TY - RPRT AN - 01362326 AU - Cleveland, Theodore G AU - Thompson, David B AU - Fang, Xing AU - Texas Tech University, Lubbock AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Use of the Rational and Modified Rational Method for Hydraulic Design PY - 2011/02/28/Technical Report SP - 158p AB - This report examines the rational and modified rational methods using rainfall-runoff datasets developed from Texas watersheds for application to Texas Department of Transportation hydraulic design problems. A unified rational method for Texas (URAT) is proposed as an alternative to the conventional method in current use. URAT substitutes land-use specification, slope influence, and probability adjustments to runoff coefficients by a simple area-weighted coefficient based on functional impervious cover. URAT incorporates the effect of slope and probability adjustments in the specification of the watershed time of equivalence, a characteristic time that makes rational peak discharges and regression equation peak discharges equal at some specified recurrence interval. An extended application (example) is presented to illustrate how to use the URAT method for both peak discharge and hydrograph estimation. Several appendices document various approaches examined, and provide an extensive examination into the runoff coefficient. KW - Design KW - Drainage structures KW - Hydraulics KW - Hydrographs KW - Hydrology KW - Peak discharge KW - Rainfall KW - Runoff KW - Texas KW - Watersheds UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/hostedPDFs/TechMRT_0-6070-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1128254 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01349496 AU - Barnes, Ronald AU - Tull, Monte AU - Havlicek, Joseph AU - Atiquzzaman, Mohammed AU - Sluss, James AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Oklahoma Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Roadway Weather Information System and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) Coordination PY - 2011/02/28/Final Report SP - 58p AB - Roadway Weather Information System and Automatic Vehicle Location Coordination involves the development of an Inclement Weather Console that provides a new capability for the state of Oklahoma to monitor weather-related roadway conditions. The goal of this development is that motorist safety might be improved and the damage to highways and bridges caused by the application of deicing agents minimized through the use of the IWC and Decision Support Systems built upon it. KW - Automatic vehicle location KW - Coordination KW - Decision support systems KW - Highway safety KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Oklahoma KW - Road weather information systems KW - Weather conditions KW - Winter maintenance UR - http://www.oktc.org/otc/files/finalReports/OTCREOS7.1-05-F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1107843 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341899 AU - Akyurtlu, Ates AU - Akyurtlu, Jale AU - Eastern Seaboard Intermodal Transportation Applications Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Effect of Ozone and Distance from a Major Roadway on Nitrogen Oxides Concentrations PY - 2011/02/28/Final Report SP - 19p AB - A mobile NO, NO2 and ozone measurement unit with the associated weather monitoring instrumentation was built. Coordinated measurements of NO, NO2 and ozone concentrations and meteorological conditions at varying distances from Interstate 64 near Hampton University, together with the traffic volume data were obtained. CALINE4 was used to estimate the NO2 concentrations at receptors located at the measurement points. Since the concentrations measured at the original location of the receptors were not high enough for the validation of CALINE4 results, a new set of measurements was taken at a new location closer to the roadway. It was found that NO2 concentrations at the receptor locations are strongly affected by the ambient ozone concentrations. Ozone plays a primary role in the generation of NO2 from NO. Ozone is also significant in the formation of secondary nitrogen-containing species, thus depleting NO2. The latter group of reactions is not considered in the estimation of NO2 by CALINE4. The data indicate a significant over-prediction of the NO2 concentrations under crosswind conditions. To understand the obtained results better, statistical data analysis methods need to be used to identify the effects of the large number of variables affecting the process. KW - CALINE4 (Computer model) KW - Crosswinds KW - Hampton (Virginia) KW - Interstate 64 KW - Interstate highways KW - Measurement KW - Nitrogen dioxide KW - Nitrogen oxides KW - Ozone KW - Traffic volume KW - Validation KW - Weather conditions UR - http://biz.hamptonu.edu/esitac/docs/environmental_final_report_2011.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1104180 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341897 AU - Parmar, Devendra S AU - Eastern Seaboard Intermodal Transportation Applications Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Non-Destructive Bridge Testing with Advanced Micro-II Digital AE System PY - 2011/02/28/Final Report SP - 16p AB - The proposed research on the test bridge located on Route 164 in Portsmouth, Virginia, was according to the plan of action prepared in consultation with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research (VCTIR). The major elements of the work include: Research preparation; Review of the updated status of the bridge monitoring based on the feedback from VDOT; Discussion of the research plan with VDOT/VCTIR; Site visits with VDOT for identification of the test objects on the bridge; Planning of the equipment installation and data collection; Collection of information on the bridge structural planning and changes from the original plans; Acquisition of the latest average daily traffic data and determination of the percentages of light and truck traffic; Planning of the research logistics in view of the change in structure; and Development of strategy and logistics for design, development of operational aspects of instrument installation/data collection. KW - Acoustic emission tests KW - Average daily traffic KW - Data collection KW - Highway bridges KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Portsmouth (Virginia) KW - Truck traffic UR - http://biz.hamptonu.edu/esitac/docs/ESITAC_NDE_Final_Report_2011.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1104184 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340785 AU - Cox, Brady R AU - Griffiths, Shawn C AU - Mack-Blackwell Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Practical Recommendations for Evaluation and Mitigation of Soil Liquefaction in Arkansas PY - 2011/02/24/Final Report SP - 176p AB - Northeastern Arkansas has some of the largest design earthquake ground motions in the continental U.S. due to its location within the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). These large earthquake ground motions are particularly problematic when coupled with the unknown seismic response of the deep, soft soils of the Mississippi Embayment. Based on empirical standard penetration test (SPT) liquefaction triggering analyses, many soils in this area exhibit apparent liquefaction susceptibility at depths up to 30-plus m (100-plus ft). However, there is very little guidance in the literature on what to do in these situations, because soils soft enough to liquefy at great depths (i.e. greater than approximately 20 m [65 ft]) have not been documented in the case history databases from previous earthquakes. Currently, the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD), and others in involved with bridge construction in the NMSZ, are forced to drive piles for bridge foundations to significant depths in order to mitigate against the loss of strength in these potentially liquefiable soils during an earthquake. This is both costly and time consuming. The current research is aimed primarily at helping AHTD and other interested entities determine the best possible liquefaction triggering procedures for soils at depths between approximately 15-30 m (50-100 ft). While it is understood that the extrapolation of the simplified liquefaction triggering procedures to depths greater than approximately 20 m (65 ft) is of uncertain validity (Youd et al. 2001, Idriss and Boulanger 2008), designers must do something to determine the liquefaction susceptibly of these soils. This work systematically evaluates similarities and differences between the available SPT-based simplified methods at significant depths so that a rational decision regarding the liquefaction susceptibility of deep soils in the Mississippi Embayment can be made. KW - Arkansas KW - Earthquakes KW - Liquefaction KW - Pile driving KW - Piles (Supports) KW - Seismicity KW - Soils UR - http://mackblackwell.uark.edu/MBTC_DOT_3017(1).pdf UR - http://www.arkansastrc.com/MBTC%20REPORTS/MBTC%203017.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102743 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01466569 TI - An Open-Source Traffic Assignment Tool for Assessing the Effects of Roadway Pricing and Crash Reduction Strategies on Recurring and Non-Recurring Congestion AB - This research will provide transportation planners and engineers with a rigorous and computationally efficient tool to access corridor and network wide effects of road pricing and crash reduction strategies on recurring and non-recurring congestion, using performance measures that can be directly applied in investment-level planning and decision-making process. The work scope and plan includes incorporating the ability to simulate the effects of non-recurring events on network performance into the Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) Lite tool or any other tool, is not a trivial matter, particularly in a stochastic and time sensitive environment. The research team is nevertheless confident in its ability to add this capability which builds upon our joint efforts in this arena as part of the SHRP2 C05 project. KW - Decision making KW - Dynamic traffic assignment KW - Network analysis (Planning) KW - Performance measurement KW - Road pricing KW - Traffic assignment KW - Traffic congestion KW - Transportation planning UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1234804 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01330461 AU - Department of Transportation TI - Actions Needed To Meet FAA’s Long-Term Goals for NextGen PY - 2011/02/16 SP - 11p AB - On February 16, 2011, the Inspector General testified before the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics regarding the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) efforts to develop and transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The Inspector General noted significant challenges FAA faces in achieving its long-term goals for NextGen across two areas: (1) addressing schedule delays and cost overruns with the En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program--without ERAM, other programs intended to provide more efficient data sharing and airspace routes will not be possible--and (2) reaching consensus with partner agencies on key research and development efforts that will affect the cost, schedule, and capabilities of NextGen. The Inspector General also highlighted several management actions that FAA can take now to strengthen FAA’s management of long-term NextGen initiatives. These include clarifying responsibility within FAA for critical NextGen development areas, finalizing performance goals and metrics for NextGen, establishing an integrated budget document to align and track all partner agencies' NextGen resources, and fully leveraging the technology portfolios of partner agencies to assist with NextGen development. KW - Computers KW - Cost overruns KW - En Route Automation Modernization KW - Interagency relations KW - Long range planning KW - Modernization KW - Next Generation Air Transportation System KW - Program management KW - Scheduling KW - Software KW - Strategic planning KW - U.S. Federal Aviation Administration UR - http://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/dot/files/NextGen%20Hearing%20Feb%2016.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1091141 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01479821 AU - Sherry, Patrick AU - National Center for Intermodal Transportation AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Health and Productivity of Commuter Railroad Employees Involved in Critical Incidents PY - 2011/02/15 SP - 69p AB - The effects of accidents—termed Critical Incidents—on the health and productivity of rail transit workers have not been fully investigated. Anecdotal evidence suggests lasting effects of these incidents. Surveys were obtained from 363 commuter railroad operating employees from 3 different U.S. locations regarding their involvement in Critical Incidents (CIs) such as grade crossing accidents, striking trespassers, and others, achieving a 78.6% response rate among urban workers. The survey assessed general psychological state, health, and perceived work productivity. Nearly half of all rail transit operators (43.6%) reported involvement in a CI during their careers and, of those, nearly half (48%) reported involvement in more than one incident. A total of 12.1% of those in CIs scored in the clinical range on a standard measure of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The odds of scoring in the clinical range on the PTSD measures were approximately 6 to 1 for those involved in a CI. Persons involved in CIs reported significantly higher levels of intrusive thoughts, heightened emotional arousal, and sleep disturbances. Persons involved in CIs subsequently reported more physical health difficulties and were twice as likely to report depression and miss significantly more work days (2.96) than those not involved in CIs (1.5). KW - Absenteeism KW - Critical incidents KW - Depression (Mental condition) KW - Employees KW - Posttraumatic stress disorder KW - Railroad commuter service KW - Railroad crashes KW - Sleep disorders UR - http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/FTA_Report_No._0019.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55500/55505/FTA_Report_No._0019.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1248177 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337353 AU - Howitt, Arnold M AU - Harvard University AU - New England University Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Teaching Case Studies on Emergency Evacuation PY - 2011/02/15/Final Report SP - 3p AB - Through the development of four Harvard Kennedy School case studies, this project explored the policy and institutional dimensions of emergency evacuation planning and implementation in two major metropolitan areas – Houston and New Orleans. By providing in-depth descriptions of how regional authorities prepared for and managed the relocation of large numbers of people during two particularly intense hurricane seasons (2005 and 2008), the cases enable students of public policy and administration to examine a critical emergency management function and to improve their ability to deal with the issue in their future professional work. KW - Case studies KW - Disasters and emergency operations KW - Emergency management KW - Evacuation KW - Houston (Texas) KW - Hurricane Ike, 2008 KW - Hurricane Katrina, 2005 KW - Hurricane Rita, 2005 KW - Lessons learned KW - Metropolitan areas KW - New Orleans (Louisiana) KW - Public policy KW - Transportation policy UR - http://utc.mit.edu/uploads/Final%20Report_UTC%2020_Howitt%20(HVDE20-14).pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100364 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01465300 TI - Trajectory Management - RNAV/RNP Terminal Area Demonstration AB - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in cooperation with aviation stakeholders, is implementing performance-based navigation in the National Airspace System (NAS). The two key components of performance-based navigation are Required Navigation Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP). Each includes lateral navigation standards for performance, functionality, and capability. These standards allow the flexibility to design more efficient airspace and instrument procedures that collectively improve safety, access, capacity and efficiency, and minimize environmental impacts. KW - Air traffic control KW - Airspace (Aeronautics) KW - National Airspace System KW - Navigation systems KW - Next Generation Air Transportation System KW - Required navigation performance UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1233533 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01362915 AU - Koon, Leann AU - Jameson, Bill AU - Galarus, Douglas AU - Western Transportation Institute AU - California Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Professional Capacity Building for Communications PY - 2011/02/10/Final Report SP - 26p AB - The Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University, under contract with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), researched and initiated development of a comprehensive training curriculum for transportation communication systems. This curriculum will build the professional capacity of rural intelligent transportation system (ITS) engineers and technicians. The principal deliverables of this project were a Literature Review Summary, a Needs Assessment Summary and Gap Analysis, a Curriculum Scope and Sequence, and a Pilot Course Summary and Evaluation Report. In this first phase, a pilot course was delivered to Caltrans ITS engineers to gauge viability and assess methodology of the overall curriculum. While the course was generally well received by participants, a number of necessary improvements were identified that must be addressed in subsequent project phases and course delivery. KW - Advanced rural transportation systems KW - Communication systems KW - Continuing education KW - ITS program technologies KW - Specialized training KW - Training programs UR - http://www.westerntransportationinstitute.org/documents/reports/4W2165_Final_Report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1128281 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573570 TI - High-Speed Deflection Measurements for Use in State Highway Agency Pavement Management and National Performance Management AB - Current State highway administration's (SHA's) Pavement Management Systems are primarily based on surface condition data. Surface cracking is mainly used as an indicator of the pavement structural condition. However, with effective pavement preservation activities that intervene early to preserve and extend the life of pavements and increasingly thicker long-life pavements, the surface cracks no longer tell the true structural condition, or health, of the pavement structure. The true pavement structural condition and rate of deterioration are needed not only to plan optimal structural rehabilitation activities and future budget needs, but also for implementing a performance-based Federal-aid program. With an aging pavement network on our most trafficked highways, the fear is not when the next preservation treatment is needed, but (when that will no longer be effective) the need for major rehabilitation/reconstruction. The SHA's state-of-the-practice pavement condition data collection is inadequate to meet this increasingly critical need and network level deflection measurements; those collected using high-speed deflection devices can fill in this critical need. However, the use of deflection measurements from high-speed deflection devices, such as the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Rolling Wheel Deflectometer (RWD), has seen limited use in pavement management. One of the key hurdles is the lack of, or the difficulty in developing, performance curves for structural deterioration based on deflection measurements. Performance curves for deflection measurements are challenging in that they are sensitive to climatic conditions at the time of measurement, lack the history associated with other data, and there is a general lack of understanding for what deflections are considered good or poor.  Without performance curves, network level deflection measurements by themselves are limited in their use; one can make the determination of weak and strong areas within a section of pavement but cannot use it for optimum treatment timing or predicting future performance. Purely empirical performance curves for pavement structural deterioration from deflection measurements are difficult if not impossible for the reasons above.  With the development of more mechanistic pavement analysis with integrated climatic models, it appears suitable to develop pavement structural deterioration performance curves based on deflection parameters. This activity will investigate the potential for using Mechanistic-Empirical (M-E) analysis to develop pavement structural deterioration performance curves based on deflection measurements, and use data from the FHWA's RWD or other devices to adaptively calibrate them. Preliminary analysis shows that center deflection, such as that currently measured with the RWD, may not be a robust indicator of structural deterioration, and that slope or other deflection-based parameters may be needed.  European devices that directly measure slope from velocity measurements or the model based on structured light pattern being developed by LCPC (Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussees), France, appear to be promising in this regard. The performance models will be based on mechanistic analysis and material properties used in Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) models. However, it has to be simplified initially to pavement properties that are currently available in a typical SHA’s Pavement Management System (PMS) (layer thickness, type, and age) along with empirical coefficients determined through adaptive calibration so that they can be used in current pavement management systems. With the implementation of the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide and more and more of the pavement network-based Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide, these models can revert to fully mechanistic. Recently concluded Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP2) Project R06, identified a high-speed continuous deflection device as one of the technologies for a followup study and resulting SHRP2 R06-F that is currently underway. The initial efforts will focus on identifying one or more deflection-based parameters that can be measured at the network level and are robust and reliable for evaluating structural condition and developing structural performance curves. Subsequent efforts will build upon SHRP2 R06-F findings, critically evaluate available devices, further develop promising deflection device/technology, and associated analytical methods. This effort also has the potential to support a performance-based Federal-aid program by providing information needed to evaluate pavement structural health. Reliable pavement structural deterioration performance curves can be of significant value to both project management (PM) and National Performance Management initiatives. They provide a means to evaluate and predict remaining structural capacity (i.e. structural health index) and when the deterioration is expected to accelerate for determining optimal timing for structural rehabilitation; similar to the current use of performance curves based on surface condition for determining optimum timing for preservation and surface rehabilitation. KW - Condition surveys KW - Deterioration KW - Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement management systems KW - Pavement performance KW - Service life KW - Structural deterioration and defects UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366812 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340292 AU - Dessouky, Maged M AU - Mu, Shi AU - University of Southern California, Los Angeles AU - METRANS Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Dynamic Scheduling of Trains in Densely Populated Congested Areas PY - 2011/02/04/Final Report SP - 64p AB - Better planning and scheduling is needed for freight railroads which run at close to capacity. To improve freight train scheduling, algorithms are developed for both static and dynamic scheduling. The performance of two existing hueristics is compared to two optimization-based algorithms. The algorithms produce better results in terms of train delay. For larger networks, two proposed decomposition-based algorithms improve upon existing algorithms for train scheduling. KW - Algorithms KW - Dispatching KW - Freight traffic KW - Freight trains KW - Heuristic methods KW - Optimization KW - Scheduling KW - Traffic assignment KW - Traffic delays UR - http://www.metrans.org/research/10-08-dynamic-scheduling-trains-densely-populated-congested-areas UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098863 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01466559 TI - Federal Highway Administration Cosponsor-ship for the Partnership for the National Trails System for the 2012 National Scenic Trails Workshop AB - The objective of this order is to provide the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) cosponsor-ship with the Partnership for the National Trails System (PNTS) for the 2012 National Scenic Trails Workshop to be held November 5-9, 2012, in Shepherdstown WV. This includes production and dissemination of preworkshop materials, development of workshop materials, and support for workshop sessions and speakers. PNTS will recognize the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, as an agency sponsor of the workshop in preworkshop information and planning materials and at the workshop. Sponsorship includes exhibit space for an FHWA display. Conference information will be posted at www.pnts.org. KW - Information dissemination KW - Planning KW - Scenery KW - Trails KW - Workshops UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1234794 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337864 AU - Kroes, James AU - Mangiamel, Paul AU - University of Rhode Island, Kingston AU - University of Rhode Island, Kingston AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Port of Davisville Utilization Study: Phase II PY - 2011/02/01 SP - 18p AB - This project investigated the feasibility of expanding the Port of Davisville (Quonset Point, RI) to serve as a port of entry and departure for international container shipments. As an international port of entry (departure), the Port of Davisville would receive import (export) container freight shipments on vessels directly from (to) overseas importers (exporters). This project is a continuation of a previous research study, “Feasibility Study to Increase Utilization at the Port of Davisville (Quonset, RI)”, which was funded by a grant from the University of Rhode Island Transportation Center from January to August 2009. The previous study investigated the logistics and transportation issues associated with shipping containerized freight through the Port of Davisville. In particular, the study focused on identifying local and regional customers that could reduce their transportation costs by utilizing a container barge feeder service between the Port of Davisville and the Port of New York and New Jersey. The previous study did not investigate utilizing the Port of Davisville for shipments directly to and from international ports (i.e., as a port of entry and departure). The study proposed in this grant application expanded the previous research and investigated transportation issues associated with the direct shipment of containerized freight between the Port of Davisville and foreign ports. Utilizing the Port of Davisville for direct container freight shipments between foreign ports will possibly reduce the costs associated with shipping containerized freight for business, reduce port congestion at other east coast ports, and provide economic benefits to the local economy through job creation and lower shipping costs for businesses. KW - Congestion mitigation KW - Container terminals KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Economic benefits KW - Feasibility analysis KW - International trade KW - Port congestion KW - Port of Davisville KW - Quonset Point (Rhode Island) UR - http://www.uri.edu/uritc/media/annual_reports/annual2010.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100621 ER - TY - SER AN - 01584081 JO - Historic Roads of Virginia PB - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Miller, Ann Brush AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - New Kent County Road Orders 1684-1758 PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 40p AB - The road history projects undertaken by the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research (formerly the Virginia Transportation Research Council) establish the feasibility of studies of early road networks and their use in the environmental review process. These projects, by gathering and publishing the early road orders of the vast parent counties, also lay the foundation for additional research by local groups over a broad area of Virginia. This volume marks the 27th entry in the Historic Roads of Virginia series, first initiated by the Virginia Highway & Transportation Research Council (subsequently the Virginia Transportation Research Council, and now the Virginia Center for Innovation and Research) in 1973. New Kent County Road Orders 1684-1758 expands the coverage of early central Tidewater transportation records begun in the previously published New Kent County and Hanover County Road Orders 1706-1743. This project covers the surviving transportation records from the end of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century for a significant parent county of Virginia’s central Tidewater region. During the late 17th century and early 18th century, the area covered in this volume included much of modern New Kent County, portions of King William County and Hanover County, and a small portion of James City County. This information will eliminate the need for further research into the early New Kent County road order records. If questions arise about early roads once a Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) road improvement project is already under way (or nearly under way), primary historical research of this nature can take 6 to 12 months to complete. Therefore, this study can be a source of potentially significant cost savings for VDOT, including the avoided costs of project delays and avoided consultant costs for cultural resource studies should questions arise. KW - History KW - New Kent County (Virginia) KW - Road construction KW - Road orders KW - Roads UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56100/56148/VA-11-R10.PDF UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1377654 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01574046 AU - Eaton, Robert A AU - Kestler, Maureen AU - Hall, Andrew AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Department of Agriculture AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Spring Thaw Predictor & Development of Real Time Spring Load Restrictions PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 74p AB - This report summarizes the results of a study to develop a correlation between weather forecasts and the spring thaw in order to reduce the duration of load limits on New Hampshire roadways. The study used a falling weight deflectometer at 10 sites in central New Hampshire to determine the changes in road subgrade strength. Weather condition and frost depth data was collected at the same time. The goal of the study was to calibrate the Enhanced Integrated Climate Model (EICM) within the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) using correlations developed between the subsurface conditions and the strength testing. The project did not provide sufficient data to provide a definite conclusion as to when load restrictions should be lifted during the spring thaw. Some key observations: subsurface thawing can progress rapidly; subsurface strength may take up to five (5) weeks to recover, especially in wetter subgrade soils; subgrade soils were weakest after the date when frost was out of the soil; saturated soils lost strength during the spring thaw. KW - Enhanced Integrated Climate Model KW - Falling weight deflectometers KW - Frost KW - Load limits KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - New Hampshire KW - Real time information KW - Subgrade (Pavements) KW - Thaw KW - Weather conditions UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/14282k-FINALREPORT.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55300/55387/14282k-FINALREPORT.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364783 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01543890 AU - Zhang, Li AU - Wen, Yi AU - National Center for Intermodal Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Coordination of IVI and Transit Signal Priority on Transit Evacuations PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 58p AB - During an emergency evacuation, execution time is always critical to the evacuees who are transit dependent. Transit Signal Priority (TSP) can speed up the transit services by prioritizing the approaching bus at a signalized intersection. With the emergence of IntelliDrive (formerly known as IVI), which is a wireless communication technology used to transfer data among vehicles and infrastructures, a TSP system can obtain more accurate traffic data and react to the approaching bus in a wider area. This report proposes an adaptive TSP system to facilitate the transit-based emergency evacuation on the basis of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT's) IntelliDrive initiative. The objective of this project is to study the TSP and IntelliDrive coordination and to evaluate the impacts of the proposed TSP strategies on the transit-based emergency evacuation. The emergency evacuation model consists of two optimization models: a TSP optimization model and a bus routing optimization model. The TSP optimization model includes bus travel time prediction and traffic signal optimization. The bus travel time prediction is used to estimate the bus arrival time at the intersection. The traffic signal optimization considers both the bus delay and the network-wide vehicle delay. It determines when and which TSP strategy will be applied. The principal inputs for the TSP optimization model are: bus speed, position, busload, queue length, and traffic signal status. The bus routing optimization model is proposed to optimize the transit vehicles allocation and routing. The Dijkstra Algorithm has been modified to find out the shortest paths among the pickup points and the shelters in the network. Additionally, a hybrid intelligence algorithm consisting of a Genetic Algorithm and a Hill Climbing Algorithm, which was developed under the sponsorship of a previous project, has been applied to solve the transit vehicle routing and allocation problem. A case study of the proposed TSP system based on the Hurricane Gustav evaluation in Gulfport was investigated. CORSIM, one of the most commonly used microsimulation software, served as both a developmental environment as well as a test bed for evaluating the proposed TSP system. Detailed traffic network elements including geometric features, traffic flow, traffic control, etc, were coded in CORSIM. CORSIM RTE (Run Time Extension) was developed in order to embed the optimization models and the algorithms and simulate the IntelliDrive functions in CORSIM. CORSIM outputs provide various measures of effectiveness. The results obtained from CORSIM simulation show significant improvement on the transit vehicles delay and insignificant increase on the total vehicle delay by implementing the proposed TSP optimization model. KW - Algorithms KW - Bus priority KW - Bus transit KW - Case studies KW - CORSIM (Traffic simulation model) KW - Disasters and emergency operations KW - Evacuation KW - IntelliDrive (Program) KW - Optimization KW - Traffic signal priority KW - Vehicle to infrastructure communications KW - Wireless communication systems UR - http://www.ncit.msstate.edu/NCIT%20Reports/2008_13_Zhange%20and%20Eksioglu_COORDINATION%20OF%20IVI%20AND%20TRANSIT%20SIGNAL%20PRIORITY%20ON.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1332052 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01537412 AU - Kwon, Oh-Sung AU - Center for Transportation Infrastructure and Safety/NUTC program AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Adding Faculty in Transportation Areas - Year 2 & 3: Research Progress on Seismic Fragility Assessment of Bridge Structures PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 5p AB - The National University Transportation Centers (NUTC) program provides funds to help departments build up their faculty in the transportation field over the next five years. Broad areas will be considered as listed in the UTC mission or other areas that relate to state departments of transportation and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) in particular as stated in their goals, interests, and objectives. For the two years (2008~2010) while Dr. Kwon was supported by NUTC Faculty Support Funds, he continued his research from his Ph.D. study and made a notable progress in seismic fragility assessment of bridge structures. During the period, two journal papers, one ACI Special Publication, and one conference proceeding were published. As a final report, the abstract of the publications are attached. KW - Bridge design KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Missouri University of Science and Technology KW - Personnel KW - Research KW - University faculty UR - http://transportation.mst.edu/media/research/transportation/documents/R225_KWON_CR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1322356 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01534783 AU - Smart, Aaron L AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Applied Research Associates, Incorporated AU - Infrasense, Incorporated AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Pilot Study – Rolling Wheel Deflectometer, Falling Weight Deflectometer, and Ground Penetrating Radar on New Hampshire Roadways PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 73p AB - The New Hampshire Department of Transportation Pavement Management Section’s scope of work includes monitoring, evaluating, and sometimes forecasting the condition of New Hampshire’s 4,560 miles of roadway network in order to provide guidance on rehabilitation or preservation treatments. Pavement Management monitors rutting, cracking, ride quality, and several other road and pavement parameters using a 2009 PathRunner XP Model LG-23 road and pavement condition data collection vehicle. Supplemental methods to evaluate pavement structural capacity would enhance Pavement Management’s ability to forecast pavement performance. This project evaluated non-destructive testing methods to evaluate pavement thickness and deflection information by means of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and rolling wheel deflectometer (RWD) testing respectively. The GPR testing covered 115 miles and resulted with substantial variations in pavement thicknesses ranging from 4.0 to 12.0 inches. These predictions, when correlated with data from 35 ground cores, show an average accuracy of 6.5%. Although an initial purchase of a GPR system is costly, once in place, this testing is expected to cost $140 per lane mile compared to the cost of pavement core sampling at $10,000 per lane mile. The RWD test routes totaled 650 lane miles. Average deflections ranged from 6.4 to 19.2 mils and representative deflections ranged from 9.2 to 22.4 mils. Falling weight deflectometer (FWD) deflections were similar RWD deflections with the best average and representative deflection correlations occurring at an FWD load plate pressure of 110 psi. RWD advantages over FWD include continuous pavement deflection profiles, no significant disruption of traffic, and $5,700 savings per lane mile. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Deflection tests KW - Falling weight deflectometers KW - Ground penetrating radar KW - New Hampshire KW - Nondestructive tests KW - Pavement cracking KW - Pavement management systems KW - Pavement performance KW - Ride quality KW - Rolling wheel deflectometers KW - Rutting UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/FHWA-NH-RD-14282N.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1320441 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01531750 AU - Edil, Tuncer B AU - Wen, Haifang AU - Danda, Swapna AU - University of Wisconsin, Madison AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Utilize Cementitious High Carbon Fly Ash (CHCFA) to Stabilize Cold In-Place Recycled (CIR) Asphalt Pavement as Base Course PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 152p AB - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of cementitious high carbon fly ash (CHCFA) stabilized recycled asphalt pavement as a base course material in a real world setting. Three test road cells were built at MnROAD facility in Minnesota. These cells have the same asphalt surface layers, subbases, and subgrades, but three different base courses: conventional crushed aggregates, untreated recycled pavement materials (RPM), and CHCFA stabilized RPM materials. During and after the construction of the three cells, laboratory and field tests were carried out to characterize the material properties. The test results were used in the mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG) to predict the pavement performance. Based on the performance prediction, the life cycle analyses of cost, energy consumption, and greenhouse gases were performed. The leaching impacts of these three types of base materials were compared. The laboratory and field tests showed that fly ash stabilized RPM had higher modulus than crushed aggregate and RPM did. Based on the MEPDG performance prediction, the service life of the Cell 79 containing fly ash stabilized RPM, is 23.5 years, which is about twice the service life (11 years) of the Cell 77 with RPM base, and about three times the service life (7.5 years) of the Cell 78 with crushed aggregate base. The life cycle analysis indicated that the usage of the fly ash stabilized RPM as the base of the flexible pavement can significantly reduce the life cycle cost, the energy consumption, the greenhouse gases emission. Concentrations of many trace elements, particularly those with relatively low water quality standards, diminish over time as water flows through the pavement profile. For many elements, concentrations below US water drinking water quality standards are attained at the bottom of the pavement profile within 2-4 pore volumes of flow. KW - Base course (Pavements) KW - Cold in-place recycling KW - Field tests KW - Fly ash KW - Laboratory tests KW - Leaching KW - Life cycle analysis KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Properties of materials KW - Reclaimed asphalt pavements KW - Trace elements UR - http://rmrc.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Edil-No48.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1316329 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01454511 AU - Hall, Andrew D AU - Roberts, Glenn E AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigation of the Performance of Backing Cameras on NHDOT Maintenance Vehicles PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 48p AB - This report details the trial use of backing cameras at the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT). Several NHDOT plow routes require the plow vehicles to perform multiple backing maneuvers. Other day-to-day operations entail backing in conditions where sight conditions are never ideal. Seven vehicles were equipped with backing cameras and drivers were interviewed after approximately one year of camera use. The majority of the drivers viewed the cameras as a useful tool for safety; however the installation configurations often compromised the full effectiveness of the cameras. The knowledge gained through this investigation resulted in recommendations for improved camera placement and system configurations that would enhance the effectiveness of this technology for future maintenance operations. KW - Backing strips KW - Blind spots KW - Cameras KW - Highway maintenance KW - Maintenance vehicles KW - New Hampshire KW - Snowplows KW - Technological innovations UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/FHWA-NH-RD-15680A.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1223071 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01451633 AU - United States Federal Highway Administration TI - Federal aid primary route 315, Illinois Route 336 from the proposed Macomb bypass to I-474, McDonough, Fulton, and Peoria counties : environmental impact statement PY - 2011/02//Volumes held: Draft, Final, Final Appendix, public meeting documentation B1 KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Illinois UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1220177 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01451377 AU - United States Federal Aviation Administration TI - Palm Beach International Airport : environmental impact statement PY - 2011/02//Volumes held: Draft(3v), Final(4v), Integrated noise model (INM) input data B1 KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Florida UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1219921 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01451298 AU - United States Federal Highway Administration TI - Idaho 16, I-84 to Idaho 44, Ada and Canyon counties : environmental impact statement PY - 2011/02//Volumes held: Draft,Dsum, Final, supplemental reports B1 KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Idaho UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1219842 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01446525 AU - Min, Hokey AU - Bowling Green State University AU - Michigan Ohio University Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Developing a Model-based Decision Support System for Call-A-Ride Paratransit Service Problems PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 31p AB - The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) regulations, which implement the transportation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), require that public transit agencies that provide fixed route service also provide “complementary paratransit service” to persons with disabilities who are unable to use the fixed route system. The level of service provided by the paratransit program must be “comparable” to that provided by the fixed route service. There are six service criteria that define the comparability of this complementary service: 1) service area; 2) response time; 3) fares; 4) days and hours of operations; 5) trip purposes served and; 6) capacity constraints. There are two types of paratransit services required by ADA: 1) door-to-door service and; 2) curb-to-curb service. Door-to-door service is the service in which the driver will assist the rider from their door to the vehicle at their pickup location and will assist the rider from the vehicle to the door of their destination while curb-to-curb service is similar to a taxi service where the driver will wait in the vehicle for the rider to embark the vehicle and drop them off at the rider’s destination without any assistance. Since door-to-door service takes more time and additional driver’s efforts, such services may be curtailed in times of budget crisis. There are many studies that have been performed to evaluate the efficiency of paratransit systems worldwide. These include peer to peer analyses as well as historical data analyses. KW - Americans with Disabilities Act KW - Decision support systems KW - Door to door service KW - Level of service KW - Paratransit services KW - Quality of service UR - http://mioh-utc.udmercy.edu/research/ts-33/pdf/MIOH_UTC_TS33_2011-Final_Report_Developing_a_Model-Based_Decision_Support_etc.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1213708 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01380395 AU - Robinson, Michael AU - Venuti, Joseph C AU - McGettigan, Starr AU - Massachusetts Institute of Technology AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Use of a High-Resolution Deterministic Weather Forecast for Strategic Air Traffic Management Decision Support PY - 2011/02 SP - 27p AB - One of the most significant air traffic challenges is managing the National Airspace System (NAS) in a manner that optimizes efficiency and mitigates avoidable delay, while maintaining safety, when convective weather is present. To do this, aviation planners seek to develop strategic air traffic management (ATM) plans and initiatives that anticipate weather constraints 2-8 hours in the future and identify options and alternatives for efficient operations during the off-nominal NAS conditions. In support of strategic planning, traffic managers currently conduct bi-hourly Strategic Planning Telcons and devise weather impact mitigations plans using the human-generated Collaborative Convective Forecast Product (CCFP). However, most operational decision-makers agree that the quasi-deterministic CCFP "polygons" (accompanied by a "low/high" forecast confidence rating) lack the granularity and temporal resolution to adequately support efficient strategic ATM plans and decisions. Moreover, traffic managers also assert that probabilistic forecasts of convective weather likelihood, while helpful in highlighting regions of possible airspace disruptions, generally lack the ability to resolve specific weather characteristics pertinent to strategic planning. MIT Lincoln Laboratory, NCAR Research Applications Laboratory, and NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory have collaborated to develop a high-resolution, rapidly updating 0-8 hour deterministic precipitation and echo tops forecast, known as CoSPA, to aid operational decision-makers in developing strategic plans for weather impact mitigation. In the summer of 2010, a comprehensive field study was conducted to assess potential benefits and the operational performance of CoSPA in the context of strategic ATM planning. The data were gathered by simultaneous real-time observations of I5 FAA and airline operations facilities during 15 convective weather impact days affecting the Northern Plains, Great Lakes, and East Coast regions of the NAS. CoSPA field evaluation results will be presented to demonstrate the various ways aviation planners have utilized the increased spatial and temporal resolution of CoSPA - the ability of CoSPA to resolve storm structure and refine forecasts with high update rates - to make more detailed assessments of potential weather impacts and to determine the subsequent need for airspace management initiatives. Results will also be presented that highlight CoSPA enhancement needs, primarily related to forecast uncertainty, that would improve the operational effectiveness of CoSPA-derived weather impact mitigation plans. Finally, opportunities to translate CoSPA deterministic forecasts into integrated weather-ATM decision support for specific strategic planning tasks will be discussed. KW - Air traffic control KW - Decision support systems KW - Strategic planning KW - Systems analysis KW - Weather conditions KW - Weather forecasting UR - http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a545881.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1147563 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01380272 AU - Bham, Ghulam H AU - Mohammadi, Mojtaba Ale AU - Mid-America Transportation Center AU - Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Evaluation of Work Zone Speed Limits: An Objective and Subjective Analysis of Work Zones in Missouri PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 104p AB - This study objectively and subjectively examined speed characteristics and driver compliance with the posted speed limit in Missouri work zones. The objective evaluation collected vehicle speeds from four work zones with different configurations on I-44. The effects of lane closure, lane width reduction, and construction activity on speeds of cars and trucks were evaluated. Construction activity was found to have a statistically significant effect in reducing vehicle speeds. During no construction, passenger cars and trucks speeds were 3.5 and 2.2 mph higher than their speeds during periods of construction activity, respectively. The vehicle speeds were found to be statistically higher than the posted speed limit in all cases studied except when the lane width was reduced using tubular markers, which reduced the speed of cars and trucks by 8.5 and 11.1mph for cars and trucks during construction activity, respectively. This figure was respectively 4.0 and 8.1mph during no construction. Also, compliance with speed limits was lower for posted speed limits of 50 mph versus 60 mph. Two subjective evaluations were conducted: first, work zone speed limits practiced at state departments of transportation were surveyed, and second, drivers' perceptions of driving through the work zones were investigated. Specific questions that evaluated driver perception were related to compliance with the posted speed limit, safety, and the effects of various factors on their speed. Results of subjective evaluation were consistent with the objective evaluation and showed that drivers suggest a work zone speed limit consistent with the speed that they drove through the work zone. When a work zone was mostly congested, 92% of car drivers and all of the truck drivers suggested a reduction in speed limits. Conversely, 92% of car drivers and 73% of truck drivers suggested a higher posted speed limit when the work zone was not congested. More than 90% of drivers agreed that construction activity prompted them to reduce their speed, a result that confirmed the outcome of the objective analysis. KW - Behavior KW - Compliance KW - Drivers KW - Speed limits KW - Traffic speed KW - Work zone safety KW - Work zone traffic control KW - Work zones UR - http://matc.unl.edu/assets/documents/matcfinal/Bham_EvaluationofWorkZoneSpeedLimitsAnObjectiveandSubjectiveAnalysisofWorkZonesinMissouri.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1147518 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01376192 AU - Zhang, Zhanmin AU - Murphy, Michael R AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Web-Based Pavement Performance and Maintenance Management and GIS Mapping System for Easy Access PY - 2011/02//Technical Report SP - 21p AB - State Departments of Transportation, including the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), have been moving towards the development and implementation of pavement management systems that would enable monitoring of the performance of their roadways, as well as assist transportation officials with maintenance budget allocation and planning decisions. Various attempts made in the past focused on using the available performance databases as well as state-of-the-art concepts for the development of such systems. The unique characteristics of Texas, the most prominent of which is the vast size of the managed pavement network—79,696 centerline miles of highways including 49,829 bridges—have made some of the decision-support models and/or algorithms a challenge to implement. This report presents a new approach to the development of such a decision-support system with its focus on maintenance management for TxDOT. The new system is web-based and provides functional capabilities that allow transportation officials and engineers to make informed decisions regarding their budget planning and allocation for pavement maintenance management, fully utilizing available historical data. The developed system has been successfully pilot-tested in the Dallas District of TxDOT. KW - Budgeting KW - Dallas (Texas) KW - Decision support systems KW - Geographic information systems KW - Maintenance management KW - Pavement management systems KW - Pavement performance KW - Texas Department of Transportation KW - Web applications UR - http://www.utexas.edu/research/ctr/pdf_reports/5_9035_01_1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1144042 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01375340 AU - Ha, Soojun AU - Yeon, Jungheum AU - Choi, Byounghooi AU - Jung, Younsu AU - Zollinger, Dan G AU - Wimsatt, Andrew AU - Won, Moon C AU - Texas Tech University, Lubbock AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Develop Mechanistic-Empirical Design for CRCP PY - 2011/02//Technical Report SP - 248p AB - Currently, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) uses the 1993 "AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures" (AASHTO 93 design guide) for the slab thickness design of continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP). The AASHTO 93 design guide was developed based on the AASHO road test, where jointed plain concrete pavement was the major pavement evaluated and CRCP was not included. From a purely technical standpoint, the AASHTO 93 design guide is not appropriate for the design of CRCP. With ever-increasing traffic on major highways in Texas where CRCP is widely used, there is a need for a more mechanistic-empirical (ME) based pavement design procedure for CRCP. An ME-based pavement design method will allow TxDOT to optimize pavement structures to best utilize the limited financial resources available. To develop an ME based CRCP design procedure, the mechanism of punchouts was identified by field evaluations of CRCP, which included coring, deflection testing using falling weight deflectometer (FWD), and other nondestructive testing. Once the punchout mechanism was identified, mechanistic modeling was performed using a 3-dimensional finite element program. Another important element in the ME based pavement design procedures is the accuracy of a transfer function. A transfer function was developed using the data from TxDOT PMIS. A CRCP design program based on ME principles was developed, called TxCRCP-ME, with a User’s Guide for the program. In the program, the effect of nonuniformity of subbase support, or the effect of erosion, was not directly addressed. From a theoretical standpoint, the effect is included in a transfer function. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of input variables and the reasonableness of the results. Since the reasonableness of TxCRCP-ME depends on the accuracy of transfer function, further efforts are recommended to refine the transfer function by collecting more accurate information on traffic, construction information and distress data. Once an accurate transfer function is developed, further sensitivity analysis will be needed to evaluate the reasonableness of the TxCRCP-ME. For the spalling issue, extensive field evaluations were conducted for the performance of spalling. A spalling model was developed and calibrated with field evaluation data. KW - AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures KW - Continuously reinforced concrete pavements KW - Mechanistic-empirical pavement design KW - Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide KW - Pavement design KW - Punchouts KW - Sensitivity analysis KW - Spalling KW - Texas KW - Transfer functions KW - TxCRCP-ME (Computer software) UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1143222 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01360700 AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Quick Reference Guide (2010 Version) to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Regulations PY - 2011/02 SP - 41p AB - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a legislative mandate under Title 49 of the United States Code, Chapter 301, Motor Vehicle Safety, to issue Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and Regulations to which manufacturers of motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment must conform and certify compliance. FMVSS No. 209, Seat Belt Assemblies, was the first standard to become effective, on March 1, 1967. A number of FMVSS became effective for vehicles manufactured on and after January 1, 1968. Subsequently, other FMVSS have been issued. New standards and amendments to existing standards are published in the Federal Register. These FMVSS are regulations written in terms of minimum safety performance requirements for motor vehicles or items of motor vehicle equipment. These requirements are specified in such a manner that the public is protected against unreasonable risk of crashes occurring as a result of the design, construction, or performance of motor vehicles and is also protected against unreasonable risk of death or injury in the event crashes do occur. This booklet lists the FMVSSs that were in effect as of October 2010, and gives a brief summary of each safety standard. It also provides similar information on other Federal consumer information regulations and requirements. KW - Crashworthiness KW - Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards KW - Motor vehicles KW - Occupant vehicle interface KW - Regulations KW - Standards KW - Vehicle design KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/rulemaking/pdf/FMVSS-QuickRefGuide-HS811439.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1126707 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01358991 AU - Herricks, Edwin E AU - Woodworth, Elizabeth AU - Majumdar, Sid AU - Patterson, James AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - Hughes Technical Center TI - Performance Assessment of a Radar-Based Foreign Object Debris Detection System PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 43p AB - In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Technology Research and Development Team initiated a research program to conduct a performance assessment of the QinetiQ, Ltd. Tarsier Foreign Object Debris (FOD) detection radar system. The purpose of this assessment was to identify key operational characteristics and limitations of the system at an active air carrier airport, including the system’s ability to detect objects of various shapes, sizes, and materials at all locations on the runway surface. The system’s ability to detect FOD during both nighttime and daytime conditions, in periods of sun, rain, mist, fog, and in light and heavy snow was also assessed. In January 2005, the FAA developed plans for a comprehensive performance assessment of the technology at the Providence T. F. Green International Airport. Installation of the Tarsier system was completed in April 2007. Extensive data collection campaigns were conducted from June 2007 to March 2008. At the conclusion of the data collection process, the FAA had sufficient data to conclude the performance assessment. The QinetiQ Ltd. Tarsier FOD detection radar system was found to detect the necessary objects of various shapes, sizes, and materials on the runway surface and was able to perform satisfactorily in nighttime, daytime, sun, rain, mist, fog, and snow conditions, as required by FAA Advisory Circular 150/5220-24, “Airport Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Detection Equipment.” KW - Airport runways KW - Data collection KW - Debris KW - Detectors KW - Field studies KW - Performance KW - Periods of the day KW - Radar KW - Technology assessment KW - Weather UR - http://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/DesktopModules/FlexNews/DownloadHandler.ashx?id=7c8c6da0-78d4-4e5e-8274-fee4c795f4bc&f=10-33.pdf UR - http://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/Download/Airport-Safety-Papers-Publications-Detail/dt/Detail/ItemID/61/Performance-Assessment-of-a-Radar-Based-Foreign-Object-Debris-Detection-System UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1124115 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01358980 AU - Pace, David AU - Ryan, Thomas AU - Braeckel, Aaron AU - Hart, Dennis AU - Newell, Oliver AU - Claypool, Kajal AU - Massachusetts Institute of Technology AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - European and U.S. Perspectives on the Sharing and Integration of Weather Information into ATM Decisions PY - 2011/02 SP - 6 p AB - Weather is a major source of operational air traffic delays, accounting for 25 to 70% of all delays dependent of the geographical region. In today 's air traffic management (ATM) systems, a variety of weather information is available to help tactical and strategic planners better anticipate weather events that impact airspace capacity. Regretfully, the information is not always shared among all the stakeholders involved or well integrated into the existing ATM environment. This paper describes the high-level concepts for an improved sharing and integration of weather information into air traffic management decisions, as well as the current state and anticipated capabilities or the underlying information management infrastructure. KW - Air traffic control KW - Data sharing KW - Decision making KW - Europe KW - Flight delays KW - Information management KW - Stakeholders KW - United States KW - Weather conditions UR - http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA540919&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1124194 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01358972 AU - Maritime Administration TI - U.S. Water Transportation Statistical Snapshot PY - 2011/02 SP - 44p AB - The U.S. water transportation industry serves the needs of both foreign and domestic commerce. It comprises companies that carry freight or passengers on the open seas or inland waterways, offer towing services, charter vessels, and operate canals and terminals.The industry is in a period of renewal with major changes in trades, fleets, gross output, employment and assets. The following snapshot highlights the major changes that have occurred over the last five years (2004-2009). Trade, fleet and macroeconomic indicators are provided. In 2009, U.S. water trades (foreign and domestic) amounted to 2.0 billion metric tons. Foreign trade accounted for 61% of the total, up from 58% 5 years earlier. For the period 2004-2009, U.S. coastwise trades declined by 24%, due largely to a decline in coastwise petroleum trades. U.S. foreign trade accounted for about 16% of global waterborne trade in 2009. Over the last 5 years, global trade (metric tons) increased by 11%, while U.S. trade declined by 8%. In 2009, 6,996 oceangoing vessels made 55,560 calls at U.S. ports. Vessel calls were down 7% from five years earlier. The average age of vessels calling at U.S. ports was 10.3 years in 2009, down from 11.8 years in 2004. In 2009, Gulf ports accounted for 34% of U.S. vessel calls, up from 31% five years earlier. U.S.-flag vessels accounted for 12% of calls (all flags) at U.S. ports in 2009. As of year-end 2009, nearly 40,000 U.S. privately-owned vessels were available for operation in U.S. foreign and domestic trades. About 30% of the U.S.-owned oceangoing vessels were registered under the U.S.-flag, and 15% had Jones Act trading privileges. For the period 2004-2009, 19,100 jobs were added in water transportation and related industries. The largest increases were in the transportation and shipbuilding and repair segments. For the period 2004-2009, the average price for water transportation services increased by about 27%. The largest increases were in the domestic segments. KW - Economic indicators KW - Employment KW - International trade KW - Macroeconomics KW - Maritime industry KW - Ships KW - Statistics KW - Trade KW - United States KW - Vehicle fleets KW - Water transportation UR - http://www.marad.dot.gov/documents/US_Water_Transportation_Statistical_snapshot.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1124284 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01358543 AU - Tremblay, Jason P AU - Fitch, Jennifer M V AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Impacts of Studded Tires on Pavement and Associated Socioeconomics PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 32p AB - In conjunction with this study, a comprehensive literature search was performed, surveys were sent to other state officials and New England tire dealers, and parking lot surveys were completed during winter and summer months at five Vermont locations. Surveys sent to state officials reveal that in almost all cases the main reason for seasonal restrictions of studs has been a concern over pavement damage from excessive stud use. However, in no case (according to respondents) has a complete study or set of observations been made to quantify or qualify that the seasonal bans have had any true impact at all. It was determined during the parking lot surveys that only 0.8% of vehicles used studded tires in the summer versus 10.3% during the winter. Given the fact that the 0.8% represents only around 6000 vehicles out of 745,000 registered in the state, summertime use does not appear to be a severe problem. Vermont would not appear to be a candidate for a full-scale, year round studded tire ban, given its sometimes-dangerous winter driving conditions; the negative safety effects would most likely be considerable. Given the information presented in this study, proposing regulations that would ban the use of studs in the summertime is seen as a possible option, as it would not affect many citizens overall. This being the case, however, it must be considered as to whether or not it is worthwhile to put forth the effort to do so, as enacting this type of regulation most likely will not have a large effect on the roadways or provide much benefit to the population as a whole. A major drawback of enacting such a policy is the need to enforce the regulations going forward, which may lead to increased overall costs or logistical work. Overall, it does not appear that Vermont has an issue with studded tires being used during the summer months in the areas of the state surveyed, however, it could be a more significant problem in the more mountainous regions. Therefore, the above small-scale policy changes could be considered. KW - Highway safety KW - Literature reviews KW - Pavement performance KW - Policy KW - Regulations KW - Rolling contact KW - Seasons KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - Studded tires KW - Surveys KW - Vermont UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1124027 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01358539 AU - Tremblay, Jason AU - Fitch, Jennifer M V AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of 3M Stamark High Performance Wet Reflective Tape Series 380WR ES PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 19p AB - In association with a federally approved work plan, WP 2008-3, 3M Series 380WR ES Permanent Durable Tape was applied to a portion of the South Burlington – Colchester project, IM 089-3(60), located along I-89 southbound between mile markers 88.502 and 88.833. According to 3M, the product is a patterned pavement marking tape which provides high retroreflectivity under both wet and dry conditions using abrasion-resistant microcrystalline ceramic beads that are bonded in a highly durable polyurethane topcoat. Test sites were established and monitored over an eleven month period along all 29 experimental skip markings in addition to 10 control markings comprised of 3M LPM 1200 polyurea. Overall, retroreflectivity values degraded quickly with the onset of traffic and winter maintenance activities. Initial retroreflectivity levels were found to be 401 and 698 mcd/m²/lx for the experimental and control markings, respectfully. Following the first winter season, retroreflectivity readings were 77 and 110 mcd/m²/lx for the experimental and control markings, respectively. Due to similar performance along other test site locations, 3M discontinued manufacturing the product. Based upon its poor performance and discontinuation of the product, the marking will not be added to the Vermont Agency of Transportation’s Approved Products List. KW - Field tests KW - Interstate 89 KW - Microbeads KW - Polyurethane resins KW - Retroreflectivity KW - Road marking tapes KW - Vermont UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1124038 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01358535 AU - Kipp, Wendy M E AU - Fitch, Jennifer M V AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of SmartStud™ In-Pavement Crosswalk Lighting System and BlinkerSign® PY - 2011/02//Interim Report SP - 28p AB - Concerning pedestrian safety, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) is constantly searching for ways to improve areas where large volumes of people and heavy vehicular traffic may come in direct conflict with one another. In an effort to address this matter, VTrans installed SmartStud™ In-Pavement Crosswalk Lighting system in September 2006 to further delineate the limits of a preexisting crosswalk adjacent to the Quechee Gorge Visitor Center in Hartford, Vermont. The system incorporates a series of LEDs markers which are illuminated through inductive power transfer technology and have been quoted to be seen 500 meters away. Following the installation of the system, site visits were conducted to measure any movement and document damage of the SmartStuds. Unfortunately, the system began malfunctioning and was reinstalled in July 2007. The system was monitored and in January 2008 the SmartStuds were once again found to be not working properly. At this time, key VTrans personnel chose to decommission the system and install a different safety measure at the location. BlinkerSigns® were chosen as the replacement. The signs incorporate Day-Viz™ LEDs and 3M™ VIP Diamond Grade™ sheeting giving drivers notice much further in advance than conventional signs. The BlinkerSigns® were installed by Traffic Shop personnel in November 2008. The system to date has had no malfunctions. This report outlines the initial damage, a summary of re-installation, damage to the second system, general observations and details regarding the decommissioning of the system, a summary of the BlinkerSign® installation, and associated pedestrian studies. KW - Crosswalks KW - Diamond grade sheeting KW - Embedded roadway lighting KW - Field studies KW - Hartford (Vermont) KW - In-pavement marker systems KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Lighting systems KW - Pedestrian signs UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1124030 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01357839 AU - Green, Bob AU - Marotta, Joseph AU - Petre, Brian AU - Lillestolen, Kirk AU - Spencer, Richard AU - Gupta, Nikhil AU - O'Leary, Daniel AU - Lee, Jason Dan AU - Strasburger, John AU - Nordsieck, Arnold AU - Manners, Bob AU - Mahapatra, Rabi AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Handbook for the Selection and Evaluation of Microprocessors for Airborne Systems PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 60p AB - This handbook provides research information intended to help aerospace system developers and integrators and regulatory agency personnel in the selection and evaluation of commercial off-the-shelf microprocessors for use in aircraft systems. This handbook is based on the cooperative research accomplished by contributing members of the aerospace industry and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as part of the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute Microprocessor Evaluations Projects 1 through 5. The project objectives were to (1) identify common risks of using systems-on-a-chip (SoC) and mitigation techniques to provide evidence that they satisfy regulatory requirements and (2) evaluate existing regulatory policy and guidelines against the emerging characteristics of complex, nondeterministic microprocessors and SoCs to support the certification of aircraft and qualification of systems using these devices. Complex aircraft system development requires more robust consideration of system failure and anomaly detection, correction, and recovery. The safety net approach identified in this handbook also may provide a means to reduce the growing difficulties and costs of design assurance for highly integrated, complex, nondeterministic airborne electronic hardware and software within aircraft systems and reduce the labor burden for FAA regulation compliance and design assurance. The safety net approach documented in this handbook is consistent with current FAA policy and guidelines. KW - Air pilots KW - Aircraft KW - Aviation safety KW - Certification KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Handbooks KW - Microprocessors KW - Onboard navigational aids KW - Regulations KW - System architecture KW - Systems analysis KW - Technology assessment UR - http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/air_software/media/AR_11_2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1123060 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01354152 AU - Prozzi, Jolanda AU - Seedah, Dan AU - Carrion, Migdalia AU - Perrine, Ken AU - Hutson, Nathan AU - Bhat, Chandra AU - Walton, C Michael AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Freight Planning for Texas—Expanding the Dialogue PY - 2011/02//Technical Report SP - 169p AB - Efficient, reliable, and safe freight transportation is critical to the economic prosperity of any region. An efficient multimodal and intermodal transportation system reduces transportation and supply chain transaction costs and increases connectivity, reliability, and accessibility to local and global markets. An efficient freight transportation system, therefore, supports economic development and the expansion of international trade, increases national employment and growth in personal income and the Gross Domestic Product of a region, and improves the quality of life of its citizens. Intermodal and freight concerns have thus received increasing attention in the wake of globalization, increasing congestion, and changes in the logistics structure of shippers to facilitate just-in-time production. Both the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 and the subsequent reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) have identified an understanding of the needs of the freight transportation sector as a critical component of transportation planning. This study sought to (a) improve the understanding of the size, scope, and type of commodities that are produced, consumed, and moved through different regions in the Texas, (b) gain an insight into the business and transportation system factors that shippers and receivers consider when making shipping decisions, (c) identify and describe factors that impact the competiveness of multimodal freight modes operation in Texas, (d) provide commodity data regarding origin and destination flows that will facilitate updates to various Texas freight models and studies, (e) identify and document significant multimodal freight system trends, needs, and issues in Texas, (f) recommend freight policies, strategies, performance measures, and infrastructure improvements that TxDOT can consider for implementation and funding, and (g) explore the interest, feasibility, and requirements for forming a Freight Advisory Committee in Texas. KW - Advisory groups KW - Business practices KW - Commodity flow KW - Competition KW - Economic development KW - Freight transportation KW - Intermodal transportation KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Needs assessment KW - Performance measurement KW - Texas KW - Transportation planning KW - Trend (Statistics) UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/digitized/zipfiles/0-6297-1-AppendixA-C.zip UR - http://www.utexas.edu/research/ctr/pdf_reports/0-6297-1.zip UR - http://www.utexas.edu/research/ctr/pdf_reports/0_6297_1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1116027 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01354095 AU - Yang, Yang AU - Dasgupta, Kohinoor AU - Eby, David W AU - Molnar, Lisa J AU - Nair, Vijayan N AU - Pollock, Stephen AU - University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Explaining State-to-State Differences in Seat Belt Use: An Analysis of Socio-Demographic Variables PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 26p AB - Despite the extensive evidence about the benefits of seat belt use, there is a great deal of variation in use within the US. For example, the national average for seat belt use in 2009 was 84 percent while the state-level averages ranged from 68 percent in Wyoming to 98 percent in Michigan. The overarching goal of this project was to gain a better understanding of the socio-demographic variables (or factors) that influence statewide belt use rates. To the extent that these vary among states, they can partially account for differences in statewide belt uses. Previous studies have already identified some important factors that affect belt use rates: gender, age, race, vehicle type, seat-belt enforcement laws, and amount of fine for belt-use law violation. This project studied the influence of additional socio-demographic factors on state-level use rates. These factors were: education (percentage of high school educated population), racial composition (percentage of White), median household income, political leaning (percentage of Democrats), and a measure of religiosity. The analysis was based on data from the 2008 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) which has information on seat belt use on all vehicle crashes that resulted in at least one fatality. The use rates in FARS data were lower than that for the general population. However, the authors' interest is on differences in rates between the states. To the extent that the state-to-state differences in FARS data are consistent with those in the general population, the findings are likely to hold for the population-at-large. Exploratory analysis showed that many of the use rate patterns in FARS data were in fact consistent with those found in other data sets. Of the five socio-demographic factors that were considered, three were identified as important: religiosity, race (percentage White), and political leaning (percentage Democrat). The other two – income and education – were not significant. Hold-out analyses confirmed that this conclusion was consistent across different subsets of data. A regression model that included these new factors accounted for a substantial amount of the state-to-state variation in seat belt use rates, providing further evidence of the usefulness of the results. The findings from this study are preliminary and have to be confirmed on other data sets. Nevertheless, they demonstrate that socio-demographic factors can be used to effectively explain state-to-state variation in seat belt use rates. If factors such as religiosity are indeed important, they can be used to develop appropriate programs for increasing belt use. KW - Demographics KW - Education KW - Income KW - Political factors KW - Race KW - Religion KW - Seat belts KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - States KW - Traffic safety KW - Utilization UR - http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85176/1/102754.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1114746 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01353917 AU - Bryer, Tom AU - Science Applications International Corporation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Stop-Controlled Intersection Safety: Through Route Activated Warning Systems PY - 2011/02 SP - 44p AB - This report provides information on low cost infrastructure based intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies that may be applied to stop-controlled intersections to improve safety. Crashes at stop-controlled intersections are substantially lower than crashes at signalized intersections; however, overall, more fatalities occur at stop-controlled intersections than occur at signalized intersections. The major type of crash that occurs at stop-controlled intersections is a two-vehicle angle crash between a vehicle on the stop approach and a vehicle on the through approach. The through route activated warning system have been used in an innovative way to provide enhanced intersection safety information to entering traffic compared to traditional sign and marking enhancements. This system is highlighted in this report. North Carolina and Missouri have deployed the technology at several stop-controlled intersections. Noteworthy practices on sign message, site selection, design, and operation of the system are provided. The through traffic advanced warning system is a tried technology. While preliminary crash data analysis indicates the potential for a substantial reduction in crashes, there is insufficient data at this time to prove or validate its effectiveness. KW - Crash data KW - Fatalities KW - Flashing beacons KW - Highway safety KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Intersections KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Missouri KW - North Carolina KW - Stop controlled intersections KW - Warning systems UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/resources/fhwasa11015/traws.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/42000/42200/42237/traws.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1118819 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01353567 AU - Daley, Wayne AU - Arif, Omar AU - Stewart, John AU - Wood, Jack AU - Usher, Colin AU - Hanson, Erin AU - Turgeson, John AU - Britton, Doug AU - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta AU - Georgia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Sensing System Development for HOV/HOT (High Occupancy Vehicle) Lane Monitoring PY - 2011/02 SP - 101p AB - With continued interest in the efficient use of roadways, the ability to monitor the use of High Occupancy Vehicle/High Occupancy Toll (HOV/HOT) lanes is essential for management, planning and operation. A system to reliably monitor these lanes on a continuous basis and provide usage statistics would be very helpful in supporting management operations and decision making. In this study the authors evaluated the potential of an imaging system that would be installed on the median wall of HOV/HOT lanes to acquire data on the vehicles using the lanes and the occupancy of these vehicles. A lab prototype consisting of an IR illuminator, a camera, vehicle trigger, a computer and software to control the system was integrated and evaluated. Data were taken at Georgia Tech Research Institute facilities, sites on the Georgia Tech campus and also on Interstate 85. The images taken were then analyzed for their ability to provide the information needed on the usage of the lanes. The results indicate that it would be possible to build a system that would be able to provide the data needed to support the operation of HOV/HOT lanes. KW - Data collection KW - High occupancy toll lanes KW - High occupancy vehicle lanes KW - Highway traffic control KW - Imaging systems KW - Monitoring KW - Prototypes KW - Traffic surveillance UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/42000/42100/42150/0726.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1118359 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01345040 AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - FHWA Scenario Planning Guidebook PY - 2011/02 SP - 40p AB - Scenario planning is a process that can help transportation professionals to prepare for what lies ahead. It provides a framework for developing a shared vision for the future by analyzing various forces (e.g., health, transportation, livability, economic, environmental, land use), that affect communities. The technique was originally used by private industry to anticipate future business conditions and to better manage risk. Since 2004, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has encouraged transportation-focused scenario planning as an approach that enhances the traditional planning process. This type of scenario planning is a technique designed to help citizens and stakeholders in the public and private sectors understand how demographic and land-use changes could potentially impact transportation networks in a state, community, region, or study area. The hallmark of scenario planning is identifying land-use patterns as variables (rather than as static inputs) that could affect transportation networks, investments, and operations. Other variables might include demographic, economic, political, and environmental trends. Considering and analyzing alternative possibilities for each variable helps stakeholders to understand how a state, community, region, or study area might look and function in the future. While scenario planning can be implemented in many ways, the key elements include: 1. Use of scenarios to compare and contrast interactions between multiple factors, such as transportation, land use, and economic development. 2. Analysis of how different land-use, demographic, or other types of scenarios could impact transportation networks. 3. Identification of possible strategies that lead a state, community, region, or study area toward achieving elements of the preferred future. 4. Public engagement throughout the process. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Demographics KW - Economic development KW - Forecasting KW - Guidelines KW - Land use KW - Public participation KW - Scenario planning KW - Strategic planning KW - Transportation planning UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/35000/35900/35909/Scenario_Planning_Guidebook.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105455 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01345022 AU - Cluett, Chris AU - Gopalakrishna, Deepak AU - Kitchener, Fred AU - Balke, Kevin AU - Osborne, Leon AU - Battelle Seattle Research Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Weather Information Integration in Transportation Management Center (TMC) Operations PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 302p AB - This report presents the results of the third phase of an on-going FHWA study on weather integration in Transportation Management Center (TMC) operations. The report briefly describes the earlier phases of the integration study, summarizes the findings from the implementation and evaluation of an automated weather alert notification system in the Sacramento Regional TMC, and discusses the efforts of four TMCs (Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, Kansas City, Louisiana, and Redding) that used the FHWA self-evaluation guide to identify their weather integration needs and strategies that could be implemented to meet those needs. Four of those TMCs prepared weather integration plans with implementation tasks and schedules. The report tracks their progress toward implementing those strategies and identifies the outcomes and benefits they have achieved to date. Efforts to refine, market and promote the self-evaluation guide are also discussed. Finally, lessons learned and recommendations based on the experiences working with a variety of TMCs are offered to encourage and facilitate greater weather information integration in the future. KW - Alerts KW - Information integration KW - Needs assessment KW - Strategic planning KW - Traffic control centers KW - Transportation operations KW - Weather conditions KW - Weather information systems UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/38000/38600/38677/TMC%20Final%20Report%20Website%206.13.11/tmc_integration_report_final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105683 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01345015 AU - Guarino, Jenny AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - A Decade of Decline in Person Crossings From Mexico and Canada Into the United States PY - 2011/02//Special Report SP - 6p AB - The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has been maintaining the Border Crossing/Entry Database since 1995 with data provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for inbound visitors. Similar data is not currently available for departing travelers. The number of persons crossing into the United States through its ports of entry along the Canadian and Mexican borders has been declining since 2000. Recently, researchers have proposed various reasons for the decline in person crossings, including (but not limited to) the economies of the three nations and increased security at the borders. This report does not examine reasons for the decline in person crossings, rather the trends in person crossings by mode are investigated. Modes investigated include automobile, truck, bus, pedestrian, and train. KW - Automobile travel KW - Border crossings KW - Border regions KW - Bus traffic KW - Pedestrians KW - Railroad trains KW - Transborder traffic KW - Trend (Statistics) KW - Trucks KW - U.S. Customs and Border Protection KW - United States-Canada Border KW - United States-Mexico Border UR - http://www.bts.gov/publications/special_reports_and_issue_briefs/special_report/2011_02_27/pdf/entire.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105164 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01344977 AU - Spiller, David AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - National Park Service TI - Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site Transportation Study PY - 2011/02//GMP Transportation Support SP - 86p AB - This study provides concepts and ideas for a complementary transportation plan in support of the revised General Management Plan (GMP) for the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. The GMP sets forth a preferred plan of action for how Olmsted NHS will be managed for the next twenty years. It addresses issues and problems identified under existing conditions, and supports adaptation to future conditions that are planned for the site. KW - Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site KW - Historic preservation KW - Historic sites KW - Management KW - National parks KW - Transportation planning UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/35000/35900/35997/DOT-VNTSC-NPS-10-13.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105443 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01344937 AU - Anderson, Keith W AU - Uhlmeyer, Jeff AU - Russell, Mark AU - Weston, Jim AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Studded Tire Wear Resistance of PCC Pavements with Special Mix Designs PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 70p AB - The performance of portland cement concrete mixes with higher flexural strength, higher cement content, and with Hard-Cem additive, carpet drag finish, and tined finish were evaluated over a period of five years to determine their resistance to studded tire wear. None of the pavements with special mixes or, mixes with Hard-Cem additive were more resistant to studded tire wear than conventional pavement with a 650 psi flexural strength mix design. The wear resistance of the pavement could not be correlated to either the method used to finish the concrete or the concrete’s flexural strength. Finally, the carpet drag finishing method produced a pavement with acceptable friction resistance. KW - Carpet drag KW - Concrete pavements KW - Durability KW - Finishes KW - Flexural strength KW - Mix design KW - Portland cement concrete KW - Studded tires KW - Texture UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Research/Reports/600/658.2.htm UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/37000/37800/37812/658.2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105584 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01344843 AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - National Transportation Statistics 2011 PY - 2011/02 SP - 515p AB - This document presents information on the U.S. transportation system, including its physical components, safety record, economic performance, energy use, and environmental impacts. National Transportation Statistics is a companion document to the Transportation Statistics Annual Report, which analyzes some of the data presented here, and State Transportation Statistics, which presents state level data on many of the same topics presented here. The report has four chapters and one appendix. Chapter 1 provides data on the extent, condition, use, and performance of the physical transportation network. Chapter 2 details transportation's safety record, giving data on accidents, crashes, fatalities, and injuries for each transportation mode and hazardous materials. Chapter 3 focuses on the relationship between transportation and the economy, presenting data on transportation's contribution to the gross domestic product, employment by industry and occupation, and transportation-related consumer and government expenditures. Chapter 4 presents data on transportation energy use and transportation-related environmental impacts. Appendix A contains metric conversions of select tables. KW - Air transportation KW - Energy consumption KW - Environmental impacts KW - Fatalities KW - Gross domestic product KW - Hazardous materials KW - Multimodal transportation KW - Public transit KW - Railroad transportation KW - Statistics KW - Traffic crashes KW - Water transportation UR - http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/ UR - http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/pdf/entire.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/38000/38000/38007/NTS2011.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105316 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01343579 AU - Sargand, Shad M AU - Momand, Farid A AU - Ohio University, Athens AU - Ohio Transportation Consortium AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Feasibility of Using Cone Penetrometer Truck (CPT) to Install Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) and Fiber Optic Slope Failure Detectors in Pavement Structures PY - 2011/02 SP - 34p AB - A new method of cable installation using a heavy-duty Cone Penetration Test (CPT) truck was developed and practiced successfully in this study. The coaxial and fiber optic cables were pushed along with the cone rods by the hydraulic system integrated with the CPT truck. A disposable tip—unable to carry tension along the axes of the rods—for the cone rods was designed and built to stay at the desired depth of installation holding the cables after the cone rods are pulled out. KW - Cables KW - Coaxial cables KW - Detectors KW - Embankments KW - Equipment KW - Fiber optic sensors KW - Fiber optics KW - Installation KW - Monitoring KW - Slope failure KW - Slope stability KW - Time domain reflectometers UR - http://www.otc.uakron.edu/docs/OU_DCP%20to%20Install%20TDR%20Report%202010-11-20[1].pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105687 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01343312 AU - Van Gerpen, Jon AU - He, B Brian AU - Duff, Keegan AU - National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Measurement and Control Strategies for Sterol Glucosides to Improve Biodiesel Quality – Year 2 PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 61p AB - This project had the objective of measuring trace compounds in biodiesel called sterol glucosides (SG) so strategies to reduce their concentration could be investigated. A MALDI-TOF-MS (matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry) analytical method for rapid evaluation of sterol glucosides has been developed and validated. Sitosteryl-glucoside, campesteryl-glucoside, and stigmasteryl-glucoside were identified in residues that temporarily shut down the Inland Empire biodiesel plant in Odessa, Washington. Standards were created by purification and recrystallization of these problematic residues. The standard’s purity was validated with mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. Preparative methods are necessary to isolate the trace concentrations of acylated sterol glucosides (ASG) and SG from triglycerides and phospholipids in oilseed extracts. The authors have evaluated several preparative procedures, a modified silica gel chromatography procedure, and developed a size exclusion chromatography (SEC) preparative method for evaluation of glycolipids with an emphasis on SG. These preparative methods were evaluated using this MS analytical technique. SEC was selected as the best preparative procedure for evaluating tetrahydrofuran (THF) oilseed extracts. A winter canola seed sample (Brassica. napus L. cv. Amanda) was analyzed. KW - Alternate fuels KW - Biodiesel fuels KW - Fuel composition KW - Fuel processing KW - Quality control UR - http://www.webs1.uidaho.edu/niatt/research/Final_Reports/KLK759_N11-01.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105132 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01343311 AU - Sarangi, Sudipta AU - Krief, Jerome AU - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge AU - Gulf Coast Research Center for Evacuation and Transportation Resiliency AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - An Integrated Approach to Modeling Evacuation Behavior: Hyperbolic Discounting and Peer Effects PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 30p AB - A spate of recent hurricanes and other natural disasters have drawn a lot of attention to the evacuation decision of individuals. Here the authors focus on evacuation models that incorporate two economic phenomena that seem to be increasingly important in explaining human behavior: hyperbolic discounting and peer effects. The first part of this research explores the behavior of the naïve or myopic agent in deciding whether to perform a mandatory task whose cost is immediate but reward received only in the future. Following the literature for hyperbolic discounting one says that a player is naïve if his/her inter-temporal preference for whether to complete an assigned task is represented by the Phelps and Pollack's hyperbolic discounting utility model. The authors show that a naïve agent, whose present bias is below a certain game-dependant bound, is meant to complete the task in the last period. This bound offers two new insights about the naive player. First, "not all naïve players are equal" in that the long run discount factor decides the degree of naivety sufficient to procrastinate. Secondly, this shows that the range of the payoff structure plays a role in favoring procrastinating behavior. Finally, an application of naive hyperbolic discounting for an evacuation model is constructed. The peer effects research is concerned with testing the hypothesis that an agent's decision of whether to evacuate during a hurricane is influenced by the fear propensity of his or her peers. To explore this human aspect of an evacuation, a simple random utility model is set up where the utility of the "agent who is not scared" is allowed to depend on the fear propensity of the group he/she identifies with. The resulting binary choice model derived contains a real key parameter measuring the peer effect. Using data from Hurricane Floyd, the authors estimate that a positive peer effect exists in the sense that the larger the fear propensity of the peer group, the more attractive an evacuation. This finding suggests that policies aimed at creating strong awareness of hurricane dangers before the hurricane season can have a substantial effect on the population's evacuation rate via their multiplying effects. KW - Behavior KW - Decision making KW - Emergency management KW - Evacuation KW - Fear KW - Hurricane Floyd, 1999 KW - Hurricanes KW - Hyperbolic discounting KW - Peer groups KW - Policy UR - http://www.evaccenter.lsu.edu/pub/11-01.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105160 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01342825 AU - Barr, Lawrence C AU - Yang, C Y David AU - Hanowski, Richard J AU - Olson, Rebecca AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Research and Special Programs Administration AU - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg AU - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration TI - Assessment of Driver Drowsiness, Distraction, and Performance in a Naturalistic Setting PY - 2011/02//Tech Brief SP - 4p AB - The study summarized herein characterizes episodes of driver drowsiness and assesses the impact of driver drowsiness on driving performance using the naturalistic data of local/short haul (L/SH) truck drivers. The results of the study help to provide a better understanding of the relationship between drowsiness and the safety of driver behavior and performance. It is hoped that this information will be useful in identifying effective countermeasures for drowsy driving. KW - Attention lapses KW - Commercial vehicle operations KW - Commercial vehicles KW - Distraction KW - Driver experience KW - Drivers KW - Drowsiness KW - Fatigue (Physiological condition) KW - Long haul carriers KW - Short haul KW - Traffic safety UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1103201 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341965 AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Model Performance Measures for State Traffic Records Systems PY - 2011/02 AB - Quality traffic safety records are critical to the planning, management, and evaluation of any successful State traffic safety program. This need has become even more pronounced in light of grant requirements in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (Public Law 109‐59; SAFETEA‐LU) and rising Congressional expectations for data‐driven performance management with outcome‐oriented measures. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is releasing this new collection of 61 performance measures to help States meet this need. These performance measures were crafted with substantial input from a group of 35 experts with experience in at least one of the six core State traffic records systems. The measures are designed to provide traffic records professionals with the information necessary to develop and deploy quantifiable performance measures appropriate for their traffic record systems. The measures are intended for use by Federal, State, and local governments to monitor the development and implementation of traffic record data systems, strategic plans, and data-improvement grant processes. They have been grouped by performance attribute—timeliness, accuracy, completeness, uniformity, integration, and accessibility—across the six core State traffic record data systems ‐‐ crash, vehicle, driver, roadway, citation/adjudication, and emergency medical services (EMS)/injury surveillance. These common performance measures and the attendant guidance on their application are expected to help stakeholders quantify systemic improvements to their traffic records systems. KW - Crash records KW - Data files KW - Data quality KW - Databases KW - Driver records KW - Performance measurement KW - Records management KW - Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users KW - Traffic records KW - Traffic safety UR - http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811441.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1104338 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341258 AU - Panero, Marta A AU - Shin, Hyeon-Shic AU - Lopez, Daniel Polo AU - New York University, New York AU - New York State Energy Research and Development Authority AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Urban Distribution Centers – A Means to Reducing Freight Vehicle Miles Traveled PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 121p AB - The present study examines the model of freight consolidation platforms, and urban distribution centers (UDCs) in particular, as a means to solve the last mile problem of urban freight while reducing vehicle miles traveled and associated environmental impacts. This paper attempts to identify the key characteristics that make UDCs successful and discuss under what contextual settings (e.g., institutional, policy) they work best. After an extensive review of UDC cases already implemented in other countries, the study examined three UDCs cases with potential applicability to the New York metropolitan region, discussing models and relevant features and elements that may be transferred to the New York context. KW - Case studies KW - Environmental impacts KW - Europe KW - Freight consolidation KW - Freight transportation KW - Japan KW - New York Metropolitan Area KW - Urban areas KW - Urban distribution centers KW - Urban freight consolidation centers KW - Vehicle miles of travel UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-08-23_0.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1103158 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341252 AU - Al-Kaisy, Ahmed AU - Veneziano, David AU - Kirkemo, Zachary AU - Western Transportation Institute AU - Montana Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Montana Rest Area Usage: Data Acquisition and Usage Estimation PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 147p AB - The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) has initiated research to refine the figures employed in the estimation of Montana rest area use. This work seeks to obtain Montana-specific data related to rest area usage, including water flow, effluent flow, patron traffic, vehicle traffic volume and classification, and vehicle dwell times for commercial and passenger vehicles. Such estimation will provide MDT with up-to-date figures that will assist in the process of planning, designing, and rehabilitating rest area facilities. This report summarizes the research efforts conducted for this project, including the literature review, survey of practices by selected departments of transportation, data collection, and data analyses. Based on the findings of the data collection and analyses, this final report also includes recommendations on Montana rest area usage estimation, including vehicular and patron traffic, as well as vehicular dwell time and wastewater usage estimation. KW - Commercial vehicles KW - Data analysis KW - Data collection KW - Dwell time KW - Literature reviews KW - Montana KW - Passenger vehicles KW - Roadside rest areas KW - Surveys KW - Traffic volume KW - Utilization UR - http://www.mdt.mt.gov/other/research/external/docs/research_proj/rest_area/final_report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1103147 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340834 AU - Apeagyei, Alex K AU - Diefenderfer, Brian K AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - An Evaluation of the Potential Use of Non-Nuclear Density Gauges for Asphalt Concrete Acceptance PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 26p AB - This report describes the results of a study using non-nuclear density gauges (NNDGs) to measure the in-situ density of asphalt concrete (AC) material in Virginia. The study compared the NNDG results with those obtained from the use of two traditional AC density acceptance methods: the core method (AASHTO T 166) and the nuclear density gauge (NDG) method. Although these two methods are the most widely used methods of accepting AC density, the core method is time-consuming and destructive and involves bulky test setups and the NDG method, although portable and non-destructive, is associated with safety concerns related to the presence of radioactive materials in the gauge. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of two NNDGs as a potentially safe, portable, and expedient method of measuring AC density—a key indicator of pavement performance. The direct comparison of NNDG and core density and the acceptance rates with the use of NNDGs and NDGs were the focus of the study. Extensive field and laboratory tests were conducted to determine AC density using two models of NNDGs (i.e., the Troxler PaveTracker Plus and the TransTech Model PQI 301) and one model of an NDG (i.e., the Troxler Model 4640-B). Density measurements of AC cores/plugs taken at gauge testing locations were conducted in the laboratory in accordance with AASHTO T 166 for comparisons. The results of the field testing showed that NNDG measurements were not well correlated with core density or NDG measurements. However, there was good agreement between readings from NNDGs and NDGs in terms of identifying core cutting locations (67%), control strip acceptance (75%), and test section acceptance (95%). This apparent contradiction between the acceptance rate among the gauges and the poor correlation could be explained by the relatively low ranges in measured field density (0-5 lb/ft³), which is within the precision ranges of the gauges used. The results of additional laboratory testing of 10 AC slabs with air void contents ranging from about 3% to 20% confirmed the results of the field testing. Specifically, they demonstrated that compared with NDGs, NNDGs were less sensitive, with an average relative bias of 19.6 lb/ft³ and 9.6 lb/ft³ for the PQI 300 and the PaveTracker Plus, respectively, compared with 2.2 lb/ft³ for the NDG. The results also showed that results from use of the NNDGs were not well correlated with core density measured in accordance with AASHTO T 166, which is generally accepted as the most accurate method of measuring density. The study concludes that NNDGs of the types used in the study are not suitable for measuring AC density for acceptance purposes and thus are not recommended for use as density acceptance tools in Virginia. KW - AASHTO T 166 KW - Acceptance tests KW - Air voids KW - Asphalt concrete pavements KW - Comparative analysis KW - Cores (Specimens) KW - Correlation analysis KW - Density KW - Field tests KW - Laboratory tests KW - Non-nuclear density gages KW - Nuclear density gages KW - Recommendations UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/11-r15.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56100/56150/VA-11-R15.PDF UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102846 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340819 AU - Miniutti, Peter AU - Yegir, Edvin AU - Dimov, Dimo AU - Center for Transportation and Livable Systems AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Green Modes of Transportation for Connecticut’s Mixed Used Developments PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 109p AB - As a response to Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell to “give rise to a culture of change, opportunity and reform at DOT,” this report attempts to showcase a proposal to transform Downtown Storrs from a glorified strip development to a place where progressive alternative modes of transportation can be show-cased to the rest of Connecticut and the region. In order to accomplish this goal, a team spanning four entirely different disciplines was assembled, including community planning (landscape architecture), transportation engineering, business management, and communication design. Objectives for this report included using Smart Growth criteria to document, analyze and evaluate existing transportation systems used for food delivery in Downtown Storrs; identifying opportunities to incorporate the principals of Smart Growth; developing transportation and business models to take advantage of these opportunities; evaluating said models based on efficiency, mode of transportation and competitiveness; creating a pilot program to serve as an example to similar communities; and taking a dynamic approach in the recruitment of existing local businesses and persuading them to participate in the program. Data collection was broken into three distinct categories: landscape architecture and transportation engineering; business management; and communication design. For landscape architecture and transportation engineering, looking into the flaws of the existing Storrs Center, how these problems were addressed with the proposed Storrs Center, and its relation to University of Connecticut (UConn) students was key. Other key aspects included circulation within and adjacent to UConn, delivery destinations, both existing and proposed land uses in the surrounding area, green modes inventory and lastly interviews with experts. The business management section developed survey questionnaires, identified topics of interest and concerns from business owners expressed in the interview process, and conducted market studies. Lastly communication design included extensive research into existing eco-friendly graphic interpretations (typography, names, and logos). KW - Businesses KW - Central business districts KW - City planning KW - Communication KW - Land use planning KW - Market research KW - Mixed use development KW - Smart growth KW - Storrs (Connecticut) KW - Transportation engineering KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.ctls.uconn.edu/pdf/CTLS_08-02_Final_Report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102809 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340651 AU - Khan, Lutful I AU - Decapite, Kirk AU - Cleveland State University AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Prediction of Pile Set-Up for Ohio Soils PY - 2011/02 SP - 34p AB - The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) typically uses small diameter driven pipe piles for bridge foundations. When a pile is driven into the subsurface, it disturbs and displaces the soil. As the soil surrounding the pile recovers from the installation disturbance, a time dependant increase in pile capacity often occurs due to pile set-up. A significant increase in pile capacity could occur due to the set-up phenomenon. For optimization of the pile foundations, it is desirable to incorporate set-up in the design phase or predict the strength gain resulting from set-up so that piles could be installed at a lower End of Initial Driving (EOID) capacity. In order to address the set-up phenomena in Ohio geology, a research study was conducted by compiling pile driving data in Ohio soils obtained from ODOT and GRL, an engineering company dedicated to dynamic pile load testing, located in Cleveland, Ohio. The set-up data of twenty-three piles were compiled along with time, pile length, and pile diameter. The liquid limit, plastic limit, average clay and silt content, and average soil penetration test (SPT) value were compiled along the pile length. In 91% of the driven piles cases, some degree of set-up was observed. Correlations among several soil parameters and pile capacities were explored. An equation was proposed between the final and initial load capacities of the piles as a function of time and shown to be in good agreement with the strength gains of driven pipe piles in Ohio soils. KW - Bearing capacity KW - Bridge foundations KW - Design KW - Ohio KW - Pile capacity KW - Pile driving KW - Pile foundations KW - Pile setup KW - Pipe piles KW - Soils UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/722800375/viewonline UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/37000/37800/37845/134415_FR.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/37000/37800/37846/134415_ES.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102730 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340649 AU - Nusairat, Jamal AU - Liang, Robert Y AU - Engel, Richard L AU - E. L. Robinson Engineering of Ohio Company AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Verification and Calibration of the Design Methods for Rock Socketed Drilled Shafts for Lateral Loads PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 399p AB - This project was aimed at: (1) evaluating and developing design methods for laterally loaded drilled shafts socketed in anisotropic rock, (2) developing a p-y criterion that can be used to analyze the response of drilled shaft socketed into transversely isotropic rock or jointed rock, (3) developing a new methodology for determining the five elastic constants of a transversely isotropic rock medium using the in-situ pressuremeter test device, (4) developing a new equation for estimating the transverse isotropic rock shear modulus (G’) using other elastic constants, and (5) developing a new methodology to obtain a p-y criterion using in-situ pressuremeter technique that can be used to analyze the response of drilled shaft socketed into transversely isotropic rock. The hyperbolic p-y criterion for rock proposed in SJN 134137 based on the field test data and extensive theoretical work was further validated using additional load test data. Validation of the proposed p-y criterion of rock was carried out by comparing the predictions of shaft deflections and bending moments using the hyperbolic p-y criterion against actual lateral load tests results. Based on the findings of this study, a complete solution for the design of drilled shafts socketed in anisotropic rock or intermediate geomaterials under lateral loads is provided. KW - Anisotropy (Physics) KW - Calibration KW - Design methods KW - Drilled shafts KW - Equations KW - Geomaterials KW - Lateral loads KW - P-y analyses KW - Pressure gages KW - Rock-socketed shafts KW - Shear modulus UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/721935113/viewonline UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102698 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340402 AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Key Transportation Indicators, February 2011 PY - 2011/02 SP - 34p AB - These key transportation indicators in the United States cover performance and economic indicators for all modes of transportation. The table of contents divides the document into seven major areas, as follows: economy, fuel prices, end-user prices, passenger usage, freight usage, system performance, and capital expenditures. KW - Capital expenditures KW - Diesel fuels KW - Economic indicators KW - Freight transportation KW - Jet engine fuels KW - Motor fuels KW - Passenger transportation KW - Performance KW - Prices KW - Ridership KW - United States KW - Utilization UR - http://www.bts.gov/publications/key_transportation_indicators/february_2011/pdf/entire.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102644 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340145 AU - Willemsen, Peter AU - University of Minnesota, Duluth AU - Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Snow Rendering for Interactive Snowplow Simulation - Supporting Safety in Snowplow Design PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 38p AB - During a snowfall, following a snowplow can be extremely dangerous. This danger comes from the human visual systems inability to accurately perceive the speed and motion of the snowplow, often resulting in rear-end collisions. For this project, the researchers' goal is to use their understanding of how the human visual system processes optical motion under the conditions created by blowing snow to create a simulation framework that could be used to test emergency lighting configurations that reduce rear-end collisions with snowplows. Reaction times for detecting the motion of the snowplow will be measured empirically for a variety of color set-ups on a simulated snowplow that slows down while driving on a virtual road with curves and hills. The simulated driving environment will utilize a head-mounted, virtual reality display to render an improved snow cloud model behind the snowplow. This driving simulator environment will serve as the basis for testing the effects of color and lighting alternatives on snowplows. The results of this work will move the researchers closer to determining optimal color and lighting configurations on actual snowplows. KW - Driving simulators KW - Rear end crashes KW - Snowplows KW - Traffic safety KW - Vehicle lighting KW - Virtual reality KW - Visualization KW - Warning systems UR - http://www.cts.umn.edu/Publications/ResearchReports/pdfdownload.pl?id=1498 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1101703 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01339706 AU - Lomax, Tim AU - Schrank, David AU - Turner, Shawn AU - Geng, Lauren AU - Li, Yingfeng AU - Koncz, Nick AU - University Transportation Center for Mobility AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Real-Timing the 2010 Urban Mobility Report PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 102p AB - The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is a national leader in providing congestion and mobility information. The Urban Mobility Report (UMR) is the most widely quoted report on urban congestion and its associated costs in the nation. The report measures system delay, wasted fuel, and the annual cost of congestion in all U.S. urban areas. The data that are available to analyze transportation performance are evolving, however, and the UMR procedures need to adopt the new data sources to provide the best possible estimate of mobility conditions. Private-sector companies advertising the availability of nationwide average speed data on many highways in the United States compete with the UMR for congestion coverage. Through this research, TTI has developed a partnership with one of the private-sector speed companies, INRIX. The TTI and INRIX databases were matched and used to re-compute the UMR statistics based on actual speed data for all days and all major urban roads. This research has improved the estimates of congestion and its costs, and has improved the timeliness of U.S. traffic congestion estimates. KW - Costs KW - Fuel consumption KW - Mobility KW - Speed data KW - Statistics KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic delays KW - Urban areas UR - http://utcm.tamu.edu/publications/final_reports/Lomax_10-65-55.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/37000/37800/37828/Lomax_10-65-55.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102471 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01339091 AU - Barr, Lawrence C AU - Yang, C Y David AU - Hanowski, Richard J AU - Olson, Rebecca AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration TI - An Assessment of Driver Drowsiness, Distraction, and Performance in a Naturalistic Setting PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 92p AB - This report documents the results of a study to characterize episodes of driver drowsiness and to assess the impact of drowsiness on driving performance. This data mining effort performed additional analyses on the data collected in an earlier Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) study of the effects of fatigue on drivers in local/short haul operations. The primary objectives of the study were to investigate drowsiness as a naturally occurring phenomenon by identifying and characterizing episodes of drowsiness that occurred during every period of driving and to determine the operational or driving-environment factors associated with drowsy driving. A total of 2,745 drowsy events were identified in approximately 900 total hours of naturalistic driving video data. Higher levels of drowsiness were found to be associated with younger and less experienced drivers. In addition, a strong and consistent relationship was found between drowsiness and time of day. Drowsy driving events were twice as likely to occur between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., as compared to baseline, or non-drowsy driving, and approximately 30 percent of all observed instances of drowsiness occurred within the first hour of the work shift. Some interesting insights about the relationship between driver fatigue or drowsiness and driver distraction and inattention are provided. This study presents an analytical framework for quantitatively assessing driver fatigue and drowsiness as a function of driver characteristics and the driving environment. KW - Attention lapses KW - Distraction KW - Driver experience KW - Drivers KW - Driving environments KW - Driving performance KW - Drowsiness KW - Fatigue (Physiological condition) KW - Naturalistic driving research KW - Periods of the day KW - Video data UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/51000/51200/51252/11-010-RP-Distraction-and-Performance.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1101697 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01338810 AU - Sobanjo, John O AU - Thompson, Paul D AU - Florida State University, Tallahassee AU - Florida Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Enhancement of the FDOT's Project Level and Network Level Bridge Management Analysis Tools PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 329p AB - Over several years, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has been implementing the AASHTO Pontis Bridge Management System to support network-level and project-level decision making in the headquarters and district offices. Pontis is an integral part of a Department-wide effort to improve the quality of asset management information provided to decision makers. With the success of these previous research efforts, FDOT further investigated several additional modeling issues that were not possible during earlier Pontis implementation work. First, a sensitivity analysis was performed on the Project Level Analysis Tool (PLAT) and Network Analysis Tool (NAT), as well as a comparison made between the PLAT and NAT models and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 590, which explored the criteria used for priority setting and resource allocation. The analysis suggested priority enhancements to PLAT/NAT, including improved deterioration and cost models, and multi-objective optimization. Secondly, an improved version of the NBI Translator has been developed and implemented using two years of bridge inspection data from the Florida bridge inventory. A standalone computer program was developed, as well as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet version of the Translator program written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which was incorporated into the PLAT. Next, the research developed improved deterioration, action effectiveness, and cost models for Pontis and the PLAT. A new, simplified procedure was developed for estimating one-step Markovian models that produces usable results with significantly smaller sample sizes than traditional regression. As the fifth accomplishment, models were developed for estimating user costs at bridge sites where no detour is considered. Several existing user cost models were reviewed in the study, including some traditional roadway-based models and the previous FDOT user cost model for bridges. New accident models were formulated based on Florida crash data at bridge sites for years 2003 through 2007, including the following: binomial logistic regression, Poisson regression, and negative binomial regression models. KW - Asset management KW - Bridge management systems KW - Crash data KW - Decision making KW - Deterioration KW - Florida KW - Network level models KW - Pontis (Computer program) KW - Project level models KW - Regression analysis KW - Sensitivity analysis KW - User cost models UR - http://www.fdot.gov/research/Completed_Proj/Summary_MNT/FDOT_BDK83_977-01_rpt..pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1101251 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01338178 AU - Rakha, Hesham AU - El-Shawarby, Ihab AU - Amer, Ahmed AU - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg AU - Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research AU - Virginia Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of a Framework for Evaluating Yellow Timing at Signalized Intersections PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 71p AB - Studies show that the proper design of clearance intervals has significant implications for intersection safety. For example, in 2001, approximately 218,000 red-light-running crashes occurred at signalized intersections in the United States. These crashes resulted in nearly 181,000 injuries and 880 fatalities and an economic loss of $14 billion. Driver behavior while the driver is approaching high-speed signalized intersections at the onset of a yellow indication varies as a function of many parameters. Some of these parameters are related to the driver’s attributes, e.g., age, gender, perception-reaction time, and acceptable deceleration levels. Other parameters that relate to the intersection geometry include the approach speed, distance, and time to the intersection at the onset of the yellow indication. This study developed a novel approach for computing the clearance interval duration that explicitly accounts for the reliability of the design (probability that drivers are not caught in a dilemma zone). Lookup tables based on the limited data available from this study are provided to illustrate how the framework could be used in the design of yellow timings. The approach was developed using data gathered along Virginia’s Smart Road test facility for dry and clear weather conditions for two approach speeds: 72.4 km/h (45 mph) and 88.5 km/h (55 mph). Each dataset includes a complete tracking of the vehicle every deci-second within 150 m (500 ft) before and after the intersection. A total of 3,454 stop-run records were gathered. These include 1,727 records (687 running records and 1,040 stopping records) for an approach speed of 45 mph and 1,727 records (625 running records and 1,102 stopping records) for an approach speed of 55 mph. Using these data, models that characterize driver perception-reaction times and deceleration levels were developed. The application of the proposed approach demonstrates that the current design procedures are consistent with a reliability level of 98%. KW - Clearance interval (Traffic signal cycle) KW - Data collection KW - Dilemma zone KW - High speed intersections KW - Mathematical models KW - Reaction time KW - Red light running KW - Signalized intersections KW - Traffic safety KW - Traffic signal timing KW - Virginia Smart Road KW - Yellow interval (Traffic signal cycle) UR - http://www.mautc.psu.edu/docs/VT-2008-08.pdf UR - http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/11-r12.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100672 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01338176 AU - Ferdous, Nazneen AU - Bhat, Chandra AU - Vana, Lakshmi AU - Schmitt, David AU - Bowman, John L AU - Bradley, Mark AU - Pendyala, Ram AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Comparison of Four-Step Versus Tour-Based Models in Predicting Travel Behavior Before and After Transportation System Changes – Results Interpretation and Recommendations PY - 2011/02 SP - 140p AB - The main objective of this study was to examine the performance of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s (MORPC's) trip-based and tour-based frameworks in the context of three specific projects started and completed within the past 15 years in the Columbus metropolitan area. The three specific projects included (1) Polaris project, (2) Hilliard-Rome project, and (3) Spring-Sandusky interchange project. The performance evaluation of the trip-based and tour-based models was pursued at two levels. The first level corresponded to a region-level analysis (independent of specific projects) that compared selected model outputs from each of the trip-based and tour-based model systems with corresponding region-level observed data. The second level corresponded to a local-level analysis (specific to each of the three projects identified earlier) that compared the trip volume outputs on selected roadway links in and around the project region with corresponding link counts. For both the region-level and local-level analysis, the research team considered three years for analysis: 1990, 2000, and 2005. The results indicate that the tour-based model performed better overall than the trip-based model in the region-level analysis, while the predictive abilities from the trip and tour-based models were about equal in the local-level analysis. This project is a significant first step toward a better understanding of the tangible benefits of disaggregate tour-based modeling methods. But it would be imprudent to judge all model systems strictly on the results of this one project, since the transportation planning community has accumulated four decades of learning and experience on trip-based models while this particular tour-based model represents only one attempt, and one of the earliest, at implementing the tour-based or activity-based approach for practical use. Regardless, this project should serve as an important reference in the assessment of the potential practical benefits of disaggregate tour-based modeling approaches vis-à-vis aggregate trip-based methods. KW - Activity based modeling KW - Before and after studies KW - Columbus (Ohio) KW - Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission KW - Tour-based models KW - Traffic forecasting KW - Transportation improvement projects KW - Travel behavior UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/720280085/viewonline UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55700/55734/134368_FR.PDF UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100711 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01338172 AU - Ward, Carrie Z AU - Capital District Transportation Authority AU - Central District Management Association, Incorporated AU - New York State Energy Research and Development Authority AU - New York State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Solar Transit Stops on Central Avenue PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 15p AB - This initiative sought to demonstrate existing commercially available transportation technologies for transit customer amenities that could significantly enhance transit experience and attract more riders – therefore making the Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) service more attractive, safe, and sustainable. CDTA installed solar-powered street transit amenities on a 2.5-mile section of Central Avenue in Albany, NY, located between Lark Street and the Albany city line to the West. Amenities installed were four (4) i-Shelter Solar Shelter Lighting systems, twenty-five (25) i-Stop solar-powered bus stop signs, and ten (10) BigBelly Cordless Compaction Systems. BigBelly Cordless Compaction Systems were installed at the future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations located within the area of the proposal, i-Shelter Solar Shelter Lighting systems were installed at existing bus shelters located within the proposal area, and i-Stops were installed at all the existing bus stops within the proposal area that were not planned to become BRT stations and did not have a shelter. Project partners have been happy with the performance and feedback of the BigBelly systems and the solar shelters. The solar-powered bus stop signs have proven too expensive to maintain and too vulnerable to vandalism for the benefits they provide. Therefore, project partners are open to expanding their BigBelly and solar shelter infrastructure, but will not be expanding the i-Stop network along the Central Avenue corridor. KW - Albany (New York) KW - Bus rapid transit KW - Bus stop shelters KW - Bus stops KW - Bus terminals KW - Customer amenities KW - Garbage compaction systems KW - Lighting KW - Signs KW - Solar energy UR - https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/C-08-04%20CDTA%20Solar%20Transit%20Stop%20Final%20Report_Feb%202011.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/37000/37900/37994/C-08-04_CDTA_Solar_Transit_Stop_Final_Report_Feb_2011.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100694 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337616 AU - Scarsella, Maleena AU - Muench, Stephen T AU - University of Washington, Seattle AU - Transportation Northwest Regional Center X (TransNow) AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Oregon Department of Transportation Greenroads Pilot Project: US 97: Lava Butte – S. Century Drive Section PY - 2011/02//Final Technical Report SP - 94p AB - This project is a Greenroads Pilot Project on the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) project “US 97: Lava Butte – S. Century Drive Section.” Greenroads is a sustainability rating system for roadway design and construction (a complete description of Greenroads and its development can be found in TransNow report TNW 2009‐13 and/or the Greenroads Manual available at www.greenroads.us). A Greenroads Pilot Project uses the Greenroads Rating System on an existing or planned project to determine (1) how the project scored as it is/was designed and constructed, (2) what the project could have scored had it pursued a Greenroads rating, (3) where best to revise the Greenroads Rating System to make it more usable for project personnel, and (4) how the Greenroads Rating System could best be used by the project and owner agency in pursuit of their sustainability goals. Key findings from this Pilot Project are: the project met 8 of 11 Project Requirements; the project achieved 46 Voluntary Credit and Custom Credit points; if the remaining 3 Project Requirements are completed, the project could be certified at the Silver level; four potential custom credits were identified to be developed for ODOT; six credits were identified as needing modification based on project observations; medium to large ODOT projects (above $10 million) have the potential to score well in Greenroads; and the publicity generated by this Greenroads Pilot Project was substantial. KW - Environmental policy KW - Greenroads (Rating system) KW - Highway design KW - Road construction KW - Sustainable development UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36094/TNW2010-12.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100481 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337614 AU - Moudon, Anne Vernez AU - Lin, Lin AU - University of Washington, Seattle AU - Transportation Northwest Regional Center X (TransNow) AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - School-Based Travel: A Mobility Assessment PY - 2011/02//Final Research Report SP - 132p AB - Active commuting to school has been an overlooked source of physical activity for children. This study aimed to provide insights on how the individual activity-travel patterns of adults in the Puget Sound Region of Washington State were impacted by the presence of children in the household. It also investigated if and how the characteristics of both home and school neighborhood environments influenced mode choice for school-based trips, and explored the reciprocal relationships between travel patterns of children and adults. The research sought to address two questions: How did having children aged 18 and younger affect activity-travel patterns of individual adults? How were children and household characteristics, parents’ travel patterns, and environments around home and school associated with children’s mode of commuting to school? Regarding the first question, there were significant differences in activity-travel patterns between individuals or households with and without children aged 18 or younger. Regarding the second question, the study found a strong inverse association between network distance between home and school and active commuting to school for all school age groups, as well as for elementary school children who lived near to their school. It was not surprising to find that having school-aged children affected the travel patterns of adults. Specifically, the individual parent’s gender and work status were strongly associated with travel frequency and mode choice. Future research and programs will need to consider the parent’s socioeconomic characteristics in order to (1) better manage the general impact of family travel pattern on transportation systems; and (2) to effectively encourage children to use active travel to school. Increasing the number of children using active travel to school can potentially yield two benefits: reduce traffic conditions in neighborhoods and improve children’s health. The strong inverse association between network distance from home to school and active commuting to school found in all school age groups, even for those who lived near to their school, suggested that urban and transportation planners should work with school districts to change school siting and allocation policies, especially for elementary and middle schools. Route directness from home to school and traffic volume were additional characteristics of home and school neighborhoods that could be modified to encourage active travel to school. KW - Adults KW - Mode choice KW - Neighborhoods KW - Physical activity KW - Puget Sound Region KW - School children KW - School trips KW - Travel patterns UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36098/TNW2010-09.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100473 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337613 AU - Goodchild, Anne AU - Klein, Matt AU - University of Washington, Seattle AU - Transportation Northwest Regional Center X (TransNow) AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Understanding Pacific Highway Commercial Vehicle Operations to Support Emissions Reduction Programs PY - 2011/02//Final Technical Report SP - 94p AB - This research, enabled by a data collection effort at the international commercial vehicle crossing at Blaine, WA, addressed three key questions regarding commercial vehicle border operations and near border operations. First, what are the unique features of border operations at Blaine, WA, that are not captured within the standard simulation tools (such as Border Wizard)? Second, what logistical inefficiencies are created by the border that increase empty miles travelled, emissions and total travel time between origin and destination? Third, what has the impact of electronic manifest filing been on primary inspection time? The research objectives were to (1) describe near border operations and identify possible solutions to reduce empty truck miles, (2) improve the understanding of the relationship between primary processing time and border crossing time, and (3) identify the impact of ACE (the commercial trade processing system being developed by Customs and Border Protection to facilitate legitimate trade and strengthen border security) electronic manifest filing on primary processing and primary processing time. The report is organized as follows: Chapter 1 describes near border operations through analysis of survey data, current knowledge of the impact of policy on near border facilities, and suggests changes to improve near border operations. Chapter 2 describes the features of processing at Blaine discovered during the data analysis that contribute processing time and border crossing time. Chapter 3 evaluates the impact of ACE on interview time, and compares interview times, crossing times, and volume in the 2009, 2006, and 2001 studies. KW - Air quality management KW - Blaine (Washington) KW - Border crossing time KW - Border processing time KW - Commercial vehicle operations KW - Empty trips KW - International borders KW - Pacific Northwest KW - U.S. Customs and Border Protection KW - United States-Canada Border UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36096/TNW2010-11.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100480 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337612 AU - Benjamin, Mark AU - Steele, Anthony AU - Deichsel, Alfred John AU - Alsheimer, Annie AU - De La Via, Claudia AU - Chahim, Dean AU - University of Washington, Seattle AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Transportation Northwest Regional Center X (TransNow) AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Road Stabilization and Drainage Improvements in North Potosi, Bolivia - Improving Access to Markets, Clinics, Schools, and Facilitating Future Development PY - 2011/02//Final Technical Report SP - 15p AB - In a remote and extremely impoverished region of southwestern Bolivia, the only road connecting five communities to the outside world has been historically washed out multiple times per year. With the support of TRANSNOW, the University of Washington chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-UWS) partnered with these small communities to implement a rural roads improvement project in July and August, 2010. Over the course of these two months, the EWB-UWS team implemented a number of robust but low-cost designs aimed at improving drainage and reducing the impact of erosion. These designs included gabion walls, drywalls, cemented drywalls, and armored crossings. The implemented designs promise to keep the road open for nearly the entire year, and reduce the burden of maintenance for the estimated 380 residents of the communities who rely on the road. KW - Bolivia KW - Drainage KW - Engineers Without Borders KW - Erosion control KW - Gabions KW - Geotechnical engineering KW - Highway design KW - Low cost roads KW - Mountain roads KW - Remote areas KW - Road construction KW - Rural areas KW - Sustainable development UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36095/TNW2010-13.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100482 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337561 AU - Goodwin, Arthur H AU - Thomas, Libby J AU - Hall, William L AU - Tucker, Mary Ellen AU - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Countermeasures That Work: A Highway Safety Countermeasure Guide For State Highway Safety Offices PY - 2011/02//Sixth Edition SP - 350p AB - This guide is a basic reference to assist State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in selecting effective, science-based traffic safety countermeasures for major highway safety problem areas. The guide: describes major strategies and countermeasures that are relevant to SHSOs; summarizes their use, effectiveness, costs, and implementation time; and provides references to the most important research summaries and individual studies. The guide contains a chapter for each problem area. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of the problem area’s size and characteristics, the main countermeasure strategies, a glossary of key terms, and a few general references. Next, a table lists specific countermeasures and summarizes their use, effectiveness, costs, and implementation time. Each countermeasure is then discussed in approximately one page. Some countermeasure areas are covered in more depth than others due to the availability of published research. For example, impaired driving has a long and rich research history while other topics, such as driver distraction and drowsiness, have received less attention. Highway safety problem areas covered include the following: alcohol-impaired and drugged driving, seat belt use and child restraints, aggressive driving and speeding, distracted and drowsy driving, motorcycle safety, young drivers, older drivers, pedestrians, and bicycles. KW - Aged drivers KW - Aggression KW - Bicycle crashes KW - Child restraint systems KW - Countermeasures KW - Distraction KW - Drivers KW - Drowsiness KW - Drugged drivers KW - Drunk driving KW - Highway safety KW - Motorcycle crashes KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Seat belts KW - Speeding KW - Strategic planning KW - Teenage drivers KW - Young adults UR - http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/811444.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/46000/46600/46662/811444.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100460 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337327 AU - Smith, Trevor AU - Banas, Andrew AU - Gummer, Max AU - Jin, Jaesup AU - Portland State University AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Recalibration of the GRLWEAP LRFD Resistance Factor for Oregon DOT PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 128p AB - The Bridge Section of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is responsible for the design of all bridge structures and routinely uses GRLWEAP for controlling pile driving stresses and establishing capacity from the bearing graph. The LRFD resistance factor, φ, for GRLWEAP sets the factored amount of nominal capacity in the LRFD inequality. Foundation conditions throughout Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Portland metropolitan area are predominantly sand, silt, and clay. Steel pipe and H section foundation piles typically are of sufficient length to be friction piles and exhibit set-up after the end of initial driving (EOID). The two objectives of this study were to build an extensive database of driven pile case histories to include restrike conditions from the present available sources that reflect ODOT’s diverse soils and piles, and to establish φ factors for EOID and beginning of restrike (BOR) conditions using GRLWEAP to match ODOT practice. A diverse group of existing databases, including the FHWA-built DFLTD and NCHRP 507 PDLT2000, were accessed and merged with new cases from the literature to build a comprehensive database, called the Full PSU Master. Neither of these two national databases proved always correct for the large amount of source input required, with the largest source of anomalies and missing data being the blow count, especially at the BOR condition. Over 150 new cases were added to establish the Full PSU Master database containing 322 piles, with each case placed into one of three input tiers for statistical profiling to assist in preserving quality for the φ calibration. The Full PSU Master database then supplied 179 cases analyzed by FHWA static capacity software DRIVEN and by GRLWEAP for capacity prediction by the bearing graph. These predictions generated bias mean λ and COV statistics for a range of ODOT selected scenarios. The 322 piles ranged up to 40 inches in diameter, and up to 197 ft in embedment length. The 179 analyzed piles ranged up to 36 inches in diameter and 167 ft in embedment length and had driving blow counts up to 100 BPI. This research showed similar trends for GRLWEAP capacity as that reported in NCHRP 507 for CAPWAP capacity on the statistical effects from variables such as blow count ranges. Sub-grouping λ by blow count revealed a clear decay in easy driving mean λ and COV parameters when blow counts were ≤ 2 BPI. Above 2 BPI, little difference was found in these parameters, and no upper limit of statistical accuracy was identified. A clear difference in statistical sample characteristics existed between piles supported in predominately cohesive soils to those in cohesionless soils, and also between pile types. For the ODOT case of redundant piles in groups, a reliability index β at 2.33 was used to establish φ resistance factors and φ/λ efficiency measures. Statistics for an initial ten scenarios were generated, and the First Order Second Moment (FOSM) resistance factor at EOID and BOR was reported, based on lognormal fits to the λ distribution. The final five ODOT selected scenarios to permit comparison to NCHRP 507 and to form a basis to design implementation measures underwent advanced Monte Carlo based probabilistic procedures using random number generation and the λ lognormal tail fits to provide EOID and BOR φ factors. Recommended resistance factors from the visual tail fit procedure on the likely best fit to ODOT practice scenario containing all soil and pile types were 0.55 and 0.4 for EOID and BOR respectively. Recommendations were made for a separate implementation activity, including additional φ calibration work based on the Full PSU Master including use of field measured hammer performance, CAPWAP based soil input parameters, and pile type. KW - Bridge foundations KW - Bridge piers KW - Driven piles KW - GRLWEAP (Computer program) KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Pile driving KW - Resistance factors KW - Soils UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36100/36116/GRLWEAP_LRFD.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098660 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337292 AU - Firestine, Theresa AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - The U.S. Rural Population and Scheduled Intercity Transportation in 2010: A Five-Year Decline in Transportation Access PY - 2011/02 SP - 22p AB - Between 2005 and 2010, 3.5 million rural residents lost access to scheduled intercity transportation, increasing the percent of rural residents without access to intercity transportation from 7 to 11 percent. In 2005, 5.4 million rural residents lacked access to intercity transportation, with that total increasing to 8.9 million rural residents in 2010. Of the 71.7 million rural residents retaining access in 2010, 3.7 million lost access to more than one intercity transportation mode during the 5-year period. These numbers update a 2005 analysis by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. In 2005, BTS measured access to intercity transportation within rural America. At the time, BTS calculated that 93 percent of rural residents in the United States lived within the coverage area of at least one of the four intercity public transportation modes (air, bus, ferry, and rail). Since then, significant changes have occurred to the networks of several of the modes. These changes include, but are not limited to, network reductions made by Greyhound and the suspension of the New Orleans–Jacksonville route previously provided by Amtrak’s Sunset Limited. KW - Access KW - Intercity transportation KW - Public transit KW - Rural areas KW - United States UR - http://www.bts.gov/publications/scheduled_intercity_transportation_and_the_us_rural_population/2010/pdf/entire.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56100/56125/US_RURAL_POPULATION_SCHEDULED_INTERCITY_TRANSPORTATION_2010.PDF UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098713 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337268 AU - DeWeese, Rick AU - Moorcroft, David AU - Taylor, Amanda AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Aviation Child Safety Device Performance Standards Review PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 22p AB - The design and performance requirements for Child Restraint Systems (CRS) in TSO-C100b and SAE AS5276/1 were developed to enable proper restraint of infants and small children traveling on transport airplanes. They complement and extend those in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for Child Restraint Systems (FMVSS-213), which, prior to their development, were the only approval means for CRS used on aircraft. Development of CRS able to comply with the aviation standards has proven challenging, as the test requirements call for a combination of worst-case belt anchor location, belt tension, and seat cushion properties/dimensions that were typical at the time the specifications were written. These parameters no longer appear to be representative of the majority of transport airplane seats. As such, difficulty complying with the standards based on these test parameters may be inadvertently hindering the availability of aviation-specific CRS. Aviation-specific CRS, now commonly referred to as Aviation Child Safety Devices (ACSD), have been recently developed that provide upper torso restraint for forward-facing children. Alternative regulatory procedures have been adopted for certification of these devices, requiring demonstration of an equivalent level of safety with TSO-approved devices. Revision of the regulatory requirements in order to accommodate these new devices included removal of the explicit requirement for these systems to meet FMVSS-213. This action has inadvertently removed some applicable requirements that are not duplicated in the TSO. Such requirements include: design specifications for occupant support surfaces, belt/buckle strength and durability tests, and defined occupant restraint configuration, geometry, and adjustment range. In addition, FMVSS-213 has been revised significantly since TSO-C100b was written, improving several aspects that could benefit existing aviation standards and provide a safety benefit for ACSD. These include use of advanced test dummies, enhanced test dummy preparation and positioning procedures, improved head injury assessment, and better CRS installation procedures. Analysis of AS5276/1, TSO-C100b, FMVSS-213, and the current seat population in the U.S. transport airplane fleet suggests that revisions to both the Aerospace Standard and the TSO based on technological evolution, improvements to test equipment, and test procedures that are more representative of the aircraft environment would advance the development of ACSD while maintaining or improving child safety. KW - Aircraft KW - Aviation safety KW - Child restraint systems KW - Performance KW - Standards UR - http://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oamtechreports/2010s/media/201103.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097618 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335484 AU - Smith, Robert J AU - Hargett, Stella L AU - Morgan State University AU - Morgan State University AU - National Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Second Parenthoods: The Influence of Custodial Care of Children Among African-American Elderly on Their Travel Behavior and Transportation Needs PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 105p AB - The present study was an investigation of the relationship between household lifecycle and travel behaviors and concerns of African-American elderly who are involved in “second parenthoods.” This report defines a second parenthood as an arrangement in which an elderly person has custodial care of a minor who is usually a grandchild or other relative. In these second parenthoods, the elderly are confronted with a host of social-psychological issues that are reflective of an earlier lifecycle stage wherein the transportation behaviors, concerns, and needs are quite different. The results of the current investigation indicate that this cohort of individuals most often resides in urban areas, has low income, has low educational attainment, and has a host of health-related problems that may affect the travel behaviors necessary for the custodial care of children. While the results often varied, one rather consistent pattern was that households with children, particularly those headed by single females, were quite different from other types of households along a variety of measures related to travel behavior, health, travel concerns, and transportation needs. Female heads of household were more likely than male heads of household to be of low income, have less education, have custody of younger children, have more chronic medical problems, have a greater variety of travel concerns, travel fewer miles, have shorter trip times, and have a medical condition that makes travel difficult and requires special transport. The findings are discussed in terms of the need for special transportation programs that address the special needs of the African-Americans in second parenthoods as well as the need for additional research to elucidate the complexity of this continually expanding cohort. KW - African Americans KW - Aged KW - Child care KW - Diseases and medical conditions KW - Low income groups KW - Social psychology KW - Special transportation services KW - Travel behavior KW - Travel needs KW - Urban areas UR - http://www.morgan.edu//Documents/ACADEMICS/CENTERS/NTC/Second_Smith_1011.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1099050 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335483 AU - Frawley, William E AU - Borowiec, Jeffrey D AU - Protopapas, Annie AU - Warner, Jeffery E AU - Morgan, Curtis A AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Guidebook on Landside Freight Access to Airports PY - 2011/02 SP - 85p AB - This guidebook provides cities, counties, regional planning agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, state agencies, shippers, and airport operators with a discussion of the issues and solutions related to landside freight access to airports. It is a result of numerous case studies developed from surveys and interviews of airport and freight industry personnel across the state and nation. It provides recommendations and examples of techniques to plan for and provide safe and efficient landside freight access to airports. In comparison to the full research report, this document is intended to serve as a quick reference guide. The objective of this guidebook is to identify the issues, barriers, physical bottlenecks, and solutions, including potential funding mechanisms, concerning landside access to airports in Texas and to propose a methodology for identifying and evaluating existing access performance from a freight perspective. KW - Air cargo KW - Airport access KW - Case studies KW - Freight traffic KW - Handbooks KW - Landside access KW - Landside operations (Airports) KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6265-P1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1099046 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335453 AU - Clower, Terry L AU - Ruggiere, Paul AU - Bomba, Michael AU - Arndt, Jeffrey C AU - Li, Jianling AU - Edrington, Suzie AU - Hendershot, Paul AU - University of North Texas, Denton AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluating the Impact of Transit-Oriented Development PY - 2011/02//Technical Report SP - 148p AB - Transit‐oriented development (TOD) is an increasingly popular urban form. Based on a survey of residents of TOD projects in areas served by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), Fort Worth, Texas, and Capital Metro (Austin) rail transit, moving into TOD decreases vehicle miles of travel (VMT) by an average of 15 percent, or about 3,500 miles per year, which impacts the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) motor fuel tax revenues. The data also indicate that these households shift their choice of route to include more arterial roads versus highways. Differential behavior is observed among the three areas studied with the greatest impact being on the DART system and the Capital Metro system showing smaller changes in TOD resident travel behaviors. Residents of TOD choose their housing based mostly on commuting distance and lifestyle characteristics, such as proximity to dining and entertainment venues. Proximity to a transit rail station is at least moderately important for 57 percent of respondents. The report recommends that TxDOT look to incorporate TOD into facility planning and design and seek ways to extract value from TOD projects. KW - Austin (Texas) KW - Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Austin, Texas) KW - Dallas Area Rapid Transit KW - Fort Worth (Texas) KW - Fuel taxes KW - Life styles KW - Rail transit KW - Residential location KW - Route choice KW - Surveys KW - Transit oriented development KW - Travel behavior KW - Trip length KW - Vehicle miles of travel UR - http://www.unt.edu/cedr/FHWA-TX10-0-6511-1.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36025/FHWA-TX10-0-6511-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098912 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335451 AU - Adams, Teresa M AU - Juni, Emil AU - National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (CFIRE) AU - Wisconsin Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Compass 2009 Data Analysis and Reporting PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 95p AB - The Compass Reports created in this project are issued annually to provide information on the maintenance condition of Wisconsin’s highways. The information in these reports is being used to help understand trends and conditions, prioritize resources, and set targets for future condition levels of Wisconsin's highway system. As more information is gathered, the reports will also be used to illustrate and understand the consequences of funding and policy shifts, and to demonstrate accountability to decision-makers at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and in the legislature. This report includes data on traveled ways (paved traffic lanes), shoulders, drainage, roadsides, selected traffic devices, specific aspects of winter maintenance activities, and bridges. The first section of this report provides a program overview and scorecard based on current conditions. Subsequent sections of the report provide detailed information on each roadway feature. KW - Annual reports KW - Bridges KW - Compass program (Wisconsin) KW - Data collection KW - Drainage KW - Highway maintenance KW - Pavement performance KW - Road shoulders KW - Roadside KW - Traffic control devices KW - Winter maintenance KW - Wisconsin UR - http://www.wistrans.org/cfire/documents/Compass-Report-2009-Final.pdf UR - http://www.wistrans.org/cfire/research/projects/04-01/ UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36078/Compass_Report-2009-Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098952 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335449 AU - Trejo, David AU - Head, Monique Hite AU - Mander, John AU - Mander, Thomas J AU - Henley, Mathew AU - Scott, Reece AU - Ley, Tyler AU - Patil, Siddharth AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of a Precast Bridge Deck Overhang System PY - 2011/02//Technical Report SP - 228p AB - Prestressed-precast panels are commonly used at interior beams for bridge decks in Texas. The use of these panels can provide ease of construction, sufficient capacity, and good economy for the construction of bridge decks in Texas. Current practice for the overhang deck sections require that formwork be constructed at the outer edges of the bridge. The cost of constructing the bridge overhang is significantly higher than that of the interior sections where precast panels are used. The development of a precast overhang system has the potential to improve economy and safety in bridge construction. This research investigated the overhang and shear capacity of a precast overhang system for potential use during the construction of bridges with precast overhang panels. The research was performed in three phases: the Phase 1 research including work specifically for the Rock Creek Bridge in Parker County, Texas; the Phase 2 research for general precast overhang panels, and; the Phase 3 research investigating the shear capacity. Grout material characteristics were also assessed for possible use in the haunch; constructability issues were also addressed. Results indicate that the capacity of the precast overhang system is sufficient to carry factored AASHTO loads with no or very limited cracking. Results from the shear study indicate that the shear capacity of threaded rods with couplers is lower than the conventional R-bar system. However, sufficient shear capacity can be achieved if sufficient pockets in the precast overhang panel are provided. A recommendation for the haunch form system for use on the bridge is also provided. The use of the precast overhang system evaluated can be implemented in bridge construction. However, further testing is needed to determine the number of pockets on the overhang panel—an issue critical to the constructability and economy of the system. This will be further addressed in report 0-6100-3. KW - Bridge decks KW - Bridges KW - Constructability KW - Construction KW - Grout KW - Haunches (Bridge decks) KW - Overhangs KW - Precast concrete KW - Prefabricated structures KW - Prestressed concrete KW - Shear capacity KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6100-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098921 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335448 AU - Kraus, Edgar AU - Fernando, Emmanuel AU - Li, Eric Yingfeng AU - Oh, Jeong Ho AU - Koncz, Nicholas AU - Quiroga, Cesar AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluating the Impact of Overweight Load Routing on Buried Utility Facilities PY - 2011/02//Technical Report SP - 212p AB - Overweight traffic movements can negatively affect pavement integrity and quality. However, it is less known to what degree buried utility plant along and across the right of way is affected by these overweight loads, especially if the utility facility is aged, placed under an exception to the Utility Accommodation Rules (UAR), and/or subjected to repetitive loads. Routing decisions for repetitive overweight loads may be determined without consideration of cumulative impacts to utility infrastructure, particularly municipally owned lines that could be aged, accommodated under an exception, or of substandard materials. Given the growth in volume in overweight load (particularly mid-heavy and superload) permits, the adequacy of the UAR is unknown. This report focuses on the year one project objectives, which were (a) provide a review of technical design and engineering requirements for utility accommodation in Texas, (b) provide a preliminary assessment of potential impact of overweight loads on buried utilities, (c) provide a preliminary assessment of UAR adequacy to deal with overweight loads on buried utilities, (d) provide preliminary recommendations for a business process for Texas Department of Transportation overweight routing coordination, and (e) provide recommendations for the phase 2 utility damage evaluation. KW - Aging infrastructure KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Impacts KW - Overweight loads KW - Permits KW - Routing KW - Texas KW - Underground utility lines KW - Utility accommodation policy UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6394-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098910 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335419 AU - Wang, Zuocai AU - Chen, Genda AU - Kwon, Oh-Sung AU - Orton, Sarah AU - Center for Transportation Infrastructure and Safety AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Calibration of Load and Resistance Factors in LRFD Foundation Design Specifications PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 146p AB - This report summarizes the findings and recommendations on the impact of foundation settlements on the reliability of bridge superstructures. As a collaborative effort of an overall initiative for the development of load and resistance factor design (LRFD) foundation design specifications, this study is focused on the investigation of pros and cons for including foundation settlements in bridge designs under gravity loads. Settlement was modeled both probabilistically and deterministically. In the case of a random settlement variable, a lognormal distribution was used in reliability analysis with a fixed coefficient of variation of 0.25. Dead and live loads were modeled as random variables with normal and Gumbel Type I distributions, respectively. Considering the regional traffic condition on Missouri roadways, the effect of a live load reduction factor on bridge reliability was also investigated. Therefore, a total of eight cases were discussed with a complete combination of settlement modeling (mean and extreme values), design consideration (settlements included and excluded), and live load reduction (unreduced and reduced live loads). Based on extensive simulations on multi-span bridges, bridges designed without due consideration on settlements can tolerate an extreme settlement of L/3500 - L/450 under unreduced live loads and up to L/3500 under reduced live loads without resulting in a reliability index below 3.5 (L=span length). Depending upon span lengths and their ratio, the reliability of existing steel-girder bridges is consistently higher than prestressed concrete and solid slab bridges. The shorter and stiffer the spans, the more significant the settlement’s effect on the reliability of bridge superstructures. As the span length ratio becomes less than 0.75, the girder and solid slab bridges’ reliability drops significantly at small settlements. A concrete diaphragm is very susceptible to the differential settlement of bridges, particularly for moment effects. Two recommendations were made to address settlement effects in bridge design: (1) settlement is considered in structural design and no special requirement is needed for foundation designs unless settlement exceeds the AASHTO recommended settlement limit of L/250, and (2) settlement is not considered in structural design as in the current Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) practice but ensured below the tolerable settlement (e.g., L/450 for steel girders, L/2500 for slabs, and L/3500 for prestressed concrete girders). The first method provides a direct approach to deal with settlements and has potential to reduce overall costs in bridge design. The second method may result in oversized foundations. KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge foundations KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Girder bridges KW - Live loads KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Prestressed concrete bridges KW - Reliability index KW - Settlement (Structures) KW - Specifications UR - http://utc.mst.edu/documents/R237_CR.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36021/R237_CR.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098855 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335418 AU - Grasman, Scott E AU - Long, Suzanna AU - Qin, Ruwen AU - Rolufs, Angela AU - Thomas, Mathew AU - Lin, Yaqin AU - Center for Transportation Infrastructure and Safety AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Alternative Energy Sources for MoDOT PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 69p AB - This research investigated environmentally friendly alternative energy sources that could be used by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) in various areas, and developed applicable and sustainable strategies to implement these energy sources. Specifically, the project conducted a thorough investigation of potential alternative energy sources that could be used by MoDOT, identified the various application areas in which the alternative energy may be appropriate, created an appropriate cost-effectiveness and financial feasibility analysis framework as a function of electric utility rates and potential rate increases, as well as analyzed various financing mechanisms such as public-private partnerships, and developed detailed and applicable strategies that will guide the implementation of the selected energy sources based on appropriate technology feasibility analysis, as well as address technological issues and risk mitigation. It is recommended that MoDOT pursue the use of alternative energy sources in four main areas: (1) Wastewater Treatment, (2) Light Emitting Diode (LED) Roadway Lighting, (3) Miscellaneous Energy Savings Projects, and (4) Renewable Solar/Wind Installations. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Energy KW - Energy conservation KW - Energy sources KW - Financing KW - Light emitting diodes KW - Missouri Department of Transportation KW - Public private partnerships KW - Renewable energy sources KW - Risk management KW - Sewage treatment KW - Solar energy KW - Strategic planning KW - Street lighting KW - Sustainable development KW - Technology KW - Wind power generation UR - http://library.modot.mo.gov/RDT/reports/TRyy1006/or11010.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098853 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335393 AU - Monsere, Christopher M AU - Cetin, Mecit AU - Nichols, Andrew P AU - Portland State University AU - Old Dominion University AU - Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Exploratory Methods for Truck Re-Identification in a Statewide Network Based on Axle Weight and Axle Spacing Data to Enhance Freight Metrics PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 78p AB - The main objective of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of re-identifying commercial trucks based on vehicle-attribute data automatically collected by sensors installed at traffic data collection stations. To support this work, archived data from weigh-in-motion (WIM) stations in Oregon are used for developing, calibrating, and testing vehicle re-identification algorithms. The vehicle re-identification methods developed in this research consist of two main stages. In the first stage, each vehicle from the downstream station is matched to the most “similar” upstream vehicle by using a Bayesian model. In the second stage, several methods are introduced to screen out those vehicles that cross the downstream site but not the upstream site and to tradeoff accuracy versus the total number of vehicles being matched. These methods involve calculating both the highest and the second highest similarity measures for each vehicle being matched. It is demonstrated that the proposed screening approach improves the accuracy of the re-identification methods significantly. The models are applied to the truck data collected by WIM sensors at three stations in Oregon, which together create two different “links” that are 125 and 145 miles long, respectively. It is observed that the algorithms can match trucks with approximately 90% accuracy while the total number of trucks being matched at this accuracy level is about 95% of the actual common trucks that cross both upstream and downstream sites. These methods allow the user to trade-off the accuracy vs. total vehicles being matched by adjusting a threshold parameter. For example, trucks can be matched with 98% accuracy if one is willing to match about 40% of all common trucks. It is also found that when travel times of vehicles between the upstream and downstream sites exhibit larger variation, mismatch rate increases. Overall, for estimating travel times and origin-destination flows between two WIM sites, the methods developed in this project can be used to effectively match commercial vehicles crossing two data collection sites that are separated by long distances. KW - Accuracy KW - Automatic vehicle identification KW - Axle spacing KW - Axle weight KW - Commercial vehicles KW - Freight flow data KW - Freight transportation KW - Metrics (Quantitative assessment) KW - Oregon KW - Origin and destination KW - Travel time KW - Trucks KW - Vehicle reidentification KW - Weigh in motion UR - http://www.otrec.us/project/230 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56000/56068/OTREC-RR-11-07.PDF UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098630 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335390 AU - Dudley, Megan M AU - Jacobi, William R AU - Brown, Cynthia S AU - Colorado State University, Fort Collins AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Improving the Performance of Roadside Vegetation PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 60p AB - Vegetation along roadways can be aesthetically pleasing and helps to stabilize the soil, which reduces wind-blown soil and soil erosion. While products containing chloride salts have proven to be very effective in helping to provide safe road surfaces, the accumulation of these products in roadside soils may create conditions unsuitable for the growth of some plant species. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a magnesium chloride-based deicer, a sodium chloride-based deicer, and the major salts contained in these deicers on seed germination and seedling growth and development of fifteen species of grasses and forbs native to Colorado. Seven of the fifteen species performed well at the low and medium concentrations of the salts and solutions; these are plants that can likely germinate in roadside areas. An increase in the concentration of chloride or sodium ions, or both, was related to a greater impact on the proportions of normal and abnormal seeds and seedlings. A few species were more negatively impacted by a particular salt type or formulation. Eight of the fifteen species tested had too few plant counts at either field site or in different soils and treatments to conduct individual data analysis on the impact of salt treatments. Salt treatments had no impact on the average numbers of plants for the remaining seven species, except the two fescue species, which were negatively impacted by high concentrations of salt treatments in topsoil. In general, all species had more plants and greater growth on topsoil than sand, and sand was better than gravel. The salt concentrations in the field plantings were diluted by precipitation during the study so the impacts were probably less than what would be seen with consistently high concentrations. Implementation: Using species with the highest germination rate provides the best opportunity for establishing plants along highways treated with deicing products. If possible, planting should be done in the fall and the soil should be amended to promote plant growth. Future studies should quantify conditions of vegetation along highways so that spatial relationships of highway maintenance, site factors, vegetation types, and metrological factors can be assessed. KW - Deicing chemicals KW - Environmental impacts KW - Germination KW - Grasses KW - Magnesium chloride KW - Native plants KW - Plant growth KW - Roadside flora KW - Seeds KW - Sodium chloride KW - Vegetation UR - http://www.coloradodot.info/programs/research/pdfs/2011/roadsidevegetation.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098663 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335382 AU - Chilukuri, Venkat AU - Siromaskul, Smith AU - Trueblood, Michael AU - Ryan, Tom AU - HDR Engineering, Incorporated AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Diverging Diamond Interchange: Performance Evaluation (I-44 and Route 13) PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 62p AB - Performance evaluation was conducted on the first “diverging diamond interchange (DDI)” or “double crossover interchange (DCD)” constructed in the United States. It connects Interstate 44 and Missouri Route 13. This evaluation assessed traffic operations, safety, and public perceptions to determine the changes between the previous standard diamond interchange and the new DDI/DCD. KW - Design KW - Diverging diamond interchanges KW - Double crossover diamond interchanges KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Highway operations KW - Interchanges KW - Performance measurement KW - Public opinion KW - Road user perception KW - Traffic safety UR - http://library.modot.mo.gov/RDT/reports/TRyy1013/or11012.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098716 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335375 AU - Botch, Sabra R AU - Johnson, Robert D AU - Ricaurte, Eduard M AU - Selensky, Mitchell AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Benzodiazepine Use in Pilots of Civil Aviation Accidents: 1990-2008 Toxicology and Autopsy Findings PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 14p AB - Benzodiazepine medications have a long history of abuse. They are categorized as central nervous system depressants, and there are currently 15 different benzodiazepines prescribed in the United States and an additional 20 in other countries. The side effects of these medications include drowsiness, dizziness, decreased alertness, and/or memory loss, which can lead to impairment and a decreased ability to properly control an aircraft. The presence of these medications in postmortem specimens of aviation accident victims can help determine the cause of the accident and, potentially, result in serious legal consequences. The Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) is in a unique position because a medical history is available to investigators for most certified pilots. With this in mind, the authors compared benzodiazepine compounds found following postmortem analysis with the available medical history for each victim. This evaluation was conducted to determine if these records supported the use of such medications or if the aviators were taking the compounds without the approval of their aviation medical examiners or possibly abusing the substances. In addition, a medical review of the autopsy records was also conducted. Toxicological information from analyses was retrieved from CAMI’s Forensic Toxicology Research Laboratory database. Case histories and accident information were obtained from the National Transportation Safety Board. Medical histories were obtained from the FAA’s medical certification database and CAMI’s autopsy team database. Over the examined time period (1990-2008), there were 6,062 fatal aviation accident cases received at CAMI, and 96 (~1.6%) pilots were found positive for a benzodiazepine. In ~74% of pilots found positive for benzodiazepine(s), it was determined that another compound was detected and more than one additional compound was often present. Fatal aviation accidents involving pilots who had taken a benzodiazepine compound prior to the flight are an infrequent event; however, concomitant use of more than one compound with benzodiazepines is common. This study highlights the use of benzodiazepine over the examined time period in the pilot community and presents a variety of demographic information about the pilots involved in such accidents. KW - Air pilots KW - Air transportation crashes KW - Autopsies KW - Benzodiazepines KW - Crash investigation KW - Drug abuse KW - Forensic medicine KW - Human factors in crashes KW - Medication KW - Toxicology UR - http://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oamtechreports/2010s/media/201102.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098721 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335371 AU - Tufte, Kristin AU - Ahn, Soyoung AU - Kothuri, Sirisha AU - Portland State University AU - Arizona State University, Tempe AU - Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Assessment and Refinement of Real-Time Travel Time Algorithms for Use in Practice, Phase II PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 54p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has put a high priority on the use of existing dynamic message signs (DMS) to provide travel time estimates to the public. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has three DMS in the Portland metropolitan area configured to display travel time information. In the near future, ODOT would like to make travel time estimates available on additional DMS, over the Internet on tripcheck.com and via 511. Travel time estimates are valuable to the traveling public; however, the estimates must be accurate to be useful. The purpose of this study is to extend prior travel time research conducted by Portland State University with additional analysis to provide statistical confidence in travel time estimates and to determine the best travel time estimation approach for ODOT. The initial ODOT-funded phase of this project gathered a large amount of ground truth data and analyzed the performance of the current algorithms and current infrastructure using that data. However, additional work remains to be done. Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC) Phase I of this project will focus on using the existing data to understand the conditions under which travel time estimation algorithms are not accurate. This extension will build on that work to investigate improvements to travel time estimation algorithms and to identify a set of metrics for travel time accuracy and guidelines for when travel time estimates should be provided. At the conclusion of the project, it is desired that a methodology can be recommended that will provide accurate measures of travel time for use with DMS, the Internet and 511 applications. KW - Accuracy KW - Algorithms KW - Estimates KW - Oregon KW - Travel time KW - Variable message signs UR - http://www.otrec.us/project/145 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098629 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334690 AU - Yen, Wen-Huei Phillip AU - Chen, Genda AU - Yashinsky, Mark AU - Hashash, Youssef AU - Holub, Curtis AU - Wang, Kehai AU - Guo, Xiaodong AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla AU - California Department of Transportation AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Research Institute of Highway Ministry of Communications AU - Sichuan Province Communications Department AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - China Earthquake Reconnaissance Report: Performance of Transportation Structures During the May 12, 2008, M7.9 Wenchuan Earthquake PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 54p AB - This report documents the lessons learned from damage caused in the May 12, 2008, M7.9 earthquake in Wenchuan County, China. The damage to the 14 observed bridges reminded the researchers of damage suffered during the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake in California. The bridges had few seismic details such as long seats, large shear keys, or tightly spaced transverse reinforcement. Most arch and girder bridges collapsed due to surface rupturing of the seismic faults in the Longmen-Shan thrust zone. A significant portion of roadways and bridges were pushed away or buried by landslides in the steep slopes of mountainous terrain. Damage to bridge superstructure included unseating of girders, longitudinal and transverse offset of decks, pounding at expansion joints, and shear key failure. The bearings of several girder bridges were either crushed or displaced significantly. The substructure and foundation of bridges were subjected to shear and flexural cracks, concrete spalling, stirrup rupture, excessive displacement, and loss of stability. More damage occurred in simply supported bridges than in continuous spans. Curved bridges either collapsed or suffered severe damage. Evidence of directivity effects on bridges near the earthquake epicenter was observed during the earthquake. The San Fernando earthquake significantly changed the seismic design and construction of bridges in the United States. The Wenchuan earthquake is expected to have the same significance for China’s bridge engineers. KW - Arch bridges KW - Bridges KW - China KW - Collapse KW - Curved bridges KW - Earthquakes KW - Girder bridges KW - Great Wenchuan Earthquake (China) KW - Highways KW - Landslides KW - Lessons learned KW - Loss and damage KW - Reconnaissance UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/11029/11029.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097929 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334570 AU - Ramani, Tara L AU - Zietsman, Josias AU - Eisele, William AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Incorporating Sustainability into TxDOT’s Transportation Decision Making – Summary of Work Performed, Methods Used, and Results Achieved PY - 2011/02 SP - 24p AB - This Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) implementation project involved the development of workshop material aimed at disseminating research findings and training participants in hands-on use of the MS Excel-based calculator [sustainability enhancement tool (SET)] through a series of workshops in Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010. The specific project tasks were: Task 1 – Development of Draft Workshop Materials; Task 2 – Perform Workshop Walkthrough; Task 3 – Conduct Regional Workshops; Task 4 – Develop Final Workshop Materials; Task 5 – Update the Analysis Tool; Task 6 – Develop District-MPO-Local Agency Consortium Implementation Plan; and Task 7 – Develop Plan to Integrate into TxDOT Practice. The work done on these tasks is discussed in subsequent sections of this report. Chapter 2 describes the development of workshop materials, Chapter 3 summarizes the workshops conducted, Chapter 4 discusses local agency implementation and plans to integrate into TxDOT practice, and Chapter 5 provides the conclusion and future research. Overall, the research dealt with developing performance measures for sustainability at the highway corridor level. KW - Decision making KW - Highway corridors KW - Microsoft Excel (Software) KW - Performance measurement KW - Strategic planning KW - Sustainable transportation KW - Texas KW - Workshops UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/5-5541-01-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097873 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334569 AU - Briaud, Jean-Louis AU - Hurlebaus, Stefan AU - Chang, Kuang-An AU - Yao, Congpu AU - Sharma, Hrishikesh AU - Yu, Ok-Youn AU - Darby, Colin AU - Hunt, Beatrice E AU - Price, Gerald R AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Realtime Monitoring of Bridge Scour Using Remote Monitoring Technology PY - 2011/02//Technical Report SP - 440p AB - The research performed in this project focuses on the application of instruments including accelerometers and tiltmeters to monitor bridge scour. First, two large scale laboratory experiments were performed. One experiment is the simulation of a bridge with a shallow foundation, and the other is the simulation of a bridge with a deep foundation. A series of instruments were installed on the simulated bridge to monitor the performance of the bridge due to scour. Both the shallow foundation experiment and deep foundation experiment show that accelerometers and tiltmeters can be used in scour monitoring events since both give warning of bridge failure successfully. Subsequently, two individual monitoring systems were designed and installed on two bridges: US59 over Guadalupe River Bridge and SH80 over San Antonio River Bridge in Texas. Realtime data are collected and transmitted to a computer server at Texas A&M University, which can be accessed remotely. The instrumentation on the two bridges does not show great hope of application of accelerometers to monitor bridge scour because of a lack of sufficient excitation from traffic. Another issue with the accelerometers is the high power consumption during the transmission of accelerometer data, which cannot be satisfied with a typical solar panel and battery. Tiltmeters can provide the integral behavior of the bridge, and therefore are very useful devices for scour monitoring. Guidelines and protocols for scour monitoring based on the US59 over Guadalupe River Bridge and the SH80 over San Antonio River Bridge are provided in the study. KW - Accelerometers KW - Bridge foundations KW - Bridges KW - Deep foundations KW - Field studies KW - Guidelines KW - Monitoring KW - Real time information KW - Remote sensing KW - Scour KW - Shallow foundations KW - Simulation KW - Texas KW - Tiltmeters UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6060-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097901 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334387 AU - Baker, Trey AU - Goodin, Ginger AU - Pourteau, Chris AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Is Texas Ready for Mileage Fees? A Briefing Paper PY - 2011/02//Briefing Paper SP - 24p AB - This project conducted a preliminary evaluation of how mileage fees might be used as an alternative funding mechanism in Texas. Researchers interviewed stakeholders, technology experts, and the general public to gather feedback on the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing mileage fees in Texas. Researchers also prepared a decision matrix that can aid policy makers in evaluating the various trade-offs in policy necessary to successfully implement a mileage-fee system. In addition to conducting a literature review, the research team also solicited different perspectives on the issue from around the state. Researchers collected input from 13 transportation stakeholder groups representing a variety of interests, a nationwide panel of technology experts who reviewed public opinions about possible deployment options, and focus groups conducted with the general public in five communities of varying size and geography. The project’s findings and recommendations are presented in this briefing paper. The three primary public acceptance barriers identified by the project are (1) feasibility, in terms of protecting privacy, administrative cost, and enforcement, (2) the need to adequately make the case for mileage fees, and (3) fairness of implementation. KW - Barriers to implementation KW - Expert panels KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Financing KW - Focus groups KW - Highways KW - Literature reviews KW - Mileage-based user fees KW - Policy making KW - Public opinion KW - Stakeholders KW - Texas KW - Trade-off analysis UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6660-P1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097674 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334385 AU - Scott, Michael H AU - Oregon State University, Corvallis AU - Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Development of an Open Source Bridge Management System PY - 2011/02//Final Report SP - 38p AB - A bridge management system is developed using the Tool Command Language (Tcl) scripting language in conjunction with the OpenSees finite element software framework. Fully programmable and string-based, Tcl is ideal for implementing live load analysis through scripts and experimenting with emergent bridge rating methodologies. Since Tcl is an interpreted language, the application also has the important advantage that new bridge capacity models and rating factor calculations can be implemented on multiple platforms without compiling source code. The network programming features of Tcl give the system access to databases for conducting internet-based bridge rating. The system is demonstrated for rating a conventionally reinforced concrete girder; however, it is readily extensible to other types of bridge components. KW - Bearing capacity KW - Bridge management systems KW - Live loads KW - Load factor KW - Load rating (Bridges) KW - Maintenance management KW - Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (OpenSees) KW - Tool Command Language UR - http://www.otrec.us/project/156 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097645 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334234 AU - Hallenbeck, Mark AU - Pham, Chuong AU - Watkins, Kari AU - Washington State Transportation Center AU - Washington State Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Incident Response Evaluation Phase 3 PY - 2011/02//Research Report SP - 188p AB - This project investigated the basic relationship of incidents to delay on Puget Sound area freeways. The intent was to determine the amount of delay caused by incidents and the benefits obtained from the incident response actions taken by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The analysis was based on data from 2006 and included all days in 2006. The study area included I-5 from SR 526 in the north to S. 320th in Federal Way in the south; all of I-90 west of milepost 19.5, which is east of Front Street in Issaquah; all of I-405; SR 167 from I-405 to SR 18; and all of SR 520. The study showed that incidents, including crashes, do not, in and of themselves, cause measurable delay. They cause delay only when the disruption they create causes functional capacity to fall below actual demand. However, the researchers calculated that the average incident that does not involve a lane closure results in 576 vehicle-minutes of delay per minute the incident is present. If the incident closes a lane, the effect of that lane closure adds 814 vehicle-minutes of delay per minute of closure. For the 2006 study year, a conservative estimate is that crashes and other traffic incidents (including disabled vehicles, debris, and other events requiring WSDOT intervention to remove hazards) cost travelers 5,300,000 vehicle-hours of delay, in addition to typical congestion delay, on the Puget Sound region’s freeway system. That is roughly 30 percent of the total delay from all causes that occurred on these roadways. Approximately 11 percent of the total delay (1,950,000 veh-hrs) was the result of reported vehicle crashes. The study also determined that crash rates increase substantially when delays caused in part by incidents occur. In fact, a simple summary of the available data indicated that crash rates essentially double in corridors slowed by unexpected incident-related queuing. Consequently, because reducing the duration of incidents results in faster clearance of incident-related queuing, it will also have a significant safety benefit, as measured in a reduced crash rate. KW - Crash rates KW - Disabled vehicles KW - Emergency management KW - Freeways KW - Incident response KW - Lane closure KW - Puget Sound Region KW - Road debris KW - Traffic crashes KW - Traffic delays KW - Traffic incidents KW - Traffic queuing UR - http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/761.1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097597 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01331166 AU - Henault, John W AU - Bliven, Jessica AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Connecticut Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Characterizing the Macrotexture of Asphalt Pavement Designs in Connecticut PY - 2011/02//Report 2 SP - 47p AB - In response to a Federal Highway Administration Technical Advisory entitled Surface Texture for Asphalt and Concrete Pavements, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) has begun to establish targets for pavement texture depth on high-speed facilities by characterizing the macrotexture of different ConnDOT hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavement mixes. The results of this effort are presented in this paper. Pavements evaluated include SuperPave mixes with nominal maximum aggregate sizes of 0.187-in., ¼-in., 3/8-in. and ½-in. The mean profile depth (MPD) and estimated texture depth of each were measured with a high-speed laser sensor (laser profiler) mounted to ConnDOT’s Dynatest 1295 Pavement Friction Tester. Laser profiler and Circular Track Meter (CTMeter) texture measurements were taken and compared at the Virginia Smart Road facility in Blacksburg, Virginia, in order to validate previously taken laser profiler measurements in Connecticut. Validation of the laser profiler measurements was necessary because laser profilers have not been used extensively in practice. The linear association comparing measurements taken with these two devices was relatively strong (R²=0.80) The laser profiler appears to provide a viable macrotexture measurement. MPD was the measure used to characterize the macrotexture of the above ConnDOT HMA mixes. The characterizing MPDs measured for the ConnDOT mixes ranged between 21 to 22-mils for the ½-in. mix, 15-mils for 3/8-in. mix, 12 to 15-mils for the ¼-in. mix, and -1 to 4 mils for the 0.187-in. mix. KW - Asphalt pavements KW - Connecticut KW - Depth KW - Hot mix asphalt KW - Laser profilers KW - Macrotexture KW - Mean profile depth KW - Nominal maximum aggregate size KW - Superpave KW - Texture UR - http://docs.trb.org/01331166.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1094743 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01465781 TI - FY 2010 Federal Highway Administration Air Quality Analysis Support Tasks AB - The Volpe Center will be responsible for providing technical support and assistance to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Natural Environment in the Air Quality focus areas. These focus areas and specific tasks may be modified as conditions warrant, pending concurrence by the FHWA and Volpe Center. (1) Provide technical support and assistance for the implementation of emissions and air quality models. (2) Provide technical support and assistance for the project level analysis. (3) Provide logistic and technical support to conduct webinars, web-conferences peer exchanges, conferences, workshops, publications and other related outreach activities to enhance information-sharing for transportation and air quality practitioners. (4) Research, prepare and produce technical brochures, booklets, white papers and other publications to enhance the technical capacity of transportation and air quality practitioners in conducting emissions and air quality analysis. KW - Air quality KW - Peer exchange KW - Pollutants KW - Technical assistance KW - Technical support KW - Webinars UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1234015 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01344877 AU - Hart, Robert D AU - Osborne, Leon AU - Booz Allen Hamilton AU - Meridian Environmental Technology, Incorporated AU - Iteris, Incorporated AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Baselining Current Road Weather Information: Results of the 2010 Quality and Importance Survey PY - 2011/01/31/Final Report SP - 113p AB - This final report contains research findings on the characterization of the quality and value of road weather information resources used by members of the surface transportation community in their decision-making process. This report focuses on the results from the second survey in a series of surveys designed to establish a baseline metric on the quality of road weather information from the perspective of department of transportation (DOT) personnel who actively use the information to support their operational decisions. The assessment of quality for the 2010 survey utilized the online survey approach established during the 2008 phase of the baselining study. The 2010 survey was modified slightly from the previous version to address some inconsistencies found during the first survey. Survey questions sought input on product components, parameters within specific products routinely used by DOT decision makers. The report details the organization of the survey responses into a quality attribute and importance categories and then analyzes the results of the survey. It addresses variable user responses within and amongst quality attribute classes that illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of specific product components. The product and element categories addressed in the 2008 survey were not part of the question set in 2010; however, various product components were subsets of both the product and element categories. The report provides a logical map to illustrate how the product components responses were composed into responses representative of the product and element results from 2008. The resulting derived product and element measures permitted a mechanism to compare survey results from 2008 to 2010. The report presents the results of the 2010 survey. It augments the quality markers used for comparison in 2008 and points out road weather parameters that could benefit from improvement. Although slightly different sampling techniques were used between 2008 and 2010 the results provided similar quality metrics. Some variability existed between the two sets of results; however, the composite of all results indicated either no change or a slight increase in quality occurred in the two years. The modification of the survey format and a limited sample size created statistical uncertainties that required consideration. These unknowns were addressed and recommendations were offered to continue to improve the road weather monitoring program and stabilize the metrics. KW - Baseline modeling KW - Data quality KW - Decision making KW - Ground transportation KW - Highway operations KW - Road weather information systems KW - Statistical analysis KW - Surveys KW - Traffic safety UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/37000/37800/37840/2010_BaselineSurvey_FinalReport-508.html UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/37000/37800/37840/2010_BaselineSurvey_FinalReport-508.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105248 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335380 AU - Lewis, Carol Abel AU - Goodwin, Gwendolyn C AU - Sabaroche, Sascha AU - Texas Southern University, Houston AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Assessment of Public Involvement PY - 2011/01/31/Technical Report SP - 50p AB - The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) employs a range of methods and strategies to incorporate Texans in the many aspects of planning, project implementation and partnerships. This public involvement process is supported by TxDOT specific, state of Texas and federal legislative codes, which define involvement and cover basic requirements for meetings, hearings, inclusion of underrepresented groups and environmental processes. In addition, TxDOT designed guidelines, manuals and other materials to assist staff in conduct of public involvement activities. Because public involvement is a core component of transportation planning and project implementation, the public’s expectation is that their values and opinions will be included in each phase of the transportation process. The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission’s 2009 report recommended that TxDOT develop a more meaningful, consistent public involvement process, along with a policy statement reflecting the agency’s philosophy. With that objective, several key tasks were undertaken to strengthen TxDOT’s liaisons with the public. This project analyzed several meetings held by TxDOT, reviewed TxDOT’s literature and regulations, and assessed documents from other states. Also, interviews with representatives of governments that worked with TxDOT, TxDOT staff, and representatives of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission were conducted. These synthesized findings led to the development of a policy statement and recommendations for consideration by TxDOT staff. KW - Environmental impact analysis KW - Policy KW - Programming (Planning) KW - Public participation KW - Texas Department of Transportation KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.tsu.edu/PDFFiles/academics/science/program/transportation/CTTR/Publications_Reports/TxDOT%2006622%20Final%20Report.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36026/TxDOT_06622_Final_Report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098774 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01574341 TI - Signal Phase and Timing and Related Messages for Connected Vehicle Applications AB - This project is to identify the necessary interfaces for two-way communication of traffic signal information between the traffic signal controller and a mobile device, provide the concept of operations for the use of the interfaces, and develop prototypes of the interfaces using signal controllers from two different manufacturers. The interfaces and prototypes shall be for use by the connected vehicle applications that require signal phase and timing (SPaT) and its related messages. KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Interfaces KW - Prototypes KW - Traffic signal controllers KW - Traffic signal timing KW - Vehicle to infrastructure communications UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1367008 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01354153 AU - Zhu, Yan AU - Zhu, Yinian AU - Regez, Brad AU - Balogun, Oluwaseyi AU - Krishnaswamy, Sridhar AU - Center for the Commercialization of Innovative Transportation Technology AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Intelligent Structural Health Monitoring of Vehicular Bridges Using Fiber Optic Sensors to Detect Acoustic Emission PY - 2011/01/28 SP - 30p AB - The recent collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis has spawned a growing interest in the development of reliable techniques for evaluating the structural integrity of civil infrastructure. Current inspection techniques tailored to vehicular bridges in particular are widely based on short-term or intermittent monitoring schedules. While these techniques have had reasonable success in assessing the structural integrity of bridges, there are unanswered questions about their effectiveness for monitoring sudden adverse structural changes that can lead to catastrophic bridge failure. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an alternative inspection paradigm that provides the potential for long-term monitoring of integrity of large-scale structures. The goal of this work is to develop an intelligent structural health monitoring (ISHM) scheme for the long-term assessment of the damage state of in-service vehicular bridges. The presented ISHM scheme builds upon an existing SHM scheme developed at the Center for Quality Engineering and Failure Prevention (CQEFP) at Northwestern University for the evaluation of the structural integrity of safety critical infrastructures. The ISHM scheme consists of diagnostic optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for acoustic emission monitoring, signal processing techniques for source localization of acoustic emission events, and model based prediction of structural damage using the measured sensor information. Acoustic emissions consist of dynamic elastic stress waves produced by the sudden release of mechanical energy in a material, and their generation is well correlated with the growth of cracks in a structure produced by stress corrosion or mechanical fatigue from cyclic loading. As such, acoustic emission events serve as warning signs for the initiation of the process of structural failure. KW - Acoustic emission KW - Bridges KW - Fiber optics KW - Inspection KW - Sensors KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://www.ccitt.northwestern.edu/documents/Final_Report_Krishnaswamy_intelligentstructural.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1116407 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337308 AU - Department of Transportation AU - Federal Railroad Administration TI - Amtrak Made Significant Improvements in its Long-Term Capital Planning Process PY - 2011/01/27 SP - 25p AB - The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) re-authorized the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) for the years 2009 through 2013. Not since the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997 (ARAA) has Amtrak received a multi-year authorization for appropriations to cover its capital spending. As a result, the company has had to develop its capital budget on a year-to-year basis without knowing how much funding Congress would provide. This method of planning has significantly affected Amtrak's ability to maintain safe and reliable infrastructure and equipment, and increased its capital program's annual costs. Amtrak estimates that the State of Good Repair (SOGR) backlog on Amtrak-owned and operated Northeast Corridor (NEC) infrastructure alone is approximately $5.2 billion in fiscal year 2010 dollars. Amtrak also faces the renewal and replacement of an aging equipment fleet, safety and security needs, business improvement initiatives, and compliance with legal requirements such as accessibility for passengers with disabilities. Because Amtrak requires significant Federal funds for its capital program, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies requested this audit. Our objectives were to determine: (1) Amtrak's five-year capital requirements and how they align with the company's business and strategic goals; (2) how Amtrak prioritizes its capital projects; (3) Amtrak’s capital needs and ability to implement its increased capital budget as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA); and (4) how Amtrak evaluates the performance of its capital projects. Amtrak has established four long-range planning documents that outline the company's long-term capital requirements and align with the company's business and strategic goals. Amtrak prioritizes its capital needs through the use of Decision Lens, a software package that brings transparency to the process and facilitates collaboration among groups with different prioritization needs. Amtrak assessed its capital needs and in a short time-frame reported them in a capital spending plan for the $1.3 billion in funds it received from ARRA. Per ARRA's requirements, the company has allocated a large portion of the grant to its security and life safety programs for projects that will reduce infrastructure vulnerabilities and enhance incident management, such as fire detection and suppression systems. Amtrak developed a measurable performance plan for its capital projects. KW - Amtrak KW - Budgeting KW - Capital expenditures KW - Capital investments KW - Long range planning KW - Needs assessment KW - Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act KW - Performance measurement KW - Strategic planning UR - http://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/dot/files/FinalAmtrakCapital.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097287 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01516636 AU - Peckett, Haley AU - Plosky, Eric AU - Rasmussen, Ben AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center AU - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service TI - Regional Alternative Transportation Evaluation Report – Region 1 PY - 2011/01/21/Final Report SP - 17p AB - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Volpe Center conducted a regional alternative transportation evaluation (RATE) in Region 1, which is comprised of Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Hawaii, to ensure effective consideration and integration of alternative transportation systems (ATS) into the goals and recommendations of the Region 1 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). The Region 1 RATE was also meant to serve as a pilot for the integration of ATS into the National FWS LRTP. Staff from the Volpe Center, FWS Region 1, and Western Federal Lands Highways (WFLH) met in Portland, Oregon, in October 2010, to discuss alternative transportation needs and constraints in the region and to develop an ATS Questionnaire. Volpe Center staff also visited Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Steigerwald Lake NWR, the Mid-Columbia Refuge Complex, and the Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery to identify specific opportunities for ATS in these and other stations. The RATE also provided lessons on how ATS may be instituted more broadly across Region 1. KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Hawaii KW - Idaho KW - National Wildlife Refuge System KW - Nonmotorized transportation KW - Oregon KW - Public transit KW - Transportation planning KW - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service KW - Washington (State) KW - Water transportation UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/50000/50800/50890/RATE_ReportR1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1290553 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341797 AU - Carpenter, Michael A AU - State University of New York, Albany AU - University Transportation Research Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Investigation of RFID Based Sensors for Sustainable Transportation Applications PY - 2011/01/21/Final Report SP - 19p AB - Through support of a University Transportation Research Center Faculty Development Minigrant an investigation was made into the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based sensing technologies for transportation purposes. Transportation applications would potentially include the wireless detection of overweight trucks, remote and automated emissions monitoring of vehicles, corrosion of infrastructure and transportation security applications. Sustainable transportation would be improved through savings realized by a reduction in the cost of sensor technologies as well as the significant cost savings and environmental impacts realized by reducing the damage to roads and bridges by the efficient detection of overweight trucks, a reduction in the number of vehicles with emissions violations, in-situ detection of infrastructure corrosion to enable just in time maintenance and improved safety of mass transit. Commercially available RFID tags cost $0.1 and are being used in a wide range of applications including, shipping, warehouse management among others. Recently Wake Inc. has developed methods for incorporation of RFID tags into concrete structures for in-situ measurement of the curing process. While these tags cost more than $0.1, due to the enhanced packaging, they are able to measure the temperature of concrete structures to determine when the structure has cured. Typical protocols require that concrete “cure” for a mandatory 28 days so that its maximum strength is achieved. However, depending on the local temperatures, humidity, concrete volume etc . , concrete may achieve this maximum strength in just several days. Thus, through the use of the RFID sensors, construction of transportation related infrastructure can proceed at a much faster pace and realize significant savings by reopening major routes, bridges or runways at earlier dates. While Wake Inc. has demonstrated this in several instances, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, there are further improvements to be made to this technology by incorporating new sensing capabilities into RFID tags. KW - Accelerated construction KW - Airport runways KW - Concrete curing KW - Concrete structures KW - Corrosion KW - Costs KW - Detection and identification KW - Exhaust gases KW - Infrastructure KW - Monitoring KW - Overweight loads KW - Public transit KW - Radio frequency identification KW - Security KW - Sensors KW - Shipping KW - Sustainable transportation KW - Technological innovations UR - http://utrc2.org/research/assets/186/RFID-Report1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1103777 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341789 AU - Nassif, Hani H AU - Ozbay, Kaan AU - Elawar, Ayman AU - Rutgers University, Piscataway AU - University Transportation Research Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Utilizing Remote Sensing Technology in Post-Disaster Management of Transportation Networks PY - 2011/01/21/Final Report SP - 45p AB - Infrastructure system components such as bridges, highways, tunnels, traffic systems, road pavements, and other systems are considered assets that should be protected and properly managed. Yet, the degree of deterioration and the risk of exposure to natural (e.g., earthquakes, floods, etc.) as well as malicious disasters are dangerously high. Major decisions must be made to allocate the available but limited funds for maintaining and safeguarding our national infrastructure. Additionally, transportation services play an important role in post-disaster recovery and are an integral part of most response functions. These services are vital for initial rescue operations and disaster assistance. Traffic delays that occur during the reconstruction period can be greatly minimized through effective traffic management strategies. The need for vulnerability assessment and disaster mitigation in densely populated areas, such as the NY/NJ metropolitan area, is obvious. In this project, the authors propose the use of novel remote sensing technologies to quickly assess damage to the transportation infrastructure. Some of the latest remote sensing technologies can detect very small displacements of infrastructure elements, such as roads and bridges, up to centimeter accuracy. Thus, this information along with historic information about transportation infrastructure components combined with simple yet accurate structural engineering models can be used to determine individual components of a given network that are susceptible to failure under various loading conditions. This probabilistic failure mapping of the infrastructure can then be used to develop robust transportation and emergency response plans that minimize the risk of disruptions. Based on the preliminary findings of this research project, it is shown that the information obtained from remote sensing technology is important in providing reliable support for the decision-making system for preparedness and mitigation. However, the availability of high-resolution images is key to the future success of the research initiative described in this report. In the absence of such high-resolution satellite images, the proposed post-disaster management approach cannot be realistically tested unless simulated images are employed. Even though using simulated images is beyond the scope of this project, the authors hope to be able to access high-resolution satellite SAR data of earthquake-prone urban areas in the near-future. This option will allow to further study the appearance of bridges and highways in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and the advanced InSAR images, and extract as much information as possible on their conditions. Once the feasibility of damage assessment is verified using real satellite images, the next step will be to use this information in conjunction with probabilistic routing and dynamic traffic assignment algorithms that can generate low risk routes for evacuation and other post-disaster operations in dense urban areas. KW - Bridges KW - Damage assessment KW - Decision making KW - Disaster preparedness KW - Disasters and emergency operations KW - Dynamic traffic assignment KW - Emergency management KW - Evacuation KW - High resolution data KW - Highways KW - Infrastructure KW - Remote sensing KW - Routing KW - Satellite imagery KW - Synthetic aperture radar KW - Urban areas UR - http://utrc2.org/research/assets/156/Remote-Sensing1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1103788 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01332477 AU - Morian, Dennis A AU - Quality Engineering Solutions, Incorporated AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Cost Benefit Analysis of Including Microsurfacing in Pavement Treatment Strategies & Cycle Maintenance PY - 2011/01/18/Final Report SP - 96p AB - Preservation of the Pennsylvania state highway system has become more difficult with the development of funding shortages and placement of major emphasis on the bridge program. Therefore, it is appropriate to revisit the topic of timely, cost effective application of thin surface maintenance treatments to extend the life of existing pavements in the state highway system. While the benefit of previous approaches to maintaining pavements provides valuable experience, there are also available innovations for which experience is limited, or does not exist in Pennsylvania. This project was developed to address the need to re-evaluate thin surface treatments, review available new technologies with the objective of recommending potentially beneficial systems, and assess the cost effectiveness of these treatments for conditions in Pennsylvania. For this study, thin surface treatments, i.e., “microsurfacing,” has been defined as any treatment less than ¾-1” thick which can be applied to the surface of an existing pavement with the objective of improving the performance of the pavement and ultimately extending pavement life. Three distinct tasks were identified to achieve this objective: a review of existing related literature, a survey of experiences in other states with similar conditions, and a cost benefit analysis of the treatments identified. These tasks were conducted during the project study, with a summary report provided to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation describing the findings from each. The details of these task results are subsequently presented in this report. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Microsurfacing KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Pavement preservation KW - Pennsylvania KW - Surface treating UR - ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BPR_PDF_FILES/Documents/Research/Complete%20Projects/Extending%20Pavement%20Life/080503%20Microsurfacing%20Final%20Report.pdf UR - ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BPR_PDF_FILES/Documents/Research/Complete%20Projects/Extending%20Pavement%20Life/080503%20Report%20Appendices.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1096612 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01465437 TI - Independent Assessment of Nitrous Oxide Fuel Blend (NOFB) Testing AB - No summary provided. KW - Environmental risk assessment KW - Fuel mixtures KW - Independent study KW - Nitrogen oxides KW - Testing UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1233670 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341794 AU - Wittig, Beth AU - City College of New York of the City University of New York AU - University Transportation Research Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Design of a Scale Model to Evaluate the Dispersion of Biological and Chemical Agents in a NYC Subway Station PY - 2011/01/12/Final Report SP - 11p AB - Urban subway systems remain among the most susceptible to a terrorist attack by biological or chemical agents (BCA) because they are heavily trafficked and have limited points of egress. The combination between efficient creation of casualties and anonymity afforded to terrorists make subways attractive targets. However, the disproportionate amount of passengers to subway employees, limits the ability of transit workers to identify suspicious activity. On March 20, 1995, the Aum Shinrykio religious cult demonstrated this with the release of sarin gas at five locations within a Tokyo subway. This assault resulted in twelve deaths and approximately 5,000 illnesses. An October 6, 2005 terror threat on the NYC subway system, although not realized, reminded United States residents that this possibility persists even post‐September 11. This limitation was also exploited by the Al Qaeda architects of the July 7, 2005 London transit attacks in which bombs were detonated on three subway cars and a double‐decker bus, resulting in 56 deaths (including the bombers) and roughly 700 injuries. Other incidents, such as a 1995 series of subway and train bombings in Paris and the March 11, 2004 commuter train bombings in Madrid, Spain contribute to concerns over subway vulnerability. KW - Biological and chemical weapons KW - Dispersions (Chemistry) KW - New York (New York) KW - Safety and security KW - Scale models KW - Subways KW - Terrorism KW - Terrorist attack of March 11, 2004, Madrid, Spain KW - Terrorist attack of March 20, 1995, Tokyo, Japan KW - Terrorist attacks of July 2005, London, England UR - http://utrc2.org/research/assets/113/DesignScaleModel1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1103780 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335377 AU - Southworth, Frank AU - Meyer, Michael D AU - Weigel, Brent A AU - Coan, Seth AU - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Transit Greenhouse Gas Emissions Management Compendium PY - 2011/01/12/Final Report SP - 128p AB - This Compendium provides a framework for identifying greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction opportunities while highlighting specific examples of effective GHG reduction practices. The GHG savings benefits of public transit are first described. GHG saving opportunities are then organized under four activity areas: Agency Planning for System Expansions and Major Construction Projects; Agency Fleet Procurement Practices; Agency Fleet Operation and Maintenance Practices; and Agency Support for Green Buildings and Green Workforce Practices. The Compendium includes a detailed GHG footprint for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority in Atlanta GA, demonstrating how agencies can use the data they collect to develop an annual GHG footprint. This footprint is based on reporting recommendations made by the American Public Transportation Association, using a three-scope emissions accounting system similar to the protocols developed by The Climate Registry and World Resources Institute. KW - Air quality management KW - Carbon footprint KW - Construction projects KW - Emissions reduction KW - Expansion projects KW - Fleet management KW - Greenhouse gases KW - Maintenance practices KW - Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority KW - Procurement KW - Public transit KW - Transit vehicle operations UR - http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/GHGCompendGTv2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098698 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01613784 AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Preparing for the Update of Vermont’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan PY - 2011/01/11 SP - 12p AB - This report provides a summary of a peer exchange sponsored by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) held January 11-12, 2011 in Montpelier, VT. The peer exchange convened Vermont’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) Core Group to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Vermont’s current SHSP and to identity the opportunities and next steps for updating Vermont’s plan. Vermont’s safety team’s goal is to create a plan that will engage leadership and provide guidance for programs and policies to reduce serious injury crashes and fatalities on Vermont’s roadways. Selected peers included the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), and the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD). Criteria for selecting peers included states with a record of creating effective SHSPs, developing strategies for recording and tracking data, and using performance measures to track progress. Vermont’s objectives in holding the peer exchange were to: (1) Learn about effective strategies to: Streamline the SHSP to reduce the number of emphasis areas and strategies; Develop tools for recording and tracking data; Use performance measures to measure progress; (2) Initiate the process for Vermont’s SHSP update; and (3) Create an ongoing dialogue about highway safety among Vermont’s SHSP stakeholders. The ultimate goal of the event was to prepare the Core Group to work together in identifying the next steps for creating an updated plan targeted to reduce serious injuries and traffic fatalities caused by specific highway safety issues. Forty professionals representing three of the “E’s” (engineering, enforcement, and education) attended the workshop, including representatives from Vermont’s only metropolitan planning organization (MPO) (Chittenden County MPO); the Governor’s Highway Safety Program (GHSP); Vermont State Police; and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Safety professionals from neighboring states New Hampshire and Maine, including representatives from both states’ departments of transportation and FHWA division offices, also participated. The peer exchange began with a brief overview of Vermont’s current SHSP, including its critical emphasis areas and strategies followed by presentations by the peer agencies. KW - Best practices KW - Highway safety KW - Idaho Transportation Department KW - Implementation KW - Information processing KW - Ohio Department of Transportation KW - Peer exchange KW - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation KW - Performance measurement KW - Stakeholders KW - State departments of transportation KW - Strategic Highway Safety Plan KW - Strategic planning KW - Vermont Agency of Transportation UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/59000/59800/59833/peer_report_VT_Jan2011.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1425525 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341796 AU - Liu, Huabei AU - City College of New York of the City University of New York AU - University Transportation Research Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Three-dimensional Analysis of Underground Tunnels in Liquefiable Soil Subject to Earthquake Loading PY - 2011/01/11/Final Report SP - 25p AB - Underground tunnels pass through complicated ground that may consist of both liquefiable and nonliquefiable soils under seismic loading. This difference in liquefaction susceptibility would then lead to different development of excess pore pressure and different decreases of soil stiffness and strength, resulting in complicated three-dimensional deformation and damage of tunnels, the knowledge of which is still not well understood at present. In this study, three dimensional (3D) Finite Element analyses were carried out to investigate the seismic response of underground tunnels subject to earthquake loading, focusing on the 3D response of underground tunnels passing through both saturated dense and loose grounds. Twin subway tunnels at a diameter of 5 m, the lining of which was made of grey cast-iron at a thickness of 6.5 cm, were considered in this study. It was found that underground tunnels passing through both dense and loose saturated ground exhibited two distinctive deformation modes: the uplift and the lateral deformation due to the difference in the soil liquefaction susceptibility. The tunnels were twisted due to these distinctive deformation modes and the maximum stress in the tunnels occurred at the boundary between dense and loose grounds. It was also found that when soil liquefaction was not extensive in the ground, the tunnels settled instead of uplifted. Different frequency characteristics of input motions resulted in significantly different responses of the ground-tunnel system, which was also related to soil thickness above bedrock. Synthesized motions from the same design response spectrum might still result in different stresses in the tunnels, indicating that in the design of underground tunnels sufficient number of synthesized motions compatible with the design spectrum should be analyzed in order to take into account the ground motion uncertainty. KW - Deformation KW - Density KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Earthquakes KW - Finite element method KW - Ground uplift KW - Liquefaction KW - Liquefiable soil KW - Saturated soils KW - Seismic response KW - Seismicity KW - Settlement (Structures) KW - Stresses KW - Three dimensional analysis KW - Tunnels UR - http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/9780784412121.187 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1103776 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01342820 AU - Camargo, Luis Fernando Molina AU - Resendiz, Esther AU - Hart, John M AU - Edwards, J R AU - Ahuja, Narendra AU - Barkan, Christopher P L AU - NEXTRANS AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Machine Vision Inspection of Railroad Track PY - 2011/01/10/Final Report SP - 46p AB - Railroad engineering practices and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations require track to be inspected for physical defects at specified intervals, which may be as often as twice per week. Most of these inspections are conducted visually by railroad track inspectors and include detecting defects relating to the ballast section, ties, fasteners, rail, and special trackwork. Enhancements to the current manual inspection process are possible using machine-vision technology, which consists of recording digital images of track elements of interest and analyzing them using custom algorithms to identify defects or their symptoms. Based on analysis of FRA accident data, discussion with railroad track engineering experts and consultation with Association of American Railroads researchers, this project focuses on using machine vision to detect irregularities and defects in wood-tie fasteners, rail anchors, crib ballast, and turnout components. Development of a machine-vision-based inspection system will permit more efficient, effective, and objective inspection of these track elements. The system will be adaptable to inspect in accordance with FRA track safety regulations as well as railroad-specific track standards that may involve additional parameters of interest. Also, because data will be stored digitally, recall and quantitative comparative analysis is possible thereby enabling relative comparisons and trend analysis. This will enhance the ability for longer-term predictive assessment of the health of the track system and its components, and lead to more informed preventative maintenance strategies and a greater understanding of track structure degradation and failure modes. KW - Crash data KW - Degradation failures KW - Inspection KW - Machine vision KW - Maintenance of way KW - Railroad engineering KW - Railroad tracks KW - Railroad transportation UR - http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/nextrans/docs/Year%202%20Final%20Reports/Final%20Report%20028.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36069/Final_Report_028.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1104499 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01467883 TI - Characterization of Unpaved Road Conditions Through the Use of Remote Sensing AB - According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in 2008 there were 1,324,245 miles of unpaved road in the United States, accounting for almost 33% of the over 4 million miles of road in our national transportation infrastructure (FHWA and USDOT 2010). Local governments and transportation agencies are responsible for a large part of this unpaved infrastructure. These agencies need to be able to assess cost-effectively the condition of the infrastructure on a periodic basis in order to effectively manage these roads, and to optimize for resource allocation. Most local transportation departments do not have specialized equipment to measure surface conditions, instead relying on visual, spot measurements. Unpaved roads typically have low traffic volumes and, consequently, may receive less time and attention from local agencies with limited funding and limited human resources. These limitations often prevent thorough evaluations of unpaved roads, even though timely identification of road damage is extremely important and these roads have an important role to play in connecting farmers to markets, school buses to school children, and residents to their homes. In supporting a Cooperative Agreement between the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) and Michigan Technological University, the USDOT-RITA is assisting the Michigan Tech team to put forth the recipient's best efforts to design and develop Characterization of Unpaved Road Conditions through the use of remote sensing which promises to extend the available Commercial Remote Sensing & Spatial Information tools to enhance and develop an unpaved road assessment system. The goals of this third phase research are to develop a sensor for, and demonstrate the utility of remote sensing platform or platforms for unpaved road assessment. The platform could be a typical manned fixed-wing aircraft, a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), or both, depending on their relative strengths and weaknesses in meeting user community requirements for unpaved road assessment. To be cost efficient, the same sensor modality would be shared if more than one platform is recommended. Further, the remote sensing method chosen must be practical, economical, and effective for use by the transportation community. The sensor and platforms will allow for rapid identification and characterization of unpaved roads on an inventory level and will provide meaningful condition metrics as well as enable mission planning, control of the sensor system, and data processing. Best engineering practices will be employed to rigorously define the requirements of the system and select the best sensor and platform technology to meet the needs of the stakeholders. At the end of the project the capabilities of the prototype system or systems will be demonstrated to stakeholders for their potential implementation. KW - Best practices KW - Cost effectiveness KW - Drone aircraft KW - Gravel roads KW - Inspection KW - Low volume roads KW - Remote sensing KW - Unpaved roads UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1236119 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01375851 AU - Winston, R J AU - Hunt, W F AU - Kennedy, S G AU - Wright, J D AU - North Carolina State University, Raleigh AU - Research and Analysis Group AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Permeable Friction Course (PFC), Roadside Filter Strips, Dry Swales, and Wetland Swales for Treatment of Highway Stormwater Runoff PY - 2011/01/07/Final Report SP - 110p AB - Stormwater runoff from roadways is a source of surface water pollution in North Carolina. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is required to implement stormwater control measures (SCMs) in the linear environment. NCDOT has specific interest in evaluating pollutant loads from interstate highways and potential stormwater treatment measures. The research presented herein focuses on monitoring of highway runoff at four sites along Interstate 40 (I-40) in Johnston, Sampson, and Duplin counties. This entire stretch of I-40 had a permeable overlay [known as a permeable friction course (PFC)] applied in November, 1998. The overlay is porous, and allows water to pass through the surface of the pavement, reducing splash during rainfall and allowing for improved vehicle traction (Barrett et al. 2006). Drainage from the PFC was monitored at all four sites to determine highway pollutant concentrations and loads. Roadside filter strips are nearly ubiquitous on highways, as they are constructed to make grade and to hydraulically connect the roadway to the roadside swale. Two roadside filter strips (21.5 ft in width) were evaluated in this study. Finally, four linear roadside swales were monitored to determine their hydrologic and water quality benefits. Two of these swales were dry swales, meaning that they drained inter-event. The other two swales had wetland characteristics, including hydrophytic vegetation, hydric soils, and wetland hydrology. Data collection began in September 2008 and continued through May 2010. Runoff from the highway and the downslope edge of the filter strip was collected in separate slot drains. The drainage was conveyed to a weir and stage recorder, which enabled flow measurement. An outlet structure using a compound weir was installed in each swale and a similar weir and stage recorder was used for flow measurement. Flow-proportional, composite water quality samples were obtained at ten different locations, four at the edge-of-pavement, two at the downslope end of the filter strips, and four at the swale outlets. Monitored water quality parameters included total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), nitrate- and nitrite-nitrogen (NO2,3-N), ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N), organic N (Org-N), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and total suspended solids (TSS). Results showed that PFC sequestered and/or reduced the generation of TSS from the highway surface. Median effluent TSS concentrations were 8 mg/L, 8 mg/L, 9 mg/L, and 17 mg/L, lower than previous studies on standard asphalt highways (Barrett et al. 1998; Sansalone et al. 1998; Kayhanian et al. 2003). Other sediment-bound pollutant (such as phosphorus) concentrations, were reduced to what appeared to be at- or near-irreducible levels. Due to these findings, the authors support further use of PFC on highways throughout North Carolina. The roadside filter strips were shown to increase sediment and sediment-bound pollutant concentrations, due to relatively high slopes, fair vegetative cover, and clean influent. The wetland swales produced lower mean effluent concentrations (by approximately 0.4 mg/L) of TN when compared to the dry swales. Similar trends were not observed for TP and TSS. Therefore, there is the potential for greater nitrogen removal credit for wetland swales. Load reductions of pollutants were generally poor to fair for the roadside filter strips due to substantial measured soil compaction. In fact, TP and TSS loads increased through both filter strips studied. Pollutant loads were generally lowest at the swale outlets, except at site D, where a head cut in the swale caused substantial increases in TP and TSS loads vis-à-vis the edge-of-pavement. KW - Drainage KW - Filters KW - Friction course KW - Hydrology KW - Permeability KW - Runoff KW - Swales KW - Water quality UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/44000/44700/44713/2007-21finalreport.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1143023 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341790 AU - Guo, Zhan AU - New York University, New York AU - University Transportation Research Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Mode Shift in Transit Under-served Neighborhoods in New York City Region PY - 2011/01/05/Final Report SP - 33p AB - This research defines the concept of transit under-served areas (TUSA), and argues that with the right policies TUSA residents have a great potential to reduce car dependency and usage and switch to public transit. It focuses on one important but often overlooked policy—residential parking, in reshaping travel patterns in TUSA neighborhoods, using the New York City region as an example. Nine hundred households were randomly selected from a regional household travel survey in the New York City region. Their parking types were identified using streetscape images from Google and Bing, and the types of parking were connected with the travel behavior identified in the travel survey. It finds that residential parking could significantly affect not only household car ownership, but also choice of commuting mode, trip frequency, trip chaining, and total vehicle time. TUSA households with only on-street parking tend to have fewer cars, make fewer vehicle trips, and drive less overall vehicle time, comparing to households with a garage. However , when on-street parking becomes a viable alternative to off-street parking--free, convenient, and readily available, households tend to have more cars and use these cars more often. Based on the results, the research suggests that in order to discourage car use and encourage mode shift, government should limit the conversion of on-street parking to off-street parking through new curb cuts in TUSA neighborhoods with insufficient off-street parking. In TUSA neighborhoods with sufficient off-street parking, government policy should limit the provision and usage of on-street parking through better street design and/or permit fees. KW - Automobile ownership KW - Automobile travel KW - Modal shift KW - Mode choice KW - New York (New York) KW - Off street parking KW - On street parking KW - Parking KW - Parking policy KW - Public transit KW - Residential areas KW - Transit availability KW - Travel behavior KW - Travel patterns KW - Travel surveys KW - Travel time KW - Trip chaining KW - Urban transportation policy UR - http://utrc2.org/research/assets/177/ModeShift1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1103779 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01584398 AU - Flores, Arthur AU - Volpe National Transportation Systems Center TI - Improved Infra-Red Procedure for the Evaluation of Calibrating Units PY - 2011/01/04 SP - 11p AB - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Model Specifications for Calibrating Units for Breath Alcohol Testers requires that calibration units submitted for inclusion on the NHTSA Conforming Products List for such devices be evaluated using one of three alternate procedures, all of which were developed at the Volpe Center. The preferred procedure uses a National Patent Analytical Systems, Inc. Datamaster breath alcohol analyzer instrument to analyze samples. This device is a non-dispersive infra-red spectrophotometer designed for breath (ethyl) alcohol analysis and is listed on the NHTSA Conforming Products List for evidential breath testers. The Datamaster instrument has been replaced with a Datamaster DMT instrument and the procedure has been improved by use of the simulator sample re-circulation feature that was not present in the older instrument. This document reviews the improved procedure and calculations. KW - Alcohol breath tests KW - Calibration KW - Evaluation KW - Spectrophotometers KW - Testing equipment KW - U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56100/56111/Improved_Infra-Red_Procedure_for_the_Evaluation_of_Calibrating_Units.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1377962 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573272 TI - Scan International Technologies and Programs for Vehicle-Highway Cooperation AB - This proposed initial stage research would conduct a scan of these technology resources and research results, and then summarize the results into a report and presentation. These products would provide content for researchers already active, and also could encourage U.S. stakeholders to recognize the potential and importance of this area.  The results of the proposed scan could also provide information about the potential value of convening experts to validate the concepts and to help establish research in the United States that complements and leverages work done internationally. For example, scan products could be used to encourage modal partners, among others, to better understand, to become more interested, and to support these concepts for funding of additional developmental research and even technology demonstrations. Recent research recognizes that freeway travel is likely the nearest opportunity for deploying vehicle automation concepts, particularly because the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) program is funding significant research in vehicle-vehicle communication systems that might enable new mobility applications based on vehicle automation as well. KW - Freeway operations KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Mobility KW - Technological innovations KW - United States KW - Vehicle to vehicle communications UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/projects/projectsdb/projectdetails.cfm?projectid=FHWA-PROJ-11-0007 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/46000/46700/46786/12033.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366405 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335443 AU - Ludlow, Donald AU - Schermann, Jon AU - Zorrilla, Juan AU - Cambridge Systematics, Incorporated AU - Pennsylvania Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Analysis of Public Benefits for Pennsylvania Rail Freight Funding PY - 2011/01/04/Final Report SP - 57p AB - Building on best practices from other states and Pennsylvania’s existing evaluation processes, this project developed an assessment tool to help the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) analyze the public benefits resulting from the investment of public funds in support of private freight-rail investments. This report describes the development and use of the tool (Pennsylvania Rail Benefits Estimator) to evaluate grant applications for freight rail funding. KW - Benefit analysis tool KW - Economic benefits KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Financing KW - Freight trains KW - Freight transportation KW - Investments KW - Pennsylvania KW - Railroads UR - ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BPR_PDF_FILES/Documents/Research/Complete%20Projects/Smart%20Transportation%20Solutions/Analysis%20of%20Public%20Benefits%20for%20PA%20Rail%20Freight%20Funding.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36075/Analysis_of_Public_Benefits_for_PA_Rail_Freight_Funding.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098947 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01573250 TI - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program Standard Data Release (SDR) Number 25 AB - The Standard Data Release (SDR) is the annual release of the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program database. The SDR is available annually to the public in Microsoft Access® format and available on digital versatile discs (DVD) and/or universal serial bus (USB) drives.  SDR can be obtained through LTPP customer support services at ltppinfo@dot.gov. Perhaps one of the most useful documents contained here for beginners is the "Accessing LTPP Data" tutorial, which includes step-by-step examples of working with the SDR in Microsoft Access® and building queries for data extraction. The first document to read is the "Release Notes," which comes in hardcopy and electronic format with the SDR. These notes contain important information about organization, content, and significant changes that have occurred from release to release.A Reference Library DVD read-only memory accompanies the standard data release and gives the user the capability to search for software utilities, resource documents, and research reports that support the database. KW - Data collection KW - Digital computers KW - Long-Term Pavement Performance Program KW - Microsoft Access (Software) KW - Pavement design KW - Pavement performance UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366320 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01465441 TI - Explosive Yield Test of Nitrous Oxide Pressurized Systems (and Support) AB - No summary provided. KW - Explosives KW - Nitrogen oxides KW - Pressurization KW - Technical support KW - Yield control UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1233674 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01465428 TI - Rapid Prototyping of ADS-B UAT for Commercial Space Operations in the NAS AB - No summary provided. KW - Airspace utilization KW - Commercial space transportation KW - Drone aircraft KW - Prototypes UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1233661 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01463700 TI - Real Time Measurement of Scour Depths around Bridge Piers and Abutments AB - The objective of this project is to develop an accurate and reliable real-time scour monitoring system. KW - Accuracy KW - Bridge abutments KW - Bridge piers KW - Monitoring KW - Real time information KW - Scour UR - http://www.clemson.edu/t3s/scdot/pdf/projects/SPR692-report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1231927 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01336810 AU - Kochenderfer, M J AU - Chryssanthacopoulos, J P AU - Massachusetts Institute of Technology AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Robust Airborne Collision Avoidance through Dynamic Programming PY - 2011/01/03/Project Report SP - 118p AB - The Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) uses an on-board beacon to monitor the local air traffic and logic to determine when to alert pilots to potential conflict. The current TCAS logic was the result of many years of development and involved the careful engineering of many heuristic rules specified in pseudocode. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of the logic, it is difficult to revise the pseudocode to accommodate the evolution of the airspace and the introduction of new technologies and procedures. This This report summarizes recent advances in computational techniques for automatically deriving the optimal logic with respect to a probabilistic model and a set of performance metrics. Simulations demonstrate how this new approach results in logic that significantly outperforms TCAS according to the standard safety and operational performance metrics. KW - Air pilots KW - Air traffic control KW - Aviation safety KW - Computer programs KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Monitoring KW - Radar air traffic control KW - Traffic alert and collision avoidance system KW - Warning systems UR - http://www.ll.mit.edu/mission/aviation/publications/publication-files/atc-reports/Kochenderfer_2011_ATC-371_WW-21458.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098763 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01463669 TI - Longer Combination Vehicle's Impact on Improving Operational Efficiency, Freight Flows and Traffic Congestion AB - Longer combination vehicles (LCVs) are attractive for the transportation community because they carry more freight per trip. However, the implications, costs and benefits of LCVs are not clearly delineated or well documented. An initial evaluation suggests the benefits include improved freight flow (more freight per driver), improved administrative efficiency (fewer permits required), and reduced highway congestion (fewer trucks on the road). However a more comprehensive evaluation is required to account for safety concerns, traffic impacts, liability costs, and potential infrastructure damage. In some circumstances special equipment and higher wages for qualified drivers could offset the potential operational efficiency. Furthermore, if LCVs lower freight costs, trucking may be a more competitive alternative to rail at some distances thus increasing highway congestion. This research will provide an objective and comprehensive evaluation of how the use of LCVs will impact freight flow, operational efficiency, safety, infrastructure, and highway congestion. The results of this project will contribute to the policy evaluation that will determine whether to continue to restrict or allow for operation of LCVs on state and federal highways. If the federal freeze is lifted in the future, this research will be useful to individual states for policy and project evaluation, pricing, or cost allocation decisions relative to the operation of LCVs within their state. Policy makers at all levels of government could potentially use the results of this research. The benefits will be measured objectively by evaluating the safety of LCVs and the amount of pavement damage they cause. The benefits will also be measured by conducting interviews and discussions with state agencies, private business, and motor carriers. The research team will provide a reasonable estimate of the amount of truck traffic that would be influenced by increased LCV usage. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Freight flow KW - Freight traffic KW - Freight transportation KW - Highway safety KW - Longer combination vehicles KW - Motor carriers KW - Operational efficiency KW - Policy making KW - Traffic congestion KW - Truck traffic UR - http://www.ntrci.org/areas_of_research/freight_efficiency_congestion_mitigation.aspx?id=18 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1231895 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01463667 TI - Evaluation of Freight Vehicles in Short-Haul Intermodel Lanes AB - The further development of intermodal truck-rail freight services is a leading strategy in the mitigation of growing highway congestion. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of this policy alternative is limited by the dominance of "short-haul" truck movements that cannot be economically diverted to intermodal service under current business models and practices. A chief impediment to the development of short-haul intermodal services lies in the characteristics of freight vehicles - primarily truck trailers and containers. Current practices rely on lift-on / lift-off technologies that depend on high-volume mechanized terminal facilities. The high fixed costs of these facilities must be averaged over relatively long shipment distances for intermodal freight to compete with traditional trucking. Therefore, most short-haul movements are not currently candidates for intermodal carriage. In response to this need, the University of Tennessee's Center for Transportation Research (CTR) is performing a comprehensive evaluation of rail-truck intermodal equipment that examines current capabilities and costs and identifies vehicle characteristics required to extend intermodal services to shorter-haul markets. This analysis includes (1) the development of a thorough and robust costing model that allows simultaneous variations in intermodal vehicles, accompanying equipment suites (cranes, drayage vehicles, etc.), intermodal operating practices, and lane specific traffic volumes; (2) a careful description of the characteristics and usage patterns of currently available intermodal vehicles; (3) an evaluation of emerging intermodal equipment alternatives; and (4) an evaluation of the economic conditions that would be necessary for any foreseeable intermodal technology to compete effectively in freight markets that are currently dominated by all-truck movements. KW - Economic factors KW - Freight traffic KW - Freight transportation KW - Intermodal terminals KW - Intermodal transportation KW - Port operations KW - Short haul KW - Tennessee KW - Traffic congestion KW - Truck traffic KW - Trucks UR - http://www.ntrci.org/areas_of_research/freight_efficiency_congestion_mitigation.aspx?id=19 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1231893 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01463666 TI - Vehicle Stability and Dynamics: Electronic Stability Control AB - A team led by the National Transportation Research Center, Incorporated (NTRCI) is working to improve the roll and yaw stability of combination heavy duty trucks through developing stability algorithms, assembling demonstration hardware, and investigating robust wireless communication. Modern electronic stability control (ESC) products automatically slow a vehicle rounding a corner too quickly or apply individual brakes when necessary to improve the steering characteristics of a vehicle. Air brake systems in North America provide no electronic communication between a tractor and semitrailer, limiting the degree to which control systems can be optimized. Prior research has demonstrated stability improvements when dynamic measurements and control commands are communicated between units of a vehicle. The first of three related activities is to develop an algorithm for the optimum yaw and roll control of a combination vehicle. It will determine which vehicle state parameters are needed to control the vehicle and the proper brake response. An integrated stability control for the tractor and semitrailer will require communication between the two units. Dynamic models will be used to optimize the competing stability needs of yaw and roll. Closely tied to the first activity is the laboratory implementation of the ESC algorithm. Hardware components suitable for the harsh environment for measurement, sensor-to-controller communication, and semitrailer-to-tractor communication and brake actuation will be specified and assembled to a working system. The goal is to collect the needed vehicle state information, to transmit the information to the ESC system, and then actuate the brakes in response to controller commands. The final activity is to develop a wireless network with the data rate and reliability necessary to communicate dynamic signals for a vehicle stability control system. Adaptive connectivity-aware, multi-hop routing will be robust against packet collisions and fading in the harsh environment. The protocol will give high priority to urgent messages. KW - Air brakes KW - Heavy duty trucks KW - Longer combination vehicles KW - Motor carriers KW - Motor vehicle dynamics KW - Rollover crashes KW - Steering KW - Truck tractors KW - Wireless communication systems KW - Yaw UR - http://www.ntrci.org/areas_of_research/vehicle_stability_dynamics.aspx?id=22 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1231892 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01463665 TI - Vehicle Stability and Dynamics: Longer Combination Vehicles AB - As part of its ongoing effort to improve the safety, security, and operational efficiency of heavy commercial vehicles, the National Transportation Research Center, Incorporated (NTRCI) has begun to investigate the stability of Longer Combination Vehicles. (LCVs), known colloquially as "doubles" or "triples" have more complicated dynamics than the more common tractor in combination with a single semitrailer. The goal of the phase conducted in 2011 is to measure and model the behavior of LCVs in simple maneuvers. Two parallel but independent models of LCVs are being developed. One model is based on TruckSim®, a lumped parameter model widely used for single semitrailer combinations. The other model is being developed in Adams, which more explicitly models the geometry of the components of the vehicle. These models will describe an actual LCV triple combination. They begin with its geometry and compliance measured when it is stationary. The models will be refined by comparison with dynamic data. The test vehicle will drive in a steady state straight path and constant curvature and execute single and double lane changes on a test track. Limited driving on a highway will add further representative conditions for the data. The maneuvers in this phase will not be near the limits of stability, so the data will be suitable for verifying the models only in everyday conditions. Plans calls for the models to be extended in future phases and serve as the basis for evaluating means of improving LCV stability through electronics and design features. KW - Commercial vehicles KW - Longer combination vehicles KW - Maneuverability KW - Motor carriers KW - Stability (Mechanics) KW - Trailers KW - Truck tractors KW - Truck traffic KW - Vehicle dynamics UR - http://www.ntrci.org/areas_of_research/vehicle_stability_dynamics.aspx?id=23 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1231891 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01463664 TI - Impact of Distraction and Health on Commercial Driving Performance AB - Commercial driver health and wellness has been recognized as a national primary concern of several federal agencies. One major contributor to compromised driver safety is distracted driving, an activity in which many commercial drivers engage. Also negatively impacting driving among commercial drivers are several health-related factors, such as disease, poor sleep quality and a variety of medical conditions. The proposed study will be among the first to examine the interaction of the psychological aspects of distracted driving and physical health in commercial drivers. Fifty commercial drivers between the ages of 21 and 65 will be recruited from Alabama-based trucking companies. Participants will complete four activities while driving in commercial truck driving simulator: (1) talking on a cell phone, (2) text messaging, (3) using an onboard mobile communication device, and (4) driving with no distraction. Participants will also complete questionnaires to provide basic health and demographic information, driving history, and experience with electronic devices, as well as a brief physical health assessment. Findings from this study are expected to impact multiple stakeholders; and to contribute to the development of future, large intervention studies targeting distraction and health factors in commercial drivers. KW - Cellular telephones KW - Commercial vehicle operations KW - Distracted drivers KW - Distraction KW - Driver performance KW - Driving simulators KW - Fatigue (Physiological condition) KW - Health KW - Human factors in crashes KW - Text messaging KW - Truck drivers UR - http://www.ntrci.org/areas_of_research/distracted_driving.aspx?id=20 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1231890 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01463578 TI - Modeling Driver Car-following Behavior AB - Sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 100-car Naturalistic Driving Study was conducted in the Northern Virginia area with the recording of nearly 43,000 hours of driving data. Initially collected to investigate crash and near-crash events, this study included instrumentation of vehicles to collect and store onboard vehicle diagnostics data, global positioning systems (GPS) location information, front and rear radar tracking of objects, and synchronized video feeds viewing both the inside and the outside of the vehicle. Additional information collected from drivers includes demographics and personality questionnaires. The 100-car Study serves as the foundation for the currently ongoing SHRP 2 data collection effort, which promises to produce a much larger dataset with higher fidelity information. The current research effort focuses on the driver-specific data available from naturalistic driving studies, leveraging the unique perspective this data provides for the calibration of car-following models. Traditionally, car-following models have been both created and calibrated through the use of either loop detector data, or vehicle trajectory data created from aerial photography and videography. The data collected from these sources has limitations both in the lack of information available about the drivers, and in the length of the car-following events; limited to either instantaneous in the case of loop detector data, or as long as it takes a vehicle to progress across the field of view for the aerial trajectory data. Car-following models continue to become more sophisticated as traffic simulation software programs seek to produce more representative results compared to real-life driving behavior. It is important to probe both the limitations of the existing car-following models, and the limitations of the conventional data gathering techniques. Due to the probe-vehicle nature of naturalistic driving data, the vast dataset must first be reviewed to identify specific homogeneous sections of roadway frequently traveled by multiple drivers. Once a roadway section is identified, and a subselection of datapoints are withdrawn from the database, specific car-following events must then be identified. With respect to the 100-car study conducted not for the purpose of calibrating car-following information, but to generate safety information, this proves difficult due to the lack of sophistication in the data collection equipment, including low-resolution video feeds and sometimes unreliable object detection radar equipment. Once the processed dataset is in hand, a wealth of information relating to car-following can be investigated. The initial research investigation is intended to look at driver heterogeneity, both the variability of calibrated parameters between trips for a given driver, and the variability between drivers. Future research for this dataset may include the correlation of personality traits to model parameters, and the impact of the duration of a car-following event on the calibrated model parameters, with comparison to NGSIM data. KW - Automobile navigation systems KW - Calibration KW - Car following KW - Data collection KW - Data storage KW - Drivers KW - Global Positioning System KW - Loop detectors KW - Next generation design KW - Northern Virginia KW - Probe vehicles KW - Traffic crashes KW - Traffic simulation KW - Vehicle trajectories UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1231804 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01551282 AU - Golembiewski, G A AU - Chandler, B AU - Science Applications International Corporation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Roadway Safety Information Analysis: A Manual for Local Rural Road Owners PY - 2011/01 SP - 56p AB - According to the Federal Highway Administration, over 6 million lane-miles are in rural areas, and more than two-thirds of these rural roads are owned and operated by local entities. In 2008, 56 percent of highway fatalities occurred in rural areas. Rural areas face a number of highway safety challenges. Data is the foundation of any roadway safety improvement program and often this is lacking, especially in local rural areas. This document was developed to provide data collection and analysis techniques as well as other processes applicable to the local practitioner to help improve the safety of local rural roads. The information will acquaint local practitioners – regardless of background or experience level – with the sources, calculations, tools, and methods to make data-supported decisions regarding local rural road safety. KW - Case studies KW - Countermeasures KW - Crash data KW - Crash rates KW - Data analysis KW - Data collection KW - Highway safety KW - Rural highways KW - Safety programs UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/training/fhwasaxx1210/lrro_data.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1341296 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01543895 AU - Eksioglu, Burak AU - Ekşioğlu, Sandra D AU - National Center for Intermodal Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Optimizing the Use of Transit System with Information Updates during No-Notice Evacuations PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 12p AB - Evacuation of the affected population is a very common response to disasters such as hurricanes, chemical spills, and terrorist attacks. This paper proposes a rolling horizon framework for a previously proposed mixed integer linear program to find the optimal routes during no-notice evacuation. Rolling horizon framework provides the opportunity of using information updates along the time horizon. KW - Disasters KW - Evacuation KW - Hurricanes KW - Mixed integer programming KW - Oil spills KW - Optimization KW - Public transit KW - Rolling horizon KW - Routes and routing KW - Terrorism KW - Time horizons UR - http://ncit.msstate.edu/NCIT%20Reports/2008_04_Eksioglu%20and%20Eksioglu_Use%20of%20Transit%20System%20with%20Information%20Updates%20during%20No-Notice%20Evacuations.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331544 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01543892 AU - Jin, Mingzhou AU - Zhang, Li AU - National Center for Intermodal Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Analyzing Congestion and Capacity Impacts from Disruptions to Critical Infrastructures in the Rail Network PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 55p AB - As an energy-efficient transportation mode, railways play a vital role in U.S. freight transportation. During any natural or man-made disasters, it is essential to keep the freight flow by efficiently re-routing the disrupted traffic. This project develops a model for routing the trains to minimize the total travel time for the whole network and determines how significant disruptions to railway infrastructure impact regional and inter-regional freight movements. The routing problem is formulated as a minimum-cost network flow problem that has a nonlinear objective function of minimizing the total travel time on all links and considers Origin-Destination specific demand. To make the model computationally tractable, the nonlinear travel time function at each link is approximated with a piece-wise linear function so that the whole model can be directly solved by ILOG CPLEX 9.0. The criticality of a railway link is evaluated by the increased delay when the link is disrupted. A case study is conducted for the railway network in the State of Mississippi. The map showing criticalities of all links in the study area is provided. In addition, this article discusses about the literature and data availability of other two surface transportations modes – highway and waterway. KW - Case studies KW - Disasters KW - Freight traffic KW - Freight transportation KW - Minimization KW - Mississippi KW - Origin and destination KW - Railroads KW - Routing KW - Traffic disruption KW - Travel time UR - http://www.ncit.msstate.edu/NCIT%20Reports/2008_08_Jin%20and%20Zhang_Analyzing%20Congestion%20&%20Capacity%20%20from%20Disruptions%20to%20Rail%20Infrastructures%20%20Network%20.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1331604 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01541443 AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Eco-Logical Successes PY - 2011/01 SP - 8p AB - From 2003 to 2006, eight Federal agencies came together to write the interagency document Eco-Logical: An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects. To promote ecosystem sustainability, these Federal agencies developed a document in response to a growing desire to better avoid, minimize, and mitigate the effects of infrastructure projects. The agencies envisioned an enhanced and sustainable natural environment where necessary infrastructure can be developed in ways that are more sensitive to terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The Federal agencies that formed the interagency team included: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service, National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). This document identifies and explains each Eco-Logical signatory agency’s strategic environmental programs, projects, and efforts that are either directly related to or share the vision set forth in Eco-Logical. A brief description of an agency’s key program includes program activities and goals, contact information, and a list of other strategic initiatives being undertaken. Information from each agency’s key programs and selected environmental initiatives is contained in a matrix following the program descriptions. Finally, this document identifies potential joint projects and opportunities for collaboration among the Eco-Logical signatory agencies. KW - Bureau of Land Management KW - Environmental policy KW - Federal government agencies KW - Habitat (Ecology) KW - Infrastructure KW - National Park Service KW - Sustainable development KW - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers KW - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency KW - U.S. Federal Highway Administration KW - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service KW - U.S. Forest Service KW - U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration UR - http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/ecological/successes/index.asp UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/48000/48300/48344/EcoLogical_Successes.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1327141 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01534778 AU - Hall, Andrew AU - Cleary, Thomas AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - New Hampshire Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Investigation of the Performance of Self-Consolidating Concrete in Drilled Shafts PY - 2011/01//Final Report AB - This report summarizes the New Hampshire Department of Transportation’s (NHDOT's) investigation of the performance of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) when used in drilled shaft applications. SCC and conventional concrete (CC) piles were evaluated side-by-side for infilling properties, air content, and segregation. The investigation was undertaken because the method of construction on this highway project exposed several feet of the shafts after they were poured affording a unique opportunity to observe the infilling properties of the two mixes. The NHDOT concluded that for the mixes used, there was no significant difference in performance. KW - Air voids KW - Drilled shafts KW - New Hampshire KW - New Hampshire Department of Transportation KW - Piles (Supports) KW - Segregation (Aggregates) KW - Self compacting concrete UR - http://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/materials/research/projects/documents/FHWA-NH-RD-14282Y.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1320445 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01519398 AU - ICF International AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Use of Climate Information in Vulnerability Assessments PY - 2011/01 SP - 22p AB - This memorandum focuses on the use of climate information when performing a vulnerability assessment, a topic that was discussed at the Newark Pilot Peer Exchange Workshop on May 4-5, 2011. The memorandum describes several sources of climate information, and provides some recommendations on how this information can be used by the pilots (or other transportation planners) as they consider their climate-related risks. The memorandum is organized into three sections: Information about Historical Climate; Information about Future Climate; and Sources of Technical Assistance. The memorandum also has an Appendix which outlines some of the methods being employed by pilots to estimate the impacts of sea-level rise. KW - Air pilots KW - Climate change KW - Data collection KW - Guides to information KW - Risk assessment KW - Sea level KW - Weather and climate UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/resources_and_publications/vulnerability_assessments/fhwahep12010.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1302418 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01506238 AU - Schulz, Noah AU - Boeker, Eric AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - An Examination of the Spectral Class Low Frequency Limit for Helicopters PY - 2011/01 SP - 59p AB - Currently, Integrated Noise Model (INM) and Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT) do not use spectral data below 50 Hz in their noise computations. However, helicopter rotor rotational noise is dominant below 50Hz, with a fundamental frequency at the blade-pass frequency (BPF) and harmonics at integer multiples of BPF. Noise data for several helicopters have been measured for inclusion in the INM/AEDT database with expanded spectral data down to 12.5 Hz. The purpose of this effort is to determine what effects, if any, inclusion of low frequency data will have on resulting noise modeling. The results of which would determine if and how an expanded-spectra capability should be included in AEDT. KW - Aircraft noise KW - Aviation Environmental Design Tool KW - Databases KW - Helicopters KW - INM (Integrated Noise Model) KW - Low frequency UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/51000/51000/51025/Helicopter_LowFrequency_final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1290394 ER - TY - SER AN - 01500370 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Krstulovich, James M AU - Van Dam, Thomas J AU - Smith, Kurt D AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of the Long-Term Durability of Joints Cut Using Early Entry Saws on Rigid Pavements PY - 2011/01 SP - 121p AB - Early-entry sawing is an attractive operation to expedite the construction of jointed concrete pavements; however, there are some concerns that early-entry sawing may compromise a pavement’s long-term performance. The Illinois Department of Transportation sponsored this study as an initial effort to investigate the feasibility of using early-entry sawing on rigid highway pavements in terms of expected joint durability. Joint performance as a function of cut depth and time was also considered. The investigation of early-entry sawing was integrated into an active construction project on Illinois Route 59 in Plainfield, IL featuring three 300-ft test sections (a control section cut to a depth of one-third of the slab thickness using a conventional wet saw, a test section cut to a depth of one-third of the slab thickness using an early-entry dry saw, and a test section cut to a nominal depth of 1.25 inches using an early-entry dry saw). During construction, paving and sawing operations were observed and documented; of particular interest were the sawing operations, during which signs of surface scarring, joint raveling, and slab edge breakouts were recorded and the extent of sawing-related damage was subjectively assessed. In addition to general pavement construction observations, climatic conditions were also monitored, along with pavement temperatures. Ambient climate conditions and slab mixture and temperature data were used to perform an analysis to assess the potential for early-age cracking. Compressive strength cylinders were also cast and tested at 3, 7, and 28 days. Additionally, cores were retrieved from joints throughout the test site (6 cores from each test cell), and a battery of durability tests were conducted, including petrographic analysis, freeze-thaw testing, and susceptibility to salt scaling. Overall observations from the field construction and findings from the laboratory testing program are summarized in this report. KW - Compressive strength KW - Contraction joints KW - Cracking of concrete pavements KW - Durability tests KW - Field studies KW - Illinois KW - Laboratory tests KW - Pavement performance KW - Rigid pavements KW - Sawed joints KW - Sawing UR - https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/45843/FHWA-ICT-11-076.pdf?sequence=2 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1278488 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01493875 AU - Andrew, Richard D AU - Bartingale, Ryan AU - Hume, Howard AU - Yeh and Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Context Sensitive Rock Slope Design Solutions PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 121p AB - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Federal Lands Highway Division (FLHD) evaluated the application of context sensitive solutions (CSS) for rock slope design. The application of context sensitive design in transportation is a method of developing facilities that fit within the engineered setting and preserve scenic, aesthetic, historic, and environmental resources while maintaining safety and mobility. Proper development of context sensitive solutions starts before the scoping stage and incorporates a number of factors, including community concerns, the effects of roadway development on the physical character of the surrounding area, and a visual prioritization of design considerations. Before starting construction, the contractor and land management agency should agree on a defined standard of performance and communication protocols to ensure that all project goals are attained. The aesthetics of common rock slope construction and mitigation practices can be enhanced with some modifications. Advantages, limitations, design guidelines, aesthetic value, construction materials, case examples, relative costs, and maintenance procedures are included for each method. Discussions are intended to guide the reader in CSS rock slope development. KW - Context sensitive design KW - Design methods KW - Environmental impacts KW - Rock excavation KW - Rock slopes KW - Rockfalls KW - Slope stability UR - http://contextsensitivesolutions.org/content/reading/context_sensitive_rock_slope__d_199/resources/rockslopedesignsolutions/ UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1262537 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01451376 AU - United States Federal Transit Administration TI - North Metro corridor project : environmental impact statement PY - 2011/01//Volumes held: Draft(2v), Final(2v) KW - Colorado KW - Environmental impact statements UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1219920 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01451372 AU - United States Federal Highway Administration TI - Tooele County Midvalley Highway, Tooele County : environmental impact statement PY - 2011/01//Volumes held: Draft(2v)(v.2 folio), Final KW - Environmental impact statements KW - Utah UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1219916 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01446365 AU - Christopher, Ed AU - Sööt, Siim AU - DiJohn, Joseph AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - University of Chicago TI - Emerging Commuting and Urban Development Trends in the New Millennium: Six-County Chicago Area, 1970 - 2008 PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 22p AB - The Census Bureau collects information on where we live and where we work. Using this data the authors show that from 1970 to 2008 the pattern of commuting continues to change in the six-county metropolitan area, as population and jobs increase in collar counties. Several existing trends have continued, some new ones have emerged and others have demonstrated a marked shift. This report provides a brief overview of the most noteworthy of these changes in commuting since 2000 and interprets these changes by contrasting them with the previous forty years (since 1970). It highlights a substantial shift in bedroom communities, where the number of workers outnumbers the number of jobs. All of the collar counties have experienced major increases in commutes into the county. DuPage County again has more commuters coming to the county then leaving it, now by more than 90,000 workers. Lake County also has more commuting to the county than from the county. Job growth in the collar counties contributes to the continued trend of cross county border commuting. Several new trends emerged: travel times are no longer growing in all counties; job growth exceeded the rate of increases in previous decades; increases in population and commuters in the six-county region were nearly equivalent at approximately 350,000; in terms of population and job growth as well as changes in commuting time, Cook and DuPage now together constitute the metropolitan core; and commuting to Cook County from all counties is no longer growing. KW - Chicago (Illinois) KW - Commuting KW - Cook County (Illinois) KW - DuPage County (Illinois) KW - Jobs KW - Metropolitan areas KW - Population growth KW - Trend (Statistics) KW - U.S. Bureau of the Census KW - Urban development KW - Work trips UR - http://www.utc.uic.edu/research/reports/Co2Co2008_FinalVersion.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1213887 ER - TY - SER AN - 01446038 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Krstulovich, James M AU - Van Dam, Thomas J AU - Smith, Kurt D AU - Applied Pavement Technology, Incorporated AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of the Long Term Durability of Rigid Pavement Joints Cut Using Early-Entry Saws PY - 2011/01 IS - 11-076 SP - 121p AB - Early-entry sawing is an attractive operation to expedite the construction of jointed concrete pavements; however, there are some concerns that the early-entry sawing may compromise the pavement’s long-term performance. The Illinois Department of Transportation sponsored this study as an initial effort to investigate the feasibility of using early-entry sawing on rigid highway pavements in terms of expected joint durability. The joint performance as a function of cut depth and time was also considered. The investigation of early-entry sawing was integrated into an active construction project on Illinois Route 59 in Plainfield, IL featuring three 300-ft test sections (a control section cut to a depth of one-third of the slab thickness using a conventional wet saw, a test section cut to a depth of one-third of the slab thickness using an early-entry dry saw, and a test section cut to a nominal depth of 1.25 inches using an early-entry dry saw). During construction, paving and sawing operations were observed and documented; of particular interest were the sawing operations, during which signs of surface scarring, joint raveling, and slab edge breakouts were recorded and the extent of sawing-related damage was subjectively assessed. In addition to general pavement construction observations, climatic conditions were also monitored, along with pavement temperatures. Ambient climate conditions and slab mixture and temperature data were used to perform a HIPERPAV® analysis to assess the potential for early-age cracking. Compressive strength cylinders were also cast and tested at 3, 7, and 28 days. Additionally, cores were retrieved from joints throughout the test site (6 cores from each test cell), and a battery of durability tests were conducted, including petrographic analysis, freeze-thaw testing, and susceptibility to salt scaling. Overall observations from the field construction and findings from the laboratory testing program are summarized in this report. KW - Concrete pavements KW - Contraction joints KW - Durability KW - Durability tests KW - Joint construction KW - Pavement joints KW - Pavement performance KW - Plainfield (Illinois) KW - Rigid pavements KW - Sawed joints KW - Sawing UR - https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/45843/FHWA-ICT-11-076.pdf?sequence=2 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/45000/45700/45767/FHWA-ICT-11-076.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1212517 ER - TY - SER AN - 01446002 JO - Civil Engineering Studies, Illinois Center for Transportation Series PB - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - O'Rourke, Thomas AU - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AU - Illinois Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Snowplow Simulator Training Study PY - 2011/01 IS - 11-077 SP - 96p AB - This report evaluates simulation training of Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) snowplow operators to improve IDOT snow and ice removal operations. Specifically, it assesses a drivers’ evaluation of snowplow simulation training immediately after training in fall 2009 and again after the snow season in spring 2010. The report includes the supervisors’ assessment of the simulator training after the snow season and a description of conventional training at the district level. Also included are an estimated cost analysis of the simulation training and the estimated cost of behind-the-wheel training, a review of the accident records of snowplow drivers who participated and who did not participate in the simulation training, and a review of reports from other states on simulator training. Results show favorable driver evaluations after the fall training but less positive evaluations after the snow season. Supervisor evaluation of simulation training was generally favorable. As presently conducted, simulation training appears more costly than conventional training. Finally, and consistent with most of the literature, no conclusive findings on driver performance were found when comparing drivers whose training included simulation to drivers whose training did not include simulation. Multiple reasons for this finding are provided in the report. Suggestions for future study are provided. KW - Costs KW - Driving simulators KW - Education and training methods KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Maintenance personnel KW - Operators (Persons) KW - Snowplows KW - Training KW - Training simulators KW - Winter maintenance UR - https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/45844/FHWA-ICT-11-077.pdf?sequence=2 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/45000/45700/45769/FHWA-ICT-11-077.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1212524 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01444830 AU - Baldwin, J David AU - Roswurm, Samuel AU - Nolan, Justin AU - Holliday, Lisa AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Oklahoma Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Energy Harvesting on Highway Bridges PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 24p AB - A concept for harvesting energy from the traffic-induced loadings on a highway bridge using piezoelectric materials to generate electricity was explored through the prototype stage. A total of sixteen lead-zirconate titanate (PZT) Type 5A piezoelectric wafers [0.080 inch (2.0 mm) thick] were attached to the steel shims of a six-layer bridge bearing; 60-durometer rubber sheets separated the shims. The outputs of the piezoelectric wafers were each sent through 480-ohm load resistors, and the voltage drops across the resistors were measured to estimate instantaneous power output and overall energy generation. The prototype energy harvesting bridge bearing was subjected to cyclic force loading (square wave) with mean load, load amplitude, and loading frequency being the experimental parameters. The highest observed energy generation of 1.253×10-6 W·hr occurred with a mean load of 10 kip (44.5 kN), a load amplitude of 4 kip (17.8 kN) and a frequency of 1.5 Hz. The concept of generating electric power from a piezoelectric-wafer-equipped bridge bearing was proven, but the energy generated was well below what would be required to operate a modest electrical load. KW - Bridge bearings KW - Electric power generation KW - Energy KW - Piezoelectric materials KW - Traffic loads UR - http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/hqdiv/p-r-div/spr-rip/library/reports/rad_spr2-i2224-fy2010-rpt-final-baldwin.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/46000/46900/46952/Energy_harvesting_on_highway_bridges.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1212174 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01380413 AU - Gucunski, Nenad AU - Romero, Francisco AU - Kruschwitz, Sabine AU - Feldmann, Ruediger AU - Parvardeh, Hooman AU - Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation AU - Iowa Highway Research Board AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Comprehensive Bridge Deck Deterioration Mapping of Nine Bridges by Nondestructive Evaluation Technologies PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 195p AB - The primary objective of this research was to demonstrate the benefits of non-destructive testing (NDT) technologies for effectively detecting and characterizing deterioration in bridge decks. In particular, the objectives were to demonstrate the capabilities of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and impact echo (IE), and to evaluate and describe the condition of nine bridge decks proposed by Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). The first part of the report provides a detailed review of the most important deterioration processes in concrete decks, followed by a discussion of the five NDT technologies utilized in this project. In addition to GPR and IE methods, three other technologies were utilized, namely: half-cell (HC) potential, electrical resistivity (ER), and ultrasonic surface waves (USW) method. The review includes a description of the principles of operation, field implementation, data analysis, and interpretation; information regarding their advantages and limitations in bridge deck evaluations and condition monitoring are also implicitly provided.. The second part of the report provides descriptions and bridge deck evaluation results from the nine bridges. The results of the NDT surveys are described in terms of condition assessment maps and are compared with the observations obtained from the recovered cores or conducted bridge deck rehabilitation. Results from this study confirm that the used technologies can provide detailed and accurate information about a certain type of deterioration, electrochemical environment, or defect. However, they also show that a comprehensive condition assessment of bridge decks can be achieved only through a complementary use of multiple technologies at this stage,. Recommendations are provided for the optimum implementation of NDT technologies for the condition assessment and monitoring of bridge decks. KW - Bridge decks KW - Concrete bridges KW - Deterioration KW - Electrical resistivity KW - Ground penetrating radar KW - Half cell potential KW - Impact echo tests KW - Nondestructive tests UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/45000/45100/45160/SPR-NDEB_90_--8H-00_Final_ReportNonDestructiveBrdgeDeckEvalApril2011.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1147508 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01379831 AU - Chavel, Brandon W AU - Yadlosky, John M AU - HDR Engineering, Incorporated AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Framework for Improving Resilience of Bridge Design PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 75p AB - Bridges are an integral and important part of the highway infrastructure system and need to be designed to provide the necessary safety for the traveling public. Bridge failures can result in the disruption of commerce and services, significant repair costs, and most importantly the loss of human life. Performing a failure analysis during design, coupled with the review of past bridge failures, can help to avoid the need to initiate investigations and perform forensic engineering after a failure. This is the motivation for the development of this Framework. The development of this Framework considers bridge failures that resulted in collapse, service closures, major repairs, or other significant issues that occurred while the bridge was in service or during construction. A fault tree methodology is adopted in the Framework, where lessons from past bridge failures are used extensively to identify potential events that could lead to a bridge failure. A bridge designer, conscientiously or unconscientiously, goes through a fault-tree analysis mentally while ensuring that the design is devoid of weaknesses that could lead to bridge malfunction or failure. This Framework can provide a starting point for the less than senior engineer to jump start a conscientious evaluation process, and is expected to be of interest to students and instructors of bridge engineering, bridge owners, bridge designers, inspectors, fabricators, contractors, and maintenance personnel. KW - Bridge design KW - Failure analysis KW - Fault tree analysis KW - Safety engineering UR - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/pubs/hif11016/hif11016.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1147531 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01370163 AU - Maher, Ali AU - Garabaglu, Mohsen AU - Systemic Concepts, LLC AU - Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Technical Consultation on the Use of Satellite Communications for Remote Monitoring of Field Instrumentation Systems PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 21p AB - The increasing emphasis on the maintenance of existing infrastructure systems have led to greater use of advanced sensors and condition monitoring systems. Wireless sensors and sensor networks are emerging as sensing paradigms that the structural engineering field has begun to consider as substitutes for traditional tethered monitoring systems. The primary objective of the project is to review the state-of-the-art in satellite communication utilization in remote sensing to identify the current methods used for automated remote sensing including system availability and reliability, network performance and transmission error rate, and network protocol. KW - Instrumentation KW - Remote sensing KW - Satellite communication KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://cait.rutgers.edu/files/Satellite-RU0781-final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1136637 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01369579 AU - Sullivan, Jim AU - Aultman-Hall, Lisa AU - Belz, Nathan AU - Watts, Richard AU - University of Vermont, Burlington AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Efficient Transportation for Vermont: Optimal Statewide Transit Networks PY - 2011/01 SP - 45p AB - Public transit systems are receiving increased attention as viable solutions to problems with transportation system robustness, energy efficiency and equity. The over-reliance on a single mode, the automobile, is a threat to system robustness. Increasingly, policy makers and planners are espousing transportation systems with more options where robustness and equity gains come from the redundancy of alternative modes. For public transit, equity considerations range from ensuring that the network is fully "connected" (avoiding the "you can't get there from here" problem) to providing access to critical destinations (e.g., grocery stores or health care facilities) for people without cars. Energy efficiency gains in transit systems result when there are higher vehicle occupancy rates which lower energy use per passenger mile. This is one of two reports stemming from a project that sought to improve our understanding of the ways in which the Vermont statewide transportation system efficiency can be improved. In this report, the authors envision a series of "optimal" idealized transit networks for the state of Vermont, based on the competing motivations of efficiency and equity, and compare those idealized networks to the existing one. The main objective is to measure the potential levels of efficiency and equity, as well as the potential gains that could result from redesigning the statewide fixed route bus service. Finally, the location of existing park and ride facilities are considered relative to the existing and idealized transit networks. KW - Bus transit KW - Energy efficiency KW - Equity (Justice) KW - Fixed routes KW - Location KW - Park and ride KW - Public transit KW - Transit networks KW - Vermont UR - http://www.uvm.edu/~transctr/research/trc_reports/11-002_VTrans_Transit_Efficiency_Report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1138308 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01367484 AU - Pessaro, Brian AU - Van Nostrand, Caleb AU - National Bus Rapid Transit Institute AU - Federal Transit Administration TI - Miami Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) Project Phase 1 Transit Evaluation Report PY - 2011/01//Final SP - 70p AB - The 95 Express Lanes in Miami-Dade County have been in operation since December 2008. This project involved the conversion of a single high occupancy vehicle lane in both directions to two high occupancy tolls lanes in both directions. These lanes rely on dynamic pricing to keep the lanes free flowing. A portion of the toll revenues is used to fund operations of the 95 Express Bus Service, which is composed of four routes that provide service between Broward County, northern Miami-Dade County, and downtown Miami. The Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida evaluated the impacts of the express lanes on the 95 Express Bus. There were several positive findings. The 95 Express Bus Service has benefited from the HOV to HOT conversion in improved travel times and on-time performance. The service has attracted a large percentage of choice riders, and ridership has grown despite rising unemployment in Miami-Dade County. On-board transit surveys reveal that the HOT lanes did influence riders‟ decisions to use the bus. KW - Congestion pricing KW - Express buses KW - High occupancy toll lanes KW - Miami-Dade County (Florida) KW - On time performance KW - Travel time KW - Urban Partnership Agreements UR - http://www.nbrti.org/docs/pdf/Miami_UPA_FTA_Research_Report_No_0002.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1135979 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01365285 AU - Ryan, Keri L AU - Richins, Brian AU - Utah State University, Logan AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Design, Analysis, and Seismic Performance of a Hypothetical Seismically Isolated Bridge on Legacy Highway PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 179p AB - The need to maintain the functionality of critical transportation lifelines after a large seismic event motivates the strategy to design certain bridges for performance standards beyond the minimum required by bridge design codes. To design a bridge to remain operational, one may stiffen and strengthen the load carrying members to increase the capacity, or alternatively use response modification devices such as seismic isolators to shift the dynamic characteristics of the bridge, henceforth reducing the seismic demands. Seismic isolation systems are attractive because they are directly conducive to accelerated bridge construction techniques. The two strategies are compared for a typical Utah highway bridge, using a three-span, pre-stressed concrete girder bridge that crosses Legacy Highway as a case study example. The existing Legacy Bridge, which was designed as a Standard bridge for a 2500-year return period earthquake, is evaluated as an Essential bridge for a 1000-year return period earthquake. Subsequently, this bridge is redesigned and evaluated as a seismically isolated bridge. Configuration changes needed to accommodate a seismic isolation system are discussed, and reductions to column and foundation elements are proposed. Example seismic isolator designs are provided for several different types of isolation systems commonly used in the United States. Inspection and maintenance practices for seismically isolated bridges are discussed. KW - Base isolation KW - Bridge design KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Performance measurement KW - Prestressed concrete bridges KW - Utah UR - http://utah.ptfs.com/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=42161 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/44000/44100/44165/UT_11-01_1_ONLINE__VERSION.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1133949 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01361241 AU - daSilva, Marco P AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration AU - Federal Railroad Administration TI - Railroad Infrastructure Trespass Detection Performance Guidelines PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 24p AB - The United States Department of Transportation’s John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, under the direction of the Federal Railroad Administration, conducted a 3-year demonstration of an automated prototype railroad infrastructure security system on a railroad bridge in the town of Pittsford, NY [1]. The main objective was to demonstrate a stand-alone, video-based trespass monitoring and deterrent system for railroad infrastructure applications using commercial off-the-shelf technology. The final report, entitled “Railroad Infrastructure Trespassing Detection Systems Research in Pittsford, New York,” details the project location, system technology and operation, system costs, results, potential benefits, and lessons learned. The results indicate this interactive system could serve as a model or prototype railroad infrastructure security system for other railroad rights-of-way or bridges deemed prone to intrusion. Additionally, the authors’ recommendation to develop performance guidelines for this type of system is contained in this document. KW - Demonstration projects KW - Detection and identification systems KW - Deterrents KW - Guidelines KW - Intrusion detection KW - Lessons learned KW - Monitoring KW - Off-the-shelf KW - Pittsford (New York) KW - Prototypes KW - Railroad bridges KW - Railroad safety KW - Right of way (Land) KW - Security KW - Surveillance KW - Technological innovations KW - Trespassers KW - Video UR - http://www.fra.dot.gov/Elib/Document/104 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1126934 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01361099 AU - Liu, Hongchao AU - Kumfer, Wesley AU - Chintaluri, Bhargavi AU - Texas Tech University, Lubbock AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Synthesis of Successful Bicycle Planning in Mid-Size Cities PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 128p AB - The Texas Tech Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation worked together with the Texas Department of Transportation to conduct a survey of successful bicycle policies and practices in the United States. The team developed and released an online survey targeted at various groups including Metropolitan Planning Officials, government officials, bicycle users, bicycle advocacy groups, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) employees, and TexITE members. The purpose of this survey was to rate various issues of funding, safety, and organization to create a clear picture of how successful bicycling would appear in Texas, particularly in mid-size cities. Although it is gaining popularity as a means of transportation, bicycling has historically been underutilized in the United States. The federal transportation funding program in the United States has focused on highway construction and maintenance for automotive travel. As a result, many U.S. cities have been developed with very little thought for the use of bicycling for recreation or travel. Insufficient and badly-designed bicycle facilities have caused many problems, including insufficient access, insufficient street markings, limited right-of-way, discontinuity, or heavily motorized vehicle traffic on bike paths. These challenges make it difficult for bicyclists to properly access and use the necessary facilities. The goal of this research project was to synthesize successful practices of bicycle planning in mid-size cities, including reviews of bicycle practices in the U.S. and successful experiences in planning, design, and implementation of bicycle facilities, conduct a survey of successful bicycle policies and practices in the U.S., and identify common problems in bicycling and key factors for promoting bicycling transportation. Key findings include that funding, culture, education, and engineering are equally important for promoting bicycling; funding and consistent commitment is the primary issue for transportation agencies while safety is the primary concern for bicyclists; there are few differences between city sizes for bicycle users and government officials; and that it is likely that bike plans are underutilized in mid-size cities. The research team suggests that the following actions be taken to properly plan and implement effective bicycle strategies: long-range and short-term transportation plans should be made with an aim at building livable societies in which bicycling is given dual consideration with automobile travel; local government agencies should be responsible for developing the bicycle plan and should be given authority to use federal funding for financing bicycle projects; mid-sized cities should have at least one bicycle coordinator employed by the city or local metropolitan planning organization (MPO); and state and local transportation agencies should be aware that promoting bicycling is a long-range endeavor which requires continuous funding support and coordinated planning, design, and maintenance efforts. KW - Bicycle facilities KW - Bicycle safety KW - Bicycle travel KW - Bicycles KW - Bikeways KW - Metropolitan planning organizations KW - Planning and design KW - Surveys KW - Texas UR - http://www.depts.ttu.edu/techmrtweb/reports/complete_reports/0-6582-1_revised.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/43000/43500/43520/0-6582-1_revised.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1127034 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01361026 AU - Gao, Lu AU - Chi, Seokho AU - Prozzi, Jorge AU - Yildirim, Yetkin AU - Zhang, Zhanmin AU - Centurion, Claudia AU - Murphy, Mike AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Peer State Assessment of TxDOT Maintenance Program and Practices—Workshop and Road Rally Findings PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 179p AB - In an effort to evaluate and improve their practices to ensure the future excellence of the Texas highway system, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) sought a forum in which experts from other state departments of transportation could share their expertise. Thus, the Peer State Review of TxDOT Maintenance Practices project was organized and conducted for TxDOT by the Center for Transportation Research (CTR) at The University of Texas at Austin. The goal of the project was to conduct a workshop at CTR and in the Austin District that would educate the visiting peers on TxDOT’s maintenance practices and invite their feedback. CTR and TxDOT arranged the participation of the following directors of maintenance: Steve Takigawa, CA; Roy Rissky, KS; Eric Pitts, GA; Jim Carney, MO; Jennifer Brandenburg, NC; and David Bierschbach, WA. One of the means used to capture the peer reviewers’ opinions was a carefully designed booklet of 15 questions. The peers provided TxDOT with written responses to these questions, and the oral comments made during the workshop were also captured. This information was then compiled and summarized in the following report. An examination of the peers’ comments suggests that TxDOT should use a more holistic, statewide approach to funding and planning rather than funding and planning for each district separately. Additionally, the peers stressed the importance of allocating funds based on the actual conditions of the roadways instead of on inventory. The visiting directors of maintenance also recommended continuing and proliferating programs that enhance communication, such as peer review workshops. KW - Financing KW - Highway maintenance KW - Maintenance KW - Maintenance practices KW - Pavement Management Information System KW - Peer review KW - Planning KW - Texas UR - http://www.utexas.edu/research/ctr/pdf_reports/0_6664_1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1127039 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01360952 AU - Drimalas, Thano AU - Clement, John C AU - Folliard, Kevin J AU - Dhole, Raj AU - Thomas, Michael D A AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Laboratory and Field Evaluations of External Sulfate Attack in Concrete PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 190p AB - Sulfate attack is a complex form of deterioration that has damaged concrete structures throughout the world. Sulfate attack is particularly complex because the source of sulfates can be external or internal (delayed ettringite formation), and the distress can be chemical in nature, due to alteration of hydration of products, or physical in nature, due to phase changes in the penetrating sulfate solution. Although sulfate attack has been recognized as a cause of concrete distress for many years, it remains a controversial, confusing, and complex topic. There are many unresolved issues, far too many to be tackled in a single investigation. The research described in this report aims to address several of these lingering issues, especially those that are particularly relevant to the state of Texas. KW - Concrete structures KW - Deterioration KW - Ettringite KW - Sulfate attack KW - Sulfate resistance KW - Sulfates KW - Texas UR - http://www.utexas.edu/research/ctr/pdf_reports/0_4889_1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1127033 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01360711 AU - Cirillo, C AU - Hetrakul, P AU - University of Maryland, College Park AU - Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Passenger Demand For Railway Revenue Management PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 30p AB - In this paper, the authors have illustrated a fare pricing strategy for the Acela Express service operated by Amtrak. The revenue management (RM) method proposed is based on passengers preference and products attributes. Using sales data, a multinomial logit model has been calibrated; the random utility theory has been applied to explain passengers choice of booking time under a range of hypothetical sale horizons. In order to capture aggregate passengers response to fare price, a demand function based on ordinary least squares regression has been incorporated in the procedure. This approach is appealing because it allows product attributes such as departure day of week, fare price and destination specific effects to be taken into account in the RM problem. The two models are incorporated in a mathematical formulation that maximizes the expected revenues for each departure day and for each destination market. The analysis provides a method for estimating choice behavior and passenger demand in response to RM strategies from readily available booking data. The accuracy of the estimates depends on the market size; for instance, the model produces good results for the station market which is the predominant market for Acela Express. Overall, the authors show that the proposed model in this paper is promising and can potentially lead to increase in revenue. KW - Acela Express KW - Amtrak KW - Fares KW - Multinomial logits KW - Passengers KW - Pricing KW - Railroad travel KW - Railroads KW - Regression analysis KW - Revenues KW - Travel demand UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1125852 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01360679 AU - Zhang, Lei AU - Yusufzyanova, Dilya AU - University of Maryland, College Park AU - Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Integrated Economic, Land Use and Network Growth Model for Transportation Management and Policy Analysis in the Washington DC Area PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 34p AB - This paper demonstrates the feasibility of developing integrated urban systems model that considers transportation network investment and growth over time, which is a necessary tool for analysts to obtain accurate estimates of the total impact of transportation policies. Also, this paper presents a quantitative model that can forecast future networks under current and alternative transportation planning processes. The current transportation planning process is modeled based on empirical information collected from interviews with key transportation agencies and planning documents published by these agencies. The investment decision-making rules of and interaction/negotiations among state and local transportation authorities are explicitly considered in the proposed agent-based model. Results on a test network show the current transportation planning process can be improved in several different ways. Either a more centralized or more decentralized planning process can improve investment decision-making and enhance the performance of future transportation networks. While it is certainly feasible to employ the proposed model to evaluate alternative planning processes out of intellectual interests, the most likely practical application of this type of models is probably the evaluation of the impact of a particular group of investment projects on future network performance. Another application is to forecast future networks for long-range transportation planning and policy scenario analysis. Currently, there is not a general method for generating future transportation networks 30 or 50 years from now, though this kind of planning horizon is often required for land use, greenhouse gas, and sustainability policy analysis. The model developed in this paper can fill this methodological gap. Several aspects of the proposed model should and can be improved in future research. Model demonstration on a real-world network is clearly in order, and this work is underway for the statewide highway network in Maryland. The planning process model needs to be validated, possibly through comparisons between observed investment decisions and model estimated investment decisions. The current transportation planning process in other regions may also be studied and modeled. KW - Economic growth KW - Economic models KW - Forecasting KW - Land use KW - Land use models KW - Land use planning KW - Networks KW - Policy analysis KW - Regional development KW - Traffic models KW - Transportation planning KW - Urban transportation policy KW - Washington Metropolitan Area UR - http://files.library.northwestern.edu/transportation/online/unrestricted/2011/UMD-2009-06.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1125851 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01358542 AU - Eliassen, Thomas D AU - Vermont Agency of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Evaluation of Hybrid Rockfall Barrier/Drape System PY - 2011/01//Initial Report SP - 17p AB - An evaluation of the constructability and performance of a hybrid rockfall barrier/drape fence (system) was conducted. An outline of the components making up the system, the sequence and methods for installation and observations of the performance of the system is presented. It appears that the hybrid system is performing as designed with no detrimental impacts to the system having been observed to date. A rating of very good was assigned for performance. Monitoring the effectiveness and maintenance of the system will continue as future rockfall occurs and the system ages. KW - Barriers (Roads) KW - Design KW - Fences KW - Installation KW - Performance KW - Rockfall protection systems KW - Rockfalls UR - http://vtransengineering.vermont.gov/sites/aot_program_development/files/documents/materialsandresearch/completedprojects/Final_Hybrid_Barrier_Drape_Rockfall_Fence.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1124041 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01357981 AU - Sayer, James R AU - Bogard, Scott E AU - Buonarosa, Mary Lynn AU - LeBlanc, David J AU - Funkhouser, Dillon S AU - Bao, Shan AU - Blankespoor, Adam D AU - Winkler, Christopher B AU - University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems Light-Vehicle Field Operational Test Key Findings Report PY - 2011/01 SP - 132p AB - This document presents key findings from the light-vehicle field operational test conducted as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems program. These findings are the result of analyses performed by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute to examine the effects of a prototype integrated crash warning system on driving behavior and driver acceptance. The light-vehicle platform included four integrated crash-warning subsystems (forward-crash, lateral-drift, lane-change/merge crash, and curve-speed warnings) installed on a fleet of 16 passenger cars and operated by 108 randomly-sampled drivers for a period of six weeks each. Each car was instrumented to capture detailed data on the driving environment, driver behavior, warning system activity, and vehicle kinematics. Data on driver acceptance was collected through a post-drive survey, debriefings and focus groups. Key findings indicate that use of the integrated crash warning system resulted in improvements in lane-keeping, fewer lane departures, and increased turn-signal use. The research also indicated that drivers were slightly more likely to maintain shorter headways with the integrated system. No negative behavioral adaptation effects were observed as a result of drivers’ involvement in secondary task behaviors. Drivers generally accepted the integrated crash warning system and 72 percent of all drivers said they would like to have an integrated warning system in their personal vehicles. Drivers also reported that they found the blind-spot detection component of the lane-change/merge crash warning system to be the most useful and satisfying aspect of the integrated system. KW - Acceptance KW - Behavior KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Demonstration projects KW - Drivers KW - Highway curves KW - Highway safety KW - Intelligent vehicles KW - Lane changing KW - Lateral drift KW - Light vehicles KW - Rear end crashes KW - Speed KW - Warning systems UR - http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/NVS/Crash%20Avoidance/Technical%20Publications/2011/811416.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/43000/43100/43136/IVBSS_LV_Key_Findings_-_FHWA-JPO-11-082_-_FINAL_7-21-11.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1122654 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01357427 AU - Tang, Haiying AU - Salley, Steven O AU - Ng, K Y Simon AU - Michigan Ohio University Transportation Center AU - Wayne State University AU - NextEnergy Center AU - Michigan Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Improved Oxidative Stability of Biodiesel Fuels: Antioxidant Research and Development PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 53p AB - Biodiesel is a domestic, renewable fuel that is gaining wide acceptance, especially in Europe. When blended with conventional petroleum diesel, biodiesel reduces hydrocarbon, particulate and carbon monoxide emissions, while having minimal to no effect on NOx. It also improves lubricity, lowers sulfur, and has a high cetane number. The promise of biodiesel is tremendous, but some significant obstacles remain to its complete acceptance by diesel engine manufacturers, most significantly with respect to oxidative stability. This proposed project will investigate the factors associated with biodiesel oxidative stability, including natural and synthetic antioxidants, storage and processing conditions. Results of this project will provide much needed guidelines to industry with regards to storage conditions and antioxidant additive levels. Additionally, biodiesel production changes will be recommended which will optimize the preservation of natural antioxidant levels in the fuel. Finally, factors required for the development of a user-level sensor for biodiesel oxidative stability will be quantified. KW - Antioxidants KW - Biodiesel fuels KW - Carbon monoxide KW - Diesel engine exhaust gases KW - Diesel fuels KW - Exhaust gases KW - Petroleum KW - Sulfur UR - http://michigan.gov/documents/mdot/MDOT_Research__Report_RC-1545B_364048_7.pdf UR - http://mioh-utc.udmercy.edu/research/af-04/pdf/MIOH_UTC_AF4p2-5_2011-Final_Rpt_Improved_Oxidative_Stability_of_Biodiesel_Fuels.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1120907 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01357185 AU - Armstrong, Amit AU - Roberts, Thomas C AU - Christians, Robin AU - Parsons Brinckerhoff AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Current and Innovative Solutions to Roadside Revegetation Using Native Plants - A Domestic Scan Report PY - 2011/01//Domestic Scan Report SP - 40p AB - The use of native plants in roadside revegetation has evolved as more and more resource management agencies prescribe the practice as a much better approach for ecosystems. However, this practice is not widely used by state and local agencies that are responsible for building a majority of the roads. The goals and priorities of those responsible to successfully complete roadside revegetation projects are as diverse as the methods used to accomplish them. Even for the most seasoned revegetation professional, achieving success is not guaranteed. A domestic scan was initiated by the Federal Highway Administration to facilitate understanding about the processes and techniques used in successful and innovative projects that used native plants for roadside revegetation. This report summarizes the observations, discussions and broad conclusions of nationally-recognized revegetation specialists during the 2009 scan tour. A key finding was that there are many interconnected elements involved in both the technical and non-technical aspects of the revegetation process – all of which should be addressed in a project revegetation plan. Notably, the non-technical aspects—planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and maintenance—were found to be just as critical to the success of revegetation projects as the technical aspects. KW - Innovation KW - Native plants KW - Revegetation KW - Roadside flora UR - http://www.wfl.fhwa.dot.gov/programs/td/publications/documents/reveg-solutions.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1120902 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01354079 AU - Persad, Khali R AU - Radhakrishnan, Krishnaprabha K AU - Boske, Leigh AU - Zhang, Zhanmin AU - Murphy, Michael AU - Harrison, Rob AU - Zhang, Guohui AU - Dobbins, Mike AU - Hayat, Tanveer AU - Dossey, Terry AU - Trevino, Manuel AU - Gao, Lu AU - Qazi, Abdus Shakur AU - University of Texas, Austin AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - RTI Special Studies for TxDOT Administration in FY 2010 PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 151p AB - This research project was established by TxDOT’s Research and Technology Implementation Office to address special studies required by the department’s Administration during FY 2010. Six short-term, quick-turnaround tasks were completed and are documented. KW - Contracting out KW - Project delivery methods KW - Project management KW - Texas Department of Transportation UR - http://www.utexas.edu/research/ctr/pdf_reports/0_6581_CT_2.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1116018 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01353910 AU - Shahabi, Cyrus AU - METRANS Transportation Center AU - California Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - A Geospatial Framework for Dynamic Route Planning Using Congestion Prediction in Transportation Systems PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 35p AB - The goal of this research is to develop an end-to-end data-driven system, dubbed TransDec (short for Transportation Decision-Making), to enable decision-making queries in transportation systems with dynamic, real-time and historical data. With TransDec, the report will particularly address the challenges in visualization, monitoring, querying and analysis of dynamic and large-scale spatiotemporal transportation data. TransDec fuses a variety of transportation related real-world spatiotemporal datasets including massive traffic sensor data, trajectory data, transportation network data, and points-of-interest data to create an immersive and realistic virtual model of a transportation system. Atop such a system, TransDec allows for processing a wide range of customized spatiotemporal queries efficiently and interactively. The successful implementation of the TransDec infrastructure in the previous stages of the project has facilitated the infrastructure and knowledge base for two fundamental research lines. The first aims at devising an algorithm for compact and efficient data representation. Compact suggests that the data stored requires as little storage space as possible. The compactness of the data becomes a critical issue as the amount of data stored increases. Efficient representation means that, query times of the data are minimal and allow to work with the system in an interactive fashion. Then, exploiting the results of these lines of research, a new paradigm is presented. In this new storage paradigm the single point of storage, thus the single database server is traded for a cloud computing. This has many advantages, both in terms of storage scalability and maintenance and in terms of the availability of the data to all users as soon as it stored. It is expected that this new paradigm will dominate the research in geospatiotemporal databases in the near future and believe that the seeds presented within this research will play a significant role in it. KW - Advanced traffic management systems KW - Databases KW - Decision making KW - Geospatial information KW - Integrated systems KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Real time information KW - Route planning KW - Spatiotemporal analysis KW - Traffic congestion UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/42000/42500/42544/09-26_Shahabi_final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1118629 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01353869 AU - Shahabi, Cyrus AU - University of Southern California, Los Angeles AU - METRANS Transportation Center AU - California Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Stream Traffic Data Archival, Querying, and Analysis with TransDec PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 35p AB - The goal of this research was to extend the traffic data analysis of the TransDec (short for Transportation Decision-Making) system, which was developed under METRANS 09-26 research grant. The TransDec system is a real-data driven system to support decision-making in transportation systems. With TransDec, the challenges in visualization, querying and management of dynamic and large-scale spatiotemporal transportation data, in particular, traffic sensors data and moving assets data have been addressed. With this proposal, building on experience in implementing TransDec, the research and technology development efforts were extended under three specific tasks. First, new techniques were developed to create a streaming data archival repository that supports continuous querying and analysis of the vast amount of California transit data from Regional Integration of Intelligent Transportation Systems (RIITS) generated in the form of data streams. Second, the current data-tier of TransDec was extended to a distributed design to enable a more scalable and stable computing environment. Finally, to demonstrate the benefits of the archived traffic datasets, a novel proof-of-concept application is presented, namely time-dependent optimal sequenced route (TD-OSR) planner using congestion prediction. This application exploits a subset of the real-world RIITS datasets and is evaluating the ways to make it available for public use. KW - Data banks KW - Decision making KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Real time data processing KW - Time dependence KW - Traffic analysis KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic data KW - Traffic sensors KW - TransDec (Computer model) UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/42000/42500/42547/10-13_Shahabi_final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1118821 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01353759 AU - Abdallah, Imad AU - Nazarian, Soheil AU - University of Texas, El Paso AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Strategies to Improve and Preserve Flexible Pavement at Intersections PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 206p AB - Many rural intersections originally constructed with thin untreated flexible base and hot mix or a two-course surface treatment experience severe pushing, shoving and rutting. These failures cause an extremely rough surface that can cause damage to small vehicles and potentially cause motorists to lose control of their vehicle. These distresses almost always result in complete failure of the existing pavement that must be repaired several times during the life of the roadway by maintenance forces. Pavement sections constructed with the same materials adjacent to the intersection perform adequately until the approach (approximately 150 ft in advance) of the intersection and in the intersection itself when the failures become apparent. The mechanisms of intersection pavement failures and the best practices to minimize the failures at existing intersection pavements are discussed in this report. The outcome of this project is an expert system that can be used to reduce the frequency of maintenance needed at rural intersections with consideration of the life-cycle cost analysis. KW - Best practices KW - Expert systems KW - Flexible pavements KW - Intersections KW - Life cycle costing KW - Pavement distress KW - Pavement maintenance KW - Rehabilitation (Maintenance) KW - Rural areas KW - Rutting KW - Shoving (Pavements) UR - ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/rti/psr/5566.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1118801 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01353744 AU - Brogan, James D AU - Hall, Jerome W AU - Ababio, Gloria AU - University of New Mexico, Albuquerque AU - New Mexico Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Queue Length Modeling PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 147p AB - This report summarizes the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice in queue length modeling through a literature search and survey of traffic engineering practitioners. The report also describes the selection and evaluation of four alternative software packages for modeling queue length at signalized intersections in New Mexico. Output from the four models (HCS+, SimTraffic, Synchro, and TEAPAC) was compared to maximum observed queues obtained from camera data at selected intersections. Data analysis involved determining both the percent error, and the actual difference, in number of vehicles, between model output and the observed queues. In general, both HCS+ and TEAPAC underestimated queue lengths for those approaches with low v/c ratios and overestimated it for those approaches with high v/c ratios. Synchro, on the other hand, calculated values that were, in most cases, lower than observed queues, with little variation across a range of v/c values. SimTraffic, particularly when calibrated using 95th percentile volumes and simulated for a time period approximately equal to the signal cycle length, most closely matched observed queues. Most simulated values, moreover, were somewhat over-estimated by SimTraffic, a more preferable situation than an under-estimate. KW - New Mexico KW - Signalized intersections KW - SimTraffic (Computer program) KW - Software KW - State of the art KW - State of the practice KW - Synchro (Computer program) KW - Traffic models KW - Traffic queue length KW - Traffic queuing KW - Volume/capacity ratios UR - http://dot.state.nm.us/content/dam/nmdot/Research/NM09DSN-01ComprehensiveFinalReportQLM.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1118648 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01349479 AU - Baldwin, J David AU - Wijesinghe, Priyantha AU - Zacharie, Scott A AU - Mish, Kyran D AU - University of Oklahoma, Norman AU - Oklahoma Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Development of an In-Situ Fatigue Sensor PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 48p AB - A prototype in situ fatigue sensor has been designed, constructed and evaluated experimentally for its ability to monitor the accumulation of fatigue damage in a cyclically loaded steel structure, e.g., highway bridge. The sensor consists of multiple parallel sensing arms each with a different design of notch; the arms are oriented in the direction of the primary tensile stress in the structure. When close-mounted to a steel structure, the sensor experiences the same deformation as the monitored structure and the notches localize the fatigue accumulation in the sensor and fail progressively under cyclic loading. The notches studied were of semi-circular and deep U-notch configurations. Analytical life estimates for the notched sensor arms were made based on the strain-life fatigue models, and consider several mean stress models. When compared to experimental results, the analytical life estimates consistently overestimated the notched arm lives, but were frequently of the same order of magnitude. The Morrow and Smith-Watson-Topper mean stress models performed best at capturing the experimental results. Potential explanations for the discrepancies between experiment and theory include a lack of robustness in the strain-life models when dealing with significant yielding within the notches, and machined surface finishes in the notches promoting faster fracture than was accounted for in the models. Despite the lack of comprehensive agreement in life estimates, the overall concept of a predictable, progressive failure mode for the prototype sensor was confirmed. KW - Fatigue (Mechanics) KW - Highway bridges KW - Repeated loads KW - Sensors KW - Steel bridges KW - Structural analysis KW - Structural health monitoring UR - http://www.oktc.org/otc/files/finalReports/OTCREOS7.1-32-F.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1108025 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01343593 AU - Wei, Heng AU - Ai, Qingyi AU - Eustace, Deogratias AU - Yi, Ping AU - University of Cincinnati AU - Ohio Transportation Consortium AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Optimal Loop Placement and Models for Length-based Vehicle Classification and Stop-and-Go Traffic PY - 2011/01//Research Report SP - 76p AB - Inductive loops are widely used nationwide for traffic monitoring and as a data source for a variety of needs. The loop data have been used for vehicle length-based classification in many states including Ohio. The dual-loop detector consists of two single loop detectors which are placed apart at a fixed short distance, enabling the dual-loop detector data to be a potential real-time data source for speed and vehicle classifications. The existing dual-loop length-based vehicle classification model has been well evaluated against free flow traffic but is not suitable for non-free flow traffic conditions (such as synchronized and stop-and-go congestion states). This project identifies the performance of the existing length-based vehicle classification models under various traffic conditions, and develops new models for congested traffic using dual-loop data. In order to ensure the right use of the new models under different traffic conditions, correct identification of varied traffic flow states is a critical need. For this purpose, an algorithm for identifying three traffic states, namely, free flow, synchronized flow, and stop-and-go flow, has been developed. A heuristic approach is employed for developing this algorithm with combination of occupancy and speed which directly result from the dual-loop data. Thresholds of variables involved in the algorithm are recommended based on the statistical analysis of the data gained from the sampling dual-loop stations in I-71/I70 in Columbus, Ohio. In addition, loop standards of layout and installation method have been collected from 17 states in the United States. Brief analysis of the collected standards is conducted to provide fundamental information for future evaluation. KW - Algorithms KW - Columbus (Ohio) KW - Dual loop detectors KW - Free flow (Traffic) KW - Heuristic methods KW - Location KW - Loop detectors KW - Stop and go traffic KW - Synchronized flow (Traffic) KW - Traffic congestion KW - Traffic flow KW - Traffic models KW - Vehicle classification UR - http://www.otc.uakron.edu/docs/2009%20OTC%20Project%20Final%20Report_Wei%20et%20al[1].pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105674 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01343375 AU - Hu, Wenying AU - Ryan, Keri L AU - Utah State University, Logan AU - Utah Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Exploratory Study of Partial Isolation of Highway Bridges PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 76p AB - A special class of seismically isolated bridges shares a common feature in that both ends of the superstructure are restrained and isolators over the columns of bridge uncouple the superstructure from the ground motions. They are defined as partial isolation bridges. From measured acceleration responses, the effectiveness of full seismic isolation had been confirmed widely. However, the seismic isolation behavior in the partial isolation has not been widely observed. The effectiveness of partial isolation is evaluated in this study. The static design procedures for linear and nonlinear partially isolated bridges are developed. Results from the static analysis of linear and nonlinear partially isolated bridges, compared with conventional and fully isolated bridges, demonstrate that the effectiveness of nonlinear partial isolation is close to full isolation for reducing the yield force and displacement of the columns in some parameter ranges. However, increased displacement demands at the abutments are observed. Nonlinear time history analyses of the different bridge models under earthquake excitations are carried out to investigate the accuracy of the design procedure for nonlinear partial isolation. In addition, an example shows the application of nonlinear partial isolation to a practical bridge. KW - Bridge abutments KW - Bridge design KW - Bridge superstructures KW - Columns KW - Earthquake resistant design KW - Highway bridges KW - Seismic isolation (Bridge engineering) KW - Seismicity KW - Time history analysis UR - http://utah.ptfs.com/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=41804 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/38000/38000/38072/UT-11-03.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1105165 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01342035 AU - Golembiewski, G A AU - Chandler, B AU - Science Applications International Corporation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Roadway Departure Safety: A Manual for Local Rural Road Owners PY - 2011/01 SP - 68p AB - According to the Federal Highway Administration, over 6 million lane-miles are in rural areas, and more than two-thirds of these rural roads are owned and operated by local entities. Rural areas face a number of highway safety challenges due to the nature of their facilities. Roadway departure crashes are frequently severe and account for the majority of fatalities in rural areas. This document provides information on effectively identifying roadway departure safety issues in local areas, choosing the countermeasures that address them, and evaluating the benefits of those treatments. It is geared toward local road managers and other practitioners with responsibility for operating and maintaining their roads. This document offers information on the procedures and processes to improve the safety of local rural roadways and to reduce the potential for future roadway departure crashes. KW - Countermeasures KW - Fatalities KW - Highway safety KW - Local roads KW - Ran off road crashes KW - Rural areas KW - Rural highways UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/training/fhwasa1109/fhwasa1109.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1104593 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01342034 AU - Gregg, Rob AU - Begley, Justin AU - National Center for Transit Research AU - Florida Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Enhancing the Connectivity of High Speed Rail in the Orlando-Tampa Corridor with Local Public Transportation Systems: Issues and Opportunities PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 156p AB - High Speed Rail (HSR) will only be truly transformational if it has effective connections with as many other modes of transportation as possible. This project looks at local public transportation systems that have opportunities to connect to HSR stations planned for the Orlando-Tampa corridor. How will the availability of HSR affect the existing transit services? What approach are local agencies taking to re-align services to benefit both local and regional travelers? The creation and authority of the Florida Rail Enterprise High Speed Rail project is a catalyst for local agencies to reassess their existing and planned public transportation development activities. It is the objective of this project to analyze these local services and plans to provide insight for enhanced interconnectivity opportunities to the planned HSR stations. With effective connections, the High Speed Rail Project can create a public transportation system for much of the state of Florida. KW - High speed rail KW - Orlando (Florida) KW - Public transit KW - Tampa (Florida) KW - Transit corridors KW - Transit network connectivity UR - http://www.nctr.usf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/77928.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1104597 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01342033 AU - Golembiewski, G A AU - Chandler, B AU - Science Applications International Corporation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Intersection Safety: A Manual for Local Rural Road Owners PY - 2011/01 SP - 60p AB - According to the Federal Highway Administration, over 6 million lane-miles of roadway are in rural areas, and more than two-thirds of these rural roads are owned and operated by local entities. In 2008 56 percent of the 37,261 fatalities on U.S. roadways occurred in rural areas. Rural areas face a number of highway safety challenges due to the nature of their facilities. More than 20 percent of all traffic fatalities in the United States occur at intersections and over 80 percent of intersection-related fatalities in rural areas occur at unsignalized intersections. This document provides information on effectively identifying intersection safety issues in local areas, choosing the countermeasures that address them, and evaluating the benefits of those treatments. It is geared toward local road managers and other practitioners with responsibility for operating and maintaining their roads. It offers information on the procedures and processes to improve the safety of local rural unsignalized intersections and to reduce the potential for future crashes. KW - Countermeasures KW - Fatalities KW - Highway safety KW - Intersections KW - Manuals KW - Rural areas KW - Rural highways KW - Unsignalized intersections UR - http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/training/fhwasa1108/fhwasa1108.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1104596 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341973 AU - Schreffler, Eric N AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) AU - National Cooperative Highway Research Program TI - Integrating Active Traffic and Travel Demand Management: A Holistic Approach to Congestion Management PY - 2011/01 SP - 24p AB - The purpose of this primer is to introduce and define the active traffic management (ATM) and travel demand management (TDM) concepts and show the need for and benefits of integrating the concepts into efforts to address congestion on the most affected facilities. The primer provides a conceptual framework, originally suggested by the Dutch Ministry of Transport, for understanding the difference between traffic management and travel demand management. In a nutshell, managing travel demand is effectively addressing congestion before the decision is made on when, how, and whether to use a car. Managing traffic is efficiently addressing congestion once the traveler is in the automobile or has made the decision to use a car. The primer underscores the need to integrate the two concepts into a holistic approach to congestion management. The primer describes five types of ATM and TDM integration and provides examples of each, drawn from the United States and Europe. The following are the five types of integration: New partnerships for integrating ATM and TDM; Enhanced travel alternatives in actively managed corridors; Incentives to reduce traffic volumes on congested facilities; Real-time, multimodal traveler information to induce In-route mode shift; and Promotion of TDM at major trip generators in ATM corridors. Finally, an overall approach for integrating the two concepts is provided. It includes an overview of the integrated demand management under development in the United Kingdom. KW - Congestion management systems KW - Europe KW - Highway traffic control KW - Holistic approach KW - Incentives KW - Partnerships KW - Traffic congestion KW - Travel demand management KW - Traveler information and communication systems KW - United Kingdom KW - United States UR - http://international.fhwa.dot.gov/pubs/pl11011/pl11011.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1104342 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01341822 AU - Rasmussen, Robert Otto AU - Transtec Group, Incorporated AU - Colorado Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Tire/Pavement and Environmental Traffic Noise Research Study: Interim Report – 2009 Testing PY - 2011/01//Interim Report SP - 128p AB - This research study is being conducted in response to the Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT’s) interest in traffic noise in general, and the tire/pavement interaction in particular. Following a rigid set of testing protocols, data are being collected on highway traffic noise characteristics along with safety and durability aspects of the associated pavements. The overall goal of this research project is to develop and execute a comprehensive, long-term study to determine if a particular pavement surface type and/or texture can be successfully used in Colorado to help satisfy FHWA noise mitigation requirements. The study is needed to accomplish the following: Determine the noise generation/reduction characteristics of pavements as functions of pavement type, pavement texture, age, time, traffic loading, and distance away from the pavement; Determine a correlation between source measurements using on-board sound intensity (OBSI), and statistical passby (SPB) and time-averaged wayside measurements; and Accumulate information that can be used for validation and verification of the accuracy of the FHWA Traffic Noise Model (TNM) to use on future Colorado highway projects. The information included in this report highlights the third in a series of four measurements to be collected over a five-year period. While some of this information can be used immediately for decisions related to pavement design and specification, it is recommended that caution be exercised as the results from future testing will help further define the long-term acoustical durability of these pavement surfaces. KW - Colorado KW - Noise control KW - Pavements KW - Rolling contact KW - Surface course (Pavements) KW - Texture KW - Tire/pavement noise KW - Traffic noise KW - Traffic Noise Model KW - Validation UR - http://www.coloradodot.info/programs/research/pdfs/2011/qpr3.pdf/view UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1103940 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340825 AU - Baker, Richard T AU - University Transportation Center for Mobility AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Development of a Mileage-Based User Fee Research Website PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 14p AB - The University Transportation Center for Mobility (UTCM) previously funded several research projects related to mileage-based user fees (MBUFs). As part of these research efforts a website was developed to support the planning for the first-ever Symposium on Mileage-Based User Fees. While the website was initially developed to disseminate information about the symposium, it has since become a resource for ongoing research in the field of MBUFs. Recently completed studies on MBUFs are posted to the website, and major media coverage of the topic is linked as well. This project further developed the website so that it can act as a “one-stop shop” for individuals interested in exploring the topic or professionals looking to keep track of the latest developments in the field. Updates to ongoing MBUF research pilot studies and research are obtained through researchers’ well-established contacts with other researchers in the field and are posted on the website. Journal articles, media coverage, and various commentaries on MBUFs are also provided on the website. Furthermore, interested parties may join a mailing list that provides weekly updates on the subject or can participate in a newly installed discussion forum. KW - Distance based fees KW - Financing KW - Highways KW - Information dissemination KW - Mileage-based user fees KW - Mobility KW - User charges KW - Websites (Information retrieval) UR - http://utcm.tamu.edu/publications/final_reports/Baker_10-00-61.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102783 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340409 AU - Gertler, Judith AU - Murray, James AU - Foster-Miller Associates, Incorporated AU - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration TI - SmartPark Truck Parking Availability System: Video Technology Field Operational Test Results PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 91p AB - This report presents the results of a field operational test (FOT) of an innovative system to monitor parking availability in a public truck parking area. The system used an off-the-shelf video-based traffic monitoring system. The self-contained monitoring equipment was solar-powered and used Ethernet radios to transmit vehicle entrance and exit events to an onsite, networked computer. Four Web cameras mounted on the service center building provided real-time views of the entire parking area to enable collection of ground truth data on facility occupancy. The FOT consisted of functional and performance tests. Initial tests found the vehicle detection accuracy met the desired 96 percent accuracy, but accuracy of vehicle length detection was below the required accuracy. Night detection was less accurate, primarily due to multiple detections of individual vehicles. Final tests occurred following improvements to the image processing software. The authors’ vehicle presence detector configuration and vehicle length detection algorithm was more accurate than the detector configuration that used the system’s capabilities alone. Hardware problems with the outbound camera and the less than required accuracy of the vehicle classification prevented evaluation of facility occupancy estimates. Because the video-based technology did not meet the performance requirement for vehicle classification accuracy, the FMCSA will be repeating the field operations test with another technology to be announced. KW - Demonstration projects KW - Field studies KW - Image analysis KW - Parking KW - Remote monitoring system KW - Traffic surveillance KW - Trucks KW - Vehicle classification KW - Vehicle detectors KW - Video cameras UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/51000/51300/51360/SmartPark-Video.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102453 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01340385 AU - Fallon, John AU - Howard, Kareem AU - VehicleSense, Inc. AU - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration TI - SmartPark Truck Parking Availability System: Magnetometer Technology Field Operational Test Results PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 53p AB - The purpose of this project was to conduct field operations tests to determine the feasibility of using magnetometry to determine truck parking availability. The field operations tests were conducted at two locations: a private truck stop, Interstate Travel Plaza, on U.S. 1 in Wrentham, MA and at a public rest stop, Mile Marker 9 on I-95 northbound in Mansfield, MA. The magnetometry technology detects the presence of a truck by a disturbance in the earth’s magnetic field. The technology deploys an inexpensive wireless, battery-powered vehicle sensor unit (size of a soda can) embedded in the pavement to measure the disturbance and trigger the event. A base station unit wirelessly collects the event data from a group of four to six vehicle sensor units. A parking area relay wirelessly collects the event data from all the base station units and transmits the aggregated data to a centralized database server where a detection/classification processor uses rules-based algorithms to determine truck parking availability for an entire truck parking area. A ground truth camera was installed to allow for manual verification of (1) the detection of a vehicle (presence or absence) and (2) the classification of a vehicle (car, truck, or other). The magnetometry performed vehicle detection at an accuracy rate of 96.2% at Mile Marker 9 (n=2056 vehicles) and 96.5% at Interstate Travel Plaza (n=1241 vehicles). There were no overcounts, but there were undercounts (false negative detections). Furthermore, the magnetometry achieved only a vehicle classification accuracy of 92.2% at Mile Marker 9 (same sample size as given above) and 78.6% at Interstate Travel Plaza (same sample size as given above). Because the magnetometry technology did not meet performance requirements for vehicle classification accuracy, FMCSA will be repeating the field operations test with another technology to be announced. KW - Automatic vehicle classification KW - Demonstration projects KW - Field studies KW - Magnetometer detectors KW - Parking KW - Parking availability KW - Trucks KW - Vehicle detectors UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/51000/51300/51359/SmartPark-Magnetometer.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1102452 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01339092 AU - Amekudzi, Adjo AU - Meyer, Michael AU - Ross, Catherine AU - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Transportation Planning and Sustainability Guidebook PY - 2011/01 SP - v.p. AB - The guidebook presents critical issues involved in planning for sustainable transportation systems (Chapter 2) and then reviews current practices in the U.S. and abroad that address these issues (Chapter 3). One of the major challenges in implementing sustainability assessment for planning relates to data availability, so Chapter 4 describes potential data sources and examples of how data has been used in sustainability-related initiatives. Chapter 5 consists of case studies of sustainability practices that have been implemented by U.S. transportation agencies or comparable agencies abroad. It also describes cutting-edge evaluation methods that have not been widely applied by transportation agencies, but could greatly advance sustainability evaluation and planning. There is a wide range of sustainability activities that can occur at transportation agencies, the focus of which put agencies on very different pathways to similar destinations. Agencies that have supporting legislation with allocated funding to pursue sustainability goals are in a different place than those that do not. An agency that already has a sustainability plan is starting from a very different place than one that has just started to talk about sustainability. Agencies that have already created interdisciplinary teams or hired new staff to deal with sustainability issues are at an advantage to those lacking personnel and experience. How an agency uses this guidebook will depend on their particular sustainability objectives and the extent of their current sustainability practices. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 can be considered a sustainability primer - a useful resource for agencies or transportation professionals that have little experience with sustainability or that want to focus on new areas that are unsustainable. The case studies presented in Chapter 5 vary widely in their level of comprehensiveness, issues addressed, and phases of the planning process impacted. Collectively, the case studies provide agencies with a range of examples from which they can select what best meets their sustainability priorities and needs. KW - Case studies KW - Critical issues KW - Data sources KW - Handbooks KW - State of the practice KW - Strategic planning KW - Sustainable development KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/climate/sustainability/index.cfm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1101694 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337860 AU - Jarossi, Linda AU - Hershberger, Daniel AU - Pettis, Leslie AU - Woodrooffe, John AU - University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute AU - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration TI - Trucks Involved in Fatal Accidents Codebook 2008 (Version January 21, 2011) PY - 2011/01//Special Report SP - 167p AB - This report provides documentation for the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute's file of Trucks Involved in Fatal Accidents (TIFA), 2008, including distributions of the code values for each variable in the file. The 2008 TIFA file is a census of all medium and heavy trucks involved in a fatal accident in the United States. The TIFA database provides coverage of all medium and heavy trucks recorded in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) file. TIFA combines vehicle, accident, and occupant records from FARS with information about the physical configuration and operating authority of the truck from the TIFA survey. KW - Coding systems KW - Crash data KW - Data files KW - Fatalities KW - Fatality Analysis Reporting System KW - Heavy duty trucks KW - Medium trucks KW - Truck crashes KW - United States UR - http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83151/1/48532_A53.pdf UR - http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/83151 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100577 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337617 AU - Rutherford, G Scott AU - Watkins, Kari Edison AU - University of Washington, Seattle AU - Transportation Northwest Regional Center X (TransNow) AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Measurement and Evaluation of Transit Travel Time Reliability PY - 2011/01//Final Research Report SP - 22p AB - Transit travel time reliability often continues to be viewed by transit agencies solely on the basis of overall on‐time performance. Therefore, this research sought to increase knowledge about the causes of travel time variability in transit by comparing the on‐time performance and runtime deviation of routes and portions of routes based on specific characteristics of the service (right‐of‐way, stop spacing, load factors, etc.). Three questions were addressed: (1) What are the characteristics of route segments where travel times (as measured by runtime) are the least variable? (2) What are the characteristics of route segments where drivers are least likely to fall behind? (3) What are the characteristics of route segments where drivers are most likely to be able to catch‐up if they have fallen behind schedule? Based on this analysis the characteristic of service that has the highest impact on on‐time status and additional runtime beyond scheduled is the presence of some kind of issue with service that would cause a service alert to be issued within the agency. This shows the importance of getting information about service alerts out to customers via a variety of means to ensure riders know that their bus is likely to be delayed. In terms of policy decisions that agencies can make, the presence of high‐floor buses increased the delays by several seconds per trip segment. Through‐routing buses had an even greater impact, adding almost a minute to the actual runtime beyond that scheduled. Standees on a bus had a similar negative impact on both on‐time status and overall runtime, indicating that agencies should pay attention to their passenger loads and work to add service along lines that become severely overloaded to avoid delays. Interestingly, express buses and the percentage of exclusive lanes in the form of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes or Business‐Access Transit (BAT) lanes had an inconsistent impact on reliability. KW - Bus delays KW - Bus transit KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - On time performance KW - Running time KW - Travel time reliability UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/36000/36000/36099/TNW2010-10.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1100475 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337324 AU - Grasman, Scott E AU - Long, Suzanna AU - Qin, Ruwen AU - Rolufs, Angela AU - Thomas, Mathew AU - Lin, Yaqin AU - Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla AU - Missouri Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Alternative Energy Resources for the Missouri Department of Transportation PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 61p AB - This research investigates environmentally friendly alternative energy sources that could be used by the Missouri Department of Transportation in various areas, and develops applicable and sustainable strategies to implement those energy sources. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Environmental protection KW - Missouri Department of Transportation KW - Renewable energy sources KW - Sustainable development UR - http://library.modot.mo.gov/RDT/reports/TRyy1006/or11010.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098722 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337323 AU - Morris, Ted AU - Schwach, Jory A AU - Michalopoulos, Panos G AU - University of Minnesota, Twin Cities AU - Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Low-Cost Portable Video-Based Queue Detection for Work-Zone Safety PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 53p AB - Highway work-zone safety is a major concern for government agencies, the legislature, and the traveling public. Several work zone intelligent transportation systems (WZITS) have been developed as a safety countermeasure to warn drivers of dangerous traffic conditions. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of a WZITS is diminished if the actual traffic flow conditions do not correspond with the sensor information leading to false warnings; these confuse drivers and reduce the credibility of the system, which is often ignored. This can lead to situations where drivers crash into work-zone areas because they are unprepared to stop. The national cost of crashes due to this was estimated to be nearly $2.5 billion. Such “dangerous” traffic conditions are typically characterized by unpredictable queue formations that propagate rapidly into higher speed traffic immediately upstream from the active work zone. False positives or missed warnings could be reduced if the location of queue tails in addition to vehicle speeds in proximity to the active work zone can be accurately detected. In this study, a low-cost rapidly deployable and portable queue detection WZITS warning system is proposed. To demonstrate WZITS feasibility, a queue detection algorithm was designed and tested using widely available, field proven, machine vision hardware that can be integrated into the current portable system prototype, using video data collected in the field from the portable device. The warning trigger generated by the algorithm can then be transmitted to a remote upstream location for triggering roadside emergency warning devices (such as VMS, flashers, etc.). KW - Algorithms KW - Intelligent transportation systems KW - Portable equipment KW - Traffic queuing KW - Video imaging detectors KW - Work zone safety UR - http://www.cts.umn.edu/Publications/ResearchReports/pdfdownload.pl?id=1488 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098719 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337305 AU - Sperley, Myra AU - Oregon Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - FY 2011 Oregon Transportation Needs and Issues Survey: Summary of Statewide Results PY - 2011/01//Summary Report SP - 47p AB - The Oregon Transportation Needs and Issues Survey was first conducted in 1993 and has been done roughly every two years. The latest survey was completed in the summer of 2010 (State fiscal year (FY) 2011). This report summarizes the results of the FY 2011 survey. For some reoccurring questions, results are also compared to past surveys. KW - Customer satisfaction KW - Needs assessment KW - Oregon KW - Public opinion KW - Surveys KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP_RES/ResearchReports/TNIS2011final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097621 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337282 AU - Leaf, W A AU - Preusser, D F AU - Preusser Research Group, Incorporated AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Evaluation of Minnesota’s Vehicle Plate Impoundment Law for Impaired Drivers PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 60p AB - Vehicle sanctions – such as vehicle impoundment – have been found to be effective in reducing recidivism among drivers arrested for DWI; however, their application is cumbersome and generally infrequent. A far less cumbersome strategy is to seize the vehicle license plate while leaving the actual vehicle in the owner’s hands. Beginning in 1998, Minnesota implemented license plate impoundment for first-offense drivers whose blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was .20 or higher. DWI recidivism and Driving While Suspended violations were compared for first offenders with BACs of .17-.19 (no plate impoundment) and first offenders with BACs of .20-.22 (very similar BACs but with plate impoundment). The results indicated substantial reductions in DWI recidivism and Driving While Suspended violations for those drivers whose vehicle license plates were impounded. Effects were strongest among younger drivers (ages 21-34) during the period of plate impoundment (up to one year). Some effects persisted for as much as three years. Vehicle plate impoundment was seen as an effective means to reduce DWI recidivism and reduce driving by suspended drivers during the term of their license suspension. KW - Blood alcohol levels KW - Countermeasures KW - Driving while suspended KW - Drunk drivers KW - Evaluation KW - Impaired drivers KW - Impoundment KW - License plates KW - Minnesota KW - Recidivism KW - Sanctions UR - http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/811351.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097797 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337270 AU - Dill, Jennifer AU - Monsere, Christopher AU - McNeil, Nathan AU - City of Portland AU - Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Evaluation of Bike Boxes at Signalized Intersections PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 126p AB - This report presents a before-after study of bike boxes at 10 signalized intersections in Portland, Oregon. The bike boxes, also known as advanced stop lines or advanced stop boxes, were installed to increase visibility of cyclists and reduce conflicts between motor vehicle and cyclists, particularly in potential "right-hook" situations. Before and after videos were analyzed for seven intersections with green bike boxes, three intersections with uncolored bike boxes, and two control intersections. User perceptions were measured through surveys of cyclists passing through five of the bike box intersections and of motorists working downtown, where the boxes were concentrated. Both the observations and survey of motorists found a high rate of compliance and understanding of the markings. Overall, 73% of the stopping motor vehicles did not encroach at all into the bike box. Both motor vehicle and bicycle encroachment in the pedestrian crosswalk fell significantly at the bike box locations compared to the control intersections. The bike boxes had mixed effects on the motorists’ encroachment in the bicycle lane. The number of observed conflicts at the bike box locations decreased, while the total number of cyclists and motor vehicles turning right increased. Negative-binomial models based upon the data predict fewer conflicts with the boxes, particularly as right-turning motor vehicle volumes increase. Observations of yielding behavior at two bike box and one control intersection found an improvement in motorists yielding to cyclists at the bike box locations. Differences in the traffic volumes and location contexts make firm conclusions about the effects of green coloring of the boxes difficult. Higher shares of surveyed motorists felt that the bike boxes made driving safer rather than more dangerous, even when the sample was narrowed to respondents who were not also cyclists. Over three-quarters of the surveyed cyclists thought that the boxes made the intersection safer. KW - Before and after studies KW - Bicycle boxes (Intersection element) KW - Bicycle safety KW - Highway safety KW - Portland (Oregon) KW - Road markings KW - Signalized intersections UR - http://www.otrec.us/project/227 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098717 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337269 AU - Duych, Ron AU - Ford, Chester AU - Sanjani, Hossain AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Hazardous Materials Highlights – 2007 Commodity Flow Survey PY - 2011/01//Special Report SP - 6p AB - Hazardous materials movement through the Nation’s transportation network in 2007 remained relatively unchanged from 2002 measures, according to data from the 2007 Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), released in 2010. The estimated 2.2 billion tons of hazardous materials carried by all modes of transportation is about the same as the estimated tonnage from the prior CFS in 2002. However, the value of those shipments more than doubled, from $660 billion to $1,448 billion, driven primarily by the increase in the price of refined petroleum products and other basic commodities. Slightly more than half (54 percent) of hazardous material tonnage is moved via trucks over the Nation’s highways. Pipeline is the next most used carrier of hazardous materials, handling 28 percent of the tonnage, while the other modes each accounted for 7 percent or less of total hazardous material tonnage. KW - 2007 Commodity Flow Survey KW - Commodity flow KW - Freight traffic KW - Hazardous materials KW - Highways KW - Pipelines KW - United States UR - http://www.bts.gov/publications/special_reports_and_issue_briefs/special_report/2011_01_26/pdf/entire.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098714 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01337205 AU - Agrawal, Asha Weinstein AU - Blumenberg, Evelyn AU - Abel, Sarah AU - Pierce, Gregory AU - Darrah, Charles N AU - San Jose State University AU - California Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Getting Around When You're Just Getting By: The Travel Behavior and Transportation Expenditures of Low-Income Adults PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 126p AB - In-depth interviews with 73 adults are used to examine how rising transportation costs affect low-income families. Four general areas of interest are explored: travel behavior and transportation spending patterns; the costs and benefits of alternative modes of travel; transportation cost management strategies; and opinions about the effects of changing transportation prices on travel behavior. Findings show that most low-income households are concerned about their transportation costs and household resources are strategically managed to respond to changes in transportation costs. The costs of travel (time and out-of-pocket expenses) are weighed carefully against the benefits of alternative modes; the extra cost of owning a car, for example, may be worth time savings in traveling to work. While low-income households manage to cover their transportation costs, many of these strategies have negative effects on their lifestyles. Recommendations are given for increasing transportation affordability, minimizing the impact of new transportation taxes or fees on low-income people, and developing new research and data collection strategies. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - Costs KW - Data collection KW - Households KW - Low income groups KW - Mobility KW - Mode choice KW - San Jose (California) KW - Transportation policy KW - Travel behavior KW - Travel time UR - http://transweb.sjsu.edu/MTIportal/research/publications/documents/2806_10-02.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097942 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335439 AU - Adams, Teresa M AU - University of Wisconsin, Madison AU - Midwest Regional University Transportation Center AU - Wisconsin Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Estimating Cost Per Lane Mile for Routine Highway Operations and Maintenance PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 75p AB - The disparity between maintenance budgets and maintenance requirements causes agencies to make difficult choices about maintenance priorities. There is a growing need to effectively link maintenance costs and condition to provide clear evidence of impacts due to budget tradeoffs decisions. The focus of this research was to develop mathematical relationships between expenditures for highway maintenance and the resulting maintenance condition by analyzing historic cost and condition data. The research involved analyzing maintenance condition and cost data over three years, 2004, 2005, and 2006 from the state transportation agencies in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin for highway components including pavement, shoulders, roadside vegetation, drainage, signs, and pavement markings. The maintenance management systems at the states use different categorization schemes for their maintenance activity costs and different rating systems for maintenance condition, thus direct comparison between states was not possible. The primary result of this research is a set of probabilistic distribution functions for annual maintenance costs for a wide range of maintenance activities. Confidence intervals can be constructed around the average using the chosen level of confidence (i.e., 95%). The functions are useful for sensitivity and simulation analyses. The researchers hypothesized that data would reveal relationships between cost and condition. A regression tree analysis approach was used to search for relevant model equations. However, the statistical analysis of the data revealed weak evidence of these relationships. This finding is common for all three of the states that were investigated. There are at least two clear limitations of the data. First, to see trends over time, three years of data may not be enough. Furthermore, even with budget cuts, noticeable deterioration in condition, deficiencies, or maintenance backlog may take longer than three years. Second, the available cost and condition data are aggregated over many highway miles. Maintenance management and cost records generally do not include precise highway locations where maintenance was performed, the specific activities that were performed, nor the precise cost and timing of those activities. Consequently the trends and relationships between cost and condition are “washed out” by the lack of precision. KW - Cost estimating KW - Costs KW - Distributions (Statistics) KW - Drainage KW - Highway maintenance KW - Maintenance management KW - Michigan KW - Ohio KW - Pavement performance KW - Regression analysis KW - Road markings KW - Road shoulders KW - Roadside KW - Traffic signs KW - Trend (Statistics) KW - Vegetation KW - Wisconsin UR - http://www.mrutc.org/research/0712/CPLM_Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098950 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335396 AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Technical Assessment of Toyota Electronic Throttle Control (ETC) Systems PY - 2011/01 SP - 77p AB - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issues this report to present their studies and findings concerning unintended acceleration (UA) in vehicles manufactured by Toyota. This report should be read in conjunction with the report issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) concerning the electronic throttle control (ETC) system in Toyota vehicles. In March 2010, NHTSA enlisted the support of NASA in analyzing the Toyota ETC system to determine whether it contained any vulnerabilities that might realistically be expected to produce UA in a consumer’s use of those vehicles. NASA did not find an electronic cause of large throttle openings that can result in UA incidents. NHTSA did not find a vehicle-based cause of those incidents in addition to those causes already addressed by Toyota recalls. KW - Acceleration (Mechanics) KW - Electronic throttle control KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - Throttles KW - Toyota automobile KW - Unintended vehicle acceleration KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/NHTSA-UA_report.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098782 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01335386 AU - Collins, William E AU - Wayda, Michael E AU - CNI Aviation, LLC AU - Federal Aviation Administration AU - Federal Aviation Administration TI - Index to FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine Reports: 1961 through 2010 PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 98p AB - An index to Federal Aviation Administration Office of Aerospace Medicine Reports (1964-2010) and Civil Aeromedical Institute Reports (1961-1963) is presented for those engaged in aviation medicine and related activities. The index lists all FAA aerospace medicine technical reports published from 1961 through 2010: chronologically, alphabetically by author, and alphabetically by subject. KW - Aviation medicine KW - Diseases and medical conditions KW - Human factors KW - Indexes (Information management) KW - Research reports UR - http://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oamtechreports/2010s/media/201301.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1098720 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334685 AU - Adams, Michael AU - Nicks, Jennifer AU - Stabile, Tom AU - Wu, Jonathan AU - Schlatter, Warren AU - Hartmann, Joseph AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Integrated Bridge System, Interim Implementation Guide PY - 2011/01 SP - 174p AB - This manual outlines the state-of-the-art and recommended practice for designing and constructing Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil (GRS) technology for the application of the Integrated Bridge System (IBS). The procedures presented in this manual are based on 40 years of State and Federal research focused on GRS technology as applied to abutments and walls. This manual was developed to serve as the first in a two-part series aimed at providing engineers with the necessary background knowledge of GRS technology and its fundamental characteristics as an alternative to other construction methods. The manual presents step-by-step guidance on the design of GRS-IBS. Analytical and empirical design methodologies in both the Allowable Stress Design (ASD) and Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) formats are provided. Material specifications for standard GRS-IBS are also provided. Detailed construction guidance is presented along with methods for the inspection, performance monitoring, maintenance, and repair of GRS-IBS. Quality assurance and quality control procedures are also covered in this manual. KW - Allowable stress design KW - Bridge abutments KW - Bridge design KW - Construction KW - Geosynthetics KW - Inspection KW - Integrated design KW - Load and resistance factor design KW - Maintenance KW - Manuals KW - Materials KW - Mechanically stabilized earth KW - Quality assurance KW - Quality control KW - Retaining walls KW - Soil structure interaction KW - Specifications KW - State of the art UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/11026/11026.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55700/55731/11026_GRS_INTERIM_IMPLEMENTATION_GUIDE.PDF UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55700/55757/FHWA_HRT_11_026_ERRATA.PDF UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097935 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334683 AU - Adams, Michael AU - Nicks, Jennifer AU - Stabile, Tom AU - Wu, Jonathan AU - Schlatter, Warren AU - Hartmann, Joseph AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Integrated Bridge System, Synthesis Report PY - 2011/01 SP - 68p AB - This report is the second in a two-part series to provide engineers with the necessary background knowledge of Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil (GRS) technology and its fundamental characteristics as an alternative to other construction methods. It supplements the interim implementation manual (FHWA-HRT-11-026), which outlines the design and construction of the GRS Integrated Bridge System (IBS). The research behind the proposed design method is presented along with case histories to show the performance of in-service GRS-IBS and GRS walls. KW - Bridge design KW - Case studies KW - Construction KW - Geosynthetics KW - Integrated design KW - Mechanically stabilized earth KW - Retaining walls KW - Soil structure interaction UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/11027/11027.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/55000/55700/55732/11027.PDF UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097945 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334571 AU - Tadepalli, Padmanabha Rao AU - Hoffman, Norman AU - Hsu, Thomas T C AU - Mo, Y L AU - University of Houston AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Steel Fiber Replacement of Mild Steel in Prestressed Concrete Beams PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 192p AB - In traditional prestressed concrete beams, longitudinal prestressed tendons serve to resist bending moment and transverse mild steel bars (or stirrups) are used to carry shear forces. However, traditional prestressed concrete I-beams exhibit early-age cracking and brittle shear failure at the end zones despite the use of a high percentage of stirrups (4.2%). Moreover, producing and placing stirrups require costly labor and time. To overcome these difficulties, it is proposed to replace the stirrups in prestressed concrete beams with steel fibers. This replacement concept was shown to be feasible in a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) project (TxDOT project 0-4819) recently completed at the University of Houston. The replacement of stirrups by steel fibers in highway beams requires a set of shear design provisions and guidelines for Prestressed Steel Fiber Concrete (PSFC) beams. The development of rational shear provisions with wide applications must be guided by a mechanics-based shear theory and must be validated by experimental tests on I- and box-beams. A rational shear theory, called the Softened Membrane Model (SMM), has been developed at the University of Houston for reinforced concrete beams. This theory satisfies Navier’s three principles of mechanics of materials, namely, stress equilibrium, strain compatibility and the constitutive relationship between stress and strain for the materials. The first phase of the research consisted of testing 10 full-size PSFC panels. This was done to establish the effect of fiber factor and the level of prestress on the constitutive models of steel fiber concrete and prestressing tendons. From the data a set of constitutive models was developed to predict the behavior of PSFC. Notable findings include the fact that increasing steel fiber content has a beneficial effect on the softening properties of PSFC. Additionally, the findings show that increasing steel fiber content increases tension stiffening in prestressed PSFC under tensile loading. The second phase of this research project generalizes the SMM shear theory for application to PSFC beams. This was achieved by feeding the new constitutive models of fiber concrete and prestressing tendons into a finite element program (OpenSees). The accuracy of the new shear theory was evaluated by testing full-size PSFC I- and box-beams that fail in shear modes. The developed finite element program was used to simulate the shear behavior of the beams with acceptable accuracy. Finally, a design equation and recommendations were provided for use when designing PSFC beams. Using the design equations, a series of four design examples was also provided. KW - Beams KW - Box beams KW - Design KW - Equations KW - Finite element method KW - I beams KW - Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (OpenSees) KW - Prestressed concrete KW - Prototype tests KW - Shear tests KW - Simulation KW - Softened membrane model KW - Steel fibers UR - http://library.ctr.utexas.edu/hostedPDFs/UH_0-5255-2Final.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097904 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334568 AU - Baker, Richard AU - Goodin, Ginger AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Exploratory Study: Vehicle Mileage Fees in Texas PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 104p AB - This project evaluates Vehicle Mileage (VM) fees as a possible funding mechanism for meeting the State of Texas’ long-term transportation needs. Researchers conducted listening sessions with the general public and stakeholders to gather input on the concept. Researchers also prepared a decision matrix that can aid policy makers in evaluating the various trade-offs in policy that will be encountered in vehicle mileage fee system development. This study identified both challenges and opportunities for implementation of VM fees: 1) most study participants viewed the implementation of mileage fees as unworkable; privacy, cost of administration, and enforcement emerged as the most commonly cited concerns; 2) the rationale for transitioning to mileage fees has not been adequately established with the general public; 3) a new funding mechanism will inherently raise fairness concerns among rural and low-income drivers; 4) despite concerns, research shows that the vehicle mileage fees are a logical, sustainable, long-term option to supplement or replace the fuel tax; 5) if pursued, simple implementation solutions will engender the greatest public and stakeholder support; 6) field demonstrations that illustrate the full spectrum of implementation aspects, including payment, administration, and enforcement, can show how the concept might work in Texas; and 7) effective policy design can address any major public acceptance issues. Finally, researchers recommend a demonstration approach that focuses on electric vehicles, tests all aspects of payment, administration and enforcement, and offers a low-technology deployment (using odometer readings) that would provide drivers with the option to adopt a high-technology alternative. KW - Acceptance KW - Administration KW - Alternatives analysis KW - Barriers to implementation KW - Equity (Justice) KW - Feasibility analysis KW - Fuel taxes KW - Law enforcement KW - Mileage-based user fees KW - Payment KW - Policy making KW - Public support KW - Stakeholders KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6660-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097872 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334386 AU - Gharaibeh, Nasir G AU - Shelton, Debora AU - Ahmed, Jubair AU - Chowdhury, Arif AU - Krugler, Paul E AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Development of Performance-Based Evaluation Methods and Specifications for Roadside Maintenance PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 126p AB - Quality assurance methods and specifications for roadside performance-based maintenance contracts (PBMCs) were developed for potential use by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). These methods include a set of performance standards and timeliness requirements, a statistical condition assessment method for evaluating compliance with these performance standards, and a method for developing performance-based pay adjustment formulas. The developed performance standards, condition assessment method, and pay adjustment formulas were tested and refined using field trials. The field trials consisted of five 10-mi roadway segments located in TxDOT’s Dallas, El Paso, San Antonio, Tyler, and Waco Districts. Finally, current practices in best-value bid evaluation methods for procuring PBMCs were identified and evaluated using simulation techniques. KW - Bids KW - Compliance KW - Field tests KW - Maintenance KW - Pay adjustments KW - Payment KW - Performance based maintenance contracting KW - Performance based specifications KW - Procurement KW - Quality assurance KW - Roadside KW - Simulation KW - State of the practice KW - Texas UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6387-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097676 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01334224 AU - Noh, Eun Young AU - National Center for Statistics and Analysis TI - Characteristics of Law Enforcement Officers’ Fatalities in Motor Vehicle Crashes PY - 2011/01//NHTSA Technical Report SP - 47p AB - The Law Enforcement Officers Killed & Assaulted (LEOKA) data are collected and published annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to provide information on the law enforcement officers who were killed feloniously or accidentally as well as of those who were assaulted while performing their duties. The LEOKA data show that the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty by violent means dominated those who were killed in motor vehicle crashes until the middle of the 1990s. However, the recent trend shows that motor vehicle crashes have become the major cause of fatalities of law enforcement officers. These observations suggested an in-depth analysis of the data. The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) is maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The FARS is currently the only database that contains detailed information on the fatal crashes involving law enforcement officers. The characteristics of law enforcement officers’ fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes were investigated using the FARS data from 1980 to 2008. The characteristics were analyzed at the crash level for 772 crashes that involved at least one law enforcement officer’s fatality, at the vehicle level for 776 police vehicles with law enforcement officers’ fatalities, and at the person level for 823 law enforcement officers killed in motor vehicle crashes. The characteristics of fatalities in passenger vehicle crashes were compared between the law enforcement officer (LEO) and non-LEO groups using the FARS data from 2000 to 2008. The LEO and non-LEO groups show substantially different characteristics at crash time, first harmful event, roadway function class (rural/urban), emergency use, fire occurrence, rollover, most harmful event, impact point, vehicle maneuver, crash avoidance maneuver, age, sex, person type, seating position, restraint use, and air bag availability and deployment. KW - Crash characteristics KW - Crashes KW - Fatalities KW - Fatality Analysis Reporting System KW - Law enforcement personnel KW - Police KW - Police vehicles KW - Trend (Statistics) UR - http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811411.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097538 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01333860 AU - Phares, Brent M AU - White, David J AU - Bigelow, Jake AU - Berns, Mark AU - Zhang, Jiake AU - Iowa State University, Ames AU - Ohio Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Identification and Evaluation of Pavement-Bridge Interface Ride Quality Improvement and Corrective Strategies PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 266p AB - Bridge owners have long recognized that the approach pavement at bridges is prone to exhibiting both settlement and cracking, which manifest as the “bump at the end of the bridge.” This deterioration requires considerable on-going maintenance expenditures, added risk to maintenance workers, increased distraction to drivers, reduced steering control, increased damage to vehicles, a negative public perception of the highway system, and a shortened useful bridge life. This problem has recently begun to receive significant national attention, as bridge owners have increased the priority of dealing with this recurring problem. No single factor, in and of itself (individually), leads to significant problems. Rather, it is an interaction between multiple factors that typically leads to problematic conditions. As such, solutions to the problem require interdisciplinary thinking and implementation. The bridge-abutment interface is a highly-complex region and an effective “bump at the end of the bridge” solution must address the structural, geotechnical, hydraulic, and construction engineering disciplines. Various design alternatives, construction practices, and maintenance methods exist to minimize bridge approach settlement, but each has its own drawbacks, such as cost, limited effectiveness, or inconvenience to the public. The objective of this work is to assist the Ohio Department of Transportation in the development of pre-construction, construction, and post-construction strategies that will help eliminate or minimize the “bump at the end of the bridge.” Implementation of the details and procedures described herein will provide a tangible benefit to both the Ohio Department of Transportation and the traveling public, in the form of smoother bridge transitions, reduced maintenance costs, and a safer driving environment. As a result of this work, several conclusions and recommendations were made. Generally, these could be grouped into three categories: general, structural, and geotechnical. In some cases, the recommendations may require notable changes to the Ohio Department of Transportation bridge design policy. Suggestions for such changes have been made. KW - Bridge abutments KW - Bridge approaches KW - Bridge construction KW - Bridge design KW - Geotechnical engineering KW - Highway bridges KW - Ride quality KW - Settlement (Structures) UR - http://worldcat.org/oclc/708399432/viewonline UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097315 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01333789 AU - Liu, Henry X AU - Danczyk, Adam AU - He, Xiaozheng AU - University of Minnesota, Twin Cities AU - Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Development of the Next Generation Metro-Wide Simulation Models for the Twin Cities’ Metropolitan Area: Mesoscopic Modeling PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 55p AB - The collapse of the Interstate 35W Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis resulted in unexpected loss of life and had serious consequences on mobility and accessibility in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. In response to the network disruption caused by the bridge collapse, a number of traffic restoration projects were proposed and rapidly implemented by Mn/DOT. Selection and prioritization of these projects, however, was based mainly on engineering judgment and experience. The only decision-support tool available to traffic engineers was the regional transportation planning model, which is static in nature and decennial. In this work, the Twin Cities metropolitan area is simulated using a mesoscopic traffic simulator in the AIMSUN software. After establishing the mesoscopic simulation model, the authors attempt to utilize the calibrated mesoscopic simulation model to evaluate drivers’ perceived cost evolution to explain the traffic dynamics on the Twin Cities road network after the unexpected collapse of the I-35W Bridge over the Mississippi River. Given the observation of largely underutilized sections of network, it is proposed that the tragedy generated a perceived travel cost to discourage commuters from using these sections. Applying a mesoscopic simulation model provided by AIMSUN, the perceived costs on cordon lines after the I-35W Bridge collapse were suggested to be best described as an exponential decay cost curve. The proposed model is applicable to both practitioners and researchers in traffic-related fields by providing an understanding of how traffic dynamics will evolve after a long-term, unexpected network disruption. KW - AIMSUN (Computer model) KW - Bridges KW - Decision support systems KW - Highway traffic control KW - Mesoscopic traffic flow KW - Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, 2007 KW - Mobility KW - Replacement (Bridges) KW - Traffic simulation KW - Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (Minnesota) UR - http://www.cts.umn.edu/Publications/ResearchReports/pdfdownload.pl?id=1486 UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1097177 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01333779 AU - Goldberg, Bruce AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Making Connections: Intermodal Links Available at 70 Percent of all Stations Served by Commuter Rail, 2010 PY - 2011/01//Special Report SP - 8p AB - Intermodal connections with other scheduled public transportation modes are available at 70 percent of all stations served by commuter rail trains. Commuter rail passengers are able to connect to other transportation modes at 812 of the 1,160 stations served by commuter trains that operate over the tracks of the national rail network. The percentage of commuter rail stations with intermodal connectivity exceeds that of the other modes (airline, intercity rail, and ferries) included thus far in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ Intermodal Passenger Connectivity Database (IPCD). The commuter rail network covers 34 metropolitan areas across the country and provides regional rail service within a single or two adjacent metropolitan areas. Commuter trains, which may be either diesel or electrically powered, operate over tracks of the national rail system, frequently sharing the same right-of-way with freight trains or intercity passenger trains. They generally operate from outlying stations within a metropolitan area to the predominant city in that area. However, a few commuter rail systems operate between adjacent metropolitan areas. Commuter rail services are often affiliated with other local transit networks, and so commuter rail stations are frequently served by local transit buses. Transit bus is, by far, the most frequent connection to commuter rail networks, serving 801 of the 812 commuter rail stations that have intermodal connections. These connections effectively extend access to the commuter rail network beyond the immediate station area to the wider area served by the transit bus network. Some of the stations also have intercity (long distance) transportation service, such as intercity bus, inter- city rail, interstate ferries, or airline service. Intermodal commuter rail stations offer residents within the commuter rail service area a way to use the trains to connect to region- and nation-wide destinations. Not only do these intermodal commuter rail stations provide the opportunity to connect between modes, but by offering multiple modes in a single location they help create more livable communities by offering multiple travel mode choices in a single location to the residents of the immediate surrounding areas. KW - Bus transit KW - Bus transportation KW - Intermodal transportation KW - Links (Networks) KW - Metropolitan areas KW - Public transit KW - Rail transit KW - Rail transit stations KW - Railroad commuter service KW - Transit network connectivity UR - http://www.bts.gov/publications/special_reports_and_issue_briefs/special_report/2011_01_12/pdf/entire.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1094972 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01333766 AU - Figliozzi, Miguel AU - Portland State University AU - Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Freight Distribution Problems in Congested Urban Areas: Fast and Effective Solution Procedures to Time-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problems PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 60p AB - Congestion is a common phenomenon in all medium to large cities of the world. Reliability of freight movement in urban areas is an important issue to manufacturing or service companies whose operation is based in just-in-time approaches. These companies tend to provide high value or time sensitive products/services. As congestion increases, carriers face increasing challenges to satisfy their time sensitive customers in an economical way. Route designs or schedules which require long computation times or ignore travel time variations will result in inefficient and suboptimal solutions. Poorly designed routes that lead freight vehicles into congested arteries and streets not only increases supply chain and logistics costs but also exacerbate externalities associated with freight traffic in urban areas such as greenhouse gases, air pollution, noise, and accidents. Whilst it is rarely possible to entirely avoid the impacts of congestion, it is feasible to schedule operations so that the effects of congestion are minimized. Better scheduling can be effectively supported by the advent of inexpensive and ubiquitous Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The use of mobile phone technology and on-board routing devices allows fluid communication between truck drivers and fleet operators in real-time. In such a real time operation it becomes possible to dynamically reassign vehicles, including modifying the order in which customers are served and diverting a vehicle already en-route to service another customer. However, without fast routing methods that can take advantage of real time congestion information carriers cannot reap the benefits of real-time information. From the operational point of view, congestion creates a substantial variation in travel times during peak morning and evening hours. This is problematic for all vehicle routing models which rely on a constant value to represent vehicle speeds. And while the ubiquitous availability of real time traffic information allows drivers to reactively alter routes and customer service sequences to better cope with congestion, static routing models are unable to take advantage of these advances in real-time information provision in order to proactively find adequate routing solutions. In addition, changes in travel time caused by congestion cannot be accurately represented in static models. Research in time-dependent vehicle routing problem is comparatively meager and current solution methods are inadequate for practical carrier operations which need to provide fast solutions for medium to large instances. Even faster solution methods are essential to take advantage of real time information. The major aim of this proposal is to develop and evaluate new methods for vehicle routing in congested urban areas. The emphasis will be placed on improving the running time of the existing methods. KW - Algorithms KW - Freight traffic KW - Freight transportation KW - Routing KW - Scheduling KW - Time dependence KW - Traffic congestion KW - Urban areas UR - http://otrec.us/project/133 UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/35000/35700/35769/OTREC-RR-11-05_Final_1_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1096582 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01333748 AU - Finley, Melisa D AU - Theiss, LuAnn AU - Trout, Nada D AU - Miles, Jeffrey D AU - Nelson, Alicia A AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Studies to Determine the Effectiveness of Longitudinal Channelizing Devices in Work Zones PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 122p AB - This report describes the methodology and results of analyses performed to determine whether the following longitudinal channelizing device (LCD) applications improve the traffic safety and operations of work zones relative to the use of standard drums: (1) Continuous LCDs in the vicinity of exit ramps on high-speed, limited-access facilities. (2) Continuous LCDs in the merging taper of a lane closure on low-speed roadways. (3) Single LCDs (similar to Type 3 barricades) in the merging taper of a lane closure on high-speed roadways. (4) Continuous LCDs in the vicinity of driveways on low-speed urban roadways. Based on the research findings, researchers recommended the use of continuous LCDs in the immediate vicinity of an exit ramp within a lane closure under the following conditions: (1) When a high number of deliberate intrusions into the work zone are expected or occur while using standard channelizing devices. (2) In situations where the exit ramp opening (in feet) is less than or equal to two times the posted speed limit (in mph), workers and equipment are in the work area near the exit ramp opening, and there are concerns that drivers may unintentionally enter the work area trying to access the exit ramp. Recommendations regarding the minimum exit ramp opening length within a work zone lane closure and the use of a closer drum spacing in the immediate vicinity of exit ramps are also discussed. Researchers do not recommend the use of continuous LCDs or single barricade style LCDs to form a lane closure merging taper. While continuous LCDs may also be used to delineate the edge of a travel lane in a work zone on an urban roadway, the height and location of the LCDs should be considered since they impact the ability of drivers to view approaching traffic. Researchers also discuss LCD delineation and other implementation considerations. KW - Longitudinal channelizing devices KW - Traffic channelization KW - Traffic control devices KW - Work zone safety KW - Work zone traffic control UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6103-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1094820 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01333742 AU - Roop, Stephen S AU - Ragab, Ayman H AU - Olson, Leslie E AU - Protopapas, Annie A AU - Yager, Michael A AU - Morgan, Curtis A AU - Warner, Jeffery E AU - Mander, John AU - Parkar, Anagha AU - Roy, Subha Lakshmi AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - The Freight Shuttle System: Advancing Commercial Readiness PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 50p AB - This report summarizes the results of research aimed at advancing the commercial readiness of a new hybrid mode of intermodal freight transportation called the Freight Shuttle System (FSS). The FSS represents a unique combination of the best features of rail and truck transportation designed to mitigate many of the adverse impacts of over-the-road truck transportation; pavement damage, diesel emissions, congestion, and safety issues. A FSS business model has been developed that lends itself to private financing and operations, in keeping with the commercial nature of goods movement. A modular system design has emerged that facilitates implementation in numerous settings, such as border crossings, marine terminals, or heavily traveled commercial corridors between markets ranging in distance from 10–500 miles. The FSS has been developed to provide a lower-cost and more reliable mode of freight transportation that will induce traffic through pricing and time-certain delivery schedules. The FSS has also been shown to have the potential to play an important role in attracting private capital to the transportation infrastructure. The public benefits projected to accrue from a single FSS are significant and are detailed in the report. KW - Business models KW - Commercial use KW - Freight shuttle system KW - Freight traffic KW - Freight transportation KW - Intermodal transportation KW - Shipments KW - Trade UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/9-1528-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1094907 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01333652 AU - Werbel, Richard A AU - San Jose State University AU - California Department of Transportation AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Lessons Learned in Attempting to Survey Hard-to-Reach Ethnic Segments Along with the Presentation of a Comprehensive Questionnaire PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 90p AB - A survey questionnaire was developed and administered to transit users in the Sacramento Metropolitan Area to analyze the degree to which global satisfaction with transit is impacted by ethnicity and other relevant independent variables Although the data collected was not analyzed because the sample size was substantially smaller than required, the questionnaire used, which is included in its entirety in an appendix, has some uncommon variables and measurement approaches that can be used in a number of other survey questionnaires used in transit studies. Options involving sampling methodology and methods of administering the questionnaire that would have generated an acceptable sample size also are discussed. KW - Market surveys KW - Methodology KW - Persons by race and ethnicity KW - Questionnaires KW - Research KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - Statistical sampling KW - Surveys UR - http://www.transweb.sjsu.edu/MTIportal/research/publications/documents/2207_WP-10-02.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1093702 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01333203 AU - Greene, Jessica AU - Larco, Nico AU - Yang, Yizhao AU - Schlosberg, Marc AU - Rodriguez, Daniel A AU - McDonald, Noreen AU - Combs, Tabitha AU - University of Oregon, Eugene AU - Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Travel Behavior, Residential Preference, and Urban Design: A Multi-Disciplinary National Analysis PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 96p AB - This report summarizes the findings of a national project to examine the travel behavior, social capital, health, and lifestyle preferences of residents of neotraditional developments (NTD) compared to more standard suburban developments. The authors compare survey results from residents of matched pairs of neighborhoods in seventeen U.S. cities and towns, with each pair comprised of one NTD and one typical suburban neighborhood of similar size, age, and socio-demographic composition. The study addresses salient themes in the transportation, planning and health literatures: a national study, surveying populations of diverse incomes, collecting resident information on preferences for and attitudes towards neighborhood qualities, and addressing transportation and health outcomes for diverse community designs. KW - Built environment KW - Land use planning KW - New urbanism KW - Quality of life KW - Residential location KW - Suburbs KW - Sustainable development KW - Travel behavior KW - Urban design UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/35000/35700/35770/OTREC-RR-11-04_Final_1_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1094932 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01333182 AU - Zhang, Lei AU - Xu, Wei AU - Oregon State University, Corvallis AU - Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - No More Freeways: Urban Land Use Transportation Dynamics Without Freeway Capacity Expansion PY - 2011/01//Final Report SP - 120p AB - Observations of the various limitations of freeway capacity expansion have led to a provocative planning and policy question – What if we completely stop building additional freeway capacity. From a theoretical perspective, as a freeway transportation network matures, there exists a saturation point beyond which any additional freeway capacity would only be counterproductive from a welfare point of view, and worsen the existing urban transportation problems. Traditional benefit/cost analysis of individual freeway capacity expansion projects often ignores long-term induced demand and land use changes and does not represent a systems approach to this important theoretical issue. From a practical perspective, a no-more-freeway policy can relieve transportation funds for other potentially more effective usages, such as improving urban arterial street system, improving transit level of service and coverage, implementing demand management and pricing strategies, and facilitating more efficient land use patterns (e.g. high density in-fill and transit-oriented developments). This research answers the following critical land use-transportation planning questions. Improved knowledge on these issues should benefit planers and decision-makers who pursue mobility and sustainability objectives and have the power to shape future cities. (1). Under what conditions will freeway capacity expansion become counterproductive to urban planning objectives (where is the saturation point)? (2). How will land use and transportation evolve under a “No-More-Freeway” policy? (3). What are the implications of such a policy on congestion, land use efficiency, transportation finance, and social welfare? (4). What is the impact of a less restrictive “No-More-Freeway” policy that only allows private-section freeway investments and relieves public-section freeway investments for other compelling transportation needs. The analysis in this project builds upon a modeling tool, ABSOLUTE, developed by the P.I. in previous research projects. ABSOLUTE is an Agent-Based Simulator Of Land Use-Transportation Evolution, which translates planning policies such as the “No-More- Freeway” policy into alternative urban growth paths and possibly urban growth equilibria (land use and transportation system equilibria). Due to the “Small Start” nature of this OTREC project, the analysis focuses primarily on stylized urban areas, and empirical analysis of the “No-More-Freeway” policy is only conducted for one policy scenario on the Twin Cities, MN, area. KW - Benefit cost analysis KW - City planning KW - Freeway operations KW - Highway capacity KW - Land use planning KW - Oregon KW - Policy making KW - Transit oriented development UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/35000/35700/35771/OTREC-RR-11-02_Final_1_.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1094921 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01332484 AU - Vadali, Sharada AU - Aldrete, Rafael Manuel AU - Bujanda, Arturo AU - Samant, Swapnil AU - Li, Yingfeng AU - Geiselbrecht, Tina AU - Kuhn, Beverly AU - Lyle, Stacey AU - Dalton, Kyle AU - Zhang, Ming AU - Tooley, Shaun AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Planning Tools to Assess the Real Estate Leveraging Potential for Roadways and Transit: Technical Report PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 222p AB - A funding crisis exists for financing much needed transportation infrastructure projects across the nation and Texas is no exception. Texas has responded to the crisis by passing several bills allowing innovative financing and alternative options for project financing. Among these is Senate Bill 1266 (SB1266), which is a landmark legislation and was passed in 2007 as part of the 80th Legislature to provide the legal backdrop for the creation of the Transportation Reinvestment Zone (TRZ) to facilitate value capture of the tax increment from a future transportation project. This research aimed to provide various mechanisms to augment the implementation and understanding of SB1266 provisions across the state of Texas including but not limited to documenting the current understanding and knowledge of the legislative provisions, compilation of actual implementation case examples, development of standardized methods for screening, TRZ development and revenue assessments, and also presents the results of a workshop held to augment the understanding of TRZ for highway projects. An additional section of this research explores the implications of SB1266 for transit finance and discusses this aspect within the larger context for innovative finance of all transit infrastructure both those on the state highway systems and off. Finally, specific recommendations to the legal framework are made in the light of specific objectives of the research both for highways and transit in regard to the use of increment based finance. KW - Financing KW - Highway projects KW - Incremental approach KW - Legislation KW - Real estate development KW - Texas KW - Transit projects KW - Transportation infrastructure KW - Transportation Reinvestment Zones KW - Value capture UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6538-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1096666 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01332466 AU - Eisele, William L AU - Yager, Christine E AU - Brewer, Marcus A AU - Frawley, William E AU - Park, Eun Sug AU - Lord, Dominique AU - Robertson, James A AU - Kuo, Pei-fen AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration AU - Southwest Region University Transportation Center AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Safety and Economic Impacts of Converting Two-Way Frontage Roads to One-Way: Methodology and Findings PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 320p AB - In the research documented here, researchers develop information to communicate the safety and economic impacts of converting frontage roads from two-way to one-way. Researchers studied five locations in Texas where frontage roads were converted from two-way operation to one-way operation. Researchers identified a comparison site in Texas that remained two-way for comparison to four of the treatment (conversion) sites. Researchers developed accident modification factors (AMFs) related to frontage road conversion segments that roadway designers can use to guide frontage road conversion project planning. Researchers developed AMFs based on non-property-damage-only (non-PDO) crashes for segments and interchange intersections. Researchers developed 12 AMFs and provide confidence intervals around the estimates. Researchers describe how the AMFs were developed, associated caveats, and how to apply the AMFs. Researchers also document the process used to build the safety database from electronic data-sets and printed crash reports. Finally, researchers provide recommendations to facilitate and expedite future crash analyses. Researchers attempted to investigate the economic impacts of frontage road conversion by analyzing gross sales data, appraisal data, employment data, and surveys of business owners/managers and customers. Only the appraisal data and survey information were at the parcel level along the corridors and survey sample size was limited. KW - Accident modification factors KW - Economic impacts KW - Frontage roads KW - One way traffic KW - Texas KW - Traffic safety UR - http://swutc.tamu.edu/publications/technicalreports/0-5856-1.pdf UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-5856-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1096422 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01332465 AU - Krugler, Paul E AU - Estakhri, Cindy K AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - Implementation of Transverse Variable Asphalt Rate Seal Coat Practices in Texas PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 80p AB - An implementation project was performed to expand use of transversely varied asphalt rate (TVAR) seal coat practices in all districts. The project included nine regional workshops, continued field texture testing of test sites, provided one set of sand patch test equipment to each Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) district, and published 500 copies of the TVAR Field Guide for broad TxDOT distribution. KW - Application rates KW - Field tests KW - Guidelines KW - Sand patch method KW - Seal coating KW - Testing equipment KW - Texas KW - Texture KW - Workshops UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/5-5833-01-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1096573 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01332464 AU - Williams, William F AU - Menges, Wanda L AU - Texas Transportation Institute AU - Texas Department of Transportation AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - MASH Test 3-11 of the TxDOT Portable Type 2 PCTB with Sign Support Assembly PY - 2011/01//Technical Report SP - 60p AB - Portable concrete traffic barriers (PCTBs) are commonly used in work zones or in temporary median barrier applications. PCTBs are needed for separation and channelization of vehicle movement and for worker protection. Signage is often necessary wherever PCTBs are used. Placement of signs where driver visibility is optimal is often necessary. It might be desirable to place signs in the shoulder of the left hand lane between the PCTB and the roadway. Signs placed in the shoulder of roadways are often supported by skids that are weighted down with sand bags. Often, there is not enough shoulder width for these skid-type sign supports. One solution would be to mount the sign supports directly on the PCTB. The goal of this project was to develop a sign support mount connection that could be incorporated into the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) standard specifications for sign supports used in construction zones. This report presents the details of the design developed for mounting the traffic control sign support on top a PCTB, description of the full scale crash test performed on the design, and an assessment and evaluation of the performance of the PCTB with the sign support mounted on top according to specifications of "Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware" (MASH). The PCTB mounted sign support assembly anchored to the top of the TxDOT Type 2 PCTB tested for this project performed acceptably for MASH test 3-11. Based on the successful crash performance, the sign support assembly anchored to the top of the TxDOT Type 2 PCTB, in conjunction with the steel strap connection plates, as tested for this project, is recommended for implementation. KW - Anchorages KW - Barrier mounted sign supports KW - Design KW - Impact tests KW - Sign supports KW - Structural connection KW - Temporary barriers KW - Traffic signs KW - Work zones UR - http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6143-1.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1096574 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01330450 AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - Pocket Guide to Transportation 2011 PY - 2011/01 SP - 52p AB - This booklet provides a statistical guide on the state of transportation in the United States. Covering highway, air, rail, maritime, urban transit and pipeline, the contents include transportation topics such as transportation infrastructure and use; safety; security; mobility and livability; economy; and environmental sustainability. A glossary of terms is provided. KW - Economic indicators KW - Environmental impacts KW - Infrastructure KW - Mobility KW - Quality of life KW - Security KW - Statistics KW - Sustainable transportation KW - Transportation modes KW - Transportation safety KW - United States UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1091163 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01330438 AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - America's Container Ports: Linking Markets at Home and Abroad PY - 2011/01 SP - 49p AB - The U.S. marine transportation system handles large volumes of domestic and international freight in support of the Nation's economic activities. As a vital part of that system, the Nation's container ports handle cargo and are sources of employment, revenue, and taxes for businesses or communities where they are located. This report provides an overview of the movement of maritime freight handled by the Nation's container ports in 2009 through mid-2010, based on the most current available data through that time period. It summarizes trends in maritime freight movement since 1995, especially during the last 5 years. It also covers the impact of the recent U.S. and global economic downturn on container traffic; trends in container throughput; concentration of containerized cargo at the top U.S. ports; regional shifts in cargo handled, vessel calls, and port capacity; the rankings of U.S. ports among the world's top ports; and the number of maritime container entries into the United States relative to truck and rail containers. The report also includes spotlight summaries of landside access to container ports and maritime security initiatives. KW - Container terminals KW - Container traffic KW - Freight traffic KW - Port capacity KW - Port traffic KW - Ports KW - Security KW - Trend (Statistics) KW - United States KW - Water traffic UR - http://www.bts.gov/publications/americas_container_ports/2011/pdf/entire.pdf UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/35000/35900/35956/Container_ports.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1093992 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01609448 AU - Claggett, Michael AU - Miller, Terry L AU - Federal Highway Administration TI - A Methodology for Evaluating Mobile Source Air Toxic Emissions Among Transportation Project Alternatives PY - 2011 SP - 21p AB - With the final update to its on-road mobile source emission factor model, MOBILE6.2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added capabilities of predicting emission factors for a select number of mobile source air toxics (MSAT), commonly referred to as the six priority MSATs. These are acetaldehyde, acrolein, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, diesel particulate matter, and formaldehyde. This presentation describes a methodology for computing and evaluating emissions of MSATs among a group of transportation project alternatives. The suggested scale of analysis is the affected transportation network, defined as those links where the annual average daily traffic is expected to change by ± 5% or more as a result of the project. This analysis scale is considered reasonably representative of the regional scale emission factors predicted by MOBILE6.2. To gauge how emissions could change over an affected transportation network, provided are calculation ranges of MSAT emission factors produced by the model due to changes in a variety of input parameters. These include calendar year, ambient temperature, fuel Reid vapor pressure, and vehicle speed. Finally, a technique is presented for assessing MSAT emissions from the affected transportation network considering their relative toxicities. The technique allows a way to gauge the importance of increases and decreases in individual MSAT species amid proposed transportation alternatives and/or mitigation measures. KW - Evaluation KW - Highway corridors KW - Methodology KW - Mobile Source Air Toxics KW - MOBILE6.2 (Computer model) KW - Pollutants KW - Toxicity KW - Transportation planning UR - http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/air_quality/air_toxics/research_and_analysis/methodology/msatemissions.pdf UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1420620 ER - TY - RPRT AN - 01596773 AU - Research and Innovative Technology Administration TI - National Transportation Atlas Databases 2011 PY - 2011 AB - The National Transportation Atlas Databases 2011 (NTAD2011) is a set of nationwide geographic databases of transportation facilities, transportation networks, and associated infrastructure. These datasets include spatial information for transportation modal networks and intermodal terminals, as well as the related attribute information for these features. Metadata documentation, as prescribed by the International Organization of Standards, is also provided for each database. The data support research, analysis, and decision-making across all modes of transportation. They are most useful at the national level, but have major applications at regional, state, and local scales throughout the transportation community. This product is distributed in shapefile format. KW - Databases KW - Geographic information systems KW - Infrastructure KW - Intermodal facilities KW - Metadata KW - Spatial analysis KW - Transportation modes KW - Transportation, hydraulic and utility facilities KW - United States UR - http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_atlas_database/2011/index.html UR - http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/56000/56600/56697/NTAD_2011.zip UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1400862 ER - TY - ABST AN - 01592629 TI - Research Methodologies and Statistical Approaches to Understanding Driver Fatigue Factors in Motor Carrier Safety and Driver Health AB - The objective of this project is to better understand driver fatigue issues and provide expert direction and support for future Agency research and methodologies. The Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT), a component of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)/National Research Council (NRC), conducted a panel study to identify optimal research and statistical methodologies to better understand driver fatigue. This study assessed the large amounts of data already generated by onboard electronic monitoring systems and naturalistic driving studies. NAS will inform the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) of the panel’s findings, conclusions, and recommendations once the final report has been completed. NAS will not make recommendations about hours-of-service (HOS) rules nor conduct cost-benefit analyses. The CNSTAT study panel completed the following tasks: (1) Evaluate and identify the most promising data collection methods for improved understanding of factors related to commercial motor vehicle driver fatigue, safety, and health. (2) Review data collection methods including survey techniques, naturalistic driving studies, and electronic logging devices. (3) Examine issues relating to the analysis of vast stores of data. (4) Identify priorities for future research that can improve the validity and generalizability of relevant knowledge. (5) Assess the usefulness of fatigue management and monitoring technologies to provide data for fatigue- and safety-related HOS research. (6) •Assess the usefulness of data and statistical models that will assist FMCSA in their research to improve highway safety by reducing fatigue. (7) Assess statistical methods used to analyze data sets generated by driver monitoring technologies. A final report will be available to the public. KW - Fatigue (Physiological condition) KW - Health KW - Methodology KW - Monitoring KW - Motor carriers KW - Safety KW - Truck drivers UR - www.fmcsa.dot.gov UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1400231 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573877 AU - Nombela, Mario AU - Boix, Eloi AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Relationship Between Pedestrian Protection Test Protocols and a Real Scenario PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - Of the one and a half million accidents which occur in the Euro-15 area every year, and which cause nearly 40,000 deaths, pedestrians account for 15% of these, i.e. about 6,000 per year. The percentage of pedestrians killed in road accidents is about 12% for Canada, USA and Australia, while in Korea and Japan pedestrian fatalities account for as much as 30% and 40% of road deaths. Organizations like Euro NCAP, EEVC and the new Regulation, together with vehicle manufacturers are seeking solutions through the development of advanced safety systems and accurate methods for testing these systems. IDIADA carried out two studies related to pedestrian protection and the relation of protocol to real world accidents. The first study was focused on real world accidents involving pedestrians, and was divided into two parts: 1) Assessment of vehicle speed influence. Sixty-two cases, collected by the Municipal Police and the Public Health Service Agency in which pedestrians were involved in accidents were studied in Barcelona city. 75.1% of accidents occurred during the day, with an ISS 4-5 level of injury, and an ISS 3-4 at night; 2) Study about speed as a cause of accidents. 75.3% of drivers made a braking avoidance maneuver. The average speed before the accident was 50.8 km/h and the impact average velocity was 24.78 km/h. As a result, injury level related to vehicle speed was evaluated. The speed threshold between slight and severe injuries is at about 40 km/h. This value is very similar to the impact velocity used in the current tests to evaluate pedestrian protection in passive safety testing, as for example in Euro NCAP. The objective of the second study was to test the influence of the vehicle design, mainly the front end, on pedestrian head injuries in the case of runover. Several accident simulations were performed using the program MADYMO® in which a pedestrian’s head was impacted into a different point of the hood depending on the situation. The head impact position changes according to vehicle category: collisions in compact and roadster sports cars take place within the limits set by Euro NCAP for adult head impactor while, in the offroad 4x4 class, some points are located below the lower limit for the adult head. If the analysis focuses on the pedestrian's head impact angle and speed against the hood of the car, the following conclusions can be expounded: a) For the same vehicle, impact speed and angle of the adult head against the hood are virtually unchanged although the pedestrian’s speed is different; b) If impact speed is higher, the collision involves worse consequences; c) The shape of the front part of the vehicle is not decisive in the severity of pedestrian injuries; and, d) Further testing is needed to verify that parameters defined by the EEVC, Euro NCAP or pedestrian Regulation are entirely valid according to real world scenarios. The main conclusion of the study and the analysis of actual accident data was that current pedestrian testing protocols are reliable enough to be taken into account when a vehicle pedestrian protection level is assessed. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash causes KW - Human factors in crashes KW - Injury severity KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians KW - Speed KW - Vehicle design UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366369 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573876 AU - Voigt, Tom AU - Schrenk, Werner AU - Zellmer, Harald AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Enhanced Seat Belt Modeling Process to Improve Predictive Accuracy of Dummy Response in Frontal Impact PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - Computer simulations are a standard tool for improving vehicle safety. In these simulations, predictions about dummy responses and injury assessment values can be made. For accurate predictions, the behaviour of the retractor as a major part of the seatbelt system has to be known. Tests are needed to generate this knowledge and incorporate it into a simulation model. Standard sled tests are too expensive and generally have too much deviation to be a useful correlation environment. Component tests are of limited use due of the lack of interaction, or the coupling between the different crash phases. Subcomponent tests are only useful if a robust simulation model already exists. Furthermore, a model structure is needed which reflects all main effects of the retractor in a time independent way. Thus, there are two needs for an enhanced modelling process: A correlation test device as well as a model concept which reflects the interaction in a simple and robust way. This paper demonstrates a new process on how a retractor model can be correlated in different solvers with a component test, within the typical working points of a retractor. The improved process is based on a new easy test assembly for retractors (ETAR) and on a general model structure (GMS) for the retractor models. The new component test assembly reflects the three phases of pretensioning, coupling and load limiting of a frontal crash without the need of a sled and/or dummy. Furthermore, for the correlation of retractor models in different solver codes, ETAR allows to generate test data in a fast and simple way with low deviation. The GMS implements all the main functionalities of a retractor and due to the GMS, the tuning of the models is easily transformed into other solver codes, commonly used for crash simulations. Correlations between test and simulation for different load-cases and different retractors in different solvers demonstrates the applicability of ETAR and GMS for an improved retractor modelling. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Accuracy KW - Dummies KW - Frontal crashes KW - Impact tests KW - Numerical models KW - Seat belts KW - Simulation UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366391 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573875 AU - Lee, Tae Hee AU - Ham, Byung Ryul AU - Hong, Seong Oh AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Study on Steering Column Collapse Analysis Using Detailed FE Model PY - 2011 SP - 6p AB - EASC (Energy Absorbing Steering Column) is a kind of steering column which minimizes the injury of the driver during a car accident by collapsing or breaking at a particular part of the system. Up to now, in steering column crash analysis, there was no way to describe these 'collapse' or 'slip' movements that were due to the axial and lateral forces from the driver. In this paper, the authors have created a new steering column using a detailed finite element (FE) model which can describe such collapse behavior. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Collapse KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash injuries KW - Crash injury research KW - Finite element method KW - Steering columns UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366446 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573874 AU - Pipkorn, Bengt AU - Lundström, Jesper AU - Ericsson, Mattias AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Safety and Vision Improvements by Expandable A-Pillars PY - 2011 SP - 7p AB - In modern passenger vehicles the A-Pillar is an important structural safety component. In full frontal, frontal offset-, pole and rollover collisions the A-Pillar is carrying a large load in order to minimize the deformation of the occupant compartment. Generally the larger the cross-section the more load the A-pillar can transfer. However, the A-pillars in general more or less reduce the forward vision angles for the driver. Therefore the width and strength of the A-Pillar are important vehicle safety parameters. The strength and size requirements on the A-Pillar are in contradiction. In an A-pillar design in which the cross section is folded and expands when needed the conflicting requirements can be combined in one component. As a normal state the cross-section of the component is folded, obscuring less of the driver’s visibility compared to a state of the art A-pillar. In a crash the A-pillar expands which results in a significant increase in the cross section. The expanded cross section increases the strength of the A-pillar. An expanding A-pillar can be accomplished by pressurizing a folded structure. A cost- and weight-efficient way to generate over pressure is by pyrotechnics (gas-generators). An expandable A-pillar design was developed in which the conflicting requirements of high strength and small cross section were combined in one component. The goal was to develop an A-pillar that obscures less of the driver’s vision in the normal operation, is lighter and has the same crash performance as a state of the art A-pillar. The development was carried out by combining mathematical simulations and mechanical crash tests. For the development of the expandable A-Pillar a mathematical sub structure model was developed and validated. The model was validated by comparing predictions from the model to results from a mechanical crash test. The expandable A-Pillar was mounted in the sub structure and the deformation performance was evaluated relative to the performance of a state of the art A-Pillar. The deformation force is less than or equal to the deformation force of a vehicle with a state of the art A-pillar. The obscuration angle is reduced by more than 25% (for left hand side A-Pillar from 12.3 – 8.9 degrees) and the mass is reduced by 8% (excluding mounting brackets and gas generator) relative to a state of the art A-pillar. The expandable A-pillar combines the conflicting goals of high strength, small cross section and low mass. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - A-pillars KW - Columns KW - Impact tests KW - Mathematical models KW - Strength of materials KW - Vehicle design KW - Vehicle safety KW - Visibility UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366514 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573873 AU - Schmortte, Uwe AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Crash-Test Results to Analyse the Impact of Non-Professional Repair on the Performance of Side Structure of a Car PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - Non-professional repairs can have a negative influence on the deformation behaviour of a vehicle involved in a crash. The introduction by OEM’s of new materials and production techniques in cars makes it increasingly important that the repair of such cars is carried out with appropriate techniques and quality. These are the aims described in a project named “Fair Repair”, to which this paper is linked. This research project deals with the influence of non-professional repairs, on the behaviour of a car’s structure in an additional crash. KTI, with the support of the OEM (VW) tested the side structure of a VW Passat, MY 2005. With a side impact at 50 km/h (Euro NCAP standard) it was shown that a non-professional repair of a vehicle previously damaged in the same side impact scenario results in negative influences on the crashworthiness and protection afforded by the structure. The repair of the damage caused by the first crash was carried out using incorrect repair methods and equipment, e.g. welding machines. It is evident that the safety of such a vehicle after the non-professional repair is not to the same high level as that of the original build, or to the standard of a professionally repaired vehicle. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Automobile repair shops KW - Impact tests KW - Protection KW - Repairing KW - Side crashes KW - Vehicle performance KW - Vehicle safety KW - Vehicle sides UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366472 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573872 AU - Wollny, Frank AU - Buckholz, André AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Heavy Truck Occupant Restraint System - New Approved Concepts and Development Methods PY - 2011 SP - 4p AB - The efficiency of current frontal restraint systems in heavy trucks is not comparable to systems in passenger cars. There are no rating tests and legal requirements for the functionality of such systems. Therefore it is comprehensible that even non-severe truck crashes in the field lead to non-fatal but severe injuries with high rehabilitation costs. Another reason for the low efficiency of the current systems is the non-availability of an adequate development method. During the development phase of a restraint system it is not possible to observe significant loads applied to the lower extremities by using the conventional test methods. However, the lower extremities gain more and more importance with respect to real world crash data. For that reason a new and approved test method will be introduced and published for the first time. It takes the intrusion of the cabin and interior displacement into account resulting in a good correlation between full scale tests and sled tests. The new method allows the verification of advanced and additional restraint system components such as optimized knee impact zones, knee airbags and activated steering column kinematics. A restraint system as described above provides optimized occupant kinematics with the effect of reduced loads. The developed methodology is based on the so called “Trailer Back Barrier” test configuration. However, to date this configuration is not yet being used as a standard evaluation in the industry. This study is concentrating on cab over trucks due to the higher injury risk for the lower extremities compared to bonnet trucks. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Air bags KW - Heavy duty trucks KW - Heavy vehicles KW - Restraint systems KW - Sled tests KW - Trucks by weight UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366440 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573871 AU - Friedman, Donald AU - Rico, Diego AU - Mattos, Garrett AU - Paver, Jacqueline AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Predicting and Verifying Dynamic Occupant Protection PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - The objective of this paper is to describe the developments that provide the basis for predicting new car occupant protection in real-world rollovers. An analytical technique has been developed for predicting a vehicle’s dynamic occupant protection performance at any severity from a Jordan Rollover System (JRS) 50-vehicle rollover test database; static test roof strength, stiffness and elasticity data; inertial-influenced impact pitch orientation; size, roll moment and geometry dimensions; and occupant protection features. Only sampling, updating and verification of the JRS database will be necessary to reflect innovative construction and protection techniques until dynamic testing is implemented. A noteworthy finding of this study was that reducing a vehicle’s major radius (i.e., its shape at the windshield) was more effective in reducing rollover deaths and injuries than increasing roof strength-to-weight ratio (SWR) above 3.0. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Injury severity KW - Mathematical prediction KW - Occupant protection devices KW - Protection KW - Rollover crashes KW - Vehicle occupants UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366512 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573870 AU - Louden, Alison E AU - Weston, Doug AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - NHTSA Research on Improved Restraints in Rollovers PY - 2011 SP - 15p AB - As part of a comprehensive plan to reduce the risk of death and serious injury in rollover crashes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a program to characterize restraint system response in rollovers. A rollover restraint tester (RRT) was developed and utilized to produce a 180 degree roll followed by a simulated roof-to-ground impact. This device was modified to incorporate a reaction surface to analyze how advanced restraints would perform in a more realistic environment. The device was renamed as a rollover reaction surface tester (RRST). The original device (RRT) was discussed in previous ESV papers. Recognizing the unpredictability of the real world rollover phenomenon, this test device provides a repeatable and consistent dynamic environment for suitable lab evaluation. Technologies that were evaluated for this study included integrated seat systems, pyrotechnic and electric resettable pretensioners, and four-point belt systems. High speed video data were collected and analyzed to examine occupant head excursion throughout the tests and are presented for discussion. The RRST has demonstrated to be repeatable; however, there are some concerns about the real world relevancy of the RRST dynamics in the absence of a lateral component. The RRST does not have a mechanical component for lateral motion that is typical in some real world rollover events. Results presented in paper 09-0483 demonstrated that excursion characteristics can be affected with the implementation of advanced restraints in tests using the Hybrid III50th and 95th percentile male and 5th percentile female dummies [Sword, 2009]. This paper presents expanded research with the 50th percentile male and 5th percentile female dummies using the RRST and compares the results back to the RRT results. In addition to the RRST testing, a series of full scale dynamic tests was also conducted using a full vehicle in various dynamic rollover scenarios. The advanced restraints were chosen based on the test results of the RRST and availability of the devices. The following tests were conducted and will be discussed in this paper: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208 dolly test, curb trip, soil trip, and corkscrew ramp. The goals of the testing were to understand how the improved restraints perform in various conditions and to assess the occupant’s kinematics in the various conditions. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Dynamic tests KW - Impact tests KW - Kinematics KW - Restraint systems KW - Rollover crashes KW - Vehicle occupants UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366471 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573869 AU - Lange, Robert AU - Iyer, Madhu AU - Pearce, Harry AU - Jacuzzi, Eric AU - Croteau, Jeffrey AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Rollover Injury Science and Rollover Crash Typology PY - 2011 SP - 11p AB - Motor vehicle manufacturers have developed and deployed rollover roof rail mounted air bags to mitigate occupant injury and the potential for occupant ejection in rollover collisions. Some manufacturers have published information on the type of rollover collisions that are used to establish criteria and define the circumstances for rollover air bag deployment commands. This paper examines the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS CDS) to characterize the type and severity of rollover collisions that occur on United States roadways and reports upon the distribution of rollover occurrence by type, and rollover injury occurrence by type of rollover event. Involvement rates are reported for light duty vehicles. Occurrence rates for rollover collision and rollover collision related injury are compared to the rollover collision types that have been identified by motor vehicle manufacturers to assess the proportion of rollover collisions and injuries that might be subject to mitigation with the installation of roof rail mounted rollover air bags. This comparison shows, if all light duty vehicles in the new vehicle fleet applied similar deployment criteria, approximately 84% of rollover collisions and injuries could be subject to the injury mitigation effects of existing roof rail mounted rollover air bags. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Ejection KW - Electronic stability control KW - Manual safety belts KW - Occupant protection devices KW - Protection KW - Rollover crashes KW - Seat belt use KW - Seat belts KW - Vehicle occupants KW - Vehicle roofs UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366513 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573868 AU - Avery, Matthew AU - Weekes, Alix Mary AU - Brookes, David AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - A Proposal for Rear Seat Head Restraint Geometric Ratings PY - 2011 SP - 10p AB - Consumer safety ratings organisations have published static ratings of the head restraint geometry, with the aim of raising public awareness of correct head restraint positioning, and encouraging vehicle manufacturers to improve geometry. The geometry of front seat head restraints has improved each year, but the rear seats have not been investigated. Research into protection against whiplash injuries has shown that reducing the head restraint backset and improving height is effective in reducing real world injury risk. In comparison to the front seats whiplash injuries occur less frequently in the rear seats, but rear seat occupancy can be as high as 12%. The research objective in this paper is therefore to examine the head restraint geometry of the rear seats in comparison to the front seats, by presenting a feasibility study for geometric rating of the rear seats and an initial set of ratings for over 100 car models. The RCAR-IIWPG procedure for static geometric rating of head restraints was adapted for use in the rear seats, allowing for the associated space and practical considerations. An H-Point Machine (HPM) with Head Restraint Measuring Device (HRMD) fitted was used to measure the horizontal backset from the head to the head restraint, and the height from the top of the head to the top of the head restraint. The measurements were rated according to zones of Good, Acceptable, Marginal, and Poor. 115 rear seats were rated from a variety of mainstream cars, with the top sellers selected for each vehicle manufacturer. Both the outboard and centre seats were rated where applicable. Only 9% of outboard rear seats rated as Good, but 2% of centre seats. 42% of the outboard seats rated as Poor, but for centre seats this was increased to 69%. In comparison to the front seats the rear seat ratings were much poorer. The front seats have 91% rated Good, and 0% rated Poor. However nearly half the rear seats are rated Poor, and only 9% are rated Good. Whiplash prevention technologies have focused on the front seats, but consideration must now be given to the rear seats. The paper offers a new insight into the protection offered by rear seat head restraints against whiplash injuries. The ratings can be used by consumer safety organisations to increase public awareness and to encourage development of rear seats that can offer protection against whiplash injuries. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash injuries KW - Deployable head restraints KW - Head KW - Occupant protection devices KW - Ratings KW - Rear seats KW - Restraint systems KW - Whiplash UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366328 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573867 AU - Togawa, Atsushi AU - Murakami, Daisuke AU - Saeki, Hidetsugu AU - Pal, Chinmoy AU - Okabe, Tomosaburo AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - An Insight into Multiple Impact Crash Statistics to Search for Future Directions of Counter-Approaches PY - 2011 SP - 5p AB - Multiple impact crashes (MICs) consist of more than 50 percent of all tow-away crashes that occurred on US roadways between 2000 and 2008. The total number of injured occupants with Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS)3+ injury, based on National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) data for 3-point lap and shoulder belted occupants, without rollover and no-ejection for the model year 2000-08, is 1,571(weighted 109,276). No significant change or variation can be observed with respect to the model year of the vehicle. The probability of a higher level of injury (MAIS>3-5) suffered by the occupants inside the vehicle, is more likely to occur in a MIC scenario than that in a SIC (single impact crash) scenario. As passive safety measures, especially irreversible systems, are generally more effectively designed for occupant protection in single impact, there are opportunities for future advanced active systems as mentioned by Sander (2009). U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash data KW - Injury severity KW - Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale KW - Multiple vehicle crashes KW - National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System KW - Vehicle occupants UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366329 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573866 AU - Eickhoff, Burkhard AU - Schrenk, Werner AU - Zellmer, Harald AU - Meywerk, Martin AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Optimization of Seat Belt Buckle Motion for Reducing Chest Deflection, Using Rib Eye Sensors PY - 2011 SP - 7p AB - To achieve overall good ratings in frontal impacts according to US and Euro NCAP, low chest deflection values have to be obtained. Concerning belt induced chest deflection, belt forces as well as the geometry of the belt system have to be optimized. Hence, the objective of this study was to analyse the influence of the buckle position and motion during crash on chest deflection. Theoretical investigations as well as simulations (software MADYMO / Facet - Q-dummy) were used to study the influence of the buckle position and motion on chest deflection. Sled tests, where the environment represents a middle class vehicle, were conducted to verify the findings. In order to obtain detailed insight regarding the deformation of the HIII 50% dummy’s thorax and the load distribution, rib eye sensors were used showing the deformation of each individual rib during the crash. As an outcome, the rib eye sensors show an unbalanced thorax deformation. Relevant differences in rib deformation are observed between left and right ribs of the thorax. Smaller differences are seen between upper and lower ribs. Concerning chest deflection, simulation and test results show an important influence of the buckle motion on chest deflection and on the energy absorption of the dummy. Significant differences in load distribution are detectable by the usage of rib eye sensors. The retention of a Hybrid III 50% dummy with a 3-point belt leads to an unbalanced deformation of the thorax ribcage. To achieve low chest deflection values, the upper and lower diagonal belt force as well as the belt geometry have to be tuned. In fact, the belt geometry significantly influences the deflection of the ribcage. The buckle position and buckle motion during forward displacement of the dummy can be identified as significant tuning parameters. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Buckles (Fasteners) KW - Crash injuries KW - Deformation KW - Frontal crashes KW - Seat belts KW - Thorax UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366442 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573865 AU - Park, Brian T AU - Collins, Lauren A AU - Rockwell, Taryn E AU - Smith, Christina S AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - The Newly Enhanced U.S. NCAP: A First Look at Model Year 2011 Ratings PY - 2011 SP - 14p AB - In 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a notice detailing changes to its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), a consumer information program that tests and rates vehicles for safety using an easily recognizable 5-star rating system. In recent years, more vehicles were achieving 4- and 5-stars, which led the agency to recognize the need for a tougher rating system that, in keeping with the program’s goal, would encourage continuous advancement of vehicle safety through market forces. With the availability of improved test devices and a better understanding of occupant injuries and crash conditions, the agency was able to develop a more stringent set of criteria for its safety ratings program. The agency began applying this criteria and disseminating the new safety ratings to consumers starting with model year (MY) 2011 vehicles. This paper details changes made to the crashworthiness tests conducted under the NCAP program and provides analyses of crash test results for MY 2011 vehicles tested during the 2010 calendar year. More specifically, this paper shows that the average star ratings assigned to MY 2011 vehicles are lower than those from recent model years. Despite lower star ratings, based on the MY 2011 rating system and comparing to the extent possible data from previous model years, MY 2011 vehicles on a whole are offering consumers lower injury risks (a higher level of crash protection) than the baseline injury risk used within the new rating system. Driver injury results from MY 2007-2010 Frontal NCAP tests will be directly compared to those from MY 2011 NCAP tests. A comparative analysis of injury data and ratings from vehicles known to be compliant with the upgraded Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 214, “Side impact protection,” to those that have not yet been redesigned to meet this upgrade, will also be shown. While some vehicle manufacturers have made changes to comply with the upgraded side impact standard, additional protection for certain body regions may still be needed. The analyses show that while many vehicles are achieving high ratings under the new rating system, others still need to improve their crashworthiness protection. For ease of discussion, the vehicle rating system that applies to MY 2011 vehicles and beyond (NHTSA 2008a) is referred to as the “new” rating system. The system that applies to MY 1990-2010 vehicles (DOT 2007) is referred to as the “old” rating system. It is important to note that while this paper makes injury data comparisons between 2011 and previous model year vehicles, the actual star ratings calculated under the new and old systems should not be compared. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crashworthiness KW - Impact tests KW - New Car Assessment Program KW - Ratings KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366371 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573864 AU - Thompson, John AU - Cockfield, Samantha AU - Truong, Jessica AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Increasing the Uptake of Key Vehicle Safety Features – a Consumer Focused Approach PY - 2011 SP - 4p AB - In 2006, having developed a successful brand and on-going campaign on which to create demand for more crashworthy cars, (www.howsafeisyourcar.com.au), the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) in Victoria, Australia looked at what opportunities were available to it, to further increase the safety of the Victorian vehicle fleet. The TAC is a government owned and operated, third party injury insurer that invests heavily in road safety initiatives to help meet its legislative responsibility to reduce the incidence and severity of transport injury on Victorian roads. In 2006, evidence around the effectiveness of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and Curtain Airbags (CA) in reducing crashes and injuries respectively, had firmed, yet compared with European and US vehicles the uptake of these lifesaving features in Australia was very poor. The TAC built a business case to extend its howsafeisyourcar.com.au campaign, to specifically create awareness of and develop demand for ESC and CA. A mass media campaign was developed that included TV, radio and on-line advertising, outdoor billboards and point of sale promotions at events such as the Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix and the Melbourne Motorshow. Demonstrating how these usually invisible technologies worked to reduce crashes (ESC) and prevent serious injury (CA). The campaign was launched early in 2007 and continues to be used to this day. Since the development of the campaign, fitment rate of ESC and CA has increased dramatically, with Victoria outstripping the rest of Australia and is comparable to Europe in relation to standard fitment of the technologies. In addition, many vehicle manufacturers have made ESC standard in popular models and most importantly, the Victorian Government announced ahead of all other Australasian jurisdictions, the mandatory fitment of ESC on new cars registered after 31 December 2010. This paper will outline the development of the ESC and CA campaign, the barriers faced along the way, and the outcomes. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Active safety systems KW - Advertising campaigns KW - Air bags KW - Australia KW - Curtain air bags KW - Electronic stability control KW - Safety campaigns KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366361 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573863 AU - Balavich, Karen M AU - Soderborg, Nathan R AU - Lange, Robert C AU - Pearce, Harry AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Deployment Characteristics of Seat Mounted Side Impact Airbags PY - 2011 SP - 10p AB - There are over 230 current model year vehicles in the U.S. market that offer seat mounted side airbag systems. Compared to the considerable amount of crush space present in frontal crashes, the relatively limited amount of crush space available in side crashes creates a challenge for side airbag deployment performance. In the case of seat mounted side airbag technology, when the side impact sensor senses an impact that warrants deployment, it sends a deploy signal to the airbag module located in the outboard seat bolster. The airbag must then deploy from the seat and continue to move into position between the occupant and the interior door surface before the gap closes due to the intruding object. The deployment timing and positioning of the airbag is critical in providing enhanced occupant protection. In this study, 88 front seat mounted side airbag systems from 1999-2010 model year vehicles were analyzed. The side airbag systems included airbags that deploy through seat bolster seams and systems that deploy through discrete seat deployment doors. Of the 88 production seat side airbag systems tested, 38 were equipped with side airbags that provide only thoracic coverage, 27 provided a combination of head and thoracic coverage, and 23 provided thoracic and pelvic coverage. Seventy-eight of the systems were unique; ten of the systems were repeat deployments. The front seats equipped with side airbag systems were mounted on a generic fixture with the outboard seat bolster packaging the airbag placed approximately 100 mm from a Plexiglas reaction surface. The Plexiglas was backed with a grid of 2 inch squares to utilize in film analysis of the deployment. High speed cameras were placed to capture front, profile, and rear views of the airbag deployment. The deployment time intervals associated with initial break out (airbag first becomes visible), two inch extension forward, six inch extension forward and full extension position were recorded. The average deployment time calculated for break out, two inch extension, 6 inch extension, and full extension deployment intervals for the total set of seats was calculated as 3.3 ms, 5.0 ms, 7.3 ms, and 14.9 ms, respectively. The standard deviation characterizing the variation within each deployment interval was calculated as 1.17, 1.17, 1.83, and 5.73 ms, respectively. Further comparisons of average time and variation in timing between types of side airbags (thorax, head/thorax, and pelvis/thorax), deployment mechanisms (through seam vs. discrete door), repeat deployments, and across model years were also made. Discussion regarding the factors that influence the variation in deployment timing among the airbag types, deployment mechanisms, and model year groupings is included. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Air bag deployment KW - Head KW - Pelvis KW - Side air bags KW - Side crashes KW - Thorax UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366511 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573862 AU - Paine, Michael AU - Paine, David AU - Newland, Craig AU - Worden, Stuart AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Encouraging Safer Vehicles Through Enhancements to the NCAP Rating System PY - 2011 SP - 13p AB - Since 1999 the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has tested and rated vehicles using essentially the same protocols as Euro NCAP. This produces a rating out of 5 stars for front occupant (driver and front passenger) protection. More than half of the model ratings published by ANCAP in that time have been based on at least one set of crash test results from Euro NCAP. Crash test data from Europe is therefore an important component of ANCAP model coverage. Euro NCAP recently changed its rating system to encourage better performance in other areas, such as whiplash protection, child occupant protection and pedestrian protection. Euro NCAP also introduced a Safety Assist component of its rating system to encourage certain safety features. The changes to Euro NCAP's rating system, together with the requirements of other World NCAP organisations have been evaluated by ANCAP and a Roadmap has been prepared. This takes into account the automotive regulatory and marketing environments in Australia and New Zealand. The process included consultation with the local automotive industry. This paper describes the changes to the rating system that ANCAP will progressively introduce in coming years. These include recognition of a wide range of vehicle safety features and minimum performance in tests of pedestrian protection, whiplash protection and roof strength. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Australasian New Car Assessment Program KW - Australia KW - Improvements KW - New Zealand KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Ratings KW - Vehicle roofs KW - Vehicle safety KW - Whiplash UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366358 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573861 AU - Roberts, H Alex AU - Gilbert, Mickey AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Side-By-Side Utility and Recreational Vehicles—A Safety Analysis PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - Recently there has been a dramatic increase in the popularity and sales of side-by-side utility and recreational vehicles (sometimes referred to as utility terrain vehicles (UTVs) and recreational off highway vehicles (ROVs). One potential reason for the increased popularity is the perceived additional safety of the side-by-side compared to a standard all terrain vehicle (ATV). These side-by-sides more closely resemble passenger vehicles than ATVs because of such features as a steering wheel, bench or bucket seats, 3 point safety belts, and a roll-cage or protective structure. However, there are increasing numbers of low speed accidents on these vehicles resulting in catastrophic injuries and even deaths. This paper will analyze the causation of these low speed accidents and will address the effectiveness of the safety features of these vehicles at protecting the occupants during such events. This paper will first address the vehicle dynamics involved and their role in the loss of control and tip-over of the vehicle. Secondly, the paper will examine various occupant restraint systems (i.e. belts and the occupant containment envelope) found on these vehicles. Conclusions will be made addressing the shortcomings of some of the current designs, and suggestions at how to improve these will be discussed. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - All terrain vehicles KW - Occupant protection devices KW - Recreational vehicles KW - Restraint systems KW - Stability (Mechanics) KW - Vehicle design KW - Vehicle dynamics KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366515 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573769 AU - Yaguchi, Masayuki AU - Omoda, Yuichi AU - Ono, Koshiro AU - Masuda, Mitsutoshi AU - Onda, Kazuhiro AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Traffic Accident Analysis Towards the Development of an Advanced Frontal Crash Test Dummy Indispensable for Further Improving Vehicle Occupant Protection Performance PY - 2011 SP - 13p AB - In this study, authors investigated and analyzed the injured body region and injury type for vehicle occupants from recent traffic accident statistics; that will be a basis to determine what human body regions should be evaluated in the frontal crash test, and what injury parameters should be measured utilizing an advanced test dummy. From the traffic accident statistics of the National Police Agency (NPA) in 2004 to 2008, the number of injured front seat occupants (i.e., drivers and passengers) by injury severity of vehicles damaged on front in the vehicle-to-vehicle accidents and the single vehicle accidents were collected. This then was analyzed by the seatbelt use, gender, and age group. In five years from 2004 to 2008, the fatalities (the sum of drivers and passengers) due to the head and thorax injuries since 2005 tended to decrease conspicuously, whereas fatalities due to abdominal injuries were almost constant except for a slight increasing in 2008 from 2007. Reviewing the fatalities with regard to the seatbelt use, gender, and age group, more frequent injured body regions of the fatalities were the thorax, head, and abdomen. Of these, the most frequent injury types were organ injury on the thorax and abdomen, and skull fracture. Reviewing the fatalities by age group, the fatality rate was highest with injuries on the head in case of under 25 year olds, and was highest on the abdomen in cases of 26-64 year olds and over 65 year olds. According to investigation and analysis in this study, in order to further improve the occupant protection performance during frontal crash, it was suggested that the abdominal injury that is impossible to evaluate in the Hybrid III and the injury measurement capability of the abdomen are particularly requested for a future frontal dummy. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash injuries KW - Crash injury research KW - Front seat occupants KW - Frontal crashes KW - Injury classification KW - Injury types KW - Japan KW - Occupant protection devices UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366327 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573768 AU - Mallory, Ann AU - Herriott, Rod AU - Rhule, Heather AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Subdural Hematoma and Aging: Crash Characteristics and Associated Injuries PY - 2011 SP - 15p AB - Among motor vehicle crash head injuries, subdural hematomas (SDH) are both frequent and life-threatening, especially for older occupants. Previous research on the mechanism of injury and on the increased vulnerability of older individuals to SDH has focused on the failure of bridging veins, which are one possible source of subdural bleeding. For all age groups, the injury mechanism and injury tolerance for SDH as a result of other bleeding sources has not been addressed. In the current study, two US crash databases were used to compare crash and injury characteristics for SDH cases in different age groups, with a focus on the original source of bleeding. Review of cases from the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) database showed that both bridging veins and bleeding sources other than bridging veins are responsible for SDH among crash occupants in all age groups. Analysis of weighted data from the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS CDS) showed that the frequency of isolated SDH increases with age, potentially reflecting an increase in the frequency of SDH caused by bridging vein bleeding, particularly in frontal crashes and among women. SDH accompanied by brain contusions or other potential bleeding sources on the surface of the brain are also common, especially in side impacts and among occupants younger than 70. These cases potentially represent injuries where subdural bleeding came from sources other than bridging veins. Improved definition of SDH injury tolerance for all adult occupants will require a better understanding of the mechanism of injury from sources other than bridging veins, but determination of SDH injury tolerance for older occupants should focus on evaluation of the increasing risk of bridging vein failure with age. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Aging (Biology) KW - Bleeding KW - Crash characteristics KW - Crash injuries KW - Crashes KW - Head KW - Hematoma KW - Injuries KW - Veins UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365433 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573767 AU - Wu, Jingshu AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Survival Analysis of Real-World Tire Aging Data PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - This paper focuses on tire aging and tire failures due to increased chronological tire age, miles driven, and harsher environmental conditions. A fundamental material failure mechanism is presented first to illustrate why tires are aging faster under higher loads or temperatures. Then Kaplan-Meier curves and Logrank tests are used to compare various risk factors that may lead to tire aging. Similarly, Weibull analysis is used to predict the tire failure probability against tire age or mileage. Finally, a Cox proportional hazard model is utilized to explore the tire aging relative risk with statistical significances. It is found that greater chronological tire age, higher mileage, initial tire loads, and manufacturing characteristics or tire types all contribute to tire aging or failures. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Age KW - Aging (Materials) KW - Degradation failures KW - Deterioration KW - Failure KW - Loads KW - Mileage KW - Tire mechanics KW - Tires KW - Types of tires KW - Wear UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365318 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573766 AU - Park, Chung-Kyu AU - Morgan, Richard M AU - Digges, Kennerly H AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Analysis of Child Dummy Responses and CRS Performance in Frontal NCAP Tests PY - 2011 SP - 11p AB - The new car assessment program (NCAP) conducted 95 frontal crashes with child dummies in child restraint systems (CRS) in the rear seat. In addition to the two mid-size male dummies in the front seat, there were one or two child dummies in the rear seat area. The child dummies were (1) 12-month-old, (2) 3-year-old, and (3) 6-year-old. The child dummies were restrained in a CRS or a booster. This research focused on comparing the response of the child dummies with the adult dummy. The study examined the dynamic readings of the head acceleration, chest acceleration, chest deflection, and upper neck loading. In terms of the customary injury assessment reference values (IARVs) for the adult and child dummies, the adult dummy had an easier time going under the IARVs than the child dummies. The passing rate for the adult was almost 100% while the passing rate was 60 - 70% for the child dummies. In short, the different dummy sizes in their respective seating location do not show the same relative level of protection as measured by body motion and instrumentation inside the dummy occupant. The 3-year-old and 6-year-old child dummies show relatively elevated head response because their heads are not restrained in the sense that the adult’s head is cushioned by the airbag. Some device or concept is needed to reduce the rotational motion of the head for the forward-facing child. The child dummies do not take advantage of the ride down (connecting the occupant to the initial crushing of the vehicle structure to slow down the occupant) as capably as the adult dummy. Some device or concept - such as the pre-tensioner for the adult in the front seat - is needed to reduce the free motion of the forward-facing child. The motion and response of the 6-year old child dummy appear to vary more than the other crash test dummies. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Child restraint systems KW - Children KW - Dummies KW - Frontal crashes KW - Impact tests KW - Performance tests UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364526 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573765 AU - Mukherjee, Sudipto AU - Chawla, Anoop AU - Borouah, Saurabh AU - Sahoo, Debashish AU - Arun, Mike W J AU - Sharma, Girish AU - Shah, Parthiv AU - Ageorges, Christophe AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Dynamic Properties of the Shoulder Complex Bones PY - 2011 SP - 7p AB - This paper reports on a characterization of stress-strain response of the humerus, clavicle and scapula through impact studies followed by property estimation. For the humerus, the modulus obtained for quasi-static tests varies between 0.4 to 18 GPa while the modulus obtained from the drop height of 0.5m varies from 0.7 to 40.5 GPa, that obtained from a drop height of 1m varies from 0.8 to 40.95 GPa and that from the 1.5m drop tests varies from 1.8 to 53 GPa. The increase in modulus with strain rate is consistent with earlier studies including McElahney. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Bones KW - Deformation curve KW - Dynamic tests KW - Impact tests KW - Modulus KW - Shoulder KW - Simulation UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365888 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573764 AU - Parker, Donald AU - Mikolajczak, Celina AU - Lange, Robert AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Considerations Regarding Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Safety PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - Lithium-ion batteries are often the preferred choice for powering rechargeable-battery-operated consumer products due to their high value proposition for cost and energy density. Lithium-ion batteries are also highly reliable. Therefore, lithium-ion battery packs are now finding their way into very complex consumer products including hybrid and electric vehicles. The utilization of lithium batteries in small consumer products is increasing rapidly. However, lithium-ion battery failures can be substantially more energetic than failures of conventional battery units traditionally used in the automotive market, due to higher quantities of stored electrical and chemical energy within lithium-ion cells. The large and complex battery configurations needed for electric and hybrid vehicles and the applications to very demanding automotive operational conditions present new challenges in areas of safety, durability, reliability, and performance. Thus, the risk potential and exposure to new potential technical challenges in a new and demanding operational environment should be considered in the vehicle development process. As new uses are explored, this battery technology must be well understood and thoroughly considered in the context of the new application. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Electric vehicles KW - Hybrid vehicles KW - Lithium batteries KW - Risk assessment KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365258 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573763 AU - Gehre, Christian AU - Stahlschmidt, Sebastian AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Assessment of Dummy Models by Using Objective Rating Methods PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - The numerical simulation is an inherent process of the development of the passive vehicle safety. Robust and predictable computational models are the base of the successful application of numerical simulations. This study is focused on the assessment of the quality of dummy models used in occupant simulations. The progress of those models was remarkable over the past years. By increasing the quality, the potential of further improvements declines. Hence, the assessment of model improvements and their impact on the quality of simulations is getting more and more complicated. Major improvements of sub-parts do not necessarily improve the overall performance of a model. Therefore, a standardised objective evaluation of models would ease the definition of priorities of model updates. Objective rating tools could help to solve this problem. These tools are calculating the level of correlation between two signals, usually coming from test and simulation. All signal ratings can be merged to a global rating of a loading case. However, the analysis of only one loading case is not sufficient to calculate a reliable and a robust quality score of a dummy model. A more comprehensive approach is required to provide a valid rating for all relevant loading conditions. Furthermore, it must distinguish between good and poor models and should correlate with user experiences. This paper provides guidelines of defining boundary conditions of an overall quality rating of dummy models. The LS-Dyna ES-2 dummy model was used as a demonstrator of the new approach. The study analyses the possibilities of an objective rating tool. Various tests with dummy parts, sled tests as well as dummy certification tests were analysed to define a set of characteristic loading conditions of the ES-2. Furthermore, the extraction of the most relevant dummy responses was an essential part of the evaluation, too. Finally, all defined scenarios were applied to different releases of the same dummy model. The calculated quality scores were verified with the experiences of users of the model. The findings of this feasibility study are limited to the LS-Dyna ES-2 model. However, they can easily be transferred to other ES-2 models. If another side impact dummy or a dummy for a different crash scenario (e.g. frontal impact) is used, then the selection of loading cases and signals must be revised. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Component tests KW - Computational models KW - Crash victim simulation KW - Dummies KW - Performance tests KW - Sled tests KW - Validation KW - Vehicle tests UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365453 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573762 AU - German, Alan AU - Dalmotas, Danius AU - Comeau, Jean-Louis AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Crash Pulse Data from Event Data Recorders in Rigid Barrier Tests PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - In recent years, major advances in field data collection and analysis have been achieved through the integration of real-world vehicle crash data captured by on-board, electronic, event data recorders (EDRs). For some time, data has been publicly available from EDR’s in General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler vehicles. Recently, Toyota has provided a proprietary tool through which researchers can access EDRs installed in their vehicles. The current study looks at the crash data that are available and explores the accuracy of this information. The study uses a series of staged collisions with EDR-equipped vehicles and compares data downloaded from these devices to equivalent information captured by laboratory instrumentation. Full-frontal crash tests, conducted by Transport Canada, at 48 km/h into a rigid barrier are used. The results show generally good agreement between the two datasets, with some limitations in the EDR-reported data being noted. These comparisons of data obtained from on-board vehicle EDRs, with equivalent information collected using sophisticated laboratory instrumentation, provide a valuable measure of confidence in the use of similar data collected from real-world events. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash data KW - Crash pulse KW - Event data recorders KW - Impact tests KW - Real world data KW - Rigid barrier tests KW - Velocity UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364776 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573761 AU - Marx, Edmund AU - Bieck, Werner AU - Mousel, Thierry AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Impactor Development for the Assessment of Active Pedestrian Protection Systems PY - 2011 SP - 15p AB - Although pedestrian protection regulation does not yet cover the complete testing of active protection systems, Euro NCAP introduced in 2011 a pop-up hood test protocol. Part of this assessment is a physical impact of a leg impactor against the vehicle front-end at the system’s lower deployment threshold speed to test the sensing systems’ response. As the leg impactors used for injury assessment are not suitable for sensor testing, some first generation "sensor assessment impactors" were developed. Three of them can be selected within the Euro NCAP testing: IEE lower limit impactor, PDI, TRL SensorLeg. But as each of these impactors has certain limitations, further research was needed to develop an impactor reproducing a representative human impact. This paper describes the development of an enhanced impactor with the highest possible level of abstraction, representing an appropriate effective mass not depending on the vehicle front-end geometry, showing human-like material properties and suitable for testing the "lower limit" case. The "lower limit" is defined as the lowest possible impact imprint that a sensing system must detect in a pedestrian-vehicle collision. A first step in the development is based on LSDYNA MADYMO coupled simulations where collisions between various MADYMO model statures (six-year-old child, 5% female, slim tall male, 50% male) and a variable test rig are evaluated. The test rig consists of variable load paths representing hood leading edge, lower bumper stiffener and the crossbeam area. In a second step, calculations are performed with an IEE in-house finite element human pedestrian model that is based on a driver knee-thigh-hip model which was further developed to a pedestrian model. This model was also scaled to represent the same adult pedestrian statures as mentioned above. Both simulation results were cross-checked and resulting differences were elaborated in a sensitivity analysis regarding knee-joint bending, knee-joint shear stiffness and contact stiffness of the MADYMO models. The resulting impactor with a mass of approximately 6.6 kg at maximum abstraction level represents the lower limit against a wide range of different vehicle front-end designs. Omitting the knee joint allows the representation of the lower limit stature, which can be the 5th percentile female, the slim tall male or the six-year-old child, depending on the front end geometry. The impactor has a flexible robust core and the tissue is made of PU material replicating human tissue characteristics. The impactor can be shot with a propulsion system or used in driving tests. The applicability of the impactor may be restricted for low bumper vehicles with a sensor mounting height below 400 mm above road level. As the development of active protection systems including A-pillar airbags is ongoing, there is a pressing need for defining procedures testing the sensors triggering these systems. A "lower limit" impactor properly reproducing pedestrian-bumper interaction in a realistic way is a crucial element within such tests. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Active safety systems KW - Hoods KW - Impact tests KW - Legform impactors KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians KW - Protection UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364523 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573760 AU - Vogt, Florian AU - Fevriér, Pierre AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Measurements of the Grip Level and the Water Film Depth for Real Accidents of the German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS) PY - 2011 SP - 10p AB - The grip between the road surface and vehicle tires is the physical basis for the moving of all vehicles in road traffic. In case of an accident the available grip level is one of the most relevant influence factors, influencing the causation and the procedure of the accident. However, the estimation of the grip level is not easy and therefore, is commonly not done on the accident scene. This is especially true for the measurement of the water depth. Until now, real accident databases provide no measurement data about the grip level and the water film depth and thus, the estimation of its influence is not possible yet. From the tyre manufacturers point of view, it is important to know about the road conditions (namely grip level, macro-texture, water depth, temperature) at the accident scene, as well as the operating conditions of the vehicles (braking, loss of control, speed, etc). These data are necessary to define relevant tyre traction tests for the end-user and for regulations. For this reason VUFO and Michelin developed a consistent method for the measurements of grip level and water depth for the accidents of the GIDAS database. The accident research team of Dresden, which documents about 1000 accidents with at least one injured person every year, is measuring the micro-roughness and the macro-roughness directly on the spot. For the measurement of the micro-roughness a Skid Resistance Tester (British Pendulum) is used. The Mean Texture Depth (describing the macro-roughness) is measured by the Sand Depth Method. Since June 2009, measurements for more than 700 accidents including 1200 participants have been carried out. In case of wet or damp road conditions during the accident, the water depth is measured additionally. Therefore VUFO and Michelin developed a special measurement device, which allows measurements with an accuracy of 1/10 millimetre. The measurement point at the accident scene is clearly defined and thus, the results are comparable for all different accidents and participants. The use of the GIDAS database and the accident sampling plan allows representative statements for the German accident scenario. With this data it is possible for the first time to have an accurate view of the road conditions at the accident scene. One possibility is a more detailed estimation of hydroplaning accidents using the actually measured water depths. The development of new testing methods and new tires can be based on the real situation of the road infrastructure. Furthermore, the combination of the technical GIDAS data and the measured road surface properties can also be used for the estimation of effectiveness of several safety systems like the brake assist and/or emergency braking systems. The calculation of a reduced collision speed due to the use of a brake assist is only one example for the application of real measured grip level data. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - German In-Depth Accident Study KW - Germany KW - Highway factors in crashes KW - Hydroplaning KW - Road conditions KW - Skidding KW - Surface course (Pavements) KW - Water depth UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365298 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573759 AU - Zini, Gustavo AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Why Should Aluminum Continue to Replace Steel in Cars? an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) Comparison PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - “To achieve more sustainable production and consumption patterns, we must consider the environmental implications of the whole supply-chain of products, both goods and services, their use, and waste management, i.e. their entire life cycle from ‘cradle to grave’ ”. (Preface to the ILCD Handbook: General guide for Life Cycle Assessment). Though conventional wisdom states that more fuel-efficient vehicles are lighter and smaller, yet less safe than their less fuel-efficient counterparts, another point of view will be shown. Aluminum and other materials have proven to replace steel with a good trade-off of fuel efficiency against safety. Yet steel is predominant in mass production automobiles, representing around 65% of their weight. The reasons behind this choice could be explained through both cost effectiveness and technology expertise, but they will not be thoroughly analyzed in this paper. However, it can be argued that a complete assessment of the ecological impact of using aluminum instead steel has not been done up till now, or at least has not been taken into full consideration. The use of lighter yet impact-efficient materials will certainly improve both safety and fuel economy, so a comprehensive study in this issue is proposed. Therefore, this paper will compare the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) of two different cars, one with a steel chassis group and body-in white, and another one having these parts made out of aluminum. This comparison has already been made by the University of California. Nevertheless, a different approach is hereby proposed, so that both conclusions can be contrasted. To conclude, a new LCA model will be developed, and two hypothetical vehicles will be compared on a theoretical approach, pointing out some aspects that should be developed thoroughly within the corresponding settings and using appropriate resources. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Aluminum KW - Energy consumption KW - Greenhouse gases KW - Life cycle analysis KW - Steel KW - Vehicle bodies KW - Vehicle design KW - Vehicle weight UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365259 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573758 AU - Lee, Kwang-Bum AU - Lee, Jae-Wan AU - Kim, Jong-Soo AU - Yong, Gee-Joong AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - A Study of Fuel System Integrity and Electric Safety of HFCV PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - This research consists of two parts. The first part is to evaluate the fire risk due to the hydrogen leakage or diffusion from the hydrogen storage system. The second part is to verify compliance with the fuel leakage limit of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle in the event of collision. To evaluate the fire risk of the fuel storage and delivery system in a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, sensors were installed at locations where leaking hydrogen was likely to be trapped. These sensors were installed in the engine compartment, the occupant compartment and in the rear of a vehicle. The fuel processing system and fuel-cell stacks were located in the engine compartment. The behavior of leaking hydrogen was investigated when a vehicle was at rest, moving, and after shut-down caused by hydrogen leakage. In some areas the concentration reached up to 4%. The optimization of the number of sensors and locations was also investigated for effective detection. To assess the vehicle fuel system integrity and electrical safety in the event of a crash, three different crashes were carried out. One full frontal impact test at the speed of 48 km/h, one side impact test at the speed of 50 km/h with a deformable moving barrier, and one rear impact test at the speed of 48 km/h with a moving barrier were conducted. The hydrogen fuel storage systems were filled to 90 % of the nominal working pressure with helium gas at each test. Even though the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle subject to tests was equipped with crash sensors that enabled the high pressure valve of the storage container to be closed automatically in the event of a crash; all crash sensors were removed to simulate severe test conditions in these experiments. After each crash, the amounts of hydrogen leakages were measured, and electrical safety was examined. In this experiment 8 research institutes, including the Korea Automobile Testing and Research Institute, Hyundai Motor Company, took part. This project was supported by the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Korea. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Fuel cell vehicles KW - Fuel storage and delivery devices KW - Fuel systems KW - Hydrogen fuels KW - Impact tests KW - Leakage KW - Safety KW - Vehicle electrical systems UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365257 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573757 AU - Yoon, Yong-Won AU - Kim, Gyu-Hyun AU - Lim, Jae-Moon AU - Park, Gyun-Jin AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Evaluation of Usefulness and Repeatability for Pedestrian Protection Flex-PLi PY - 2011 SP - 7p AB - Pedestrian-vehicle traffic accidents are a globally recognized safety concern. UN/ECE/WP29 established the Global Technical Regulation (GTR) for pedestrian safety on 12 November 2008. GTR is expected to significantly reduce the injuries of pedestrians in the event of frontal impacts. Recently, a new pedestrian lower legform named Flex-PLi has been developed for the body model of the human lower leg. Flex-PLi is introduced, and the characteristics of the model are identified through a comparison study with an existing lower legform. Usability, durability and repeatability are evaluated by using real vehicle impact tests. Moreover, the model is examined by considering the possibility of its application to pedestrian safety GTR phase 2. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Durability KW - Flexible Pedestrian Legform Impactor KW - Impact tests KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians KW - Protection KW - Repeatability KW - Usability UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364437 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573756 AU - Lee, Hong Guk AU - Park, Hwan Seo AU - Yoo, Song Min AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - LDWS Performance Study Based on Human Factors PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - In order to reduce fatal traffic accidents by up to 50%, various tools are being developed for the safer operation of vehicles on the road. A serious portion of accidents are believed to be the result of driving across the lane due to either negligence or drowsiness of the driver. As a prior step to a lane keeping system (LKS) which enforces a vehicle to run within its current lane, a lane departure warning system (LDWS) is developed to warn a driver before it moves over to the next lane unintentionally and is being widely installed by vehicle manufacturers or sold as an aftermarket product. Even though a LDWS is believed to prevent accidents and reduce fatalities by 25% and 15% respectively, its effectiveness in performance is yet to be confirmed in many aspects. A LDWS is designed to issue a warning within the tolerance limits defined on both sides of the lane boundary so that the driver would take an evasive maneuver back to the original lane and securing a safe gap against vehicles moving in the adjacent lane. Since the driver may not perceive and respond properly due to human delay in recognition and in response, the warning may not be triggered early enough. In this study, the vehicle lateral locations relative to the warning zone envelop (earliest and latest warning zone defined in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard, Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regulations) are compared with respect to the various factors including delays, vehicle velocity, and vehicle heading angle with respect to the lane. Since a LDWS is designed to be activated a velocity over 60 km/h, vehicle velocity range for the study is set to be from 60 to 100 km/h. The vehicle heading angle (yaw angle) is set to be up to 5 degrees away from the lane (abrupt lane change) considering the standard for a lane change test using a double lane-change test specification. There are no solid guidelines for human perception and response delay for an imminent accident. A tentative delay of up to 2.0 seconds is found from an emergency braking case study for accident perception while a 0.54 to 0.73 second range actuation delay is necessary. Even though a further study may follow for the assessment of human delays in a more systematic approach, a preliminary study still suggests that a LDWS might not be sufficient enough to issue a proper warning for drivers. A thorough knowledge of human factors related to the system is needed in order to understand the limits of a LDWS and to facilitate the technology of a LKS. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Automatic steering control KW - Human factors KW - Lane departure warning systems KW - Lane keeping KW - Traffic crashes UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364326 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573755 AU - Shah, Chirag AU - Harn, Wen-Ren AU - Zhou, Hong AU - Klessen, Christian AU - Zhu, Fuchun AU - Kant, Robert AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - A New Advancement in Pedestrian Safety: Finite Element (FE) Modeling of the FLEX-PLI GTR PY - 2011 SP - 10p AB - The lower limb is one of the most frequently injured body regions in crashes involving pedestrians. A biofidelic FLEXible-Pedestrian Legform Impactor Global Technical Regulations (FLEX-PLI GTR) device has been developed with aim to advance global pedestrian safety regulations. It has been achieved under directions of the Flex-PLI Technical Evaluation Group (FLEX-PLI TEG). The FLEX-PLI GTR device is the latest development and successor of the earlier GT version. The FLEX-PLI GTR device has three major regions: femur, knee and tibia. Central to the device are solid bone cores made of fiberglass representing tibia and femur bones. These bone cores have bending moment measuring capabilities at several locations along their axes. They are encased with segmental structures to achieve flexible human-like bending behavior during pedestrian crashes. The outermost skin and flesh of the device consists of several rubber and neoprene foam layers. The knee region contains two knee blocks representing human like knee and has ligament elongations measuring capabilities to be used as injury criteria in regulations. This paper documents the development and dynamic validations of the FLEX-PLI GTR FE models from its hardware counterpart. The models have been developed in four widely used FE codes that are LSDyna, Pam-Crash, Abaqus, and Radioss. The geometry and inertia properties of the models are obtained from available drawings and hardware. The connectivity and structural integrity of the models are established by experiments and verified against hardware. The material properties of the models are implemented from material test data. These models are then validated against a variety of dynamic loading cases at component, assembly, and full legform levels. The femur and tibia bone bending moments and knee ligament elongations from the model output are compared to test data to evaluate model performance and injury predictability. A description of the model development is restricted to LS-Dyna FE code. However, model validation results are extended to include all four FE codes. The FLEX-PLI GTR models revealed very promising performance in all validation cases and can be potentially used in future pedestrian safety regulations. The models were found to be very cost effective (in terms of CPU times) and reliable for pedestrian safety simulations. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Finite element method KW - Flexible Pedestrian Legform Impactor KW - Leg KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364438 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573754 AU - Mukherjee, Sudipto AU - Chawla, Anoop AU - Marwah, Kartik AU - Grover, Lucky AU - Keishing, Joel AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Dynamic Properties of Human Cancellous Bones PY - 2011 SP - 4p AB - A micro drop system consisting of an impactor supported by twin parallelogram linkages was designed to enable a guided drop height as low as 10mm. The system has been used to measure dynamic compressive response of human cancellous bone for strain rates of 135/s, 150/s and 175/s. The percentage variation of Young’s modulus from its mean value of 0.083GPa obtained at these strain rates is 54.5%, which is significant, suggesting that bones become stiffer during severe impacts. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Bones KW - Drop tests KW - Dynamic response KW - Impact tests KW - Mechanical properties KW - Modulus of elasticity KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Strain rate KW - Young's modulus UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364522 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573753 AU - Van Auken, R M AU - Zellner, J W AU - Silberling, J Y AU - Sugimoto, Yoichi AU - Urai, Yoshihiro AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Progress Report on Evaluation of a Pre-Production Head-On Crash Avoidance Assist System Using an Extended “Safety Impact Methodology” (SIM) PY - 2011 SP - 15p AB - NHTSA reported that in 2006, 9.8% of fatal crashes and 4.1% of injury crashes were head-on crashes (Traffic Safety Facts 2006). Honda has developed a pre-production Head-on Collision Avoidance Assistance System (H-CAAS) intended to detect, warn and mitigate specific crash types, including a severe, primary crash type in which the subject vehicle drifts laterally into the path of an on-coming vehicle, typically as a result of driver inattention (due to, e.g., distraction, drowsiness or alcohol impairment). The goal of this research is to estimate H-CAAS safety benefits, at a national level, focusing on both primary and secondary technology relevant crash types (TRCT’s). This paper provides a progress report on the evaluation of US-level safety benefits of H-CAAS, based on the Safety Impact Methodology (SIM) tool developed by Honda and DRI and extended under Cooperative Agreements with NHTSA, as well as a description of recent extensions of the SIM itself. The SIM developed by Honda and DRI applies computer simulations of the driver-vehicle-environment, involving time-space relationships between the subject vehicle and a collision partner, and predicts crash, injury and fatality outcomes, with and without the Advanced Collision Avoidance Technology (ACAT) countermeasure, for a sample of NASS/CDS cases; and a systems model to extend the sample results to the national level, in order to estimate effectiveness and safety benefits of the countermeasure in terms of crash, injury, and fatality reductions. Data sources include NHTSA FARS, NASS/CDS, GES, and PCDS accident data; vehicle parameter and exposure data (e.g., from Polk vehicle registration data); and countermeasure-specific data from objective tests. For the H-CAAS evaluation, results from previous driving simulator objective tests involving n=9 distracted drivers and n=10 drowsy drivers were used to parameterize, calibrate and validate the SIM tool. The SIM was then used to estimate US-level safety benefits of H-CAAS. Results of extending the SIM include the addition of a simplified head-on accident reconstruction module which takes into account the generally large closing speeds, approximately 180 degree relative heading angles and the relatively small lateral offsets and drift rates of sampled head-on crashes; and substantial upgrades of the Guided Soft Target collision partner test system, in terms of a more realistic 2nd generation soft body and greater operating speed and range. The extensions to the SIM have resulted in a more robust, accurate and widely applicable suite of tools for estimating safety benefits of advanced safety technologies at a national level. A limitation of the SIM tool is that the uncertainty bounds associated with the estimates include some but not all sources of uncertainty. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Benefits KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Crash phases KW - Crash reconstruction KW - Safety KW - Safety Impact Methodology UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364408 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573752 AU - Niewöhner, Walter AU - Roth, Franz AU - Gwehenberger, Johann AU - Gruber, Christian AU - Kuehn, Matthias AU - Sferco, Raimondo AU - Pastor, Claus-Henry AU - Nagel, Uwe AU - Stanzel, Michael AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Proposal for a Test Procedure of Assistance Systems Regarding Preventive Pedestrian Protection PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - This paper presents a proposal for a test procedure regarding preventive pedestrian protection based on accident analysis. Over the past years pedestrian protection has become of increasing importance also during the development phase of new vehicles. After a phase of focusing on secondary safety, there are current activities to detect a possible collision by assistance systems. Such systems have the task to inform the driver and/or automatically activate the brakes. How practical is such a system? In which kind of traffic situations will it work? How is it possible to check the effectiveness of such a system? To test the effectiveness, currently there are no generally approved identifiable procedures. It is reasonable that such a test should be based on real accidents. The test procedure should be designed to test all systems, independent of the system’s working principle. The vFSS group (advanced Forward-looking Safety Systems) was founded to develop a proposal for a technology independent test procedure, which reflects the real accident situation. This contribution presents the results of vFSS. The developed test procedure focuses on accidents between passenger cars and pedestrians. The results are based on analysis results of in-depth databases of GIDAS, German insurers and DEKRA and added by analysis of national and international statistics. The in-depth analysis includes many pre-crash situations with several influencing factors. The factors are, e. g. speed of the car, speed of the pedestrian, moving direction and a possible obscuration of the pedestrian by an object. The results comprise also the different situations of adults and children. Furthermore, they include details regarding influence of the lighting conditions (daylight or night) especially with respect to the accident consequences. In fact, more accidents happen at daylight, but fatal accidents are more often at night. A clustering of parameter combinations was found which represents typical accident scenarios. There are six typical accident scenarios which were merged in four test scenarios. The test scenarios are varying the starting position of the pedestrian, the pedestrian size (adult or child) and the speed of the pedestrian, whereas the speed of the car will not be varied. To ensure the independence from used sensing technologies it is necessary to use a suitable dummy. For example, if sensors are based on infrared, the dummy should emit the temperature of a human being. The test procedure will identify the collision speed as the key parameter for assessing the effectiveness of the tested system. The collision speed is defined as the reduction between initial test speed of the car and impact speed. The assessment of the speed reduction value regarding the safety benefit, however, will be part of a separate procedure. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash analysis KW - Driver support systems KW - Germany KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians KW - Protection KW - Test procedures UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364409 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573751 AU - Eigen, Ana Maria AU - Opiela, Kenneth S AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Unintended Benefits of the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Study: a Highway Perspective PY - 2011 SP - 11p AB - Since its inception, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been concerned with providing the most complete and technologically feasible crash data collection. The collaboration with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) also dates back to the inception of the data sets. Funding issues and interest of primary users have limited coded infrastructure variables and attributes. In 2005, NHTSA embarked upon the congressionally-mandated National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Study (NMVCCS) data collection. With on-scene reporting, nearly crashtime graphic data became available to end-users. In 2008, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) published the first geographical coordinates for its cases. This eventually resulted in the rerelease of data from 2001 through 2007. Although not temporally compatible, those interested in infrastructure and relevant elements would be able to complement the coded variables and attributes. The improved graphic reporting was noted in the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) pursuant to 2007 and potentially drawing from the NMVCCS model. This paper offers an approach to mine, previously unconsulted NMVCCS data, rooted in precedent and established using FARS and NASS CDS. Using new data sources, the safety community might yield additional insights about crashes and the influence of various factors. In the narrowest sense, the findings might support the knowledge derived from crash testing and the limited extent of in-service evaluations of roadside safety elements that have been undertaken to date. As a natural by-product, this paper suggests that aggregated knowledge might populate an infrastructure dataset to aid those involved in roadway design, especially those addressing roadway departure issues, as supported by the overwhelming FARS incidence. During the feasibility study to identify the roadway elements and the value of image review, the digital image information has been enlightening. Tangentially, unlike NHTSA, FHWA may reference the unweighted data sets, as this furthers understanding of crash causation rather than underpinning rulemaking activities, thereby maximizing the use of unweighted NMVCCS data, predating the sampling plan. In the past, FWHA has consulted state-reported roadway features inventories and their resulting crashes when possible, aspiring to a macro view of roadside element description. As inconsistencies exist in the way that data has been collected, stored, and eventually processed at the state-level, this study seeks to review untapped digital images from national crash reporting, filling a void present in roadway design using a micro approach of roadside element description based upon crash scene locations. The present study seeks to address highway safety data needs by leveraging new data resources and tools. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash causes KW - Crash data KW - Data mining KW - Fatal Accident Reporting System KW - Highway safety KW - National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System KW - National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey KW - Ran off road crashes UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365321 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573750 AU - Gibson, Tom AU - Clarke, Amy AU - Pisaniello, Lui AU - Stephan, Marcel AU - Fusco, Lino AU - Judd, Robert AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Evaluation of an Improved Performance Anti-Submarining Seat Belt System PY - 2011 SP - 13p AB - The objective of the present study is to evaluate a development of the conventional seat belt, offering improved control of anti-submarining and chest loads especially for smaller occupants. The seat belt continues to be the prime safety system fitted to automobiles. Crash injury data indicates that performance improvements continue to be required, particularly in the rear seat and with smaller occupants in the areas of anti-submarining, adaptation to smaller occupants (such as children making the transition from using child restraints) and chest loads. World interest in simple low cost, lightweight vehicles for use in developing countries is emphasising this need. The new belt system, the Lifebelt, retains similar belt geometry to current seat belt systems but with an extension of the seat belt webbing in a continuous loop around the upper thighs. It makes use of many available belt system components, and has the potential to allow a simple lightweight seat belt system with acceptable performance, without some of the complex add on systems now being used. The evaluation began with static fit trials and then used dynamic sled testing under frontal crash test conditions similar to regulatory crash tests (50 km/h and 30g pulse). A number of sled tests (n=20) were carried out in front and rear seat configurations and with different seat structures reflecting current production as well as simplified seating. The new system was compared to conventional belt systems in typical seats and belt geometries. HIII 50M and HIII 5F dummies were used to assess the effect of occupant size, with the small female having the greater tendency to submarine. Anti-submarining effectiveness was assessed from video and with belt motion monitored by iliac spine force transducers, as used for Japan NCAP testing. The enhanced system retains similar belt geometry and occupant use to current belt systems, with some changes to the seat structure for installation. The new belt with the extra continuous lap loop was shown to give a high level of anti-submarining performance while at the same time retaining good occupant kinetics and keeping the chest loads within acceptable limits. The system is able to reduce the need for add on components (such as the in seat anti-submarining ramp and pretensioners), which are required to give current, conventional seat belts acceptable performance. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Front seat occupants KW - Impact tests KW - Performance tests KW - Proof of concept KW - Rear seat occupants KW - Seat belts KW - Submarining UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364631 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573749 AU - Dávila, Arturo AU - Nombela, Mario AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Development of a Test Tool to Analyse Airbag Induced Injuries PY - 2011 SP - 11p AB - Currently, the airbag is the most important and effective restraint system available on the market. Nevertheless, its activation is related to some facial, ocular and auditory injuries. The principal objective of this project was to develop an evaluation tool capable of predicting injuries to the face. The project was designed because previous research shows that the above-mentioned injuries occur under velocities that vary in the limits of activation/no activation set by each manufacturer (delta V (ΔV) < 48 km/h). The majority of these injuries occur in frontal impacts where the interaction between driver and airbag is the greatest. Furthermore, shorter occupants (<1.60 m) tend to receive the most severe injuries due to their proximity to the airbag. The most common injuries are facial, ocular and skin abrasion. The noise produced by an activating airbag is generally over the safe limit for a person, and can cause permanent damage to the internal ear. The explosion is generated by the chemical reaction of gases that may produce intoxication or skin injury. Therefore, the first task of this project was to evaluate the injury map related to airbag activation in frontal impact, although other configurations were considered. A revision of the state of the art and the direct relation with possible facial, ocular and auditory injuries and intoxication was also performed. The next task was to develop a set of testing procedures for the evaluation of the established injuries that airbag deployment causes to the occupants. To finalize, an assessment of the developed tools and protocols was made. The project activities focused on the development of a measuring system designed to predict facial and ocular injuries resulting from blunt impacts during contact with the airbag, estimating the risk of suffering facial bone fractures or severe ocular injury. This was accomplished through a special mask that measures the pressure applied at specific points of the head, such as nose tip, eyes, eyebrows, jaw, etc. To estimate the risk of auditory injury, a specially designed dummy head made use of special microphones to measure the sound and pressure levels found in the cabin during airbag activation. This head can be used both in static and dynamic tests. For intoxication and skin abrasion injuries, a protocol and a tool to measure the amount of toxic gases released from the explosion of the airbag was developed. In this particular case, the most relevant toxic gases were selected and the adequate instrumentation established for the development of the test. With the three elements combined, an overall evaluation on the severity of the airbag system to be assessed can be made, allowing manufacturers and designers to create more effective yet non-injurious systems. The results of the project are in line with the proposed objectives, and the developed tools and the protocols are good enough to provide a more stringent evaluation of restraint systems and will also help in research regarding injury mechanisms in various accident configurations. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Air bags KW - Crash injury research KW - Ear KW - Eye KW - Face KW - Frontal crashes KW - Head KW - Nose KW - Skin injuries KW - Test procedures UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364737 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573748 AU - Friedman, Donald AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - One Size Doesn't Fit All PY - 2011 SP - 6p AB - Modern passenger cars and trucks are designed for the young 50th percentile male and adjustments are provided to accommodate the 5th to 95th percentile occupant. However, the accommodating seating and occupant protection systems are grossly inadequate for the smaller people and the 30% of the U.S. population who are obese, as well as those with the diminished muscular strength and increased fragility of age. The same considerations apply to the optional inclusion of driver aids. Automotive design staffs rarely include professionals over the age of sixty because mass marketing focuses on the young to middle aged population. But the population is aging and life expectancy now reaches to the eighties. Cars can now be purchased with a myriad of options but none include a senior package. Aftermarket sales of sunroofs, electronics, etc., and even limousine conversions are commonplace but no design effort has focused on an occupant protection package for these smaller, aging, older, fragile, obese people. This paper highlights what can be done technically. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Active safety systems KW - Aged KW - Anthropometry KW - Audible warning devices in vehicles KW - Human body size KW - Obesity KW - Occupant protection devices KW - Vehicle occupants KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364327 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573747 AU - Scarboro, Mark AU - Rudd, Rodney AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Introduction and Initial Analysis of New Side Impact Variables Captured in NHTSA Crash Databases PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - Long-term data systems typically need to evolve to keep pace with changing elements in the data environment. The crash data systems developed and maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are not immune to such demands. Changes in the system may be driven by known fleet changes such as the need to expand air bag definitions when additional side and knee air bags were introduced into the fleet several years ago. Changes in the data capture may also arise from issues discovered during research. Prior to the 2008 data year NHTSA crash data systems lacked coding that would identify possible compatibility issues related to side impact configurations. Beginning in 2008, NHTSA adopted new investigation protocols and data elements to improve the documentation of the aspects of a crash that aid in identifying compatibility issues and bear on the resolution of injury causation scenarios that occur in multivehicle crashes involving the interaction of the frontal-plane of one collision partner with the sideplane of the passenger compartment of the other. The new variables include damage measurements that are designed to enhance the research with respect to door intrusions, by documenting external damage to structures indicating the extent of override/underride in crashes where vehicle compatibility maybe an issue. This paper will review the case data that has been amassed in the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) and the Crash Investigation Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) programs for side impact cases where the new techniques and data have been captured. Utilizing the data sets from NASS 2008 in conjunction with CIREN data (2008-10) 524 cases were extracted that indicated capture of the new variables. This paper will explore the development of a correlation between the new side impact variables collected in NASS-CDS and CIREN and crash severity. The new side impact variables are expected to perform as desired by indicating crash severity and potential for injury causation. The new variables cover a wide array of issues related to side impact crashes. Issues related to compatibility between struck and striking vehicles can be better assessed. The role of door intrusion relevant to pillar and rocker involvement can be pursued as well as using the variables as another metric for crash severity. Do the new side impact variables captured in the NASSCDS and CIREN aid in the identification of compatibility issues and severity of side impact crashes? This study was limited to the first year of NASS data and two years of CIREN data collection on the new variables. This paper describes new variables available to research crashes involving the frontal plane of one vehicle and the side plane of the struck vehicle. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash data KW - Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network KW - Crash severity KW - National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System KW - Side crashes UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365260 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573746 AU - Lai, Xinghua AU - Wang, Yongning AU - Zhou, Qing AU - Lin, Zhe AU - Culiere, Pierre AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Development of a Finite Element PAM-CRASH Model of Hybrid III Anthropomorphic Test Device with High Fidelity PY - 2011 SP - 10p AB - Prior studies indicate that a majority of Hybrid III dummy models are validated over a limited range of loading velocities in accordance with the specification of CFR 49 Part 572. The shortcoming is that the dummy model response, based on validation at regulatory velocities, may not correlate well with experiments when loaded at different velocities. The fidelity of models at an extended range of velocities is important, as in car crash tests dummies are frequently exposed to a variety of loading conditions in terms of loading type and loading velocity, which are differing from that of the Hybrid III standard certification tests. In this study, a finite element model of Hybrid III 50th percentile dummy with high-fidelity response is developed using the non-linear finite element code PAM-CRASH. The methodology implemented for the model development is presented, with particular focus on material calibration and validation of the model against experimental data at different structure levels (component level, sub-system level, and system level), under a wide range of loading velocities. In addition to compliance with the typical certification requirements, the developed model has reasonable correlations with the physical dummy for a series of loading conditions. The model response has proven to be robust and reliable while maintaining computational efficiency, showing good potential to be used for accurate prediction of occupant injury numbers in crash simulation. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash prediction models KW - Crash risk forecasting KW - Crash victim simulation KW - Dummies KW - Finite element method KW - PAM-CRASH (Computer program) UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365886 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573745 AU - Rigby, Paul AU - Juhas, Brett AU - Wong, Jessica AU - Chan, Philemon AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Evaluation of Biofidelity of ECE Regulation No. 22 Injury Criteria PY - 2011 SP - 16p AB - The biofidelity of the injury criteria of the European standard for motorcycle helmets (ECE Regulation No. 22, Section 7.3 Impact-absorption tests), were examined against biomechanically based injury metrics. Using a method to measure the helmet contact pressure on the headform during impact, twenty helmets were dropped according to ECE R22 free drop specifications. A total of 76 impacts to the front, crown, rear, right and left side of the helmet were examined using finite element simulations to predict skull fracture. The ECE R22 criteria, peak head acceleration and HIC, were correlated with these injury metrics. It was found that ECE R22 criterion of peak headform acceleration is the best correlate with all injuries. HIC was an acceptable correlate for brain injury metrics but a very poor correlate to skull strain. The current peak headform acceleration limit of 275 g resulted in a 20% probability of skull fracture. This research has shown that peak head acceleration can be an acceptable injury metric for skull fracture using the ECE R22 test method. The current ECE R22 linear acceleration limit of 275 g is slightly higher than the calculated thresholds of injury used in this study for skull fracture, 252 g for 15% probability of skull fracture. Even though a free head drop method was used, the resultant translational acceleration trace at the center of gravity of the headform proved no better at predicting concussion than the rigidly mounted FMVSS No. 218 headform. When headform rotation was measured and used in the SIMon analysis, an increase in the concussion injury metric was seen. In order to use SIMon as a brain injury analysis tool, unconstrained free drops with headforms instrumented to record angular motion are necessary. A comparison of test results for helmets which were tested using both FMVSS No. 218 and ECE R22 methods was conducted. It was found that the peak head acceleration was an acceptable injury metric for skull fracture in both studies. Although FMVSS No. 218 and ECE R22 test protocols are different, both have a pass/fail criterion based on the peak head acceleration. Since peak head acceleration correlates to skull fracture, any future modification of the peak head acceleration criterion can be based on acceptable probability of skull fracture analysis. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Biofidelity KW - Crash injuries KW - Drop tests KW - Impact tests KW - Injury criteria KW - Motorcycle helmets KW - Skull fractures UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366011 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573744 AU - Bourdet, Nicolas AU - Deck, Caroline AU - Willinger, Rémy AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Car Bonnet Evaluation Against Pedestrian Head Impact Based on a Lumped Modeling Approach PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - Nowadays, physical models of a head used in pedestrian head impact standard tests are not accurate enough to represent the human head behavior and to assess the head injury risk in case of impact in a realistic way. In order to remove this technological barrier, the Strasbourg University Finite Elements Head Model (SUFEHM) is used in conjunction with a lumped model of the impact point at bonnet level in the present study. The approach consists in proposing a lumped model of the bonnet based on the experimental response of a pedestrian ISO headform impacting the bonnet surface at a velocity of 11 m/s and an impact angle of 60°. During this experimental tangential headform impact, both linear and rotational headform acceleration are recorded, and these data allow to characterize the stiffness, plasticity, energy dissipation as well as apparent mass of the bonnet lumped model. The model of the impact point at bonnet level consists of a rigid plate representing the bonnet impacted surface and connected to a fixed point by a general nonlinear spring. The nonlinear stiffnesses were implemented to the bonnet model in a normal and tangential direction in terms of force-displacement. For this approach, the force was obtained by multiplying the acceleration by the headform mass and the displacement was derived from double integration of the headform acceleration. As a demonstrator the approach was conducted numerically on a car bonnet FEM which was impacted by an ISO headform FEM. The validation of the method consists in simulating the impact of the finite element model of the headform-bonnet lumped model and comparing its response to the headform FEM impact against the complete bonnet FEM simulation in terms of resultant linear and rotational acceleration. In a last step the SUFEHM is used for the simulation of the impact against the above defined bonnet lumped model in order to assess the injury risk for the impact point under study. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash injuries KW - Finite element method KW - Head KW - Headform impactors KW - Headforms KW - Hoods KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364440 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573743 AU - Ikeda, Miwako AU - Suzuki, Shunji AU - Gunji, Yasuaki AU - Takahashi, Yukou AU - Motozawa, Yasuki AU - Hitosugi, Masahito AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Development of an Advanced Finite Element Model for Pedestrian Pelvis PY - 2011 SP - 13p AB - Because of a highly complex three-dimensional geometry of the pelvis, a variety of load transmission inside the pelvis exists. Due to the variation in pelvis internal load transmission, some of the previous studies revealed a variety of pelvis fracture patterns to pedestrians. In order to predict pelvis fractures accurately, human finite element (FE) models have been developed in past studies. However, the biofidelity of these pelvis models has not been evaluated sufficiently in terms of pelvis internal load transmission due to the lack of biomechanical data from the literature. In order to address different load paths within the pelvis when subjected to lateral impact load, a recent experimental study investigated the reaction forces at the anterior (i.e., pubic rami) and posterior (i.e., sacrum) sides separately in acetabulum and iliac impacts. The aim of this study was to improve the biofidelity of a pelvis model by performing additional validations against the published experimental data. The pelvis model used in this study was based on the FE pelvis model developed in a previous study. The structure and geometry of the baseline pelvis model were further improved. The geometry of the pubic symphysis was newly created by using CT images, and the articular cartilage was added at the acetabulum and SI joint to better represent overall compliance of the pelvis. The overall width of the pelvis was scaled in order to accurately represent the anthropometry of a mid-sized male. In addition to the response validations performed in the previous study, the pelvis model was subjected to further validations to confirm enhanced biofidelity. Four force-deflection response corridors from the combinations of the impact locations (acetabulum or iliac crest) and reaction forces (anterior or posterior) were developed in the current study from the published experimental data for dynamic lateral compression of isolated human pelvises. Material parameters of the cortical and trabecular bones were modified to better match the response corridors. The results of the response comparisons showed that the modified pelvis model is capable of representing different load paths within a human pelvis in various loading configurations. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Australia KW - Finite element method KW - Japan KW - Lateral impact damage KW - Load transfer KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians KW - Pelvis KW - Validation UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365887 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573742 AU - Suntay, Brian AU - Moorhouse, Kevin AU - Bolte, John AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Characterization of the Pediatric Shoulder’s Resistance to Lateral Loading Conditions PY - 2011 SP - 23p AB - Current efforts to prevent injury to children in car accidents involve the use of pediatric anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) which are designed based on data from adult post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) and animal surrogates, rather than from data obtained directly from the pediatric population. In this study, the force-deflection characteristics of the pediatric and adult shoulder were measured directly using a combination of optical motion capture, resistive loading, and electromyography (EMG). The right shoulder of nine adult volunteers and ten pediatric volunteers was quasi-statically displaced using a hand-held force applicator in both medial and posteromedial directions. Each subject had reflective markers placed on the upper right arm, both acromions, the manubrium, and both epicondyles of the right elbow. The motions of the reflective markers were tracked using an eight-camera Vicon motion capture system. Surface EMG electrodes were applied to the latissimus dorsi, upper trapezius, anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid, biceps brachii, and pectoralis major to measure the level of muscle activity during loading. Three to five tests were performed for each loading direction and in both relaxed and tensed states. The resulting force-deflection curves were normalized and then shoulder stiffness was calculated. Shoulder stiffness in the medial direction could not be obtained since less than 2 mm of shoulder deflection was recorded in the medial loading direction prior to the data being truncated due to subject tilting. The shoulder stiffness in the posteromedial direction was found to be 3.8 N/mm for the 50th male, 2.4 N/mm for the 10 year old age group, and 3.7 N/mm for the 6 year old group in the relaxed condition. In the tensed condition, posteromedial shoulder stiffness was found to be 9.7 N/mm for the 50th male, 4.1 N/mm for the 10 year old age group, and 5.0 N/mm for the 6 year old age group. Statistical analyses were performed and it was found that adults had a significantly higher shoulder stiffness than the children. Tensed shoulder stiffness was found to be greater than relaxed shoulder stiffness for all age groups (p < 0.001). U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Automatic steering control KW - Children KW - Lateral impacts KW - Lateral loads KW - Resistance (Mechanics) KW - Shoulder KW - Side crashes KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365881 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573741 AU - Sankarasubramanian, Hariharan AU - Mukherjee, Sudipto AU - Chawla, Anoop AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Optimization of Vehicle Front for Safety of Pedestrians PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - During impact with an automobile, a pedestrian suffers multiple impacts with the bumper, hood and the windscreen. Optimisation of the car front using a scalar injury cost function has been demonstrated. The results for impacts simulated in MADYMO show good co-relation with Euro-NCAP ratings for existing vehicles. Optimization of the car front to minimise the injury cost converges to vehicle profiles with features known from earlier studies to be pedestrian friendly. A method to design car fronts for pedestrian safety is evolved. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Frontal crashes KW - Optimization KW - Pedestrian safety KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians KW - Vehicle front end UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366323 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573740 AU - Borg, Evrard AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Innovative Bonnet Active Actuator (B2A) for Pedestrian Protection PY - 2011 SP - 7p AB - Since the last few years, the appearance of the fronts of vehicles has changed progressively to become friendly towards pedestrians and to meet new regulatory and Euro NCAP queries. In 2009, Pedestrian Protection received an additional weight with the second phase of the European regulation “Phase 2” and the new scheme of the EuroNCAP rating. Requirements on head impact injuries mitigation have been reinforced and compel cars designers to make advised choices between passive and active solutions. Car designers implement passive solutions with significant changes of the structure to provide a clearance between the bonnet and hard surfaces underneath, allowing free deformations of the bonnet and head energy absorption during the impact. In parallel, more and more solutions named active hinge systems (or bonnet deployment mechanism) are selected with the aim to lift the bonnet in few milliseconds when a pedestrian knocks the bumper, and to create the saving space under the bonnet surface. The choice of such active hinge systems is lead by relevant benefits because they allow for: 1) car designers, to have greater freedom for the style; 2) carmakers, to meet the CO₂ rate limitation by improving aerodynamic characteristics; and, 3) consumers, to reduce gasoline consumption. In January 2011, the Euro NCAP working group on pedestrian protection has officially published a method for testing “pop-up” bonnets. As a consequence, active hinge systems can from now on be assessed with an official and comprehensive document. The Bonnet Active Actuator (B2A) designed by SNPE Matériaux Energétiques (SME) is a smart pyrotechnic piston lifter specially designed to operate Active Hinge Systems and to help carmakers to increase the pedestrian score and thus get a satisfying Euro NCAP rating. The Bonnet Active Actuator (B2A) has been tested in a various car environment and is ready for applications in car programs. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Actuators KW - Hoods KW - Pedestrian vehicle interface KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians KW - Protection UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364632 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573739 AU - Sukegawa, Yoshihiro AU - Sekino, Masaaki AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Analysis of the Rescue Operations of Injured Vehicle Occupants by Fire Fighters PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - One of the responsibilities of fire fighters is to rescue injured occupants from crushed vehicles. Such occupants are frequently trapped in vehicles whose structure has been damaged to a devastating extent. However, few studies about the relationship between the original vehicle structure and the rescue procedures have been undertaken. The main reason for this is a lack of details regarding rescue operations. In this report, rescue cases in which fire fighters rescued injured occupants in a crash using rescue equipment were analyzed statistically. These cases were collected by some fire stations in the area. Vehicle occupants are often rescued by fire fighters (rescue workers) within five minutes. The rescue time (time lapse from site arrival to rescue of the casualty from the vehicle) required by fire fighters was 20 minutes on average. However, when there were two or more persons to be rescued, the average rescue time exceeded 30 minutes. Rescues involving heavy truck frontal impacts took twice as long as rescues involving passenger car casualties. Moreover, rescue operations in which the colliding vehicle was a heavy truck required more rescue time than passenger car accidents. Proper casualty rescue from vehicles should be divided into four phases (initial opening, treatment opening, rescue opening, and rescue of the casualty). In these phases, the authors focused on five tasks (removing windows, vehicle stabilization or pulling the vehicle, door opening using a bar/door opening using hydraulic tools, pillar cutting using hydraulic tools, and pushing away the front end using hydraulic tools). The most frequent task was door opening using hydraulic tools, and next was pushing away the front end using hydraulic tools. Cases involving two tasks required more rescue time. In particular, a frontal impact involving a cab-over vehicle took more time. In addition, some typical accidents including heavy trucks were reproduced by full crash tests, and the problems in current rescue procedures were investigated by trying these rescue activities. The fire fighters could easily rescue the occupant dummies in a crash test of a car under-ride with a heavy truck rear end. However, a long rescue time occurred if lifting of the rear end of the truck was needed. The operation took over 30 minutes to rescue the truck occupant dummies in a frontal collision. The principal problems were rescue procedures of door-opening and pushing-away the front end using hydraulic tools. From these results, the authors should study original rescue procedures of door-opening and pushing-away the front end, considering the structure of heavy trucks. This should be done in cooperation with fire departments. In Europe, some rescue manuals which specialize in heavy trucks are made, and such manuals would be valuable in Japan. Because the rescue equipment in fire engines is different in Japan and Europe, an original Japanese rescue guide of heavy trucks is necessary based current rescue equipment available in Japan. The authors believe that the amount of time needed to rescue vehicle occupants injured in traffic accidents can be reduced by improving rescue procedures. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Emergency response time KW - Firefighters KW - Japan KW - Lifesaving KW - Search and rescue operations KW - Vehicle occupant rescue KW - Vehicle occupants UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364739 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573738 AU - Austin, Rory AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Drowning Deaths in Motor Vehicle Traffic Accidents PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - Very little is known about drowning deaths that occur as the result of motor vehicle traffic accidents. The two research questions addressed in this paper are how frequently do drowning deaths as a result of motor vehicle traffic accidents occur and what are the circumstances surrounding these deaths. The choice of the word “accident” instead of “crash” in this paper is intentional to avoid confusion related to the various source documents that define traffic and transport accidents. The primary data source for this analysis is the linked Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) – Multiple Cause of Death (MCoD) file that is produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The years used for the analysis start with 2004 and end with 2007. From 2004 through 2007, there was an annual average of 384 traffic fatalities in FARS where accidental drowning was listed as one of the causes of death. Note, however, that this number may be slightly lower than the national total because of missing MCoD data from two States (Hawaii and Wisconsin). Also a few fatalities from December 2007 crashes may not have matching mortality data because the death occurred in January 2008. Drowning fatalities are more common in some States than in others. The top five States, which are all large coastal States, accounted for slightly more than half of the total drowning deaths in the 48 States and D.C. The occupants’ motor vehicles included a wide range of body types from passenger cars and pickups to motorcycles. However, the passenger vehicle category, which accounted for 94 percent of the drowning fatalities from 2004 through 2007, is the focus of this paper. Overall 63 percent of the passenger vehicle drowning fatalities involved a rollover, and 12 percent involved a collision with another motor vehicle. The most common passenger vehicle crash scenario was a single-vehicle rollover accounting for 59 percent of the fatalities. These crashes frequently involved running off the road and colliding with a fixed object prior to the rollover and immersion. In cases with known restraint use, the victim was not using any form of restraint system 52 percent of the time. Two types of motor vehicle related drowning deaths are not included in FARS based upon the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) definition of a motor vehicle traffic accident. The first type is a drowning that occurs as the result of a non-traffic accident, which occurs off of public roads. While NHTSA collects information about non-traffic crashes, it does not have the multiple cause of death information to enable a similar analysis. The second type is a drowning as the result of a cataclysm, such as flooding, that is not a motor vehicle accident fatality per ANSI definitions. Including non-traffic and cataclysm cases would lead to a larger number of motor vehicle related drowning fatalities. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Drowning KW - Fatalities KW - Fatality Analysis Reporting System KW - Motor vehicles KW - Passenger vehicles KW - Rollover crashes KW - Single vehicle crashes UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364777 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573737 AU - Wiacek, Christopher AU - Rudd, Rodney AU - Collins, Lauren A AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Real World Analysis of Rear Seat Occupant Safety in Frontal Crashes PY - 2011 SP - 15p AB - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and Research Priority Plan 2009 – 2011 describes the projects the agency plans to work on in the rulemaking and research areas in those calendar years. Specific programs identified in the plan included research to improve vehicle safety for rear seat occupants, children, and older people. In support of the priority plan, an analysis of real world crash data was conducted to determine the nature of the crash problem and examine the factors that contribute to rear seat occupant injury, including children and older people. A review of the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) and Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) case data was conducted for restrained rear seat occupants in frontal crashes that sustained an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 3+ injury in 1998 model year and newer vehicles. For each occupant identified, a review of the accompanying investigation was conducted using a methodology similar to that described by Bean et al. [2009]. The authors were then able to identify occupant and crash characteristics associated with rear seat occupants commonly sustaining serious injuries in frontal crashes. For each occupant, a primary cause of the most severe injury was assigned and injury sources were identified. This review suggests that in the absence of overly severe frontal crash conditions and vulnerabilities due to advanced age, properly belted adults and children in age- and stature-appropriate child restraints are reasonably well-protected in the rear seat, although improvements could be achieved in some cases. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Aged KW - Child restraint systems KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash characteristics KW - Crash severity KW - Frontal crashes KW - Injury severity KW - Rear seat occupants KW - Seat belt use UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364634 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573736 AU - Orlewski, Pierre AU - Federspiekl, Laurent AU - Cuddihy, Mark AU - Rao, Manoharprasad AU - Fuks, Stephen AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Advanced Child Occupant Detection System: Detection of Human Vital Signs by Seat-Embedded Ferroelectric Film Sensors and by Vibration Analysis PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - The concepts of human seat occupancy detection and driver’s drowsiness monitoring require a sophisticated, sensing technology capable of capturing human vital signs in a reliable manner. The concept discussed in this paper may help enable the development of future systems capable of detecting an occupant in a seat. The present study explores the feasibility of detecting humans based on a polymer sensor fitted into the seat cushion and capable of capturing human vital signs. A bulk, polypropylene ferroelectric film has been charged and polarized in a strong external electric field prior to the sensor assembly. The resulting 323 sq cm sensors displayed a high piezoelectric d33 coefficient of approximately 200 pC/N, considerably higher than vibration sensors made of PVDF or PVDF-TR piezoelectric films. This type of electro-responsive polymer has been used for medical respiration, heartbeat and epileptic seizure monitors. The authors employed dedicated, microprocessor-based electronics including charge and variable gain amplifiers and 4th-order anti-aliasing filter for data collection. Three different types of algorithms have been fitted or developed and tested: i) a commercial medical monitor with estimation of respiratory and heart beat rates, ii) a signal extraction, filtering and matching wavelet-based algorithm for vital sign detection and (iii) a frequency domain, 2nd-order classifier for humans/objects, using knowledge-based discrimination. Experimental data involved a minimum of 20 human subjects ranging from a 5-month old infant in a child restraint to a 95th percentile male, both in fully static (sleeping like) and non-static scenarios. Recordings using test loads and a pack of water bottles were also collected as the counterpart to the passengers. Human-specific presence detection and discrimination from objects by detection of vital signs was achieved within a relatively short detection time in this conceptual study. Infants and small children were placed in dedicated child restraint seats (CRS) and not moved during the data collection, thus simulating sleeping children. All subjects were detected typically within a 20 seconds sampling interval. In a few cases and with additional time, their respective signals could be extracted from collected data as confirmed by a medical monitor used in parallel. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Breath KW - Children KW - Detection and identification systems KW - Heart rate KW - Sensors KW - Vehicle occupants KW - Vibration KW - Vital signs UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364525 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573735 AU - Kirschbichler, Stefan AU - Sinz, Wolfgang AU - Prüggler, Adrian AU - Huber, Philipp AU - Steiner, Kurt AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Detailed Analysis of 3D Occupant Kinematics and Muscle Activity During the Pre-Crash Phase as Basis for Human Modeling Based on Sled Test PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - Today, human models are frequently used for improvements in occupant and pedestrian protection. The models have been carefully prepared with respect to anthropometric and biomechanical validity but do not include muscle activity. Hence, primary safety issues cannot be addressed by the model, since during low loading the model is not stabilized by muscles. Therefore, the OM4IS (“Occupant Model for Integrated Safety”) project was initiated by a large consortium including scientific (Virtual Vehicle Research and Test Center, Graz University of Technology, Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen BASt) and industry (PDB, Bosch, Toyoda Gosei Europe, TRW, DYNAmore GmbH) to examine muscle activity from volunteer tests and implement the results in a human model. The second aim is to find movement patterns which will be integrated in the simulation to develop active restraint systems. The main focus in this project is set on two different driving maneuvers. The first one is an emergency braking maneuver the second one is a lane change maneuver. In a first step these two maneuvers were simulated with sled tests and later these maneuvers had been carried out with a real vehicle on a test track. The purpose of the sled tests was to generate first input data for the numerical simulation and to check if it is possible to measure necessary information without vehicle tests. A seat was fixed on a sled and accelerated longitudinally to simulate the emergency braking maneuver and afterwards turned by 90 degrees to simulate lateral loading. In total eleven volunteers, weight and hight correlated to the 50% male, were tested and analyzed. Kinematic analyses were performed using two different motion capturing systems, one infrared based system and one high-speed video system. Two different systems were chosen to evaluate the adaptability for vehicle tests. Additionally muscle activity was measured with surface EMG (Electromyography) for upper body muscles.First results showed a significant difference among volunteers. Repeated tests with the same volunteer showed minor differences. Movement patterns varied significantly between different tests. Detailed information concerning simulation is presented in a separate paper. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash victim simulation KW - Human models KW - Kinematics KW - Muscles KW - Restraint systems KW - Sled tests KW - Vehicle occupants KW - Vehicle tests UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365882 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573734 AU - Prasad, Aloke AU - Weston, Doug AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - NHTSA's Rear Seat Safety Research PY - 2011 SP - 15p AB - NHTSA has collected a series of rear seat occupant data from full-scale frontal vehicle tests. The data set encompasses Research and Development and New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) tests and a variety of dummies, including adults and children in child restraint systems. This paper examines the effect of the cushion characteristics (shape, stiffness, thickness) and crash pulse on a small adult and a child in a forward facing child restraint (CRS) using sled tests. A controlled dynamic test will help the authors to better understand how these factors influence the CRS crash dynamics. The thickness of the cushions had the most effect on dummy injury assessment values (IAV). The crash pulse characterization Vehicle Pulse Index (VPI) was the best predictor for head and chest injuries in such occupants. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Aged KW - Child restraint systems KW - Crash pulse KW - Cushioning materials KW - Dummies KW - Impact tests KW - Rear seat occupants KW - Seats KW - Sled tests KW - Small adults UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364633 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573733 AU - McFadden, Joseph D AU - Stricklin, James L AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Evaluation of the Hybrid III 5th Female Modified Chest Jacket & Spine Box PY - 2011 SP - 13p AB - The SAE has coordinated development of a new chest jacket and spine box for the Hybrid III (HIII) Fifth Percentile Female Crash Test Dummy. The proposed modifications intend to correct dimensional inconsistencies in the chest jacket drawings, make the jackets in accordance with the new drawings and eliminate a potential source of mechanical noise in the data. NHTSA procured two new chest jackets, one from each supplier for evaluation. The following questions were investigated through a series of inspection, certification, and out-of-position (OOP) and sled tests: 1) Are the two new design chest jackets effectively the same shape, construction and performance?; 2) Do they both meet the drawing specification?; and, 3) Is the noise eliminated? The study presents data collected on both Robert A. Denton (Denton) and First Technology Safety Systems (FTSS) produced dummies. The companies have since merged into Humanetics Innovative Solutions, Inc. The dimensional inspection data presented includes a comparison of the anthropomorphic characteristics to the design specifications. The performance of the dummy is evaluated through analysis of the three types of dynamic test data. This includes deflection, acceleration, loads and high speed video from certification tests, low risk deployment tests and sled tests. The analysis of injury values is also performed. The authors’ hypothesis is that the new dummies all produce comparable dimensional data and test results. The actual variances are documented. Preliminary comparison showed dimensional compliance within 3 mm and good repeatability. Inspection reports provided dimensional data for both jackets along with laser scan results. Dynamic test data provided deflection, acceleration and load data from certification, OOP and sled testing. The data was analyzed using standard hypothesis test methods (student t-test) to accept or refute the hypothesis that the jackets are effectively the same. The test matrix was limited in sample size for both the OOP and sled tests. The use of a mandrel to assure that the jackets are dimensionally correct is a novel approach for improving quality. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Coefficient of variation KW - Crash injury research KW - Crash victim simulation KW - Dummies KW - Durability tests KW - Sled tests KW - Thorax UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366325 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573732 AU - Kusano, Kristofer D AU - Gabler, Hampton C AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Potential Effectiveness of Integrated Forward Collision Warning, Pre-Collision Brake Assist, and Automated Pre-Collision Braking Systems in Real-World, Rear-End Collisions PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - This study examines the potential effectiveness of a Pre-Collision System (PCS) that integrates Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Pre-crash Brake Assist (PBA), and autonomous Pre-crash Braking (PB). Real-world rear-end crashes were extracted from NASS/CDS years 1993 - 2008. The sample of 1,396 collisions, corresponding to 1.1 million crashes, was simulated as if the striking vehicle had been equipped with PCS. A stochastic framework was developed to account for the variability in driver response to the warning system. The result was an estimate of PCS benefits in terms of crash severity (change in velocity during the collision, delta V (ΔV), injury reduction for drivers, and prevented collisions. The results indicate that PCS reduced the median ΔV by 34%. The number of moderately to fatally injured drivers wearing their seat belt was reduced by 50%. Finally, 7.7% of collisions were prevented. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Active safety systems KW - Automatic braking KW - Crash avoidance systems KW - Evaluation and assessment KW - National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System KW - Rear end crashes KW - Simulation UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364328 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573731 AU - Nie, Bingbing AU - Xia, Yong AU - Huang, Jun AU - Zhou, Qing AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - A Simplified Model of Pedestrian Upper Legform Impact for Estimate of Energy-Absorption Space Underneath Bonnet Lead PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - Pedestrian upper leg impact protection is a challenging requirement in the Euro NCAP assessment. This study is aimed at developing a simplified model to provide a more reasonable estimate of the minimum energy absorption (EA) space underneath the bonnet lead for upper leg impact protection. Typical shapes of upper legform impact response (the impact force vs. legform intrusion) are summarized. Then a simplified finite element model is built to represent the stiffness characteristics of the vehicle front-end, especially for the local area around the bonnet leading area. Energy flow under different initial energy levels is analyzed using the simplified model. A feasible estimation on the EA space requirement for achieving the specified Euro NCAP rating is established for upper legform tests. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Energy absorption KW - Hoods KW - Leg KW - Legform impactors KW - Legforms KW - Pedestrians KW - Protection UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364439 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573730 AU - Hasija, Vikas AU - Takhounts, Eric G AU - Ridella, Stephen A AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Evaluation of Statistical Methods for Generating Injury Risk Curves PY - 2011 SP - 15p AB - Statistical methods such as survival analysis (parametric and non-parametric) and logistic regression, along with other non-parametric methods such as Consistent Threshold Estimate and Certainty method are used for generating injury risk curves from biomechanical data. Recently, much attention has been drawn to the question of which statistical methodology is more appropriate in the construction of risk curves for biomechanical datasets. Most of the papers and reports focus on existing biomechanical datasets for which they generate various risk curves using parametric and non-parametric methods and then suggest the use of one method over another based on some sort of criteria. The purpose of this paper is to look at the same statistical methods, but from the “inverse perspective”, e.g. evaluate different statistical methods using non-correlated, randomly generated data and to see if any of the widely used methods would yield a “good” risk curve when they are supposed to yield a “bad” risk curve. The “goodness” of a risk curve was evaluated based on 95% confidence intervals, the shape of the curve, and “goodness of fit” statistics. If the risk curve had a well pronounced S-shape, narrow confidence intervals and good “goodness of fit” statistics, then the method was concluded to be inappropriate for non-correlated datasets as it was expected to yield poor S-shape, wide confidence intervals and poor “goodness of fit” statistics. A well-correlated, randomly generated dataset was also evaluated using the various statistical methods. It was observed that logistic regression was able to clearly identify both the non-correlated and well-correlated datasets but suffered because of the underlying distribution that sometimes resulted in non-zero injury probability at zero stimulus level. Survival analysis with different types of censoring and underlying distributions was closely studied. Survival Analysis with a Weibull/ Log-Logistic/ Log-Normal underlying distribution and left- right censored data was not only able to clearly identify both non-correlated and well-correlated datasets, but also gave zero injury probability at zero stimulus level. This paper presents a new perspective of judging the applicability of the various statistical methods and recommends the statistical method, censoring technique, and the distributions that may be used for generating injury risk curves from biomechanical datasets. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Injury risk prediction KW - Logistic regression analysis KW - Risk assessment KW - Statistical analysis KW - Survival UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366012 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573729 AU - Johannsen, Heiko AU - Bendjellal, Farid AU - Renaudin, François AU - Claeson, Peter AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Update on Lateral Impact Test Procedure for Child Restraint Systems PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - After years of research and discussion ISO published a side impact test procedure for child restraint systems (CRS) as Technical Specification ISO/TS 29062:2009. At the same time of the finalisation of the technical specification, the GRSP Informal Group on CRS decided to establish a more simple approach than specified in ISO/TS 29062:2009 and asked ISO for support. As a response to this request ISO prepared the Publicly Available Specification ISO/PAS 13396:2009 which summarises the most important input data for the development of a side impact test procedure. That represented a significant input to the Informal Working Group on CRS to develop their own test procedure. The new GRSP lateral impact test procedure is currently under validation. It is expected that the validation will be completed by spring 2011. The new test procedure will become mandatory as part of the planned new regulation for the homologation of CRS. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Child restraint systems KW - Crash analysis KW - Impact tests KW - Lateral impacts KW - Side crashes KW - Test procedures UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364738 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573728 AU - Takayama, Shinichi AU - Yamamoto, Yoshihiro AU - Ejima, Susumu AU - Ono, Koshiro AU - Kamiji, Koichi AU - Yasuki, Tsuyoshi AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - The Clarification of Individual Injury Mechanism Difference in Pedestrian FE Model Utilizing Cadaver Scaling and Posturing Techniques PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - In car-pedestrian accidents, the pedestrian’s body size exerts strong influence on the degrees of the impacts by the vehicle on the lower limbs and the pelvis. Such individual difference affects the loading mechanism of the pedestrian accident and relates to the injury outcome. The ultimate goal of this research is to clarify the injury mechanisms of accidents of this sort. To fulfill this purpose, a 50th percentile finite element pedestrian model was developed and validated by Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) in the human finite element model development project by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). This model was employed in this study to reproduce full scale tests in which cadavers (Post Mortem Human Subjects) in standing position were struck by vehicles to investigate the body kinematics and the injuries caused by car-pedestrian impact. In addition, two kinds of individual scaled models were generated based on the 50th percentile standard model. In this process, the radiological data, as well as body external measurements of the cadaver recorded in the experiments, were utilized. The individual scaled models were applied to simulate two full scale tests in which two cadavers of different sizes were struck by a SUV type vehicle and a Small City Car type vehicle, respectively. For the purpose of comparison, the 50th percentile standard model was also applied to the car-pedestrian simulation. The body kinematics and the injury outcome of the models were analyzed and compared with the experimental results. It was found that, while all the models indicated acceptably good kinematics, only the scaled models could reproduce accurate injuries such as the knee ligament rupture found in the experiments. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - 50th percentile dummy KW - Cadavers KW - Crash injuries KW - Crash injury research KW - Finite element method KW - Injury characteristics KW - Japan KW - Pedestrian-vehicle crashes KW - Pedestrians UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1366324 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573727 AU - Garthe, Elizabeth AU - Mango, Nicholas AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - The “AIS-0” Conundrum: The Complexities of Identifying the Uninjured in NASS-CDS PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - "Uninjured" occupants are part of many National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) safety analyses. However, the issue of precisely identifying "uninjured" persons in NASS-CDS is complex. There is no such severity code as "AIS-0". Neither the AIS-90 or NASS-93 manuals contain codes for persons whose medical records are examined and who have been found to have no codeable injuries. As a consequence, there is no such thing as "Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 0" defined by the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and as a result there is no way to query the NASS-CDS data on the NHTSA website for MAIS=0 injuries. The more appropriate statement about persons without AIS coding would be that the person either sustained no codeable NASS/AIS injuries, or was not coded at all. However, there is no data "flag" to identify which one is which. This paper examines the approximately 90,000 vehicles in CDS from 1997 through 2007 and their occupants to illustrate the issues with identifying uninjured persons. More than 1/3 of these vehicles do not qualify under CDS rules for occupant coding. Therefore, AIS severity or MAIS codes cannot be used for the occupants of these vehicles, even if the codes appear in the data base as "blank" or "0". In addition, for the approximately 90,000 occupants who do qualify for AIS/NASS coding (1997 through 2007) 35% (32,000) occupants have no AIS/NASS codes. A data run that relies on the MAIS code in the occupant file, (not the injury file), (which may be blank or zero) may assume these 32,000 occupants are "uninjured" rather than having “no codeable injury. This may result in a substantial overestimate of actual occupants without injury. This can seriously impact evaluation of safety interventions. This paper identifies 5 occupant groups and several methods that can be used to help identify which of the 35% of occupants qualifying for AIS coding but without AIS codes are most likely to be uninjured. Issues created by using both the police KABCOU and AIS/NASS scales in mixed analyses to identify uninjured persons are also discussed. This paper is intended to be a general resource for researchers conducting safety analyses in NASS CDS that include uninjured persons. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Abbreviated Injury Scale KW - Crash data KW - Crash injuries KW - Injury severity KW - National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System KW - Vehicle occupants UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1365319 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573726 AU - Paine, Michael AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Safety Requirements for Small Motorised Alternative Vehicles PY - 2011 SP - 4p AB - In recent times there has been an increase in the development, availability and use of small, motorised vehicles that may be alternatives to more conventional modes of personal transport such as bicycles or cars. Much of the interest in these 'alternative vehicles' (AV) is in their perceived benefits for pollution and congestion reduction. To date there has been no uniform global approach to rules and standards governing the use of AVs. Regional requirements have mostly been applied on an ad hoc basis, differing significantly between jurisdictions. This has led to a highly prescriptive approach. This has tended to constrain innovative design, often because the vehicle concerned does not meet a regulatory definition. In many jurisdictions there appears to be confusion amongst retailers, suppliers, consumers and enforcement agencies as to what types of AV may be legal and what rules govern their use. The differences between jurisdictions also mean that manufacturers and suppliers cannot easily design a single vehicle to market in a number of regions. The authors review the types of AV that are available, or are under development, the limitations of the infrastructure on which they might be used and the safety issues arising from a mix of conventional road/path users and AVs. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Australia KW - Bicycles KW - Bikeways KW - Pedestrians KW - Personal vehicles KW - Single occupant vehicles KW - Speed KW - Three wheeled vehicles KW - Two wheeled vehicles KW - Vehicle safety KW - Walkways UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1364524 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01573725 AU - Lee, Jae-Wan AU - Kim, Gyu-Hyun AU - Han, Byeong-Kee AU - Jo, Yun-Yeong AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Development Plan for Assessment Technology of Advanced Safety Vehicle PY - 2011 SP - 6p AB - Although an automobile is a necessity and a convenience in the modern era, traffic accidents take a great toll on society, both economically and socially. Korea has the unenviable record of having one of the highest traffic accident and fatality rates. In 2009, there were 5,838 fatalities on the roads. A new and systematic approach to safety policy development is necessary to reduce traffic casualties. The goal of this research is the development of advanced safety vehicles and relevant assessment technologies. The results will make a contribution to Korea's national goal of “Reducing Traffic Casualties by Half.” There are four objectives in this research; the first objective is to develop technology that can reduce casualties in vehicle accidents, the second one is to establish advanced safety standards, the third one is to develop assessment technology for safety features integrated with information technology and the last one is to support the establishment of policies that can stimulate the commercialization and market penetration of these vehicles. The development plan was established with the following criteria, such as the economic feasibility, safety enhancement, timeliness and redundancy under the above goal. The research priorities were set after many elements were taken into consideration, such as target population to be protected, fatality reduction effects, technical feasibility and prospects. The planned timeline spans 7 years and 9 months, from December 2009 through September 2017. The research is divided into three stages; to reflect market variations and other development that cannot be foreseen at this moment; the latter two stages will be finalized in the final year of the 1st stage which will end in 2012. The research subjects in Stage 1 are as follows: vehicle compatibility, speed-sensitive active head restraint, commercial vehicle automatic emergency brake system, lane departure warning system, blind spot warning system, adaptive front light system and emergency rescue system. The results of this research will eventually lead to the standardization, establishment of laws/regulations, safety criteria and vehicle safety ratings. This research could be used as a resource for the development of global technical regulations in UN/ECE/WP.29. It is hoped that this project will stimulate the growth of advanced safety vehicle market and have a synergistic effect with the integration of the latest information technology. This project was supported by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Korea. Eleven research institutes, including the Korea Automobile Testing and Research Institute, Hyundai Motor Company and Seoul National University took part in this project. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Active safety systems KW - Casualties KW - Crash data KW - Korea KW - Technological innovations KW - Traffic crashes KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363692 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572333 AU - Padmanaban, Jeya AU - Stadter, Greg AU - Rajaraman, Ravishankar AU - Narayan, Swastik AU - Ramesh, Bharat AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Creation of an In-Depth Road Traffic Crash Database for India: Coimbatore Rural District Case Study PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - Research Question/Objective: To create an accident database for India based on proven in-depth accident investigation methodologies from the US and Europe. Methods: Researchers conducted the first ever in-depth crash investigation study in South India. Research was conducted on five accident-prone national highways in Tamil Nadu. Upon police notification, investigators examined 123 crashes on-site, followed by detailed inspections of vehicles and injury coding. The methodologies of NASS, the Pedestrian Crash Data Study (PCDS) and GIDAS were adapted to reflect the Indian experience. Injury reports obtained from hospitals were coded using the AIS and ICD-10. Data Sources: Data were obtained from: 1) Examination of the crash scene followed by vehicle inspection; 2) Information from police reports; and 3) Injury information from hospital records and autopsy reports. Results: 123 crashes resulting in 43 fatalities and 89 injured road users were examined. The following observations were made: 1) Head-on collisions occur more frequently on undivided highways while front-rear collisions are more frequent on divided highways; 2) For heavy trucks, lack of rear reflectors, tail lamps and lack of underrun protection devices contribute to rear end collisions; 3) For light vehicles, significant crash factors included departing from lane and driver loss of control. Hence, active safety systems including ABS systems and/or ESC (electronic stability control) would be beneficial in reducing both crash frequency and severity; 4) Most frequent intruding vehicle components were: A-pillars, windshield headers and instrument panels. Most common interior vehicle contacts were: seat backs, instrument panels and steering wheels; 5) Pedestrian injuries can be reduced by providing infrastructure such as crossing zone markings and improving front vehicle structures; 6) Lack of crumple zone in some vehicle types was associated with increased intrusion and injury. The use of safety systems, such as helmets and seat belts, continues to be low. Conclusions: This study shows that detailed on-site crash investigation, with support of police and hospitals, provides significant benefits into understanding and mitigating injuries in India. This data also helps to address the effectiveness of infrastructure measures that are currently being developed in India. Limitations of Study: Injury data was often sparse and not detailed. In addition, these studies focused on national highways in a rural area for one state. A follow-up study on urban streets and an expansion to other states is required to address all types of crashes and injuries. What does the paper offer that is new in the field? This paper offers the first in-depth traffic crash research performed in India, with findings for improving vehicle, occupant and road safety. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash causes KW - Crash data KW - Crash injury research KW - Crash investigation KW - Databases KW - India KW - Traffic crashes UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363689 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572332 AU - Choi, Hyung Yun AU - Han, Il Song AU - Lee, Jae Wan AU - Shin, Jae Kon AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Development of ACNS in Korea PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - The e-POST, an automatic crash notification system for the emergent rescue at auto accidents has been launched as a national research program in Korea in 2010. The main research objectives of the e-POST are: 1) Development of an algorithm that quantifies crash severity and the prediction of occupant injury risk based on the recorded data in the EDR (Event Data Recorder). Utilization of video images of inside and/or outside of the vehicle during (or right after) the event are under consideration. The authors hope this supplemental visual data can provide additional information for an in-depth analysis of the accident situation. For the injury risk prediction of occupants, virtual simulation using digital human body models are employed. 2) Selection of a communication protocol for the data transmits. Secure data transmit to the rescue center is an important part of the system and it becomes an even more challenging issue because the additional video data could be a large size. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Algorithms KW - Automatic crash notification KW - Crash injuries KW - Crash severity KW - Image analysis KW - Injury risk prediction KW - Injury severity KW - Korea KW - Vehicle occupants KW - Video images UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363636 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572331 AU - Källhammer, Jan-Erik AU - Smith, Kip AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Bridging Laboratory and Field Studies PY - 2011 SP - 6p AB - The method the authors present here - retrospective review and rating of Field Operational Test (FOT) data - is designed to capture both the rigor of the laboratory and the ecological validity of the field. It is tailored for studies of driver acceptance of active safety systems. The method makes it possible to leverage expensive FOT data within the confines of the laboratory. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Acceptance KW - Active safety systems KW - Demonstration projects KW - Field studies KW - Laboratory studies UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363558 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572330 AU - Krautscheid, Rainer AU - Müller, Nadine AU - Gail, Jost AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Conspicuity of Powered-Two-Wheelers PY - 2011 SP - 7p AB - The 2BeSafe project (2-Wheeler Behaviour and Safety) is a collaborative project (co-financed by the European Commission) that aims to study the naturalistic behaviour of Powered-Two-Wheeler (PTW) riders in normal and critical riding situations. That includes the interaction between PTW riders and other road users and possible conflicts between them. One of the predominant causes of accidents involving PTWs is that PTWs are often overlooked by other road users. One task of the project lead by BASt therefore deals with possible improvements in conspicuity and the development of recommendations. Particularly using the findings of the studies on conflict situations, promising lighting arrangements to enhance conspicuity of PTWs during the day and at night are selected. An abstract recognizing pattern for PTWs is defined, enabling other road users (e.g. car drivers) to clearly identify riders. Lamps and outfit like lighting configurations of different colours, different helmet lights, reflect / luminescent clothing parts and retro-reflective markings are designed and manufactured. Then, the different solutions are tested in a laboratory setting using experimental motorcycles together with riders to which the equipment is fitted. As a result a proposal for a uniform signal pattern or lamp configuration in the front of all motorcycles and riders will be outlined. The contribution first gives a short overview of the topics of the research project that deal with conflicts and their connection with poor conspicuity and then presents in detail the methods used in the activities concerning solutions for the improvement of conspicuity together with first results. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Daytime running lamps KW - Germany KW - Lighting KW - Mopeds KW - Motorcycles KW - Night visibility KW - Traffic conflicts KW - Two wheeled vehicles KW - Visibility UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363212 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572329 AU - Mynatt, Mark AU - Bean, James AU - Kahane, Charles J AU - Rush, Carla AU - Traube, Eric AU - Wiacek, Chris AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - A Study of NMVCCS to Identify Critical Precrash Factors in Fatal Crashes PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) paper published in 2009, “Fatalities in Frontal Crashes Despite Seat Belts and Air Bags” found that around 40% of crashes in a study of National Automotive Sampling System-Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) frontal fatal crashes with a belted occupant and frontal air bag were exceedingly severe. The paper concluded that once an occupant of a light vehicle is involved in a crash of this magnitude, chances for survival based on current crashworthiness practices are slim. Therefore, the most effective way to prevent fatalities of this type from occurring would be through avoiding or mitigating the severity of the crash. To expand upon that analysis, the intent of this study is to identify and prioritize the factors involved in fatal crashes and assess the potential effectiveness of emerging or existing technologies that may have prevented or lessened the severity of the crash. The study was conducted by a multidisciplinary team of NHTSA crash investigators, engineers and a statistician who analyzed real-world fatal crashes found in the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS). NMVCCS was a nationally representative survey conducted by NHTSA from 2005-2007. Trained researchers conducted on-scene investigations on nearly 7,000 crashes during the project, focusing on the precrash phase of the crash. The ability to investigate the selected crashes on-scene, in most cases within minutes, allowed the researchers to make better assessments of the events that led up to the crash. The survey collected up to 300 data elements on the driver, vehicle, and environment. Important components of NMVCCS were based on a methodology originally outlined by Kenneth Perchonok, including coding of the critical event, critical reason, and the associated factors that were present at the time of the crash. During this study the NHTSA team conducted indepth clinical analysis of each of the fatal crashes collected in NMVCCS, assigning the critical and secondary factors that led to the crash. The team also identified potential crash prevention measures at the driver, vehicle, and environmental levels. The results indicate that crash avoidance technologies including lane departure warning/lane keeping, electronic stability control (ESC), alcohol detection, and auto/assisted braking could have been beneficial in preventing many of the fatalities. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Alcohol tests KW - Automatic braking KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash causes KW - Electronic stability control KW - Fatalities KW - Human factors in crashes KW - Lane departure warning systems KW - Lane keeping KW - National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey KW - Precrash phase UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363583 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572328 AU - Kuehn, Matthias AU - Bende, Jenoe AU - Sferco, Raimondo AU - Schaefer, Roland AU - Georgi, Andreas AU - Niewoehner, Walter AU - Schepers, Andreas AU - Pastor, Claus-Henry AU - Scheerer, Joachim AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Safety of Light Goods Vehicles – Findings from the German Joint Project of BASt, DEKRA, UDV and VDA PY - 2011 SP - 14p AB - Light goods vehicles (LGVs) are an important part of the vehicle fleet, providing a vital component in the European transportation system. On the other hand, LGVs are in the focus of public discussion regarding road safety. In order to analyse the accident situation of LGVs in an objective manner, Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), VDA, DEKRA and German Insurers Accident Research (UDV) launched a joint project. The aim of this project, which will be finished by mid 2011, is to identify reasonable measures which will further improve the safety of LGVs. For the first time, these partners jointly together conducted a research project and put together their know-how in accident research. Analyses are based on real-life accident data from the GIDAS database, the Accident Database of UDV (UDB), the DEKRA database and national statistics. The findings deliver answers to questions within the arena of future legislative actions and consumer protection activities. The analyses of databases cover areas of primary and secondary safety of LGVs with a special focus on advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), driver behaviour as well as partner and occupant protection. Key figures from national statistics are used to highlight hotspots of accidents of LGVs in Germany. Finally, the proposed countermeasures are assessed regarding their potential effectiveness. Amongst others, the results show that the accident situation of LGVs is very similar to that of passenger cars. Noteworthy variations could be found in collisions with pedestrians, at reversing and regarding accident causes. Occupant safety of LGVs is on a higher level compared to cars. Results indicate that seatbelt use is on a significantly lower level compared to cars. This leads to higher-than-average injury risk for unbelted LGV occupants. When it comes to partner protection, there are problems with compatibility at LGVs. For car occupants there is a very high injury risk when colliding with a LGV. It indicates that higher passive safety test standards for LGVs would be counterproductive if they further increase stiffness of LGVs. The analysis of LGV-pedestrian accidents shows that pedestrian kinematic differs significantly from car-pedestrian accidents. At this point, existing pedestrian related test standards developed for cars can not be adopted to LGVs. When it comes to active safety, ESC proved its effectiveness once again. Beyond that, rear view cameras, advanced emergency braking systems and lane departure warning systems show a safety potential, too. In addition to any technical countermeasures previously discussed, the importance of the driver behavior and attitude regarding the accident risk was investigated. In order to develop successful actions it is important to understand the main target population. In the case of LGV especially the crafts business and smaller companies are the major contributors the safety issue. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Active safety systems KW - Countermeasures KW - Driver support systems KW - Germany KW - Light duty vehicles KW - Light trucks KW - Truck crashes KW - Trucks KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363691 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572327 AU - Craig, Matthew J AU - Scarboro, Mark AU - Ridella, Stephen A AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Predicting Occupant Outcomes with EDR Data PY - 2011 SP - 13p AB - Recommendations were made in 2008 regarding advanced automatic collision notification or AACN and the data that should be used in attempting to predict the need for trauma center care. Some have considered those recommendations and begun to produce injury predicting algorithms that can be used in part to communicate the severity of crashes to emergency medical services (EMS) and trauma personnel. One possible shortcoming of many of the data sets being used and the resulting algorithms is their reliance on investigator estimated change in velocity (delta V). Prior work has investigated the predictive ability of various occupant and crash variables as they related to occupant outcomes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) database provided the detailed crash and injury data as well as hospital care-based outcomes to enable that study. The current study has continued that work, but with an emphasis on studying the significance of the association between individual event data recorder (EDR) or telematics variables and patient outcomes that most justify the need for the highest level of care. The primary aim of this study was to document the association between potential EDR or telematics variables and occupant outcomes using three frontal crash data sets. Analysis was limited to data that could be collected via telematics or voice communication and involved logistic regression analysis to document variables that were significant associated with the occupant outcomes studied. Two CIREN (non-EDR and EDR) and one National Automotive Sampling System – Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) (EDR) data sets were analyzed. The CIREN data sets were used to study the association between predictors and hospital care-based outcomes. The NASS-CDS EDR data set was used to evaluate the association between the same predictors used in CIREN data analysis and injury severity-based outcomes. Both EDR data sets were also analyzed to evaluate differences in the predictive ability of delta V obtained from an EDR versus delta V calculated as part of the crash reconstruction (using WinSMASH, e.g.). The results of this study show that many of the recommended predictors were significantly associated with the outcomes of interest. The study also found that EDR delta V can be a better predictor of outcomes than WinSMASH delta V. This finding may have implications for the development and application of injury predicting algorithms that could be used as part of an AACN system. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash data KW - Event data recorders KW - Frontal crashes KW - Injury severity KW - Outcome (Medical treatment) KW - Predictors KW - Vehicle occupants UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363638 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572326 AU - Egelhaaf, Markus AU - Wolpert, Dieter AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Post Collision Vehicle Fire Analysis PY - 2011 SP - 14p AB - Other than the movie industry will have us believe post collision vehicle fires are a very seldom event. Nevertheless they pose an enormous threat to the occupants. Due to the small figure and the inevitable combination with accident damages only little reliable statistical data on post collision vehicle fires is available. The official German accident statistic does not contain the parameter fire. According to an estimate made by the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), about 80 persons are killed by fire or its side effects each year on German roads. The German Insurance Association (GDV) counted about 40,000 vehicle fire claims in 1999. About 6% of these fires were caused by a traffic accident. But also this statistic does not permit a direct transfer to the accident occurrence by different reasons. American data like the FARS data provides a good overview with the limitation of only fatal accidents. The paper presents the results of different studies concerning the post-collision vehicle fire occurrence. Based on an analysis of own accident reconstructions and fire investigations the most common damage patterns resulting in fires were identified. Own fire tests with damaged cars and a screening of different video clips available through Internet portals rounded up the study. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash reconstruction KW - Fire KW - Germany KW - Postcrash phase KW - Risk assessment UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363688 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572325 AU - Rizzi, Matteo AU - Strandroth, Johan AU - Johansson, Roger AU - Lie, Anders AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - The Potential of Different Countermeasures in Reducing Motorcycle Fatal Crashes: What In-Depth Studies Tell Us PY - 2011 SP - 10p AB - Every year approximately 50 motorcyclists are killed on the Swedish roads and almost 400 are severely injured according to police records. The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between a number of risk factors related to motorcycle fatal crashes in Sweden and to investigate the potential of different countermeasures aimed to motorcycle safety. The study used in-depth studies of fatal motorcycle crashes conducted by the Swedish Transport Administration during the period 2005–2008 (n=182). Proven or reasonable relationships between a specific countermeasure and the reduction in the number of fatalities were used as the basis for every calculation. Every fatal crash was analyzed and critical events throughout the chain of events leading to the crash were identified. An assessment was then made of whether certain countermeasures could have prevented the crash or mitigated the injury outcome. However, for natural reasons, the reliability of these assessments could vary depending on the problem area. In certain cases they were very dependable, whereas in other cases they could merely represent assessments of the maximum benefit. The potential (number of saved lives per year in Sweden) of different countermeasures or intervention areas included in the study were presented depending on which element of the road system (user, vehicle and infrastructure) they related to, and were successively grouped depending on the reliability of the assessment. It was also shown how no use of helmet, drunk driving, no motorcycle driving license or excessive speeding may occur in the same crashes. For instance, it was found that all killed motorcyclists who did not use a helmet were either under the influence of alcohol and/or had no motorcycle driving license. This study may constitute a suitable basis for developing local and national strategies aimed at reducing the number of fatalities among motorcyclists, as interventions should be objectively prioritized depending on the expected effects. However, it is also important to note that Swedish conditions may differ from other countries. Furthermore, these calculations did not take into account any behavioral effects that could conceivably follow from certain countermeasures. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Countermeasures KW - Fatalities KW - High risk drivers KW - Human factors in crashes KW - Motorcycle crashes KW - Motorcycles KW - Motorcyclists KW - Risk taking KW - Sweden UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363488 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572324 AU - Kreiss, Jens-Peter AU - Zangmeister, Tobias AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - New Findings on the Usage of Logistic Regression in Accident Data Analysis PY - 2011 SP - 11p AB - In this paper the authors deal with different ways of statistical modeling of real world accident data in order to quantify the effectiveness of a safety function or a safety configuration (i.e. a specific combination of safety functions) in vehicles. It is shown that the effectiveness can be estimated along the so-called relative risk, even if the effectiveness does depend on a confounding variable, which may be categorical or continuous. In a second step the quite usual and from a statistical point of view classical logistic regression modeling is investigated. Main emphasis is laid on the understanding of the model and the interpretation of the occurring parameters. It is shown that the effectiveness of the safety function also can be detected via such a logistic approach and that relevant confounding variables can and should be taken into account. The interpretation of the parameters related to the confounder and the quantification of the influence of the confounder is shown to be rather problematic. All theoretical results are illuminated by numerical data examples. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash data KW - Logistic regression analysis KW - Safety factors KW - Simulation KW - Statistical analysis UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363618 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572323 AU - Johnson, Nicholas AU - Gabler, Hampton C AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Evaluation of WinSmash Accuracy in NHTSA Side Crash Test Reconstructions PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - Several researchers have raised anecdotal concerns that the National Automotive Sampling System / Crashworthiness Data System (NASS/CDS) may overestimate delta-V, or the change in velocity (ΔV), in side crashes. NASS/CDS investigators use the WinSmash code, a successor to CRASH3, to perform the estimations. The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of WinSmash reconstruction of ΔV in side crash tests. The actual ΔV and absorbed crash energy were computed for a suite of 73 NHTSA side crash tests using crash test instrumentation. Multiple accelerometers on both the striking and struck vehicle were used to calculate full planar motion histories, vehicle rotation, and center-of-gravity ΔV at maximum crush and at vehicle separation. The same crash tests were then reconstructed using WinSmash and post-test crush measurements. This paper compares the WinSmash ΔV with the actual ΔV at maximum crush and ΔV at separation. The paper concludes that WinSmash over-predicts ΔV at separation in side crash tests by 11% on average. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Accuracy KW - Crash reconstruction KW - Impact tests KW - National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System KW - Side crashes KW - Velocity KW - WinSmash UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363620 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572322 AU - Stigson, Helena AU - Kullgren, Anders AU - Krafft, Maria AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Use of Car Crashes Resulting in Injuries to Identify System Weaknesses PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - The objective was to identify system weaknesses and components (road user, vehicles, and road) where improvements would yield the highest potential for further reductions in car occupant injuries. The study also aimed to evaluate whether it is a difference in type of improvements due to injury severity (fatally injured, Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale 2+ injury outcomes and injury leading to permanent medical impairment). Three different data sets of real-life car crashes were used; In-depth fatal crash data of the Swedish Transport Administration (n=248), in-depth crash injury data collected by the UK On The Spot (OTS) accident investigation project (n=120) and the Swedish database STRADA including police reported and hospital-registered injuries (n=451). All crashes were classified according to the vehicle’s safety rating by Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) and whether the vehicle was fitted with ESC (Electronic Stability Control) and had some kind of defined whiplash protection systems. For each crash, the road was also classified according to EuroRAP (European Road Assessment Programme) criteria, and human behavior in terms of speeding, seat belt use, and driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs. Most of the crashes occurred when two or all three components interacted (in 40% of the total number of cases). In total, the noncompliance with the vehicle safety criteria was judged to influence the injury outcome more often in car crashes with serious injury outcomes or where the occupants sustained injuries leading to permanent medical impairment than in crashes including fatally injured only. The road standard was the one of the three components that was most often linked to a fatal outcome. Injury outcomes, irrespective of severity, were mostly related to an interaction between the three components: the road, the vehicle, and the road user. However, the significance of the components differs depending on crash severity. The vehicle’s safety is the most important component to reduce serious injury outcomes and injuries leading to permanent medical impairment. In fatal crashes improvements to the road would yield the highest potential for further reductions of car occupant injuries. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash analysis KW - Crash injuries KW - Crash severity KW - Crash types KW - Sweden KW - United Kingdom KW - Vehicle factors in crashes KW - Vehicle occupants UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363619 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572321 AU - Regh, Fabian AU - Winner, Hermann AU - Krautscheid, Rainer AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Field Study on Crash Causal Factors of Chassis Modifications PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - New vehicle types are extensively tested to check almost all factors that influence ride and handling. With reference to the Association of German Car Tuners’ ( VDAT e.V.) valuations, approximately 10% of all cars in Germany are being modified by their owners. 28 % of those modifications’ sales are divergent wheel-tire combinations, 13 % are tuning measures on the chassis suspension or wheel spacers. In almost all cases the singular modifications present a general permission for specific vehicles they have been tested in. Combined tuning measures, however, are often checked by just one inspector, following a procedure of mostly subjective assessment criteria. Today, critical attributes are only being observed, in case a vehicle is involved in an accident and the modifications are identified as crash causal factors or as a cofactor on the development of a crash. For the first time, a field study allows a survey of safety affecting chassis modifications. The test layout has to comply with some basic conditions. Different vehicle concepts with a wide margin of modifications are required to get a high transferability of the results. A total amount of more than 150 tested vehicles serves the same purpose. The tests are limited concerning the installation time of measurement techniques and the requirement that no damage, defilement or immoderate wear of the vehicles are accepted by their owners. Due to such factors as well as the driver´s acceptance, the vehicles are controlled by its owners instead of robots or test drivers. For keeping down the driver´s influence, the lane has narrow boundaries and the driver has to drive in strictly adherence to the given instructions. After gathering all modifications, as well as static and kinematic parameters like the toe and camber angle, dynamic testing of predominantly lateral dynamics is conducted. Besides standardized tests like the ISO 3888-2 (Obstacle Avoidance) or the ISO 14512 (Braking on Surfaces with Split Coefficient of Friction), to test the influence of modified kingpin offsets caused by wheel spacers, some deviant tests are conducted. Those are required due to the demand of objective test results for road tests with vertical induced stimulation of the chassis suspension. Hence, new tests on corner braking with and without vertical stimulation have been developed. The interpretation of data includes thresholds, e.g. the maximum entrance velocity without hitting cones, on the one hand, and the analysis of characteristics of data concerning time and frequency range, “1-second values” and peak response times on the other hand. Besides the thresholds as indicators for the achievable velocities, which are mainly affected by friction coefficients, the vehicle reaction in the course of time characterizes the vehicle reaction in the threshold range and consequently the operational demands on the driver. The field study has started and promises the first long-range analysis of chassis modifications. The results offer a basis for hypothesis and resultant further test layouts for oncoming studies of the identified critical tuning measures. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Causal factors KW - Chassis KW - Crash causes KW - Field studies KW - Germany KW - Vehicle safety UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363585 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572320 AU - Benmimoun, Mohamed AU - Fahrenkrog, Felix AU - Zlocki, Adrian AU - Eckstein, Lutz AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Incident Detection Based on Vehicle CAN-Data Within the Large Scale Field Operational Test “euroFOT” PY - 2011 SP - 11p AB - The euroFOT project is the first large-scale Field Operational Test (FOT) of multiple Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in Europe. It will evaluate the impact of ADAS on safety, traffic efficiency, environment, driver behaviour and user acceptance in real life situations with normal drivers by means of collected data from instrumented vehicles. By offering valuable information for the short- and long-term impact of ADAS the euroFOT project aims to encourage the deployment of ADAS. Altogether, about 1000 vehicles equipped with different ADAS technologies will take part in the field operational test. The FOT is coordinated by five Vehicle Management Centers (VMC) and carried out at various operation sites across six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and United Kingdom). Within this paper the approach and the requirements for implementing a reliable and automated incident detection process by means of CAN-data for assessing the impact of ADAS at the German1-VMC are presented. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Automatic incident detection KW - Data management KW - Demonstration projects KW - Driver support systems KW - Europe KW - Field tests UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363492 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572319 AU - Kuschefski, Achim AU - Haasper, Matthias AU - Vallese, André AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Advanced Rider Assistance Systems for Powered Two-Wheelers (ARAS-PTW) PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - The results of a survey by the Institut für Zweiradsicherheit e.V. (ifz) on the topic “Advanced Rider Assistance Systems for Powered Two-Wheelers (ARAS-PTW)” carried out by ifz in the year 2009 triggered the study at hand. In fact the survey showed that both male and female motorcycle riders have knowledge deficiencies as regards to rider assistance systems. Against this background the authors explored the matter and found out that the respective literature offers a wide variety of definitions of assistance systems. This variety was the reason for a first attempt to clearly define the term “Rider Assistance Systems for Powered Two-Wheelers” – taking into account all the relevant specific requirements. Furthermore, the study offers a general synoptic view (updated September 2010) of current rider assistance systems for powered two-wheelers. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Active safety systems KW - Driver support systems KW - Mopeds KW - Motorcycles KW - Motorcyclists KW - Two wheeled vehicles UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363491 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572318 AU - Olejnik, Krzysztof AU - Kownacki, Jerzy W AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Modelling of Indirect Visibility PY - 2011 SP - 6p AB - It is necessary to retrofit the vehicles and road infrastructure with the devices of indirect visibility. For the purpose of the tests, a mathematical model of the tests’ subject was created, which was used to write the analytical computer program for the PC class computer. The mathematical model of the visual image transfer from the vehicle’s surroundings transmitted by the mirrors encompasses: driver’s eyes represented by the ocular points placed in the three-dimensional, rectangular left-handed, Cartesian system, the vehicle’s block, described in this system by the clear and opaque surfaces; mirrors of the known features, mounted on the vehicle’s block; the space surrounding the vehicle placed on the horizontal surface. This mathematical model was used to create the calculation program in the C++ programming language and using the Open GL library, working under the Microsoft Windows operating system. In the specific range of values it is possible to increase or decrease the size of the presented object – it helps to see the details, to change the direction of the observations. The operating program relies on an input of such quantities as width of the vehicle, location and extent of the transparent elements. The location of ocular points, and regions which driver should observe, in respect to the vehicle are also set. The results of the program calculations are presented graphically as the virtual picture of reality on the computer monitor. Apart from that, the program presents in the tabular form, values of coordinates of the points on the planes Oxy and O’yz, calculated for the given step, and for accepted parameters. Additionally there is a possibility to draw the regions covered by the eyesight. The created model of the visual transfer from the vehicle’s surroundings, transmitted by the mirror enables to conduct the virtual tests of the real objects. The necessary data such as: position of ocular points in the real vehicle, the location of the mirrors and their features, width of the vehicle must be measured in the vehicle and introduced into the program. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Drivers KW - Mathematical models KW - Mirrors KW - Safety KW - Vehicles KW - Visibility UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363078 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01572317 AU - Glassbrenner, Donna AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - An Analysis of Improvements to Vehicle Safety and Their Contribution to Recent Declines in Fatalities and Injury Rates PY - 2011 SP - 13p AB - Recent vehicle safety technologies have saved lives, mitigated injuries, and, to some extent, reduced the occurrence of crashes. However there have been few, if any, studies that attempt to quantify how much safer a newer model year vehicle is than an older one, at least in any controlled fashion. This paper attempts such a quantification, and estimates the combined contribution of vehicle improvements to recent declines in fatalities and injury rates. The analysis assesses the combined impact of safety improvements, and not the separate impacts of individual technologies. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash avoidance KW - Crashworthiness KW - Fatalities KW - Improvements KW - Injury rates KW - Statistical analysis KW - Statistical models KW - Vehicle safety KW - Vehicles UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363690 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01571829 AU - Svenson, Alrik L AU - Mueller, Jonathan AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Vehicle Safety Communications for Commercial Vehicles: Issues Affecting Deployment of Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications for Heavy Vehicles PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - Wireless vehicle-to-vehicle communications (V2V) and the safety applications enabled by such technology are a major component of the U.S. DOT vehicle safety communications (VSC) program. The VSC program also supports wireless connectivity between vehicles and infrastructure (V2I) to deliver safety, mobility, and environmental benefits. To date, the focus of US DOT sponsored research in this area has been on light duty vehicles. However, to obtain maximum benefits, the V2V safety applications need to be deployed among all vehicles including heavy commercial vehicles. The U.S. DOT therefore initiated (in early 2010) several research efforts to examine the issues for adapting V2V safety applications for heavy commercial vehicles. These issues include interoperability with other vehicles, considerations due to vehicle size and geometry, data privacy and policy concerns, compatibility between heavy and light vehicles, and other issues related to special operating environments encountered by commercial vehicles. This paper describes the current technical research on V2V for commercial vehicles being conducted by U.S. DOT (i.e., interoperability, performance requirements and human factors considerations). For each of these studies, interviews were conducted with subject matter experts from the following entities: vehicle manufacturers; truck suppliers, commercial vehicle fleet operators, industry trade representatives, and academic researchers. The early V2V safety applications to be developed for heavy vehicles have been selected based on the most frequent crash types addressable by such technology as identified in previous studies conducted by Volpe. The studies summarized in this paper were limited to commercial vehicles including heavy truck tractors, single-unit trucks, and buses. Results from the studies identify priority issues that need to be addressed for successful deployment of V2V systems on commercial vehicles. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Commercial vehicles KW - Heavy vehicles KW - Human factors KW - Interoperability KW - Performance KW - Vehicle safety KW - Vehicle to vehicle communications KW - Wireless communication systems UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363074 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01571828 AU - Lee, Taeyoung AU - Yi, Kyongsu AU - Kim, Jangseop AU - Lee, Jaewan AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Development and Evaluations of Advanced Emergency Braking System Algorithm for the Commercial Vehicle PY - 2011 SP - 7p AB - This paper presents the development and evaluation of the Advanced Emergency Braking System (AEBS) algorithm for the commercial vehicle. The AEBS is the system to slow the vehicle and mitigate the severity of an impact when a rear end collision probability is increased. To mitigate a rear end collision of the commercial heavy truck, the AEBS is comprised of a millimeter wave radar sensor, CCD camera and vehicle parameters which are processed to judge the likelihood of a collision occurring. If the likelihood of a rear end collision with an obstacle is judged as probable, warning signals are provided by the AEBS algorithm to alert the driver. If the driver fails to react to the warnings when the collision likelihood is judged as being high, the AEBS algorithm applies autonomous braking in order to reduce the impact speed. To demonstrate the control performance of the proposed AEBS algorithm, a longitudinal vehicle model of the commercial target vehicle was developed by using the real vehicle’s test data and vehicle dynamics. Also, closed-loop simulation of the AEBS was conducted. In order to indicate the safety level of the driving situation, new safety indexes are suggested. From the simulation results and analysis of using the safety indexes, it is shown that the proposed AEBS algorithm can enhance the commercial heavy truck's longitudinal safety in a dangerous driving situation, which can be occur in a rear-end collision. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Algorithms KW - Automatic braking KW - Commercial vehicles KW - Proximity detectors KW - Rear end crashes KW - Time to collision KW - Trucks UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1363075 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01571827 AU - Kuehn, Matthias AU - Hummel, Thomas AU - Bende, Jenoe AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Advanced Driver Assistance Systems for Trucks – Benefit Estimation from Real-Life Accidents PY - 2011 SP - 12p AB - Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASs) are today becoming increasingly common in the market. This also applies to trucks, in particular. In order to quantify the effects of ADASs on truck accidents in Germany, a comprehensive study was performed, using third-party vehicle claims involving personal injury and a total claim value of at least €15,000. This study is based on a total of 443 truck accidents. Statistical methods were used to extrapolate these accidents up to 18,467 claims. To determine the possible effects of ADASs, relevant accident scenarios were identified, and system characteristics for generic ADASs were derived. Different stages of development for some of the systems were defined and evaluated, and the theoretical safety potentials of the generic ADASs were determined by systematic case-by-case analysis. All types of road users (cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians) were included as the other parties to the collisions involving the trucks (gross vehicle weight more than 5,000 kg); single-vehicle truck accidents were also included. The calculated theoretical safety potential of the different ADASs is based on the assumptions that 100% of the truck fleet is equipped with these systems and that the driver reacts perfectly when warned. The conclusions of the analyses are as follows: an autonomous emergency braking system (AEBS), which is able to detect moving and stationary two track vehicles, warn the driver and perform a braking maneuver autonomously, was able to prevent up to 12% of all truck accidents in the data sample compared to just 6% for a system that is not able to detect stationary vehicles. The safety potential of a “turning-assistant system” and an intelligent rear view camera accounts for 6% of prevented accidents in relation to all truck accidents. Detailed analysis reveals that this covers 55% of all truck accidents against vulnerable road users (VRUs). Compared to current rear-view mirror technology, these assistance systems are much more effective. The theoretical safety potential of a lane departure warning (LDW) system was found to be up to 2%. Nevertheless, this small percentage equates to about 39% of all truck accidents caused by departing the lane. The results of the study indicate that ADASs do not achieve the same safety potential for each of the three truck categories “solo truck”, “truck and drawbar trailer” and “semi-trailer truck”. This should be taken into consideration for future legislation. Although some of the ADASs examined show considerable safety potential for VRUs, the current European legislation does not take this into account. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Automatic braking KW - Driver support systems KW - Germany KW - Lane departure warning systems KW - Truck crashes KW - Trucking safety KW - Trucks UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1362898 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01571826 AU - Shin, Jangho AU - Kim, Haeng Kyeom AU - Kim, Yun Chang AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Front and Side Car-To-Car CAE Based Crash Analysis of Different Class Vehicles PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - In recent years, the rapidly ncreasing market share of compact cars and SUVs has brought for both the consumer and the automaker the need to pay more attention to crash compatibility between the compact passenger vehicles and the light trucks (i.e., Pickups and SUVs). Vehicle compatibility regarding both self and partner protection in a frontal crash of different class vehicles is one of the hot issues in vehicle safety. Furthermore, it is expected that the amendment of UNECE-Regulation 94 to implement compatibility issues will happen in a couple years. This paper presents a front and side car-to-car Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) based crash of different class vehicles which describes a car accident in the real field. Structural engagement and energy balance of different class vehicles in front and side car-to-car crashes are identified. In this study, the conceptual design of compatibility compliant frontal vehicle structure which is designed to improve the distribution of frontal crash loading and structural engagement between vehicles is introduced. The effects of a proposed vehicle structure on possible candidates (i.e. Full Width Rigid Barrier (FWRB), Full Width Deformable Barrier (FWDB) and Progressive Deformable Barrier (PDB) for a compatibility evaluation test procedure and car-to-car crash are also investigated. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Compact automobiles KW - Compatibility KW - Crash analysis KW - Frontal crashes KW - Impact tests KW - Midsize automobiles KW - Side crashes KW - Vehicle frames UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1362105 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01571825 AU - Daphal, Pratap AU - Kumar C, Anil AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Progressive Deformable Barrier (PDB) – Evaluation of It’s Impact on Small Car Designs Through CAE Analysis PY - 2011 SP - 5p AB - The Progressive Deformable Barrier (PDB) based offset test method was recently proposed as an alternative to the existing regulatory test using Offset Deformable Barrier (ODB) as per ECE R94. Implications of this change on the structural design of cars were studied through CAE simulations. Comparative simulations were run with the two barriers for vehicles with different mass and the effect of the barrier change was studied against the mass of the vehicle. Stiffness improvements required in car structures for similar intrusions when PDB was used were then studied. The study showed that PDB was able to absorb a lot more energy compared to ODB and this could essentially mean the car structures can be engineered with reduced energy absorbing capability while still meeting the requirements with PDB. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Deformable barriers KW - Energy absorption KW - Impact tests KW - Mass KW - Offset deformable barriers KW - Vehicle design UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1362597 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01571824 AU - Scullion, Paul AU - Morgan, Richard M AU - Digges, Kennerly AU - Kan, Cing-Dao Steve AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Frontal Crashes Between the Longitudinal Rails PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - The objective of this study is to further investigate the injuries and injury mechanisms associated with belted front-row occupants in Between Rail frontal crashes. This study examines real-world crash data from the NASS-CDS between the years 1998-2009 with a focus on frontal crashes involving 1997 and later model year vehicles. This study expands upon a methodology developed by Ford Motor Co. for classifying frontal impacts based upon the Collision Deformation Classification (CDC) [SAE J224] and the location of direct damage relative to the estimated location of the underlying vehicle frame-rail structure. This Frontal Impact Taxonomy will be used to identify those crashes with damage localized between the vehicle frame-rails. In a recent study, it was identified that Between Rail impacts had a higher risk of front row occupants sustaining either a Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 2+, or MAIS 3+ injury, compared to all other frontal impact damage classifications (Full engagement, Offset, Moderate offset, Small Overlap, and so on). The extent of damage will be used as a measure of impact severity. This study will investigate a laboratory test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This laboratory test involves crashing the front of a passenger vehicle into a rigid pole along the longitudinal line of the vehicle. The laboratory test will be compared with real-world crash data. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Crash data KW - Crash injury research KW - Frontal crashes KW - Impact tests KW - Injury classification KW - Injury severity KW - Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale KW - Vehicle frames UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1362876 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01571823 AU - Brumbelow, Matthew L AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Crash Test Performance of Large Truck Rear Underride Guards PY - 2011 SP - 8p AB - Large truck crashes account for a substantial portion of the fatalities and serious injuries occurring in modern passenger vehicles designed for good frontal crash protection. Incompatibilities in mass, stiffness, and ground clearance present challenges in improving crash outcomes for passenger vehicle occupants. A recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study of cases from the Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) found that rear underride guards meeting US federal requirements still can allow severe passenger vehicle underride, often resulting in serious or fatal injury. The study identified patterns of real-world guard failure, but the impact speeds necessary to produce these failures could not be determined. Also, due to the LTCCS case selection requirement that each crash produce an injury, differences among the large number of guard designs and resulting crash performance and injury risk could not be compared. The current study used a series of six crash tests to investigate these issues. Crash tests were conducted in which the front of a midsize sedan impacted the rear of a semi-trailer equipped with an underride guard. Three trailer/guard designs were evaluated in various conditions. Each guard design was certified to the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 223 requirements, and two also met the more stringent Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) 223 regulation. Quasi-static tests were conducted to determine the compliance margins. In a full-width test at 56 km/h, the guard design built only to the US requirements failed catastrophically at the points of attachment to the trailer, allowing severe underride and trailer contact with the dummy’s head. The second guard failed in 50 percent overlap tests at 40 and 56 km/h, producing underride to the base of the sedan’s windshield in the first test and to the dummy’s head in the second. The third guard was able to prevent underride in full-width and 50 percent overlap tests at 56 km/h but failed when the overlap was reduced to 30 percent. The minimum force requirements of FMVSS 223 are too low to prevent guard failure in full-width crashes. CMVSS 223 is an improvement over the US regulation, but its requirements also should be strengthened because underride still can occur in offset crashes. Both standards should require quasi-static tests to be conducted with guards attached to a trailer. The current standards allow tests using a rigid fixture, so even well-designed guards could be attached to a trailer such that they fail to prevent underride due to weakness of the trailer chassis or attachment mechanism. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Heavy duty trucks KW - Impact tests KW - Overlap crashes KW - Passenger vehicles KW - Underride guards KW - Underride override crashes UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1362878 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01571822 AU - Brewer, John AU - Patel, Sanjay AU - Summers, Stephen AU - Prasad, Aloke AU - Mohan, Pradeep AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Accuracy of AHOF400 with a Moment-Measuring Load Cell Barrier PY - 2011 SP - 11p AB - Several performance measures derived from rigid barrier crash testing have been proposed to assess vehicle-to-vehicle crash compatibility. One such measure, the Average Height of Force 400 (AHOF400), has been proposed to estimate the height of a vehicle’s primary energy absorbing structures. Previous studies have shown that the difference in AHOF measures is a significant predictor of crash partner fatality in vehicle to vehicle crashes. However, the single axis 250x250 mm and 125x125 mm size of the load cells limited the accuracy of these performance measures. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently purchased an advanced load cell barrier using 125 x 125 mm load cells (in a 9x16 load cell array) that measure compressive force and moments. Simulation studies predicted this should significantly improve the AHOF accuracy. This test program will evaluate this prediction. Previous studies suggest that single axis load cell measurements may not provide sufficient accuracy. This paper evaluates the results using a rigid barrier that measures vertical and lateral moments in addition to longitudinal force. The results are evaluated against vehicle geometry measurements. Six crash tests were conducted using an advanced load cell barrier with vertical and lateral moment capability. The test results are compared with previous single axis 125 x 125 mm rigid barrier tests. The additional accuracy resulting from the moment data is assessed. The benefits of the advanced load cell barrier in terms of amplifying and enabling compatibility criteria are discussed. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Barriers (Roads) KW - Compatibility KW - Force KW - Frontal crashes KW - Impact tests KW - Load cells UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1361780 ER - TY - CONF AN - 01571821 AU - Páez Ayuso, Francisco Javier AU - Crespo, Arturo Furones AU - Romero, Alexandro Badea AU - Fazio, Enrique Alcalá AU - Izquierdo, Francisco Aparicio AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration TI - Analysis of Compatibility and Occupant Injury Mechanisms in Frontal Collisions Involving Buses in Spain PY - 2011 SP - 9p AB - The European Regulations introduced over the last years on the enhancement of secondary safety of buses and coaches are proving to be efficient, reducing accident seriousness and their consequences, as real accident data can show. However these measures seem to be insufficient, especially in certain impact configurations such as frontal collisions in which not only the driver and the crew are the most prone to casualty but also the rest of the occupants who often suffer severe or fatal injuries. The aim of the study presented in this paper is to identify the main characteristics of large passenger vehicles (LPVs) frontal collisions that have occurred in Spain over the last years, and to analyse the compatibility of these vehicles with their collision partners or obstacles in frontal impacts. The study has two main parts: a statistical analysis based on the Spanish Accident Database that includes bus accidents occurred in Spain between 1993 and 2008 investigated by the Police Forces with at least one injured person as consequence of the accident; and an in-depth study using a LPV accident database including highly detailed information, retrospective investigation, reconstruction, police reports and medical records with injury description and mechanisms. A total of 28 real-world accidents were considered, in-depth analysed by the Accident Research Unit of INSIA and investigated in collaboration with the Police Forces, Paramedics and Hospitals. It is expected that the results obtained in this research will help to gauge the extent of the problem in the Spanish roads and to understand the influence of compatibility on the injury severity of the occupants of both vehicles and their mechanisms. The statistical analysis revealed that interurban frontal bus accidents represent around 50% of the total Spanish interurban bus accidents with killed or severe injuries. The in-depth analysis based on the injury mechanisms most commonly found suggests that new structural solutions in the frontal design of the bus should be considered to enhance occupant protection and to improve the compatibility between the vehicles involved. There are not many research works about LPVs frontal collisions up to day, so the potential enhancement of secondary safety is still high. This study is based on Spanish data and its conclusions reflect the situation in the Spanish roads, however it should be extended and considered as guidelines for future research works. U1 - 22nd International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV)National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationWashington,DC StartDate:20110613 EndDate:20110616 Sponsors:National Highway Traffic Safety Administration KW - Buses KW - Compatibility KW - Deformation KW - Frontal crashes KW - Injury severity KW - Passenger vehicles KW - Spain UR - http://www-esv.nhtsa.dot.gov/Proceedings/22/isv7/main.htm UR - https://trid.trb.org/view/1362897 ER -