With the growth in global trade and its environmental footprint, sustainable modes of freight movement are increasingly important in today’s globalized world. This study focuses on on-dock rail, where the rail terminal is located within the marine container terminal. On-dock rail has in recent years become an essential mode of transportation to move containers out of congested marine container terminals. This study contributes to the literature by presenting tailored exact solution algorithms for a recently proposed optimization model to optimize the loading of double-stack trains. In particular, a 3-stage solution framework is presented for the case when rail cars have …

Undersea Cables: The Ultimate Geopolitical Chokepoint, Bert Chapman

FORCES Initiative: Strategy, Security, and Social Systems

This work provides historical and contemporary overviews of this critical geopolitical problem, describes the policy actors addressing this in the U.S. and selected other countries, and provides maps and information on many undersea cable work routes. These cables are chokepoints with one dictionary defining chokepoints as “a strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region."

Taking The Waste Out Of Wastewater: Evaluation And Implementation Of Sustainability Measures At Base Aérea N.°5’S Wastewater Treatment Plant, Abigail Monahan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Wastewater treatment is a critical process by which the concentration of pollutants in wastewater are reduced to minimize the resulting effluent’s impact on human health and the environment. Base Aérea N.°5, an airbase located in Monte Real, Portugal, is striving to enhance their wastewater treatment methods to decrease the impact of the treated effluent on the environment. They can reduce the effluent’s impact by implementing more advanced wastewater treatment to decrease the concentration of micropollutants and pathogens in the effluent, and they can reuse the treated effluent to decrease the volume of freshwater they extract. This work seeks to evaluate …

Towards Creating Smart Cities In Nepal, Ambika P. Adhikari, Keshav Bhattarai

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Many urban centers in the world are seeking to become smart cities. Nepali city leaders are also aspiring to make their cities smart. A smart city basically has clever improvements made in three sectors of its operations: technological, human, and institutional. Globally, many cities have recently made impressive enhancements in at least one or more of these areas. Nepal’s National Planning Commission (NPC) in 2016 had released a concept paper on smart cities for Nepal, defining smart cities as sustainable, information and technology-based, with high quality services and replicable (NPC 2016). As most Nepali cities still operate with limited infrastructure, …

Data-Driven Methods To Address Truck Parking Shortages For Long-Haul Commercial Truck Drivers, Sharif Mahmud

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Truck parking is a critical concern for both the trucking industry and the truck drivers. Long-haul commercial truck drivers rely on safe and adequate parking to support interstate commerce, which has become a challenge due to parking shortages. The recent electronic logging device (ELD) mandate, forcing a strict compliance to hours of service (HOS) regulations, are leading to higher demand for parking. A number of federal, regional, and local studies reveal that truck activity will increase and truck parking demand will outpace parking supply in the coming years. Such parking shortages likely disrupt freight flows and pose risks to truck …

A Spatial Analysis Of Supply-Demand Of Public Transportation In Jefferson County, Kentucky., Nastaran Abdoli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public transportation is important as it serves individuals, especially the transit-dependent population, by providing a basic mobility service to these people and all others who rely on public transportation. This research utilized estimating public transportation demand and supply to analyze the spatial patterns of public transportation in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The study focuses on the transit-dependent population, and it considers indicators of age, poverty status, vehicle ownership, and foreign-born population with less than five years residency in the United States. This study conducted a public transit supply-demand analysis to identify areas with imbalanced supply and demand in Jefferson County at …

Going Green: A Comparative Analysis Of Green Urbanism In Paris And Shanghai, Jeanne Torp

Honors Theses

As climate change becomes more pressing with each day and as we scramble to slow down the challenges it poses, adapting the means of operation within our cities will become an invaluable tool for reducing humanity’s carbon footprint. This paper seeks to study the ways in which green infrastructure in global cities can be used to do just that—adapting to and mitigating the effects of challenges resulting from climate change. In order to provide a broad overview of the effectiveness of such green infrastructure systems across the globe, this research will focus on two cities that vary greatly in their …

Safety Considerations For All Road Users On Edge Lane Roads, Michael Williams, Marcial Lamera, Aleksander Bauranov, Carole Voulgaris, Anurag Pande

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Edge lane roads (ELRs), also known as advisory bike lanes or advisory shoulders, are a type of shared street where two-way motor vehicle (MV) traffic shares a single center lane, and edge lanes on either side are preferentially reserved for vulnerable road users (VRUs). This work comprises a literature review, an investigation of ELRs’ operational characteristics and potential road user interactions via simulation, and a study of crash data from existing American and Australian ELRs.

The simulation evaluated the impact of various factors (e.g., speed, volume, directional split, etc.) on ELR operation. Results lay the foundation for a siting criterion. …

Workshop Outcomes Report: 1st International Workshop On Seismic Resilience Of Arctic Infrastructure And Social Systems, Majid Ghayoomi, Katharine Duderstadt, Alexander Kholodov, Alexander Shiklomanov, Matthew Turner, Elham Ajorlou

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rezistance: Diné Grassroots Organization And Modes Of Activism, Eric Robert Dougherty

Senior Projects Spring 2020

This ethnography looks at themes of Indigeneity and activism as it exists in the everyday realities of young people living in or around the Navajo reservation in the southwest United States. Through work-related projects of hogan construction, land reclamation, watershed management, and language restoration Navajo youth are given opportunities to take control of their present circumstances and imagine a different future for themselves and their families. Besides work, youth and activism are constituted through other mediums and spaces that allow people to express who they are, what they care about, and why these things are important to them. The consistent …

Strategic Implications For The United States Of The Belt And Road Initiative In Africa, Alec Monnie

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The belt and road initiative is one of the most significant developments of the twenty-first century, which the United States will need to learn to adapt to. Much of the academic literature regarding the belt and road initiative mentions that Africa is a significant participant in this policy development, but fail to elaborate as to why that is, or what the implications for this are for the United States. This article expands upon the strategic significance of the African continent, and explains the implications thereof for the United States and China. This article argues that the belt and road initiative …

Comparing Beijing's And Tokyo's Population Growths, Ernest M. Oleksy

The Downtown Review

The growth of the human population has led to the formation of largely populated agglomerations known as megacities. Although megacities can be found on multiple continents, Asia’s collection displays how megacities can develop in their own directions. Japan’s megacity of Tokyo, like other Japanese megacities, has adopted a western approach. China’s Beijing, on the other hand, continues to embrace its eastern roots. These megacities may differ in their ideologies, but they share in experiencing similar phenomena. One of these phenomena is population growth.

Three-Dimensional Bedrock Channel Evolution With Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics, Nick Richmond

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bedrock channels are responsible for balancing and communicating tectonic and climatic signals across landscapes, but it is difficult and dangerous to observe and measure the flows responsible for removing weakly-attached blocks of bedrock from the channel boundary. Consequently, quantitative descriptions of the dynamics of bedrock removal are scarce. Detailed numerical simulation of violent flows in three dimensions has been historically challenging due to technological limitations, but advances in computational fluid dynamics aided by high-performance computing have made it practical to generate approximate solutions to the governing equations of fluid dynamics. From these numerical solutions we gain detailed knowledge of the …