Transportation Commons^™

Recruiting Strategies For Increasing The Number Of Emergency Medical Technician Personnel, Carolyn Denise Mack

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Demand for the emergency medical technician (EMT) is 2 times greater than that of all other occupations. Sustainability of ambulance services (AS) personnel is dependent upon the recruitment of EMTs into the industry. The purpose of this multiple case study was the exploration of the recruiting strategies that AS administrators used to increase the number of EMTs. Herzberg's 2 factor theory of motivation was the conceptual framework for this study. The data collection instrument included semistructured interviews with 6 AS company executives in southeastern New Mexico and southwestern Texas. Secondary data and document from each state's emergency medical services personnel …

Transit Access Equity In Richmond, Va, Rachel Jordan

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the extent of public transit access equity issues in Richmond, VA. The City of Richmond has an established public transportation network system, and the thesis explores the level of access for urban residents to use existing public transportation services. Technologies and programs have begun to emerge across the United States to help solve transit accessibility challenges. The thesis assesses the level of transit access equity that exists in Richmond and introduces technologies and services that could help improve accessibility and equity. The thesis uses a mixed methods approach that will consist of …

Final Project Report, Catherine L. Ross, Amit Kumar, Kari Watkins

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Modeling Mixed Freeway Traffic: Human-Driven And Self-Driven Cars, Xianfeng Terry Yang, Zhao Zhang, Zhehao Zhang

TREC Project Briefs

Connected automated vehicles (CAVs) are typically equipped with communication devices (e.g., dedicated short range communications (DSRC)) and on-board sensors (e.g., Radar, Lidar, Camera, etc.). Communication devices would enable the exchange of real-time information between vehicles and infrastructures via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) channels. Sensors equipped in vehicles are providing various vehicle sensor data (VSD) such as the CAV’s GPS location, speed and moving direction (trajectory). Existing studies have shown the effectiveness of using CAV trajectories as input in many traffic control models.

However, it can be expected that CAVs and human-driven vehicles (HVs) will co-exist on the transportation network …

Vehicle Sensor Data (Vsd) Based Traffic Control In Connected Automated Vehicle (Cav) Environment, Xianfeng Terry Yang, Zhao Zhang, Zhehao Zhang

TREC Final Reports

Connected automated vehicles (CAVs) are typically equipped with communication devices (e.g., dedicated short range communications (DSRC)) and on-board sensors (e.g., Radar, Lidar, Camera, etc.). Communication devices would enable the exchange of real-time information between vehicles and infrastructures via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) channels. Sensors equipped in vehicles are providing various vehicle sensor data (VSD) such as the CAV’s GPS location, speed and moving direction (trajectory). Existing studies have shown the effectiveness of using CAV trajectories as input in many traffic control models.

However, it can be expected that CAVs and human-driven vehicles (HVs) will co-exist on the transportation network …

Incorporate Emerging Travel Modes In The Regional Strategic Planning Model (Rspm) Tool, Liming Wang, Joseph Broach, Huajie Yang

TREC Final Reports

Performance-based planning helps local and state decision makers to understand the potential impacts of policy decisions, supporting cost-effective investments and policy choices that can help achieve policy goals. In addition, it can enable monitoring of progress and facilitate needed adjustments, help them communicate to the public, and assist them with meeting federal regulations and the intent of MAP21. The Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) is a performance-based planning tool first developed by Oregon State DOT (as GreenSTEP) and later adapted for use by other states in the form of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Emissions Reduction Policy Analysis Tool (EERPAT) …

Final Project Report, David Weinreich, Thomas Skuzinski, Hamidi Shima

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Modeling For New Modes: Autonomous Vehicles & Shared Rides, Liming Wang, Joseph Broach, Huajie Yang

TREC Project Briefs

Performance-based planning helps local and state decision makers to understand the potential impacts of policy decisions, supporting cost-effective investments and policy choices that can help achieve policy goals. In addition, it can enable monitoring of progress and facilitate needed adjustments, help them communicate to the public, and assist them with meeting federal regulations and the intent of MAP21. The Regional Strategic Planning Model (RSPM) is a performance-based planning tool first developed by Oregon State DOT (as GreenSTEP) and later adapted for use by other states in the form of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Emissions Reduction Policy Analysis Tool (EERPAT) …

Final Project Report, David Weinreich, Thomas Skuzinski

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

Final Project Report, Suyun Ham

CTEDD Final Project Reports - Archive

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Gateway Width On Driver Yielding To Pedestrians: A Systematic And Parametric Analysis, Jonathan M. Hochmuth

Masters Theses

The gateway in-street sign treatment has been demonstrated to be a cost-effective method for increasing driver yielding behavior at crosswalks. In the present study, wide and narrow gateway widths were compared at two sites to determine if there was a differential effect on driver yielding behavior. Then, the relationship between width and yielding was refined with a parametric analysis at one of these sites. Gateway width was varied in two-foot intervals from 12ft to 18ft. The results indicated an inverse relationship between gateway width and driver yielding behavior. There are likely two variables related to this effect. First, because drivers …

Science, Advocacy, Policy, Planning: Tools For Advancing Transportation Equity, Garrett S. Mcallister

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The theme of this portfolio is how different tools and approaches can be used for advancing transportation equity. Broadly defined, transportation equity is about fairness in transportation. There are a number of ways this fairness can be assessed. The most common way to assess transportation equity is by looking at the fairness of outcomes, distributed geographically, socially, or even by mode of transportation. Equity can also be defined by the fairness of processes. The first half of the portfolio illustrates some of the problems with the current transportation system and how it is unhealthy (Piece 1) and unjust (Piece 2). …

Optimization For The Allocation Of Funds For Pavement Maintenance In Pavement Management Systems, Armando Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Pavement maintenance and rehabilitation are critical and costly elements for highway agencies. A challenge for transportation agencies is to preserve roadways in an appropriate condition and extend the pavement service life while maintaining the safety and satisfaction of its users, and maximize the benefits obtained by the repair investments. Pavement maintenance programming is increasing in complexity due to limited resources and increments in traffic and population. Management decisions are usually based on personal judgment by pavement managers and sometimes those decisions are not even supported by previous experience. Research shows that optimization methods can produce significant benefits when transportation agencies …

An Assessment Of The Sharing Economy And Its Policy Solutions Through The Lens Of Sustainability, Chloe An

Pomona Senior Theses

This senior thesis in environmental analysis explores the promise of sustainability of the sharing economy, its shortcomings from this positive potential, and possible policy solutions to help it reach its fullest, positive potential. At its core, the sharing economy enables shared access to goods and services that would otherwise sit in idle or underutilized capacity – popular platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and craigslist all fall within the sharing economy. By enabling affordable and convenient access to goods that would otherwise sit idle, the sharing economy encourages maximal use of a good that already exists rather than seeking out …

The Need For Enhanced Physical Infrastructure In The United States, Tanvi Gandham

CMC Senior Theses

An examination of necessary infrastructure improvements in the United States.

The Urban Morphology Of Northwest Arkansas: A Geospatial Analysis, Jason Mccollum

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on the impacts of transport infrastructure is limited, and most of it is either focused on

rural areas or on developed areas before modern geospatial technologies were available. This study aimed

to fill this gap in transport research by providing a holistic look at the regional changes that occurred due to

new transport infrastructure construction in Northwest Arkansas between 1980 and 2011.

The National Land Cover Database was used to create a time-series of land cover across the

region between 1992 and 2011. These data were then used to predict future growth in the region.

Additionally, growth patterns of …

The Feasibility Of Road User Fees And Other Alternative Sources Of Transportation Funding, Joshua R. Amberg

Pepperdine Policy Review

The nation faces an approaching crisis in transportation funding. This is a critical issue that is both relevant and essential to public administration. It affects all levels of government and extends across the nation. Rapidly declining sources of transportation funding pose short-term and long-term challenges for politicians, public administrators, and everyday citizens. In the face of inadequate revenues, new forms of funding are necessary to keep the transportation system solvent. This paper will briefly outline the history of transportation funding that created this problem and examine various proposed solutions. It will focus specifically on the emerging theory of road user …

Book Review - Dixie Highway: Road Building And The Making Of The Modern South, 1900-1930, Rebecca Rose

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Analyzing The Impact Of Public Transit Usage On Obesity, Zhaowei She, Douglas M. King, Jacobson Sheldon Sheldon

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The objective of this paper is to estimate the impact of county-level public transit usage on obesity prevalence in the United States and assess the potential for public transit usage as an intervention for obesity. This study adopts an instrumental regression approach to implicitly control for potential selection bias due to possible differences in commuting preferences among obese and non-obese populations. United States health data from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and transportation data from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey are aggregated and matched at the county level. County-level public transit accessibility and vehicle ownership rates are …

Proactive And Reactive Strategies To Handle Surges In Urban Crowds, Jiali Du

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Most urban infrastructures are built to cater a planned capacity, yet surges in usage do happen in times (can be either expected or unexpected), and this has long been a major challenge for urban planner. In this thesis, I propose to study approaches handle surges in urban crowd movement. In particular, the surges in demand studied are limited to situations where a large crowd of commuters/visitors gather in a small vicinity, and I am concerned with their movements both within the vicinity and out of the vicinity (the egress from the vicinity). Significant crowd build-ups and congestions can be observed …

Vulnerabilities, Attacks, And Countermeasures In Balise-Based Train Control Systems, Yongdong Wu, Jian Weng, Zhe Tang, Xin Li, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In modern rail transport systems, balises are widely used to exchange track-train information via air-gap interface. In this paper, we first present the vulnerabilities on the standard balise air-gap interface, and then conduct vulnerability simulations using the system parameters that were specified in the European Train Control System. The simulation results show that the vulnerabilities can be exploited to launch effective and practical attacks, which could lead to catastrophic consequences, such as train derailment or collision. To mitigate the vulnerabilities and attacks, we propose to implement a challenge-response authentication process in the air-gap interface in the existing transport infrastructure.

Individual Decision Making In Online Public-Participation Transportation Planning, Martin Swobodzinski

PSU Transportation Seminars

The empirical evaluation of complex decision support systems is often limited to the self-reported satisfaction of the systems’ users.

Such an approach is problematic due to the conflation of the user's satisfaction related to the decision support system and the decision making process and its outcomes.

In addition, it bears limitations that are common among most techniques that solicit participant-stated feedback.

In this talk, based on data that was gathered by a web-based participatory system for transportation planning in the Puget Sound region, I present analytical methods for the empirical evaluation of decision support systems based on human-computer interaction. In …

The Challenge Of Protecting Transit And Passenger Rail: Understanding How Security Works Against Terrorism, Brian Michael Jenkins

Mineta Transportation Institute

Terrorists see transit and passenger rail as an attractive target. Designed for public convenience, trains and stations offer terrorists easy access to crowds of people in confined environments where there are minimal security risks and attacks can cause high casualties. This report examines the unique attributes of the terrorist threat, how security measures against terrorism have evolved over the years, and their overall effectiveness.

Does security work? Empirical evidence is hard to come by. Terrorist incidents are statistically rare and random, making it difficult to discern effects. The fact that terrorists focus most of their attacks on targets with little …

All Roads Lead To The Fair: How A 2022 Los Angeles World's Fair Would Accelerate The Implementation Of Sustainable And Innovative Forms Of Transportation, Isabella Levin

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the potential impact of a World’s Fair on urban mobility in Los Angeles County by 2022. A brief historical account of World’s Fairs, and their impact on technological innovations in transportation will be given in conjunction with the development of transportation in Los Angeles. These accounts will help to contextualize an analysis of current plans to provide Los Angeles with transportation solutions, in light of the oversaturated automobile landscape in place today. Specifically, my research has revealed that the further development of light-speed rail systems paired alongside a mass adoption of autonomous vehicles would both alleviate contemporary …

Rail Rebound: The Impact Of Freight Rails On Regional Development In The United States, 1970-2010, Bishal Bhakta Kasu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Railroads have played a critical role in economic growth and development, and they exert a tremendous impact on the distribution and redistribution of the population. However, the impacts of railroads, especially freight rails, on population change and socioeconomic development are not well understood. This study fills the gap in the literature by examining the demographic and socioeconomic impacts of freight rails using county-level data in the continental United States from 1970 to 2010. The demographic and socioeconomic changes are measured by eleven dependent variables. Of those eleven, six are demographic (population, young, old, White, Black, Hispanic) and five are socioeconomic …

Impact Of Trucking Network Flow On Preferred Biorefinery Locations In The Southern United States, Timothy M. Young, Lee D. Han, James H. Perdue, Stephanie R. Hargrove, Frank M. Guess, Xia Huang, Chung-Hao Chen

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The impact of the trucking transportation network flow was modeled for the southern United States. The study addresses a gap in existing research by applying a Bayesian logistic regression and Geographic Information System (GIS) geospatial analysis to predict biorefinery site locations. A one-way trucking cost assuming a 128.8 km (80-mile) haul distance was estimated by the Biomass Site Assessment model. The "median family income," "timberland annual growth-to-removal ratio," and "transportation delays" were significant in determining mill location. Transportation delays that directly impacted the costs of trucking are presented. A logistic model with Bayesian inference was used to identify preferred site …

Deepwater Port Act Of 1974: Some International And Environmental Implications, James H. Gnann Jr.

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Grab Taxi: Navigating New Frontiers, Mei Lin, Christopher Dula

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In mid-2016, Anthony Tan, the CEO of Grab, an on-demand transportation-app company serving Southeast Asia, was locked in a high stakes struggle to win the hearts and minds of drivers, passengers and regulators alike. Valued at an estimated US$1.5 billion, Grab (known among consumers as ‘GrabTaxi’) had become one of Asia’s most successful start-ups.

The Road Into The Future Of Health Care: The Importance Of Addressing Access To Health Facilities In Transportation Infrastructure Investment Decisions, Nicola (Nikki) Van Den Heever

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Background: One school of thought argues that transportation infrastructure is not an ultimate end goal of development and therefore shouldn’t be addressed within development funding decisions while the other argues that transportation infrastructure is the crucial foundation from which all development efforts are based and therefore needs to be addressed within development funding decisions. Within this framework, there is a lack of academic and other research addressing how physical access to health care for pregnant women can better be addressed when making decisions regarding funding of transportation infrastructure projects.

Purpose: To demonstrate the importance of considering access to health care …

Transportation Asset Exposure, Adaptation Alternatives, And Infrastructure Resilience: Steering Committee Project Appraisal, Bahar Barami

May 18, 2016: The Economic Impacts of Sea-Level Rise in Hampton Roads

PDF of powerpoint presentation at the workshop "The Economic Impacts of Sea-Level Rise in Hampton Roads: An Appraisal of the Projects Underway" on May 18, 2016 at the Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center, 1030 University Blvd, Suffolk, VA 23435