Transportation Commons^™

One Step At A Time: Counting Pedestrians Students Learn Pedestrian Observation And Data Collection In The Field, Jennifer Dill, Tara Beth Goddard

TREC Project Briefs

This guidebook provides a comprehensive set of class exercises suitable for students in courses related to travel behavior, traffic safety, urban planning and design, community health, or civil engineering. Exercises include activities developed through this project as well as an extensive set of educational materials drawn from online resources. The exercises developed as part of this project focus on pedestrians. They include elements of both traditional traffic counts and behavioral components, the latter of which are often lacking from current data collections efforts. By encouraging students to consider behavioral interactions of roadway users, these exercises can provide students with field …

The Future Of Transit, Dan Boyle

Journal of Public Transportation

Predicting the future is fun to do. Dreaming of possibilities while not being tethered to the chain of reality seems to be wired into our DNA. It doesn't matter that we are nearly always going to be wrong, nor that almost anything we come up with is some version of The Jetsons. The combination of human ingenuity and bold new technologies (helped along by artists' renderings) virtually promise a future of fun and ease.

Thee key word is virtually. Although, if the next major technological breakthrough were to be a time machine that could transport us back to the …

Assessment Of Climate Change Impact On Hydraulic Design Procedures Of Bridges, Anjuman Ara Akhter

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The significant change in climate is evident from the records of increased temperature, changed precipitation pattern, increased frequency of extreme weather events like storms, floods, and so forth. Like other infrastructure highway infrastructures also suffer the consequences of these climate change. Since the hydraulic design of these infrastructures is performed using historical climate data, the designs may not be able to provide services because designs are not considering climate change influence especially in terms of precipitation intensity. This study aims at identifying the most accurate source of climate database that predicts future climate change with less uncertainty and links them …

Assessing Corrosivity Of Galvanized Soil Reinforcements From Electrochemical Tests, Diana Alejandra Cabrera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The accurate estimation of the service lives of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls requires a proper evaluation of the corrosion potential through electrochemical test methods. Robust field tests are required to assess the corrosivity of galvanized metal used in MSE walls. To simulate an environment similar to an MSE wall, cylindrical soil specimens about 12 in. (300 mm) in diameter and 10 in. (250 mm) in height were constructed. For every specimen, two instruments were used. The first instrument measured the polarization resistance corrosion tests carried out on galvanized strips and meshes, as well as epoxy-coated rebars. The second instrument …

A Quality Control Performance-Based Methodology For Pavement Management Systems, Edgar Daniel Rodriguez Velasquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Transportation Asset Management is a decision-making process, which allocates available resources for operating, maintaining, enhancing, and expanding transportation infrastructure while considering its entire life cycle. Transportation infrastructure includes different types of assets and pavements are one of the main assets due to its social, economic, and environmental impacts to society. Transportation agencies implement Pavement Management Systems to support the pavement management process. While implementing and operating a Pavement Management System, one of the costliest procedures is collecting pavement condition data from the field. Good quality for pavement condition data is required to select the right preservation treatments, estimate the associated …

Smart Box : The Shipping Container Of The Future, Abud Jamal Said

Award-winning Essays

Prize-winning paper for the 2018 Bureau Internationale des Containers (BIC) essay contest.

"With the increase in global trade, container traffic has increased tremendously in the last two decades. Global container movement has surpassed the 700 million mark (UNCTAD, 2018). This signals a definite milestone for the industry, but it poses a significant threat in terms of commercial viability, safety and security of container related operations. The past year has seen an increase in container related incidents onboard container vessels, ranging from fire, collisions and stability issues. From the complexity that arises thereafter, it is therefore imperative to look at how …

A Boxful Of Rules : Which Rule Applies In Multimodal Transport?, Captain Vs Parani

Books

Have you wondered what happens when things go wrong during the transport, such as when a shipment of televisions is received in damaged condition, a container of cigarettes is stolen, or, an important shipment of prawns is received a week too late for the local market? Well, this is what this book is all about!

In the modern global economy, finished and semi-finished products are transported in large volumes across the globe. Things do go wrong during such transport; then what recourse does the cargo owner have? How much loss will be made good by the insurers and under which …

Feasibility Of Warehouse Drone Adoption And Implementation, Edward Companik, Michael J. Gravier, M Theodore Farris Ii

Journal of Transportation Management

While aerial delivery drones capture headlines, the pace of adoption of drones in warehouses has shown the greatest acceleration. Warehousing constitutes 30% of the cost of logistics in the US. The rise of ecommerce, greater customer service demands of retail stores, and a shortage of skilled labor have intensified competition for efficient warehouse operations. This takes place during an era of shortening technology life cycles. This paper integrates several theoretical perspectives on technology diffusion and adoption to propose a framework to inform supply chain decision-makers on when to invest in new robotics technology.

Nothing Good Happens After Dark: The Influence Of Temporal Factors On Motor Carrier Crash Severity, Misty Moody, S Scott Nadler, Doug Voss

Journal of Transportation Management

Motor carrier safety is a topic of great importance for both industry and makers of public policy. Regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), regularly publish data detailing the circumstances surrounding roadway accidents. FMCSA’s Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts (LTBCF) data demonstrate an increase in accidents during daylight hours and on weekdays. Roadway risks are ever-present but differ by time of day and day of the week. These differences may potentially engender crashes of different severities at different times. This study analyzes FMCSA LTBCF data to determine when crashes of different severities are more likely …

Safety Fitness Determinations: What Is Fmcsa Measuring?, Mark J. Andrews

Journal of Transportation Management

No abstract provided.

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.

Car-Less Cities, Maryam Moeinian

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The rapid growth of world population along with the sprawl growth of towns and suburbanization, has affected the human life and its surrounding nature dramatically. The fact is this level of growth is not sustainable with the current patterns of development. Most cities all around the world are designed in a way that encourages car dependency which is harming the environment and human health.

During the past decade, urban planners formulate new principles of land use development to preserve the environment and protect public health, safety and general welfare of the citizens. These concepts are characterized by some movements such …

Impact Of Highway Work Zones On Traffic Crashes: A Case Study In Michigan, Qadri Hafez Shaheen

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Infrastructure in the US is severely aged and outdated. This presents a seemingly paradoxical problem in the field of construction management: In order to fix and make roads and highways more safe, construction zones must become inherently less safe in the process. There is a high cost to taxpayers and drivers, as work zones experience a significant amount of crashes and fatalities each year. To mitigate some of the factors that contribute to these crashes, this paper attempts to deliver guidelines on how to update relevant crash data, identify relevant factors, and create recommendations accordingly. The research focused particularly on …

The Effects Of Automation Transparency And Ethical Outcomes On User Trust And Blame Towards Fully Autonomous Vehicles, Nathan Andrew Hatfield

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The current study examined the effect of automation transparency on user trust and blame during forced moral outcomes. Participants read through moral scenarios in which an autonomous vehicle did or did not convey information about its decision prior to making a utilitarian or non-utilitarian decision. Participants also provided moral acceptance ratings for autonomous vehicles and humans when making identical moral decisions.

It was expected that trust would be highest for utilitarian outcomes and blame would be highest for non-utilitarian outcomes. When the vehicle provided information about its decision, trust and blame were expected to increase. Results showed that moral outcome …

Pricing For A Last-Mile Transportation System, Yiwei Chen, Hai Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The Last-Mile Problem refers to the provision of travel service from the nearest public transportation node to a home or other destination. Last-Mile Transportation System (LMTS), which has recently emerged, provide on-demand shared transportation. We consider an LMTS with multiple passenger types—adults, senior citizens, children, and students. The LMTS designer determines the price for the passengers, last-mile service vehicle capacity, and service fleet size (number of vehicles) for each last-mile region to maximize the social welfare generated by the LMTS. The level of last-mile service (in terms of passenger waiting time) is approximated by using a batch arrival, batch service, …

Future Of Transportation: Hyperloop, Aayushi Gupta, Anju Babu, Catalina Reyes, Lipishree Vrushabhendra, Alex Tacco Melendez

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Transportation has evolved through time witnessing an expansion of the different modes of transport. Due to the various technological and organizational breakthroughs and with the arrival of ‘information everywhere’ in this digital age, one could imagine the future of transportation to be massively networked, user centered, integrated and dynamically priced too. As complex and challenging this could be, it is essential for new models of private and public collaboration, coupled with technological innovation. Today, Hyperloop is a result of one such innovation and is referred to as the fifth mode of transport in the near future. Different companies are integrating …

Minimizing Commute Distance For Small Groups: A Linear Programming Approach, Kevin Payne, Kritika Kumari, Levi Huddleston, Rabi Hassan

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

This paper aims to minimize total drive time between members and their respective group leader. Given a limit on group size and days available, how can a formulation of a group occur such that the sum of the total drive time is minimized. To accomplish this task a Linear Program (LP) is implemented that includes three sets of binary decisions variables summing to 4100 variables and a variety of constraints summing between 4200 and 4341 depending on the constraints enforced. For 200 members and 15 leaders the minimized average commuting time was found to be between 4.99 and 5.36 minutes …

How Do Stressed Workers Make Travel Mode Choices That Are Good For Their Health, Safety, And Productivity?, Liu-Qin Yang, Brad Wipfli, Lee Cyr, Kristina Marie Currans, Liming Wang

TREC Final Reports

It is well recognized in transportation and psychology research that commuting stress has consequences for commuters' travel safety, home environment, and work performance. Little research has addressed questions involving the possible interdependence between work stress, family stress, and commuting stress: Do workers having many demands from work and family life get more stressed out from a stressful commute? Or do stressed workers try to cope with work and non-work stress by choosing more relaxing travel modes?

This proposal integrates the perspectives from transportation, psychology, and health science by focusing on the relations between commuting stress, commuting mode choice, and consequences …

Cascadia Connect: Car-Free Access To The Outdoors, Kara Boden, Brandon Crawford, Matt Gray, Tony Lamb, Maricelith Valencia, John Whitman

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

As outdoor recreation areas in Oregon become more popular, increased auto-related congestion results in strained resources, environmental degradation, and diminished visitors’ experiences. This project proposes policies, strategies, and a variety of approaches to help transportation agencies and land managers facilitate car-free access to outdoor recreation areas. The plan also proposes approaches to increase access to recreation areas for transit-dependent visitors and under-represented communities who face significant barriers to access today. The Background Report includes data; interview, survey and focus group themes; site visit findings; and personal travel anecdotes.

How Commute Mode Choices Can Control Stress Levels, Liu-Qin Yang

TREC Project Briefs

This research integrates perspectives from transportation and psychology research by focusing on the relations between commuting stress, commuting mode choice, and consequences of such choice for commuters’ health, travel safety, and work performance. To fill the gaps in the transportation and psychology literatures, the project addresses two key research questions:

1) Under what circumstances workers experiencing commuting stress are more likely to commute via car vs. public transit vs. bicycle vs. on foot?

2) What are the different implications of choosing different commuting modes for commuters’ mental and physical health?